Cleveland’s Laura Wimbels is a huge fan of horror but more importantly, she’s a huge fan of Tom Savini. For the last year or so Laura has hosted a local late-night horror show titled THE BIG BAD B MOVIE SHOW on the CW here on the north coast – she still does host it actually – along with her on-air partner Zachariah Durr they become Leopold and Lenora who each week guide all of us through the late evening hours with laughs and screams.

Hosting just one show wasn’t enough for the energetic Wimbels though – she had a vision and a passion to bring her love of VHS and 70’s and 80s genre fare to the online world and MIDNIGHT RENTAL was born. This week sees the premiere of the show which airs on the popular Found Footage Fest YouTube Channel. The show is unique – set in a video store Wimbels – once again donning the Lenora persona – leads us on a tour of unique VHS adventures. The description from the press materials explains:

‘Midnight Rental’ takes viewers on a tour of tapes that are of lesser known and lesser loved movies who never quite found their footing, but still deserve their 5 (15 would still be too generous) minutes of fame.

Set in a video store, ‘Midnight Rental’ even has a back room. But, it’s not THAT kind of back room. Designed with late night b-movie level love and campiness in mind, you’re bound to learn something while you’re at ‘Midnight Rental’, whether it’s a bunch of facts about Tom Savini, or the correct pronunciation of Miguel Ferrer’s name (honestly, the jury’s still out on that one.) Just remember, we close at midnight.

So, the last part of the description is why I mention this show here at Savini.com – you’ll notice when you watch the episode – Tom is everywhere – from the magazine rack to the shelves lined with his classic films, to the promo swag that adorns the set but the biggest gift for us Savini fans is that each episode Lenora will play SIX DEGREES OF SAVINI – a blood-curdling take on Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon where she ties pretty much anything horror related to Tom and his work. It’s pretty damn great.

The pilot episode is live now – it features the films of Stephen King – and lots and lots of Tom.

Give it watch – it clocks in at about an hour, it’s fun, it’s campy, it’s a love letter to a bygone era – and you need to be watching it.