No Housing Shortage Tonight with "House of Wax" and "House of Svengoolie"!

Our “Halloween BOO-nanza” double features continue tonight with a classic fright- and a new treat! First, it’s murder and mannequins in the memorable Vincent Price tour de force- “House of Wax”- followed by the first “House of Svengoolie”-a new feature that allows our Sven Squad- Gwengoolie, Ignatius Malvolio Prankenstein (aka Imp) and Nostalgiaferatoo- to spread their wings hosting a fantastic Jim Henson creation- “Labyrinth”!

We begin with the 1953 film, originally shot in 3D ( but-alas-presented in 2-D tonight) at the New York museum of Professor Henry Jarrod- a gifted sculptor who prefers to create historic tableaus instead of the sensationalistic type displays found in most wax museums. However, with popular tastes being what they are in the early 1900s, these cultural displays don’t bring in enough revenue- so, his business partner, Matthew Burke, feels that, since Jarrod refuses to go the more shocking horrific route, the best profit would be via insurance money- and he proceeds to burn the museum down, with Jarrod trapped inside and thought to be killed in the conflagration!

Years later, we see that Jarrod has miraculously survived-though now he is wheelchair bound, with his hands crippled and unable to sculpt any longer. Regardless, with the help of some assistants, including the mute sculptor Igor, he has built a new wax museum, but his standards appear to have changed- this time, it includes the “house of horrors” type exhibits that Jarrod used to shun.

Meanwhile, lurking out in the streets of New York, a cloaked, disfigured murderer kills the fiancée of Jarrod’s old partner Burke- who appears to have committed suicide- and soon, the young woman’s body mysteriously disappears from the morgue!

The fiancée Cathy’s roommate Sue, who actually found her friend’s body and came face to frightening face with the killer, joins her sculptor boyfriend Scott, employed by Jarrod, in a visit to the new museum- and is bothered by the fact that the wax figure of Joan of Arc strongly resembles her late friend. Jarrod wheels up in his chair and suggests that she- Sue- is the perfect model for a new figure of Marie Antoinette, since she has a striking resemblance to his original version that burned in the long-ago fire.

Sue is not convinced by Jarrod’s story about using photos as the inspiration for his statues- and sneaks into the museum to inspect the Joan of Arc statue- leading to a shocking confrontation that could see she herself become a permanent part of the museum collection- and no longer a part of the land of the living!

This film is gifted with an amazing cast, with, of course, Price as Prof. Jarrod, Charles Bronson (billed as Charles Buchinsky) as his mute lackey Igor, Carolyn Jones, later gaining fame as the “Addams Family” matriarch Morticia, and more- we’ll tell you about the cast, with plenty of information on the production, including an odd irony regarding the director Andre DeToth. And- yes, you’ll see the famed “paddleball” scene, which may have been impressive in 3-D, but now seems fairly goofy! You’ll also get Nostalgiaferatoo and the Imp in action, a look at a display of great horror film artifacts and props, a new visit wit our old pal from “Halloween 3” Tom Atkins, and more!

Then- get set for the premiere of “House of Svengoolie- a new offering under our Svengoolie umbrella, with the Sven Squad presenting a landmark film from the late great creator of “The Muppets” Jim Henson- a unique fantasy film- “Labyrinth”! It’s the story of 16-year-old Sarah, whose annoyance with her baby brother compels her to wish he would be taken away by the goblins in the book she’s reading “The Labyrinth”. When the boy, Toby, disappears, the goblin king Jareth appears- and offers an ultimatum- solve his labyrinth in 13 hours and find Toby- or the child will become a goblin forever!

A dwarf helps her enter the labyrinth, where she encounters all manners of beasts and creatures both fair and foul- leading to a confrontation in a bizarre castle where Sarah must face Jareth alone in a last-ditch attempt to save her brother.

This amazing 1986 movie, directed by Henson, written by “Monty Python”s Terry Jones and executive produced by George Lukas, stars the beautiful Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, David Bowie as Jareth, and a multitude of puppet creatures from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Gwen, Imp and Nostalgiaferatoo add merriment, music and mayhem to the proceedings in their very first movie hosting!

The double feature of “House of Wax” and “Labyrinth” in MeTV begins tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. As always, you are invited to live-Tweet along with the many Sven fans who are on Twitter during the show-please make sure to include the hashtag #svengoolie in all your Tweets! Our Chicago area viewers can again get tied up in Knotts as we present “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” at 11 am on our main local station, WCIU-The U!

Watch for a very special 45th anniversary Sven merchandise surprise being made available very soon! Also, tonight in Elgin IL, I will make my annual visit to the giant street party known as “Nightmare on Chicago Street”-to sign auto graphs ( note: they have me scheduled for just an hour of signing, from 7 to 8 pm- so please get in line early so you don’t miss your chance) and to help wind up the amazing costume contest! More appearances coming both this month and next- make sure you check out the “appearances” tab here on our website and watch for any updates!

Join us for this special double feature of wax and warped wonders tonight on MeTV!