TCM Underground

TCM Underground is a weekly late-night cult film showcase airing on Turner Classic Movies. Developed by former TCM marketing director Eric Weber, it was originally hosted by industrial rock/heavy metal musician and independent filmmaker Rob Zombie. TCM Underground began airing Friday the 13th of October 2006 with Plan 9 from Outer Space and Bride of the Monster.^[1] The series is periodically pre-empted by special month-long or seasonal scheduling themes, such as February's "31 Days of Oscar" film series and the month-long "Summer Under the Stars".^[2] When it does not conflict with a special theme, TCM Underground airs in its usual slot at 2:00 AM (EST). The movies were programmed by Eric Weber until 2007 when TCM programmer Millie De Chirico took over the role. TCM began airing a new program titled 'Friday Night Spotlight' and, in effect, TCM Underground was moved from its Friday time slot to Saturdays beginning April 6, 2013 (a TCM broadcast day runs from 6am-5:59am EST the following day, making 'Underground', in fact, airing on Sunday).^[3] Promotional bumper material and opening credit sequences were created by Raygun.^[4]

The series was launched in an attempt to attract more young viewers to Turner's older-skewing audience.^[5]

Host

Turner Classic Movies hired popular heavy metal artist/filmmaker Rob Zombie to host the series. Zombie, an avid horror movie fan whose filmwork included directing and writing the controversial horror films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, hosted the series until the December 1st, 2006 installment of the series.

Though Fangoria described his presenting style as the antithesis to TCM host Robert Osborne's film introductions,^[6] Zombie's hosting format was the same as Osborne's. Both introduce the films, explain the basic plot and tell the story behind the making of the film. The only variation was Zombie's ending segment, shown after the film, where he discusses the reasons behind the film's box office failure.

Currently TCM Underground is without a host.

List of films

See also

• Midnight movie
• B movie

References

External links

• Official website
• TCM Underground at the Internet Movie Database