If you were a kid growing up in San Antonio in the ’70′s, do you remember Project Terror? Do you remember that infamous voiceover intro (see above)? How about Screaming Meemies in the early ’80s? If you weren’t around then, you missed out! Project Terror was a cheesy, b-movie horror showcase that aired on KENS-TV (Ch. 5), Friday nights at midnight. I was in my single digits and would watch this at my grandma’s house with my sister. We would make “witches’ brew” popsicles — Coca-Cola mixed with orange juice, frozen solid in an icetray. We ate it like food of the gods, watched the flicks, had the bejeezus scared out of us, and usually fell asleep before the ending. They’re some of my best childhood memories. 
Little wonder that horror was one of my first loves as a kid, and would become a significant part of my professional career as a cover illustrator. Ditto for my pal Vincent Villafranca. He’s a Chesley Award-winning sculptor who grew up in South Texas during those years. We spoke about Project Terror last week and were both amazed at the influence it had on our childhoods.
And then there was Screaming Meemies, another weekly horror film series. That aired on Saturday afternoons on KENS-TV. I think this was in the early ’80′s. I vividly remember my mother doing laundry and ironing and we’d watch all of the old 1930′s Universal horror classics like BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE INVISIBLE MAN, and as the weeks went along, the series would run horror films of the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, including the UK’s Hammer horror films. I loved them all, and I loved their posters just as much.
Looking at what I do for a living these days, as a professional illustrator for sf, fantasy, and horror books, it’s not a stretch to see where it all began. I suspect Grandma Picacio and my mother never quite saw all of this coming. Then again, maybe they did. So how ’bout it, San Antonio? Anyone else remember Project Terror? Screaming Meemies? Let’s hear it!
Absolutely do I remember Screaming Meemies and Project Terror! I’ll never forget Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein on a lazy Saturday “Screaming Meemies” afternoon. And I think I saw The Creature from the Black Lagoon on a Project Terror one night. Wasn’t that show hosted by some guy dressed as the Grim Reaper or some hooded executioner or something? I could’ve sworn that guy was also known for really bad jokes. The horror!!
When I was a kid, I loved those Abbott & Costello movies. Was A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN the one that had Dracula and the Wolfman in it too? Complete lunacy, but back then, I thought having all three in one film was the greatest thing ever. Wish I could remember the Grim Reaper guy. For some reason, I think that was a Saturday afternoon thing too, but I’m not sure if it was Screaming Meemies. I wish there was YouTube of those intros. The Project Terror video is a re-creation, but it’s pretty accurate as far as I remember.
OMG! I almost jumped outta my chair when I saw the logo…and then a movie play button. They did a good job of re-creating the intro. Loved that intro and shows.
Hah! Right on, Gilberto. Really glad you dug it. Definitely brings back some good memories….
I remember Project Terror! It was a great show to watch at sleep overs or with my siblings. I remember waiting for Fridays so we could watch it. I think the intro sometimes was more scary than the movies. Those were great times. As for Screaming Meemies this was an afternoon show on Saturdays that was perfect for ending a morning of watching cartoons. I loved watching the Abbott and Costello movies. Thanks for the recreation of the Project Terror intro.
I remember watching Project Terror on Friday nights with my mom and my brothers. We would make hot dogs and popcorn and pretend that we were at one of the drive-ins, mainly Trail, Varsity & the Mission. About 18 years back I started “Project Terror” night with my kids, on Halloween night, to give them the same experience that I have had when I was a kid. Now “Project Terror” night is almost as big as Christmas for my family. My nephew and nieces as well as my kids start asking me in summer if I had decided on what movies I would show. Seeing this old Project Terror Intro brought back memories. Thanks
My husband and I were just thinking about some of the movies we watched on “Sreaming Meemies”. We remember Abbott & Costello, Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, and of course Creature From The Black Lagoon, which I particularly remember because it frightened me more than the rest lol. I can also recall (please correct me if I’m wrong)my parents would run out to the corner store 7 eleven or Stop and Go and get my 4 brothers & sisters and I 3-D glasses just to watch the movies, purchase required of course lol. I have to say that is one of the happiest memories I have. Screaming Meemies is the reason why to this day, I’m 38 now, I am completely hooked on Horror movies!!!
“Screaming Meemies” is the one show that got hooked on horror movies for life!!! I remember Abbott & costello, Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dracula, Wolfman, and the one that really frightened me, Creature from the Black Lagoon! I also recall my parents running to the corner store 7 eleven or Stop and Go to get me and my brothers and sisters 3-D glasses to watch the movies! I wish Kens 5 would bring this show back at least just for a limited time! Watching Sreaming Meemies on Saturday is one of the fondest memories i have!!!
I remember the ‘Screaming Meemies’. I looked it up online just in case anyone else remembered. I guess it was a San Antonio thing. Thanks for mentioning it. I also remember that some Saturdays it was Sci-Fi, sometimes it was Kung Fu or karate, and sometimes it was the Screaming Meemies. They were all good.
just hearing that voice. i used hide my face, it scared the shit out of me.
