PLOT SUMMARY:

Flickering lights dim as a wasplike silhouette appears from a misty corridor. The advancing shadowy figure materializes, as it takes the form of a woman.  Nearing the camera, she raises her talons and drags them through her raven-black hair.  And then she screams… loudly!  She quickly composes herself and addresses the camera in an old Hollywood tone, “Good Evening,” she says…  “I am… Vampira”. Audiences tuned in weekly to watch Vampira bathe in a cauldron, share ghoulish cocktail recipes (“one jigger formaldehyde, two jiggers vulture blood, garnish with an eyeball”), and caress her pet spider, Rollo.

Vampira has become a legend in the horror universe, the live action model for the animated look of Disney’s “Maleficent” and, as the original horror host, the inspiration for all horror hosts that followed.