For the remainder of 1964, Nightmare Theatre ran only one film, all in the 11:30 slot; in early 1965, it would employ the popular double-bill that it would carry sporadically until the end. Most of the films aired in the first year were AIP releases--all of the horror and science fiction variety--although towards the end of 1965 a few older films from the 1940s began slipping through the cracks. In August, the time slot for the first half of Nightmare Theatre's double-bill was pushed up to 11:20, following an abbreviated 11:00 news program, and wouldn’t return to 11:30 until February of 1966.

Towards the end of 1965, the programmers began reaching more outside of their AIP standards, sneaking in some of the Mexican horror films imported by K. Gordon Murray. By 1966, these dubbed, re-edited shockers from south of the border were shown just as often as the previous standards, many twice within one year. 1966 was also marked by a very inconsistent schedule. The 11:30 kick-off was pushed to 11:45 until August, where the first film for four weeks was pre-empted by Football, leaving only a 1:00 film for the truly desperate horror fan. No sooner had it returned, Nightmare Theatre was shorn of its second bill, replaced by reruns of Perry Mason, with the only feature usually starting at 12:15.

It is not known if this decision was due to poor ratings, but apparently the programmers realized that it wasn't faring any better with Raymond Burr at the helms then it was with a crusty bug-eyed monster, but in April of 1967 Perry Mason was dropped and the double-bills returned. The films were still predominately AIP and K. Gordon Murray efforts, although a few odd titles--including some later Universal monster movies like The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and its sequels--also found there way onscreen.

Things were relatively stable until October of 1968, when Nightmare Theatre found itself once again shorn of the second film that usually started about 1:00. By March of 1969, there were some attempts made to rectify this, although it didn't become set in stone until May. In August of 1969, KIRO-TV made the not-so-wise choice of wedging a half hour news report between the two films, which pushed the second feature to a 1:30 slot. Worse yet, the first feature was replaced with an episode of The Merv Griffin Show, but the talk show was dropped from this slot after only three weeks.

During the last few months of 1969, and the first of 1970, the films shown were all of the K. Gordon Murray import variety. Oddly enough, this would be the last time these films aired on Nightmare Theatre, their standings replaced by a whole catalog of classic Universal fare, as well as a slew of poverty row thrillers from the 1940s. With this, Nightmare Theatre were now introducing mysteries into rotation alongside the horror and science fiction films, a change that would last until the end.

In April of 1970, the 1:00 news was finally dropped, but Nightmare Theatre was moved to Saturday night. After one week in its new weekend slot, the program was dropped, but finally returned a month later, back to Friday nights but once again shorn of the second feature. At the end of June, the spot previously reserved for the second film was filled by the Canadian soap opera Strange Paradise (1969-1970), which bore all the supernatural trademarks of the American show that inspired it, Dark Shadows (1966-1971). Strange Paradise remained in this slot until September 1970, when Nightmare Theatre was again bumped to Saturday nights, again a double-bill. October 31, 1970, also marked a first: Nightmare Theatre's triple-bill Halloween Special.

Nightmare Theatre returned once again to its trademarked Friday night time slot in February of 1971. For the next few years, it remained in the 11:30 time slot, although KIRO-TV once again alienated its younger audience with an intrusive fifteen-minute newsbreak between the two films, which it eventually dropped at the end of 1971. Otherwise, the program remained stable, with only a couple of films pre-empted for SOIC Auctions or Christmas programming, should Friday night make the inexcusable decision to fall on Christmas Eve.

Maybe Nightmare Theatre's newfound stability had something to with the fact that--the market for such films having made itself evident--other stations had jumped on the bandwagon and was proving to be competition. In 1969, the Vancouver, B.C.-based Channel 8 began showing monster movies at 11:30 on Friday nights as well. By early 1971, Channel 6 was doing the same around the midnight time slot; quite often it was the same movie shown by 8, although 6 had better reception further south. By 1973, Channel 8 had proved itself a worthy competitor, having obtained for its vaults quite a few more "contemporary" horror films that 7 did not show. The fact that many of these films were uncut--thanks to Channel 8 originating out of nearby Canada--undoubtedly proved tempting to those fans who could get both channels. In 1973, Channel 12 and the newly founded Channel 13 also started offering horror films as the witching hour neared.

Despite the burgeoning competition, Nightmare Theatre remained the leader of the pack, no doubt helped by the consistent time slot and the large catalog of films at its disposal, and--of course--the comfortable antics of The Count. Although some of the films were the same ones it had been showing continuously since Nightmare Theatre's advent in 1964, the varied sources and constant shuffle of titles kept them from wearing out its welcome.

By 1974, Nightmare Theatre's catalog grew even more, introducing not only the entire line of Corman's Poe adaptations and a few obscure made-for-television shockers into the mix, but spicing up the more dated offerings with newer films, probably as a response to Channel 8. Now, films like Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1967) with Paul Naschy and The Deathmaster (1972) with Robert Quarry could be found alongside the black and white standards featuring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

In 1974, Nightmare Theatre began inching its way closer to midnight, away from its 11:30 slot. By mid-1975, the first film didn't start until 12:00, which undoubtedly gave the edge to horror films being shown on the other stations at 11:00 and 11:30. Towards the end of 1975, the programmers made what was undoubtedly a fatal mistake by having Nightmare Theatre start at 12:30, with the second film not getting off the ground until 2:00 or a little after, far too late for even the most determined young horror fan who would undoubtedly be sawing logs before the opening credits had played out.

Don't touch that dial, there's more to come...