Channel 37 (film)

Channel 37 is a 1985 American satirical science fantasy horror film written and directed by Pete Kaiser and starring Michael Ironside, Tanya Roberts, Keith David, Paul Mooney, Ryan Gray, and Patrick O'Neal. It was also the final film of William Scoggins. In the film, a TV station called KCHN-TV broadcasts on Channel 37 and becomes the highest-rated TV station in the area, but soon begins turning them into zombies. This film is a satire on American television.

Plot
A couple of businessmen in Iowa were granted channel 37 and start a television station. Soon, Channel 37 was given the call letters "KCHN-TV" and begin to broadcast in the area. The station instantly became the highest-rated television station in the area, hurting all the other TV stations.

Former FBI agent Kevin Dallas (Michael Ironside) joins with members of the suffering TV stations, as well as children's entertainer Charles "Captain Charlie" Warren (Paul Mooney) to find out what Channel 37 is and how they get the station off the air for good.

To Kevin's initial horror, he discovered the dangers of Channel 37 and how it affects people's minds: KCHN-TV broadcasts on channel 37 with deadly supernatural forces along with it; First, channel 37 sends a signal from the screen to the brain, it then turns those who watch it into bizarre zombie-like creatures before it leaves their body afterwards, leaving them dead bodies lying all over the place.

A young boy named Dylan (Ryan Gray) almost got his soul taken away by the Channel 37 entity, but Kevin saves him by turning off the TV and taking him to the car, triggering his family's hostile anger. They run after Dylan in the car Kevin's driving, fortunately, Dylan's family gets tired of chasing him. Kevin also charms Natalie (Tanya Roberts), eventually becoming Kevin's partner and lover.

The couple manage to put him in a home with Mayor Logan Rogers (Keith David) who they meet and become friends with as they infiltrate with the management and staff of Channel 37 and destroying the station's tower with explosives. They return to Logan's home and go to the radio station, with Charlie joining them. Logan threatens to rip Charlie's head off if he speaks one word of threat. Kevin and Logan team up to broadcast an emergency broadcast to stop watching Channel 37 and for the staff and management to destroy Channel 37's studios with fire. However, Captain Charlie is already a zombie. Channel 37 turns his soul into static. Kevin burns the zombified Charlie, and then they make their broadcast. Channel 37 has ended broadcasting for good.

Kevin then joins general manager Phil Robbins (Patrick O'Neal) and tells him that he had to end broadcasting Channel 37. Robbins replied that destroying channel 37 was a good idea, nonetheless, Kevin shoots Robbins with a revolver, then reports the incident to the police.

The film ends with a group of broadcast pirates bringing channel 37 back on the air as a bootleg station. In a post credits scene, a woman in the bedroom (Lori Singer) says "37 is the one" while she watches channel 37.

Cast

 * Michael Ironside as Kevin Dallas
 * Tanya Roberts as Natalie
 * Keith David as Mayor Logan Rogers
 * Paul Mooney as Charles "Captain Charlie" Warren
 * Ryan Gray as Dylan
 * Patrick O'Neal as Phil Robbins
 * William Scoggins as Albert Hanks
 * Ed Crosier as Dylan's Father
 * Wendell Arvin as Dylan's Mother
 * Edwin Gray as Dylan's Brother
 * Janet Gray as Dylan's Sister
 * Lori Singer as Channel 37 Newscaster
 * Marvin Zindler as Channel 37 Newscaster

Production
The movie was filmed between July and September 1984. Filming locations included Newark, New Jersey, New York City, Roscoe, New York, Houston, and Los Angeles. Post production began in January 1985 at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles and continued until June of that year. The Roscoe Retreat Cabin in Roscoe, New York was notably used as Mayor Logan Rogers' home in the film.

Make-up effects were done for death scenes of characters who had become zombies of Channel 37. Make-up was done five times on Paul Mooney for Captain Charlie's transformation and death sequence. When channel 37 was viewed on screen, they pre-recorded the footages and animation sequences for the station and put on videotape.

Release
The film premiered at USA Film Festival on April 29 and was theatrically released on August 16, 1985.

The film was not a hit, and Kaiser feels that it was hurt by the fact it was sold as a straight-up horror film, when it was basically a satirical comedy.

Home media
The film was released on VHS and Betamax in 1985 by Big Wave Home Video. It was eventually released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2001.

On October 21, 2011, Image Entertainment released Channel 37 under its "Midnight Madness Series" banner on DVD.

A Special Edition Blu-ray was released in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2016, by Arrow Films.