Last week, I discussed actor Cameron Mitchell's appearance in the film Nightmare in Wax. A few days later, I posted about my Halloween countdown of films from the Shock! package of Universal movies and the horror hosts who showed those films in their initial run on television in the 1950s and 1960s. Did you know that Cameron Mitchell also took a turn as a horror host?
Well, sort of. More accurately, he played a horror-host-STYLE character in Terror on Tape (1985). This was a shot-on-video production that featured Mitchell playing the proprietor of a video store that specializes in horror movies. A trio of customers come into the shop (including scream queen Michelle Bauer), each looking for the scariest and goriest films in existence. Mitchell shows them clips from various horror movies on a television set resting on the counter. The film keeps cutting back and forth between the video store and the movie clips, with Cameron enthusiastically introducing each segment with a cheesy flair that would make the best horror host proud.
This program was made by Comet Video and Continental Video, and the movie clips were all from films distributed by Continental.
The movies featured were:
Nightmare
The Eerie Midnight Horror Show
Frozen Scream
Cathy’s Curse
Return of the Alien’s Deadly Spawn
Ruby
Night Creature
Suicide Cult
Scalps
Slayer
2000 Maniacs
Blood Feast
Color Me Blood Red
To the Devil a Daughter
Kidnapping of the President
Vampire Hookers
Alien Prey
City of the Walking Dead
Bloodtide
Madhouse Mansion
The best I can tell, Comet Video shot this for Continental. Either it was a collaboration between the two, or perhaps Comet was a subsidiary of Continental. Either way, it was a clever idea from Continental. Put together a fun little video using clips from their catalog - Instant advertising for their own movies. Ingenious!
Terror on Tape was released straight to video and became a favorite of kids of a certain age who stumbled across it at their local video store. Nowadays, these tapes go for big money - a quick search on eBay showed listings between 150 - 400 dollars. However, I think 150 is the standard price you can expect to pay on VHS in 2025 depending on the quality of the tape. Someone has it for sale there on DVD as well, but it’s pretty cheap (and is probably just a rip from tape). It’s those original VHS tapes that are coveted by collectors.
This tape is a nostalgic snapshot of a bygone era,
an age of big-box VHS and mom-and-pop video stores.
This tape is a nostalgic snapshot of a bygone era, an age of big-box VHS and mom-and-pop video stores. The clips are fun, but the host segments are what really make this work. They’re campy and fun and Mitchell does a great job as the cornball spooky host. The fog-shrouded store is decorated with cobwebs and spooky artifacts, and Mitchell makes the most of it, shuffling about the set, conversing with skulls, and introducing the films with a hammy flair. It’s silly, ridiculous, and completely charming. Worth a look, you can find a copy on YouTube or archive.org.
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