It’s 11:45 PM on a night in 1940. You and your friends are sitting in a darkened movie theater, but instead of a film, you are watching a tuxedoed magician lay a beautiful young woman into a coffin, close the lid… And light the thing on fire!
As the girls cover their eyes in horror, the guys wait in anticipation of the next gruesome moment of fear, when their wives and girlfriends would grab onto them for reassurance… All of this, and a midnight horror move for the price of a single ticket…
Alive!! On Stage!! The Return of the Midnite Spook Show takes you back to the heyday of this lost piece of Americana, the Spook Show, where the nomadic Ghostmasters traveled from town to town like a carnival, enticing theatre owners and audiences alike, with FEAR.
This one phenomenon helped to spawn our collective fascination with the macabre. Everything from haunted houses to late night TV horror hosts, and so much more, entered our popular culture thanks to the Ghostmasters and the Spook Show tradition.
We’ve traveled the nation, seeking out the few remaining Old-School Ghostmasters, the newest generation of their counterparts, and many of the oddities of pop culture we now take for granted that the Spook Show helped to create.
Their stories would have been lost to us, their faces forgotten. And we owe them nearly every scary moment we’ve ever experienced.
We have what may be the final recorded interviews with some of the greatest Ghostmasters who ever lived, and have captured the memories of those who knew them and saw them perform as well.
Magic historians, scholars of horror, and “monster kids” all excitedly lent us a hand (we might give them back sometime).
You will see on-camera interviews with the likes of Phil Morris (Dr. Evil), Daniel Roebuck (Doc Shocker), Myron St. John (Dr. Silkini 1981-1983), Rick Allen (Ral Kelmar), Keith Stickley (Dr. Scream), Pete Biro (author & historian), Paul Counelis (author), Todd Robbins (Play Dead), and many more.
Our cameras will take you inside the haven of international magicians, The Magic Castle, explore the spectacle of the Mansfield Reformatory, check out the latest horror and magic convention crazes, and give you a peek behind the scenes of reviving the Spook Show for the modern audience.
From Michigan and Ohio to L.A., Atlanta, and New York, we’ve scoured the country to bring you the first complete documentary film covering this fabulous, kitschy, and nearly lost art form.
Are you comfortable in your seat? Grab the nearest person and hold on tight… It’s almost time for the BLACKOUT!
Featuring the music of Midnight Syndicate, with a new song by Mark Mikel. Written and Directed by Jeff Markin and Produced by Christine Potter.
Coming Soon (If we survive!)