Local film fans live their dream as TV horror film hosts

Date: 7/19/2022

John Dobrydnio of Amherst is a proud “monster kid,” the phrase used by horror film fans to describe someone who fell in love with the genre as a child. He read “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine, the bible for all monster kids growing up in the 1960s and ’70s. He put together the plastic models of the classic Universal Pictures monsters. He combed “TV Guide” each week to see what films were on that week.

Some of those films were on programs with hosts dressed as ghouls, witches and mad scientists. For today’s audiences Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark, and Svengoolie on Me-TV are two of the contemporary hosts.

Today, he is now one of those hosts. Along with his friend Marty Caron of Palmer, they are the team behind “Graveyard Cinema,” a cable access program produced at M-PACT TV in Palmer and seen on cable access stations in Palmer, Springfield, Salem and Shelburne Falls, as well as around the world on The Monster Channel streaming service.

Specifically, Dobrydnio is “Horrible Henry” and Caron is “Mad Marty.”

Clad in sinister monk robes and wearing pale make-up, the team introduces classic horror films such as Bela Lugosi’s “White Zombie” and the first version of “Dracula,” titled “Nosteratu.” They also feature some films that don’t have that pedigree, such as mid-1940s B movies such as “Dead Men Walk,” as well as 1970s exploitation fare as “Satan’s School for Girls.”

Dobrydnio was inspired by the horror hosts he saw as a kid, which he described to Reminder Publishing as “destination viewing” for him. He recalled watching some films with less-than-pristine prints, but “that didn’t matter.”

He said that he and Caron never had the intention to be horror film hosts, but when they discovered there was a resurgence in the format, they started their own show in 2016.

It is “a complete labor of love,” he said.

The two men, along with the assistance of Ryan Shepard of M-PACT TV, produce and write a show that does include some comedy bits and ad-libbing, but also contains much love for the genre.
He said, “One thing we don’t do is ever the knock the movie.”

They’ve featured some rarities such as “Black Moon,” a 1934 voodoo movie, as well as the seldom seen Filipino horror film “Terror is a Man” and “Horror Express,” a fun hybrid horror, science fiction adventure film with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

He stressed that he and Caron work to find the best prints available of the films they show.
One show featured the 1939 animated feature “Gulliver’s Travels,” which Dobrydnio described as a “bold move,” as it is not a horror film. He said all of the films they show are in the public domain, so shows like theirs often are selecting from the same pool of films. He thought it would be fun to have an animated film that could be tied into the idea of Saturday morning cartoon show, another fixture of his childhood.

For this show, he and Caron did a comedy bit about watching cartoons and eating cereal – something that was a fixture in the childhood of boomers – and the pair bought a case of Quisp cereal for the segment.

He readily admitted his favorite episode featured the 1932 film “White Zombie,” a movie many historians believe is Bela Lugosi’s most successful film next to “Dracula.”

The list of films they have presented is substantial and Dobrydnio said, “Part of doing the show exposed us to things we’ve never seen before.”

The pair assemble 10 shows at a time, which is one season, and record them at M-PACT TV. They have concluded their most recent season and will start another one next spring.

“We try to bring the monster kid-ness into it,” Dobrydnio said.

The Monster Channel (www.themonsterchannel.com) airs their show on 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. on Fridays.
To watch the show either add The Monster Channel to your list of streaming services or go to www.mpact.tv and search for Graveyard Cinema under videos. Additional information can be found on the show’s Facebook page.