Shocking Me Right Outta My Brain
Article by Bindi Lavelle

Horror in various forms has joyfully appeared on our TV screens from the early 1960s. While in the 60s horror was more a part (by-product even) of the thriving science-fiction genre over the subsequent decades, horror has carved its own niche for itself in TV-land.

Previously here in Bindi's Bloodbath, we have looked at the massively influential series' Hammer House of Horror and The Outer Limits. These programs established the short, self-contained story format adopted by many descendants: think The Hunger and Masters of Horror as well as Night Gallery and Tales From The Crypt (which will be discussed further in this article).

A distinct feature of horror is its ability to fuse with any genre, think of the vast array of sub-genres there are under he banner of horror. This feature was utilized particularly in the medium of television, where horror (with some obvious exceptions) where horror was, as it were 'made for TV' , or rather made a tad more palatable for a TV audience.

Rod Sterling's Night Gallery is a prime example of this. As a follow up to the popular Twilight Zone, it kept snugly within the format of its predecessor, but Night Gallery did break away and define itself by being a horror TV show rather than simply having horror elements.

And then naturally came, Tales From The Crypt. Based on the EC comics series, Tales From The Crypt, like Night Gallery had a narrator, the ghoulish Crypt-Keeper; the Crypt-Keeper, didn't give ominous warnings or moral lectures, preferring dark humour filled with countless puns. The episodes themselves were loaded with plenty of gore and sex, which although fairly common in horror films was not seen on the small screen until lovingly served up by the Crypt-Keeper.

And then of course there is Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which made vampires into teen sex symbols long before Twilight and spawned a multitude of clones. Buffy was a seven year saga in which the character encountered pretty much every monster ever created. Many have attempted to copy Whedon's post-modern humour, unsuccessfully, largely because they do not have the pop culture knowledge to balance horror and humour.

There is a lot to be explored with theses examples and as such each one will have its own feature in the coming weeks.