Hey there. That TV with the Project Terror Logo on it, is mine. Howard Harris Here. I used to watch it all the time and Loved it. I have the intro on Video Tape. I am going to transfer it on the computer soon and put it on youtube for everyone to enjoy. I got it from a good bud around 20 years ago. I was hoping to trade it to some hardcore Horror freak, Who had any Shock Theater Or any Horror shows from SA Back in the day or any Captain Gus Footage. I know Dennis is the only one with Footage of Captain Gus. He is a real nice guy and I hope he gets Them out for us to see some day. I was waiting for him, so he could put this on his video. It is taken him a while, so I decided to go ahead and Up load this soon. I will Post here and On Gone But not forgotten San Antonio part 2 when I do. Take care. HHW
BTW If anyone would like to look at my Horror collection, Here it is. I have around Half of it out. It is under HHwolfman. I hope you enjoy it.
http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=106.0
Hi, Howard! Great stuff. Thx for sharing w/ everyone. Much appreciated!
Thanks, I will let you know when I post the Project Terror Intro. HHW
I have just posted the original Project Terror Intro ON Utube. Happy Halloween Everyone. HHW
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Thanks Wolfman!
I grew up in Austin from 1956/1968 and received the San Antonio stations via a rudimentary cable system. Needless to say, PROJECT TERROR was a major influence on me in those years. If I recall correctly, KENS-TV also ran a locally produced science-fiction series which featured episodes of SPACE GHOST. Does anyone recall what it was?
Hi, Michael –
I remember SPACE GHOST, but not the locally produced sf series. Amazed that you were able to get Project Terror up in Austin too. Very cool.
I remember Project Terror. It was what me and my sister looked forward to every friday. My mom would make us pizza popcorn and nachos and she called it party. And I tell you what if I got punished for something I did NO PROJECT TERROR. Saddness:(. I watched so many project terror movies that I now have many of them on DVD I just wish I could have the intro. It’s so nice to read that there were so many families like my own that enjoyed such a campy little show that will forever hold wonderful childhood memories. By the way way before screaming meemies there was a saturday show in which I think I remember came on at 1:00, was shock. The screen would have Frankenstein standing over the word SHOCK.
You can now find the actual intro to Project Terror on YouTube. All those memories from the 70s came flooding back. Good stuff indeed.
I loved watching this on Friday nights. Even though of was cheesy. Great to see someone recognizes it.
Project Terror was a weekly tradition at my house! I absolutely loved it! Here’s one, does anyone remember “5 Star Shock”? I believe this was the local channel 5 weekend horror offering.
P.S. Project Terror was the late night horror show, 5 Star Shock was, I think, a Saturday afternoon show.
OMG… I have been looking for this intro for years. I was but a little kid when this show would come on on Friday night. I was alone in the living room, light were off. I waited to see the intro..then the sound of rushing air came on and that little green light in the center of the TV grew..I was caught like a deer in the headlights. I COULD’NT MOVE!!! Then the Klaxon came on and Joe Alston did his famous (to me) intro! “Project Terror..where the scientific..and the terrifying emerge!” That finished me off, leaving me screaming to the kitchen. Then my mom would send me to bed! Hells Bells! that was the last place i wanted to be. I remember watching “the Blob” on project terror. That movie gave me a nightmare that continued after i woke up and went back to sleep! Thanks for the bringing the intro!! it was very theraputic. LONG LIVE HORROR AND SCI-FI MOVIES!
Do you remember the Kono Mystery theater? my neighbor was the woman screaming.. i just love that some one remembers that! project error used to scare the H@@@ out of thanks for the memories. 12 star final…ba ding bing captain gus was the voice for project terror..
So very pleased to hear that “Project Terror” intro again. I lived for Friday nights! On Saturday afternoon, after a Tarzan, Charlie Chan, or Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) movie, was Five Star Shock Theater.
Haha,
That intro scared the crap out of me. I loved staying up late and watching those movies. Good times.
I haven’t lived in SA for 30 years, but I remember watching Shock and Capt. Gus. Wasn’t there another show called Danger Room with Col. Hawk? He was a safari guy with an eye patch and showed Jungle Jim movies. Those always bummed me out because Johnny Weismueller was Jungle Jim and it always felt like Tarzan got old and had to take a real job. Some one ought to write down a chronology. I watched in the mid to late fifties. There was Shock that later evolved into Five-star Shock, for reasons I never understood. And I remember Project Terror. I also saw a lot of way cool movies on The Best of Hollywood in the afternoons. And Wasn’t there a late-night movie on weeknights?
Project Terror ,,, what great memories ,,, ranks right up there with Capt Gus ,,, Ahoy, Mateys! Ba Ding Bing
I would like to know if we could purchase these episodes I really enjoyed them as a child. I still remember my brother and sisters looked forward every friday night to see it.
ATTN: fellow old folks. I have started a blog that catalogs all the old films that local stations here in SA used to show on Saturday afternoons when we where children in the 70′s and 80′s. I have about a year and a half up and will add a month each day.
