The High Lord of Geekdom is returning to the Summit City to celebrate the Halloween season.

On Saturday, Oct. 28, at Cinema Center, Lord Blood-Rah will host a live version of his television series, Lord Blood-Rah’s Nerve Wrackin’ Theatre, with food, drinks, short films, and the full-length feature House of Frankenstein.

“The thing about the show is I keep it family friendly,” said Blood-Rah, also known as Frank Wallace-Ailsworth. “I’ve gotten comments from a lot of fans who say, ‘Oh, thank you for doing a family-friendly show so I can introduce my kids to the films that I grew up watching.’”

Doors will open at 8 p.m., with the show getting under way at 9 p.m. 

If you want to meet Blood-Rah before the party, he’ll also be hosting a free meet and greet at Stoner’s Funstore, 712 S. Harrison St., from noon-3 p.m.

Show on streaming services

At Cinema Center, Blood-Rah will bring the show that many in the area became accustomed to seeing on MyTV Fort Wayne.

“It was just earlier this year that the corporation that owns the station decided to fill the weekends with their own, corporately owned, programming,” he said of no longer being on the station.

Despite no longer being on MyTV Fort Wayne, his show can still be seen on streaming services via the Nostalgia Network. By joining the network, Blood-Rah has also been able to expand the films he shows.

“I’m no longer restricted to public domain films,” he said. “Nostalgia Network has a library of films that I can choose from.”

Growing up on films

Blood-Rah began his show in 2013 and has built a strong following of fellow horror movie fans. While many may think of blood and gore when they think of horror, those are not the films you’ll see on Nerve Wrackin’ Theatre. 

“I prefer more supernatural horror,” he said. “I love a good monster movie. I grew up in the late ‘60s, early ’70s, watching the films from the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s. I grew up on those and fell in love with them.”

Like so many of us, what he grew up on became his favorites. 

“I started watching Bob Wilkins’ Creature Features in the San Francisco Bay area when he started in the early ’70s,” Blood-Rah said. “I just fell in love with these films. He was doing the Universal classics. He was doing Godzilla films, the Hammer horror films, the ’50s science-fiction. All of it.”

Along with seeing Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman, he also enjoyed the love that went into making the movies. One of the most revered in this category is Ed Wood, who made up for low budgets with passion.

“To make these kind of films, I think you have to have a certain kind of sense of humor,” he said. “You gotta be the type of person that isn’t offended by ‘wasting’ 90 minutes of your life watching a movie. It’s no Oscar-worthy production value.”

And like Wilkins did for him, he now does for others.

“(Fans) will actually thank me for keeping these films alive,” he said. “Especially the public domain films that you don’t see. They’ll be streaming, but you don’t see them air that often. 

“Also, you don’t get a lot of background information for them, which is basically what I will do with the show. I’ll poke a little bit of fun at the films, but I’ll also give a lot of information about the movies and point out the weird things happening in the films.”

Behind the scene

It’s that “background information” that really sets Nerve Wrackin’ Theatre apart.

One such example would be George A. Romero’s famed 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Regarded as one of the greatest horror films of all time, a blunder put the film in the public domain from the get-go, meaning it could be used by anyone free of charge.

“The original title was Night of the Flesh Eaters,” Blood-Rah said. “Night of the Flesh Eaters was on the title card and it had the copyright on it. Right before it was released, they decided, ‘Let’s change this to Night of the Living Dead.’ They changed the title card, but forgot to put the copyright on it. It was public domain right from the release.”

And Night of the Living Dead is one of those films that remains disturbing 55 years after its release.

“I’ve hosted that film live probably over two dozen times, and by the time it ends, its effect on the audience is palpable,” he said. “The same goes with (1962’s) Carnival of Souls.”

Before the 1944 film House of Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr., is shown at Cinema Center, Blood-Rah will show various Halloween-inspired shorts and do some trivia with prizes to be won. So, arrive early to soak in all the Halloween excitement there is to be had.