From 1973 to 1987, Fright Night was a fixture of the late Saturday evening schedule on independent New York television station WOR-TV. A genre fan’s nightmare come true, the modestly produced showcase featured horror films both classic and obscure, from Universal’s Frankenstein series to such lesser-known delights as Beast of Blood and The Living Coffin.
Fright Night suffered no delusions of grandeur and never claimed to be anything more than what it was: great entertainment on a Saturday night. This thorough if affectionate tribute to Fright Night’s glory days includes a complete listing of all films shown on the series, as well as discussion of WOR-TV’s other horror movie programs from the 1970s and 1980s. Also featured are interviews with the major surviving players, including Fright Night creator Lawrence P. Casey.

James Arena is a New York-based author, host and commentator who has been featured on MSNBC, Fox, SiriusXM and other networks. He is the author of the pop culture books Fright Night on Channel 9, First Ladies of Disco and Legends of Disco and a recipient of a G.E.M.A. Foundation/City of Philadelphia award for preserving dance music history.

James Arena
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: 32 photos, filmography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6678-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8891-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      viii
Preface      1

Part One: The Story of Fright Night
1. The Awakening      3
2. The Station That Kong Built      8
3. The House of Steinbrunner      12
4. It’s Alive!      22
5. Dissecting Fright Night      24
6. Sam Sherman Invades Channel 9      29
7. Enter the Devil      41
8. A Ticket to the Tropics      46
9. Holiday Affairs      54
10. Voices in the Night      61
11. It Doesn’t Always Happen at Night      65
12. More, More, More      73
13. Postmortem      76

Part Two: The Films of Fright Night
Time Travelers      83
The Fright Night Experience      86

Index      205

• Honorable Mention, Rondo Hatton Award
• “Irresistible”—Video Watchdog
• “An intense study…top recommendations”—creepyclassics.com
• “In his friendly and warm (and sometimes delightfully humorous) writing style, Arena tells the inside story of one of New York TV’s most fondly recalled one-stop for a wide variety of genre flicks…a must…there is a story to be told here, and Arena was born to write it…highly recommended…indispensable”—dvddrive-in.com
• “Ecstatic vibe…nostalgia”—Bookgasm
• “A gem of interviews, anecdotal nostalgia…enjoyable reading…informative…vivid”—Zombos Closet
• “A mouthwatering history of New York City’s WOR-TV…will be a magical trip down memory lane”—Scary Monsters Magazine.