Urbana Public Television presents several Halloween-themed programs this weekend, including a horror movie marathon on our regular weekly show “The Dungeon of Dr. Dreck,” with classic sci-fi and horror B movies every Saturday at midnight!
Kicking off Halloween this Saturday at midnight, the wise-cracking mad scientist Dr. Dreck and his zombie cheerleader sidekick Moaner present two classic scary movies, “Terror in the Haunted House,” and Boris Karloff in “Black Sabbath.” “The Dungeon of Dr. Dreck” is seen every Saturday at midnight on UPTV, and features B movies in the horror, sci-fi and mystery genres, in classic late-night-TV-horror-host fashion. Other characters include Stu (a large talking rat), Shrunken Ed (a disembodied head) and Bigfoot (a large furry hand ala “White Fang”). The show is suitable for family viewing, and is produced by independent filmmaker Michael Legge for public access television in Massachusetts.
UPTV will also bring you several special Halloween programs. Sunday at midnight it’s “Midnite Mausoleum,” another classic late-night-TV-horror-host show; this one is from Iowa public access television, and features hosts Marlena Midnite and Robyn Graves. They’ll present one of the all-time classic surrealist horror films, “Carnival of Souls.”
And for some real-life mysteries, join us for two special editions of Link TV’s “Explore” series, hosted by Charles Annenberg. “The Salem Witch Hunt,” airing Saturday night at 8 pm and again Sunday night at 11:30 pm, is a stark portrayal of how mass hysteria engulfed the small Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. 150 citizens were eventually accused of witchcraft, and those that did not confess were hanged. And on “Space,” airing Sunday night at 11 pm, the Explore Team visits Roswell, New Mexico, the site of what some call the largest government cover-up of the past century: the Roswell UFO crash of 1947.
UPTV is the television service of the City of Urbana, providing governmental, educational and public access television to, and by, the local community. It is available on Comcast Channel 6 to over 40,000 homes in Urbana, Champaign, Savoy, Bondville, Philo, Ogden and St. Joseph, as well as in Springfield, Decatur and Danville on ATT U-Verse Channel 99. The complete program schedule is at www.urbanaillinois.us/uptv. Membership is free and entitles volunteers to free video and editing training and equipment use. For more information, contact UPTV at 217-384-2452 or at uptv@urbanaillinois.us.