Cameron Mitchell, Horror Host

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.

Made in Wax

FROZEN INTO ZOMBIES
DOOMED TO UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS . . .

There’s just something cool about movies set in wax museums. Perhaps it’s that uncanny valley effect of the lifelike yet still disturbing figures, or maybe it’s that so many wax museums specialize in horror and gore. Whatever the reason, I really dig them, and studios obviously agree with me, as they’ve made great settings for films through the years. I decided to watch one of these this weekend, the 1969 schlocker from Crown International, Nightmare in Wax.

 Now, before I get started, let me make one thing clear. This is in no way what would be considered a “good” film. It’s cheap, poorly paced, and trashy. Story-wise, it’s basically a rip-off of the much better House of Wax (starring Vincent Price). But I gotta admit, the trashy aesthetic of this film is 100% in my wheelhouse.

It stars Cameron Mitchell, who is one of my favorite actors. He was in a ton of cheap and low-budget pictures but always delivered, despite the quality of material he was given. He stars in this one as Vincent Renard, the proprietor of a wax museum who is a former Hollywood special effects artist. We eventually learn that he was permanently (and intentionally) maimed by the head of the studio he worked for and blinded in one eye, which is why he wears an eye patch. Recently, star actors of the studio have come up missing. Guess you can see where this one’s going! The police investigate Vincent and have a few questions, especially as he’s created lifelike figures of each of the actors who have come up missing. We eventually learn Vincent has a unique method for creating such realistic work involving hypnotism and a secret serum that turns people into catatonic zombies for his dioramas.

I love that Cameron’s character is named Vincent in this one. It’s a neat little nod to Vincent Price that had to be intentional. It is also appropriate that he has an eye patch, as the director of House of Wax, Andre De Toth, was blind in one eye and wore a patch as well. This was written by Rex Carlton, the writer and producer of The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. This one has a touch of that same sleaze feel to it that Brain has. It was directed by Bud Townsend, who also directed Terror at the Red Wolf Inn in 1972.

 

Despite its low-budget, cheap sets, and poor pacing, I think Nightmare in Wax is still fun and worth a watch. It would be nice if there was a remastered version out there somewhere—this could be just the type of film someone like Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome should restore. I think it would improve a lot from being cleaned up, both audio and video-wise.