Tonight- A “BOO-Nanza” Bunch Of Double Features Begins With "Killer Klowns" and "The Crawling Eye"

Kicking off our “Svengoolie’s Halloween BOO-Nanza” month of October- tonight we present the first of our Saturday night double features- featuring belligerent bozos from beyond and awful ocular aliens! It’s two-for-one frightful fun with “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” and “The Crawling Eye”!

First- step right up for a clown show that’s anything but a laugh riot for small town of Crescent Cove-when local teen couple spot what appears to be a meteor streaking across the sky and coming down to earth not too far away-and decide to try finding it! ( Shades of “The Blob”!)

They arrive at what appears to be a sort of circus tent- which previously an old farmer and his dog discovered with nasty results. The teens Mike and Debbie enter this “tent” and find it is actually a massive space ship- crawling with bizarre clown-like aliens! The kids escape, but the “Klowns” set out after them and head for the town- with evil intentions.

Mike and Debbie have the typical horror film scenario of not being able to convince the authorities of the truth- running into the opposition of the teen-hating cop Mooney and a policeman who is Debbie’s ex, Dave.

While Mike convinces Dave to investigate, we see the Klowns are causing mayhem in town and claiming unfortunate victims through their mock circus shenanigans. The two must band together with a pair of goofy pals to save the town- and Klown victim Debbie- before they all become cotton-candied casualties!

As always, we’ll give some background on the 1988 film, run down the cast ( including John Vernon, best known as Dean Wormer in “Animal House” ). You’ll see me go through a sort of clown training boot camp, and check out a cable clown network, and more- including an interview from last year’s C2E2 with WWE Hall of Famers Amy “Lita” Dumas and Trish Stratus.

Then – we move to higher altitudes, where a mysterious mist conceals a deadly menace to mankind and poses a major threat when it moves downwards from the mountain peak towards a populated town! Terror dwells inside the mist – it’s “The Crawling Eye”!

The Swiss mountain Trollenberg seems almost cursed, as many of the climbers who came to scale its heights recently have met with a tragic death. Aboard a train approaching the mountain, we meet two sisters, Anne and Sarah Pilgrim, sharing a train compartment with Alan Brooks, a United Nations operative. As the train gets nearer to the Trollenberg, Anne suddenly faints! When she revives- even though they are supposed to continue on to Geneva-she insists that she and her sister disembark at the town by the foot of the mountain!

They all go to the hotel, owned and operated by the town mayor, Herr Klein- who seems very closed-mouthed about the recent demise of climbers. At his hotel , the group meets a young man, Philip Truscott, who recognizes that the two sisters are actually a famous mind reading act- with Anne being the one with the psychic powers. Truscott also seems unusually interested in what Brooks’ business is in coming to the area.

Brooks travels to an observatory high upon the mountain where he confers with an old friend, Professor Crevett, about the strange deaths of climbers recently. Both men are familiar with a similar mysterious event a few years ago in the Andes- where locals claimed something was living in the mist on a mountain!

While performing her mind-reading act with her sister, Anne suddenly seems to be channeling thoughts about the two men, and once again collapses. When Brooks and Truscott look for them at the basecamp cabin- they release the horror they are facing- as the misty cloud starts moving down the mountain towards the village- and the townsfolk must all get to safety- if there is even the chance of such a thing! The danger that lurks within the cloud is finally revealed- and may destroy the visitors, the entire population of the village, and even beyond!

We’ll talk about the original name and origin of this 1958 film and its cast, including “F-Troop” star Forrest Tucker and Janet Munro, promote a new beverage you might want to avoid, and much more to wind up our first Saturday night double dose of Sven!

The “Klown/Eye” combo will begin at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. Obviously, there will be twice the live-Tweeting o Twitter during the double feature-join in by using the hashtag #svengoolie . Our local Chicago market viewers will get another look at “Trilogy of Terror” at 11 am on our sister station CW26. ( IF those elsewhere have missed it- we will be running it again at a special later time the last Saturday of the month- as the last half of our “last Saturday before Halloween” double bill!

Don’t forget that, after our double feature, each Saturday night will continue with marathons of special spooky programming- this week, it’s the return of the Red Tuna of Terror- Sventoonie! And, of course, watch for Sunday blocks of great MeTV shows that are fright themed. You’ll find the schedules for all our special “BOO_nanza” offerings at metv.com .

Let us remind you that now is the time to head into the MeTV Mall for perfect seasonal items! We are very proud to have a special t shirt designed by our great comics artist friend Christopher Jones- which, for a limited time, can be bundled with the “Svengoolie: Lost in Time” comic book with the cover he created! You’ll find that and more in the store on our website- so order now- and check out the “appearances” tab as well to see where you can meet me in person!

Join us tonight for twice the terror on MeTV!