FRIGHTMARE THEATRE (THEATER)
THE WNAB SATURDAY NIGHT HORROR MOVIE

BARRY MCALISTER - "HUMPHREY THE HUNCHBACK"
RENFIELD THE SPIDER

"The WNAB Saturday Night Horror Movie" was a hosted horror movie show with Barry McAlister as "Humphrey the Hunchback" presenting movies on Saturday nights at 10:00pm WNAB Channel 58 Nashville, Tennessee, between 1994 till 1996. In the later years of the show the name changed to "Frightmare Theater". An additional character was a puppet of a small "creature" that was used off and on. It spoke in a garbled gibberish that only "Humphrey" could understand. Towards the end of the show's run, a puppeteer friend of McAlister brought his rat puppet. There was also a giant rubber spider named Renfield that also dropped in now and then.

Portrait of "Humphrey The Hunchback" by Bradley Beard.
"Humphrey The Hunchback" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)"

Of course you know about the Hunchback of Notre Dame but did you know about the Hunchback of Nashville, Tennessee? Today I present Humphrey the Hunchback, host of Frightmare Theatre on WNAB-TV Channel 58 in Nashville, which ran from 1994 to 1996; the show was originally called The WNAB Saturday Night Horror Movie but the name was wisely changed. Barry McAlister conceived the character of Humphrey a few years before the show. McAlister, an improvisational comedian, used his natural comedic timing and physical antics to breathe life into Humphrey. Puppets were also utilized for comedy relief; in fact, a huge rubber spider named Renfield would occasionally drop in on Humphrey. The show was produced on a shoestring budget; many scenes were shot in the studio mechanical room and other locations of little or no cost. Unfortunately, Humphrey's demise came when the station ended all local programming.< There are no known clips from the show.

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