American Scary

{{Infobox film

| name = American Scary

| image = AmericanScary.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = John E. Hudgens

| producer = Sandy Clark

| writer = {{Plainlist|

Sandy Clark
John E. Hudgens

}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music =

| distributor = Cinema Libre Studio

| released = {{film date|2006|10||Hollywood Film Festival}}

| runtime = 92 minutes

| language = English

| country = United States

| budget =

}}

American Scary is a 2006 American documentary film about the history and legacy of classic television horror hosts, written and directed by American independent filmmakers John E. Hudgens and Sandy Clark.

Background

The film features nearly 60 horror hosts,{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-10-29-horror-hosts_N.htm|title=Halloween horror hosts rise again on radio, TV, film|newspaper=USA Today|date=October 20, 2007 | first=David | last=Colton | accessdate=April 23, 2010}} including interviews with and vintage clips of many of the genre's stars, such as Washington, DC's Count Gore De Vol, New York City's Zacherley, Los Angeles' Vampira, Cleveland's Ghoulardi, and Chicago's Svengoolie, among others. Non-host celebrities such as Neil Gaiman, Tim Conway, Forrest J Ackerman, Tom Savini, Leonard Maltin, Joel Hodgson, and Bob Burns appear{{cite magazine |url=http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6635312.html|title=Video Review Spotlight: American Scary|magazine=Library Journal|date=February 6, 2009}} to reminisce about the influence of horror hosts on their careers and/or lives, as well as many modern hosts who keep the tradition alive in modern shows on public-access television cable TV or the internet.

Release

The film premiered in October 2006 at the Hollywood Film Festival,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.variety.com/awardcentral_article/VR1117952264.html|title=Out of Africa, off the beaten path|magazine=Variety|date=October 22, 2006 | first=Anthony | last=D'Alessandro}} and was released on DVD in February 2009.{{cite web|url=http://dvd.ign.com/articles/955/955823p1.html|title=American Scary DVD Review|website=IGN.com|date=February 20, 2009|access-date=March 24, 2009|archive-date=February 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223130256/http://dvd.ign.com/articles/955/955823p1.html|url-status=dead}} In April 2010, it won the award for Best Independent Production of 2009 at the 8th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.{{cite news |url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/36794/8th-annual-rondo-hatton-award-winners-announced|title=8th Annual Rondo Hatton Award Winners Announced|publisher=DreadCentral.com|date=April 6, 2010 | accessdate=October 7, 2010}}