- Tonight I'd like to welcome Professor Griffin of "The Midnight Shadow Show"
Professor, there are some folks out there who are not familiar with you and your show. Could you share with us something about yourself and the show?
Here’s the gist of what I do each and every week. I HOST horror…I exhibit terror, and I display the greatest shockers and chillers ever preserved to film. (Or digital, or whatever media the kids are using these days!) I do NOT mock these films…(well, very seldom) I honor them. Horror entertainment is not something that is reserved for the month of October (despite what some television station managers think) it is as common in our everyday as breathing. Most of the time, we just don’t realize it.
The show itself begins in blackness and with the tolling of a distant midnight bell…suddenly with a CRACK of thunder and a flash of lightning (staples I know, but a classic is a classic) various scenes of horror throughout history are revealed as flickering shadows in this darkness. As this montage of fright proceeds, the VOICE of my boss, Prof. Bruno Lampini (Forrest J. Ackerman) begins to intone: 'Midnight looms before us and the shadows begin to lengthen. I, Prof. Bruno Lampini, have entrusted ONE MAN to exhibit these shadows. The mad master of the macabre, your host and my protégée, Prof. Anton Griffin. Join him now as he parts the curtains and invites brave souls into Prof. Griffin’s Midnight Shadow Show!'
Bizarre carnival music and our theme (‘The Midnight Shadow Show’ and ‘Return to the Shadow Show’) begins next and was actually composed and performed by the very talented Winslow Leech…no…I’m kidding.
Tim Giardot is the music mastermind behind the Shadow Show theme(s).
Also included in our opening, is an animated sequence that was created to resemble carnival attraction posters and come-ons. Garish and cartoonish, but edgy in an all-too familiar way…Eugene Romero is the animator who graciously created and provided this segment for us. This animated sequence leads into the main title, and the curtains part.
The next thing viewers will see is my number one assistant, Usher, who welcomes guests into the exhibition hall, tears tickets, and directs the audience to ‘take their seats, the show’s about to begin' then she intros me.
I emerge from behind a curtained elevated stage and begin to bark…(no, not like Larry Talbot). I describe the horror and the terror they are about to experience…and lead the lucky patrons into the dark.
Usually. That’s the structure as set by Lampini, and countless showmen before me. Sometimes, we take a diversion…but well…that’s show biz! Hehehehe.
- How long have you been on the air?
We’ve been on the air every Friday Night at 11:00 on Time Warner Cable Channel 16 in Austin, San Antonio and San Marcos. Access gave us the ability to have our stuff broadcast and build a fan base. Prof. Griffin’s Midnight Shadow Show is produced with a partnership with Broom Closet Studios (www.broomclosetstudio.com) and we have our own production facilities, studios and equipment. We broadcast on Time Warner Cable Channel 16.
The simple truth was, affiliate television was interested in us ONLY as hosts on the air in October. They believed (and still do) that horror hosts are a seasonal thing and not something that can work throughout the year. In October we are asked to host on almost all the affiliates, especially in the week leading to Halloween. But as soon as November 1st rolls along, it’s BACK to Griffin manor and access for us.
We were signed with an independent commercial channel, The Austin Music Network for some time, and on that channel, we were broadcast on streaming video online and we reached viewers from across the country and even the world. Sadly, AMN is no more, and the online show has ended as well.
AMN (The Austin Music Network) lost its channel space on Time Warner to a new entity calling itself The Austin Music Partners. This group consisted of private investors with big money who eyed the channel space on Time Warner and saw the potential for a major commercial enterprise. (Ad space, sponsors etc.) Austin Music Network was a commercial channel, but also co-funded by the city of Austin as a non-profit. In other words, the funds collected through sponsorship and advertising with local Austin businesses went directly into the management and day to day operations of the channel.
Griffin & Lampini
We have appeared on Spike TV hosting a Ghouls Gone Wild TV segment last October, and our popularity in Austin has given us many opportunities to make live appearances in conjunction with horror film events. We hosted live at the World Premiere of Freddy Vs. Jason, we hosted an all-night horror movie event with Tobe Hooper as part of the Austin Film Festival and we introduced the premiere showing of IFC’s American Nightmare documentary.
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My introducing the panel for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 at the Dallas Texas Frightmare Convention will be included as an extra for the new DVD release…and I am featured in the new horror host documentary, American Scary.
- Will you have a program airing on Fangoria TV?
Yes, yes we will. Our signing with Fangoria TV was a long long long process… We were in talks with literally EVERY proposed Horror Channel to come down the pike…finally we chose…Fangoria TV! THIS channel was founded by Thomas De Feo. DeFeo owned his own successful production company, Moe Greene Entertainment, and bought Fangoria and Starlog magazine and decided (wisely) to brand the channel and the output with the most recognizable name in horror. Since we were on the plate of the other channels for so long, we were asked to talk to Fangoria TV about signing with them.
Immediately, I saw that this was the wisest way to go… this was a business operated for success. Even good ol’ Dee Snider jumped ship from The Scream Channel and joined Fangoria TV. And being associated with the name, ‘Fangoria’ is a real treat.
So for over a year now, we’ve been signed with them.
In latest Griffin/Fangoria TV news, we are working steadily with Fangoria TV to produce the national version of the Midnight Shadow Show and developing lots of new programs and ideas.
We recently upgraded all our personal equipment to HD for the second feature film we just shot (The Magnificent Dead) so we have all the capabilities to shoot whatever they need in the format they prefer.
(The last three episodes of Prof. Griffin's Midnight Shadow Show are shot in HD and it's funny to see the set and us in High Definition and letterboxed!)
Also, Fango TV just flew us up to NYC to shoot trivia and horror history bumps that will be used throughout the channel and quite possibly as podcast / downloadable video. It’s a great partnership but it takes a lot of patience. I believe in the folks at Fangoria and I am certain that the channel will launch and be a success…it’s just taking a little bit of time. That’s ok. We can wait to make sure it’s done correctly.
- Are you scheduled for any live appearances?
The first appearance that I am scheduled for is in Austin and the surrounding areas in October. I am the Goodwill Halloween Costume Spokesperson and each year we appear live at local Haunted Houses, and Goodwill locations to promote the costumes, and our show as well. I'll also be appearing at the Cinema Wasteland Convention in Ohio, and in June at the "Weekend of Horrors" in Burbank, Ca.
- One last question, I realize that you have several favorite horror films, could you name three of them?
Oh that’s easy….Frankenstein (1931), The Abominable Dr. Phibes, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (original, please).
- Thank you Professor for a wonderful interview. by Denise Kaminsky - October 2006