Each post is one month of the year. I have added as many clips, trailer etc.. as I could. I plan on doing the same for Project Terror as soon as this blog is done.
Have fun rekindling the memories.
http://oldsamovies.blogspot.com/
Man, if you don’t remember Project Terror you were not a child of the 70′s in SA.
I remeber Project Terror. My older cousin, my younger cousing and I would stay up late on Friday nights. Our mother’s worked the over night shift at the hospital and we would be up all night, I suspect because we were too scared to go to sleep……..Boy those were the good ole days……..lol
greetings monster kids!!!!
i literally dare ya to take idle hands with remote controlll… and flick through yer television sets every thursday and saturday night to tomb into san antonio’s(yes san antonio!)ONLY late night after midnight spookshow BLOODSHOT THEATRE at 12:30 if ya miss that kinda stuff. BLOODSHOT THEATRE is sa’s home for the denizens of the dark!!!! ghulunatics, slasher kids, and of corpse monster kids!!!! if you like 70s-80s classic horror(or just plain horror!) check it out every thursday and saturday night at 12:30 only on time warner digital PATV channel 20!!!! if ya dont have time warner digital then creep on over to http://www.youtube.com/skullmask5 to see what yer missing. after all if it hadnt been for shows like PROJECT TERROR(and my mom) BLOODSHOT THEATRE wouldnt exist today( going on 7 years based RIGHT here in san antonio texas!!!!). so take a return to those ol’ days of fright shows and horror hosts(and when tv was tv)tomb in tommorow tonight!!!! and as always KEEP WATCHING TO KEEP THE DEAD LIVING!!!!
Dig ya later….
^v^J.R.^v^
friday nights! what a time when i was a kid(7-12yrs old).friday night high school football, then home to wait for project terror to start, what an intro that show had. sometimes i would flip back and forth from project terror to the midnight special(hosted by wolfman jack) on nbc. then after project terror the night owl theatre would come on, which would show old movies, i remember watching a few shirley temple movies. during the week the tv signals would cut by midnight, staying up past midnight on friday night(actually saturday morning) i thought i was doing something special. what a time!
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I remember watching Project Terror on Friday nights on KENS 5 and Screaming Meemies on Saturday afternoons on KSAT 12 as a kid growing up in the 1970s!! I recall the mix of American, European and Asian horror films on Project Terror as well as a mix of science fiction and horror movies on Screaming Meemies from the 1930s through the 1970s. I usually enjoyed watching them by myself as well as enjoying my favorite junk food! I am 41 now and have collected many of those films on vhs and dvd throughout the years. Its GREAT to relive those wonderful memories!!! Wish they would bring these two shows back just to please some of us retro fans and let younger horror fans experience some cool Hammer Horror from Britain as well as Italian, Spanish and German films that were badly dubbed for the American market!!!!
I loved Project Terror as a kid -and like the author of this article, hold memories of staying up late and trying my best to make it through the entire movie w/o falling asleep as some of my most cherished.
I feel badly that kids today are missing out on this kind of fun – bring back the horror hosts of old!
Hi ! my name is mike , i remeber both project terror and screamie meemies very well. Which got me here . I just thinking about them and ask my wife if she watched them . Talk about the best time of my life , eventhough i just a kid . I happen to have copies of Abbott and Castello meet frankenstein , and meet the mummy . I watch them in October , being a horror and halloween fan and all . lol . Hey sometimes you can still be a kid at heart …. Mike Lazo …
Oh My Gosh! I loved project terror! I was the only person in my family that watched the show. Needless to say, it was a little scary by myself in the dark and I was in elementary school! We moved to Houston in ’72 when I was 10 so that was the end of Project Terror for me. BUT who could every forget the likes of “The Man with the XRay Eyes” or “The Crawling Eye”?
I loved “Project Terror”!! We use to watch it every Friday night along with hot buttered popcorn and bedrolls. We usually had friends spend the night to watch some scary movies and stay up half the night talking about all the “cool stuff” we had just watched!
Got a question for anyone who might have any idea as to the title of the movie I am going to tell you about.
It was an episode on Project Terror. It started out with two guys who were going to have a pistol duel over some disagreement they had. As they were getting ready to blow each others brains out, the wind picks up and it’s like gravity just disappears. The next thing they know is they are back in the caveman days and what appears to be another planet. They eventually meet later in the movie after having each met different tribes of cavemen and bring a little civil behavior into the mix. When they meet again the resign themselves to the fact that they are stuck on the planet in the caveman days, everyone becomes friends and they all lived happily ever after. If anyone knows the name of this movie, please e-mail me. I have been looking for this movie forever. Thanks!!
Boy, does this bring back memories! I remember my tooth being pulled out with a string tied to a door by the dad of my friends..while watching Project T. I remember an episode of someone being stuck beneath the floor where they were hiding, and then someone put the piano over the floor and so they got stuck there.
Was “Screaming Skull” part of Project Terror? I remember that as well.
To old friend when we were young! Thanks, ger
Hellzzzz yeah I remember Project Terror… brings back so many memories. The good’o days!