Wilkins was renowned for his dry sarcasm. And sarcasm it was, sharp and concise and often hilariously funny. But there was something else to Wilkins that I haven't seen pointed out about him yet online.

If you watched Bob Wilkins regularly, you couldn't help coming away with the impression that he was, through and through, a genuinely nice guy. His sarcasm, though barbed, was never bitter. He was merciless with the films, but he was never mean. Watching his show was a bit like watching Mr. Rogers brainstorm an issue of Mad Magazine - and I say that with the utmost respect for both Mr. Rogers and Mad Magazine.

I was 15 when Wilkins began his run on KTVU. That's an age when horror fans are often starting to figure out just how awful some (maybe the majority of) horror movies really are - and sometimes also learning how to enjoy the bad ones all the more. Some films are good because they're good, while others are good because they are "bad." Still others are bad because they try too hard to be "good." And none of this has to do with the "so bad it's good" aesthetic my friends and I held in such disdain because too often we'd heard people apply it to films we really thought WERE good.

Like everything else about being a teenager, appreciating horror movies this way is a fine line to walk, much less express to others who lack passion for the genre. It is to be understood that adults at the time "just didn't get it" when it came to horror films. And while it was almost certainly true that Wilkins also "just didn't get it," his friendly sarcasm toward the genre gave kids like me a means of acknowledging what is bad in horror films while still being able to enjoy what is both bad and good in horror films. Like Stan Lee at Marvel Comics and William Gaines at Mad Magazine, Wilkins was a visible and accessible adult figure who, through some mix of innate kind-heartedness and jovial irreverance, managed to help bright adolescent cynics such as myself and my friends transition more gracefully to maturity. For that, I can hardly thank him enough!

When I heard Bob Wilkins would be at the 2002 Wondercon in Oakland, I made sure to bring him a copy of the old Warren Publications' photo-story magazine of THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH, which he graciously signed for me.

Still more Creature Features...

THE MUMMY'S HAND is part of Universal's The Mummy Legacy Collection. Universal also issued Hammer Films' Victorian vampire film, KISS OF EVIL under its original title, KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, but that disc is now OOP. Arguably the creepiest of the 50s giant bug movies, THE BLACK SCORPION is available on DVD from Warner Video