Svengoolie’s March Schedule Will Spring Some Classic Monsters On You
March is here. The sun is starting to shine in more parts of the country, and spring is just around the corner. Why not celebrate with some new Svengoolie picks each Saturday night? This month, Svengoolie and his Sven Squad are back with some classic films featuring monsters, mummies, and of course, the “Merchant of Menace” himself, Vincent Price. Let’s take a look at the movies that will spook you this month, and as Svengoolie says himself in his newsletter, “Relax — we don’t have Night of the Lepus or Leprechaun among our films for this month — but we do have some other classic characters to spring on you!”
All films begin at 8/7c, every Saturday night on MeTV.
March 7: Son of Frankenstein
Everett Collection
The third entry in Universal’s Frankenstein franchise may be one of its most visually striking, and it carries special significance for classic horror fans. Released in 1939, Son of Frankenstein marked Boris Karloff‘s final appearance as the Monster in the series, while also introducing Bela Lugosi‘s unforgettable Ygor, a role many critics consider the finest performance of his career. Basil Rathbone stars as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, who returns to his father’s castle hoping to restore the family name, only to discover that the past is very much alive. Directed by Rowland V. Lee, the film leans into towering Expressionist sets and features Lionel Atwill‘s Inspector Krogh, a character later parodied in Young Frankenstein. Son of Frankenstein is widely regarded as the last of the great Universal Frankenstein films and a fitting place to begin Svengoolie’s March lineup.
March 14: House of Svengoolie Presents: Friday the 13th (1980)
Paramount/Everett Collection
The Sven Squad is hosting this classic! Released May 9, 1980, Friday the 13th follows a group of camp counselors trying to reopen an abandoned summer camp, only to be picked off one by one as Camp Crystal Lake’s past comes roaring back. It was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, written by Victor Miller, and released directly in the wake of Halloween. What makes the first film especially fun to revisit is how different it is from the franchise image people carry around now. The killer in this original entry is Pamela Voorhees, played by Betsy Palmer, and while Jason does appear, he is not the primary on-screen threat driving the film’s body count here. It remains one of the films that inspired the modern slasher movie.
March 21: The Mummy’s Hand
Everett Collection
Universal didn’t bring the iconic Mummy back by repeating The Mummy (1932); they brought it back by pivoting into a faster, more adventurous film. Released September 20, 1940, The Mummy’s Hand introduces Kharis, a reanimated tomb guardian kept “alive” through a tana-leaf brew, and then unleashed when a group of would-be treasure hunters stumbles too close to the wrong burial site. The film was produced after the box-office success of Son of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man Returns, and it openly cuts costs by reusing footage from The Mummy and by lifting most of its score from Son of Frankenstein. The result is not a true sequel or remake, but a reset that establishes the Kharis template that carried Universal’s later mummy films, with The Mummy’s Tomb following in 1942.
March 28: House on Haunted Hill
Everett Collection
William Castle‘s House on Haunted Hill is one of the best examples of late ’50s “showman horror.” Premiering January 14, 1959, the film stars Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren, who offers five strangers $10,000 each to spend the night in a rented “haunted” mansion after the doors lock at midnight, with increasingly horrifying games to play. What cemented the film’s reputation was Castle’s signature gimmick, “Emergo”, where some theaters literally flew a skeleton over the audience at a key moment, turning the screening into an event. For an extra layer of classic Hollywood, the exterior house shots were filmed at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House in Los Feliz, while most interiors were built on sound stages in a deliberately mixed style. Made on an estimated $200,000 budget and reportedly earning about $2.5 million, it is a prime example of how Castle could turn a modest production into a lasting cult classic.
Which night are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments!
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