TMC: About Us
What is The Monster Channel?
The Monster Channel is the first 24/7 interactive horror movie channel, featuring classic horror movies and TV series, retro trailers and commercials, features hosted by the nation’s new generation of horror hosts and you!
How is The Monster Channel different from cable horror channels?
What makes us different from cable horror channels is our interactivity.
For the first time, horror fans from around the world can communicate with each other as part of the broadcast experience! The built-in chat window on the player lets you interact with other people watching the channel the same time you are. It’s like having thousands of fellow horror fans watching the TV with you in your own living room.
And you’re not limited to just watching on your computer. You can connect your PC or laptop to your TV, watch through certain game systems, or through any direct internet-enabled televisions and set-top boxes. See our “How To Watch” section for more information.
How did it start?
It started as a promotional campaign for the FearWerx brand, with an event created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Monster Movie. Among other promotions, Fourth Castle broadcast a live webcast marathon of classic and independent monster movies from the Horrorhound Weekend convention in Indianapolis in March, with over 50 hours of movies hosted by dozens of this generation’s new slew of local horror hosts.
With guest appearances by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, George Romero and Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, the event drew tens of thousands of viewers from all over the globe, all of whom engaged in communicating in the chatroom built into the player.
The first global monster movie marathon was born.
Soon after, Fourth Castle continued the event every Friday night since then, creating the “100 Years of Monster Movies Double Feature Chat-Along Monster Cast”. Every week, a double feature of classic (okay, some not so classic) monster movies, hosted by dozens of horror hosts, was webcast with thousands of fans joining in the chat.
What kind of programming can we expect?
We will be running as many classic horror films, TV shows and specials as we acquire them. Programming will be in a typical linear fashion, and the schedule will be posted on a weekly basis.
In our early “soft launch” phase, our film library will consist of a combination of hosted public domain films, independent horror films, classic old horror/suspense TV shows and specials. This phase will also feature our popular weekly “Monstercasts” on Friday nights, as well as some limited original programming.
Throughout the year, more original programming and a wider variety of film libraries will be integrated into the schedule.
Who do we blame for all this?
The Monster Channel is produced by Fourth Castle Micromedia (formerly SphereWerx), a family-owned pop culture marketing company that encompasses the EMCE Toys and FearWerx merchandise brands, classic genre brand Cinefantastique and the interactive development group Klickwerx.
Fourth Castle President Joe Sena, better know to the MCTV community as The Controller of Planet X, is a veteran of both horror marketing and interactive television, having produced the long-running Weekend of Horrors conventions in the 1990s for Creation Entertainment, developed Universal’s first official Monster website as Creative Director of Universal Sudios New Media Group, and mentored at the Amercian Film Institute’s Interactive Television Workshop.
The Channel is also produced by Slack Pack Productions and B-Minus production groups, better known to horror fans as “The Ghouligans!” and “Ms. Monster and her Monster Melons”, respectively. Pete Bune, Michael Koscik and Sean King of Slack Pack Productions, Inc. are located just a short distance from The Monster Channel’s headquarters in New York, while AK Smith, Aaron Farmer and Marc Nordstrom of B-Minus handle the West Coast side of operations. Both production groups are currently developing new programming, as well as recruiting content from producers from all over.
Chris DeLuca, better known to the horror host community as “Corpse S. Chris” of the Horror Host Graveyard, is the chief programmer of The Monster Channel, bringing his relationships with the host community and a deep technical background to the project.