If you are reading this, chances are that you were a child of the 1960s and/or the 1970s, raised in the Pacific Northwest and weaned on Washington's most enduring late night horror host, The Count, who brought us a horror movie double-bill every Friday night that stretched into the early hours of Saturday morning. I myself make up part of two generations of Nightmare Theatre viewers; whereas my father caught it on the tube during its conception in the mid-1960s as a young teen, I was a diehard fan from the moment I learned how to read in the early 1970s until its lamented demise some years later. With several books and almost twenty years of self-published magazines devoted to horror films under my belt, it was Nightmare Theatre that primed me for my inevitable calling in life. From the films of Universal Studios and Hammer Productions and American International Pictures; to the old dark house mysteries of the 1930s and the poverty row shockers of the 1940s and the giant monster movies of the 1950s; to the vampires and werewolves and patchwork creations as potrayed by the likes of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed and Paul Naschy; I was schooled well even before I laid my hands on my first copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Like some of you, my most cherished childhood memories are of the eagerly anticipated Friday nights; when they came, I would curl up on the living room floor with a pillow and well-worn sleeping bag, afraid of nodding off as the witching hour neared. The Nightmare Theatre theme music (pilfered from the 1966 Roddy McDowall film Lord Love a Duck) and the dolly shot of a mist-enshrouded Addam's Family Haunted House model kit was our cue to set everything else aside. Introducing the horror double-hitter was The Count, a dime-store Dracula whose shtick was worse than his bite. Campy, to be sure, but for a fledgling horror fan like myself, the weekly visit from this Transylvanian tooth fairy was pure magic. Some children idolized sports stars, others famous frontiersmen or astronauts. For me, The Count was it. Honestly, what could be better than having all those films at one's disposal?

In an effort to keep alive these fond memories of Nightmare Theatre, The Count, and--last but not least, the man responsible for keeping us up late on Friday nights--the late Joe Towey, I have established this modest website. It is not unlike many others dedicated to the horror hosts of yesteryear; online dedications to Zacherley, Ghoulardi, Elvira and the like are many, and with no shortage of pages devoted to hosts far more obscure and far less prolific. But to those like me who grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the 1960s and 1970s, eyes glued to KIRO-TV on Channel 7, it can be said that the only one that mattered was The Count.

Scott Aaron Stine 01.18.05

P.S. Spreading the word is great, but if you reproduce anything from this site on another webpage, please give credit where credit is due. If you reprint text penned by me, please credit to "Scott Aaron Stine" and offer a link to Nightmare Theatre NW (www.nightmarethearenw.net). A link is also appreciated if you use any of the art reproductions as well; this is a non-profit website, and a lot of time and effort was invested into it. Thanks for the consideration.