Saturday, October 29, 2011 Halloween Countdown: Monster NIght 1998

There used to be a time when Halloween meant all-night creature features on local tv.  Here in Chicago we were spoilt for choice as WGN and the various UHF stations would break out the best ghoulish goodies their syndication packages had to offer - Universal, Hammer, and Toho - well into the early hours of All Saints' Day.

The cable boom and the rise of the infomercial have put an end to that era.  Yeah, some basic cable outlets put on their own fright-fests, but they tend to be rather anemic affairs that stick to the glossy, brain-dead crap that have be filling multiplexes for the last decade or so, as anything older alienates the most desirable demographics.  On the other hand, the wonders of DVD has enabled bitter old geeks like me to create our own monster movie marathons

One of the last gasps of traditional creature features actually took place overseas.  Way back in 1998, BBC2 broadcast an entire night of giant monster mayhem hosted by comedian Bill Bailey.  In addition to such kaiju classics as King Kong vs. Godzilla and Gamera vs. Gyaos, programming included an original documentary (Godzilla, King of the Monsters), a clip show (Lee and Hering's Reasonably Scary Monsters), and wraparound segments featuring Bailey, Phil Jupitus and Chris Moyles.  Tonight, I'm sharing everything but the movies themselves, via an avi rip of an old off-air VCR recording.  While it's entertaining enough on its own, I'm listing the movies originally shown you can recreate BBC2's Monster Night in its entirety if you're ambitious or really, really bored.  

BBC2 Monster Night (1998)
699mb

Godzilla vs Ebirah
King Kong vs Godzilla
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (under the title Gamera vs Gyaos)
King Kong (1976)
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)