Remembering “USA’s Saturday Nightmares”

As I grow older, I feel sometimes as if I am the last slasher fan left that remembers “USA’s Saturday Nightmares.” Growing up, it was the ultimate Saturday night experience for the up-and-coming slasher fan. “USA Saturday Nightmares” was an unhosted show on the USA Network in the 1980s and early 1990s. The show came on at 8:00 p.m. every Saturday night. They showed a lot of B Horror and Slashers Films from the 1980’s. Most of the movies shown also appeared on Commander USA’s Groovie Movies and USA Sci-Fi Theater. After airing the movie they showed episodes of “The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “The Hitchhiker”, and “The Ray Bradbury Theater.”

The most famous intro to the series had you going through a CGI haunted house (in the early days of CGI) where the paintings changed. It started outside the house and moved inward. The first painting went from Frankenstein, Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera, Mr. Hyde, and The Wolfman. The second painting changed between “The Brood”, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger. The last part of the intro showed a movie screen and the voice over would welcome you. The most famous of the voiceovers came rom Alan Kalter of “Late Show with David Letterman” fame. “Saturday Nightmares” also had bumpers that featured scenes from B horror films as well as scenes from old episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

Let us take a moment and remember the lost early of the 80’s slasher movie and 80’s slasher television. USA, you used to be so cool Brewster.