Stanley is best known to generations of Northern California horror fans as the host of KTVU’s Creature Features, the late-night genre showcase he helmed from 1979 to 1984 after succeeding original host Bob Wilkins. Alongside his television work, Stanley spent 33 years as a film and entertainment writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, interviewing many of Hollywood’s most prominent actors, directors, and writers. He is also the author of numerous books on the horror and science fiction genre, including the long-running Creature Features Movie Guide series and Nightmare In Blood.
Stanley’s involvement was revealed in a video segment featuring OOTC’s official festival host, Count Gore De Vol; himself a Horror Host Hall of Fame member and the first internet horror host, who introduces this year’s judging panel in his signature in-character style. In the reveal, Stanley confirms he’ll join his fellow judges for OOTC’s first Best Horror Short award, and notes that his own Nightmare In Blood will screen as part of the Friday, November 13th Creature Feature Experience; OOTC’s live, camp-forward opening night event honoring classic horror hosting and fandom.
“I’m so very pleased to join my colleagues in judging the Best Horror Short for Out Of The Cellar’s inaugural season,” said Stanley.
OOTC was founded by Veronica Craven, whose horror soap opera In The Cellar – syndicated in the mid-2000s and inspired by horror hosting legends including Count Gore De Vol, Bob Wilkins, and Elvira – gives the festival its name and its throughline of honoring horror’s hosted-television roots while championing new short-form filmmaking talent.
“John Stanley is Bay Area horror royalty,” said Craven. “He was there for the golden age of Creature Features, and having him help judge our first-ever festival connects everything we’re building to the exact lineage that inspired OOTC in the first place.”
Stanley joins fellow judges Logan Hoover and Barry Ratcliffe — “Hollywood’s Auctioneer” and an actor known for Penny Dreadful Picture Show — in evaluating the festival’s juried short film selections, screening Saturday, November 14 alongside the OOTC 48-Hour Horror Film Challenge block and the festival’s Audience Choice and 48-Hour Challenge awards.