Mission Statement

Sunrise SHOCK Theater is intended to highlight older horror and fantasy movies. Entries will be monthly.

As seasoned readers of Clan of the Cats will know, the webcomic is largely inspired by classic horror films of days gone by. Ever since I was a little kid I loved monster movies, whether they be Godzilla, Dracula or some satanic witch flick (um … sorry). Some of my favorite memories were of staying up late on a Friday night at my grandparents to watch our local Shock Theater or getting up early Saturday morning to watch WRAL’s Sunrise Theater. (Hence the name of the blog.) Both showed old monster movies from the ’30s to the ’60s. Admittedly part of the fondness of our local Shock Theater, (everybody had one), was the ritual of staying up late with my grandparents, eating pan fried potatoes, listening to my grandmother preach and my grandfather snore while Godzilla tore Tokyo a new one. It was about family, fireflies getting loose in the house, and lighting candles on a warm night while villagers stormed Dracula’s castle.

Sunrise Theater, on Channel 5 out of Raleigh, gave me solitude. It came on at 5:00 in the AM and not even my mother, who was an early riser, was up then. This ritual included something akin to chocolate coated frosted sugar bombs and a Pepsi while I sat a foot or less away from our TV set. Glued to the thrilling adventures of The Mummy, the Wolfman and those evil witches, (sorry … again), I was content and most likely warped.

So, thirty years later, my grandparents gone and 5:00 AM waaaaay too early for any human to be stirring, here I am living among the monsters once again. With this minute speck on the internet, I want to share those monsters, what impact they had on me and COTC and why they were so damned cool.