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Friday Fright
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friday Fright is an American late-night horror host, movie showcase series hosted by the fictional characters Ravena, the Goddess of Stonehenge and her companion Anok.

''“Ravena, the Goddess of Stonehenge, and her companion Anok awakened from a thousand-year spell to host Friday Fright on KTCI. Ravena is a beautiful, buxom blonde with a nasty sword. Anok is loyal and crazy. Together they present a series of wonderful, old, classic films and treat audience to an aged interpretation of current events.”''

The show ran for 26 weeks beginning in the fall of 1998 on the local cable access channel KTCI in the Tri-Cities, Washington and featured the antics of Ravena and Anok during the breaks of B-fare horror and sci-fi films.

Show History
Friday Fright was created in 1997 by radio program director and morning show host, Greg Martin and his wife Gail as a tribute to the horror hosted shows of the 50’s and 60’s. The idea of the Ravena and Anok characters came from them not wanting to do the typical horror host like ghouls, mad scientists or vampire hosts. Martin approached local cable access channel KTCI in Kennewick, Washington about the idea and their local content director, Lloyd Swain, jumped at the opportunity.

During an evening out at a local restaurant, Martin’s wife pointed out a waitress and said “There’s our Ravena.” Julianna MacPherson accepted the role playing opposite of Martin as Anok.

The original Friday Fright schedule ("26 weeks of the campiest films you'll ever see!") included: Attack of the Giant Leeches, The Hideous Sun Demon, Atom Age Vampire, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Night of the Living Dead, The Flying Saucer, The Unearthly Stranger, The Killer Shrews, Nightmare Castle, Devil Girl from Mars, White Zombie, Cosmic Man, Little Shop of Horrors, The Beast from Haunted Cave, The Astounding She Monster, The Bat, She-Demons, Teenagers from Outer Space, The Creature from the Haunted Sea, Atomic Blonde and Dementia 13, The Ape Man, Project Moonbase, Mesa of Lost Women, The Aztec Mummy and Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Beach Girls and the Monster, and The Monster from Green Hell.

Characters
Ravena, Goddess of Stonehenge was Martin’s take-off on the Red Sonja character. She is a strong female lead that sometimes just doesn’t get the joke and can be a bit of a ditz but she is good hearted and devoted to her companion, Anok.

Anok is a one-eyed blind, mute dwarf of unknown origin that has been Ravena’s protector and guardian since she was a little girl. He has a very limited amount of magic that can get him into trouble but although he’s a bit on the randy side, he’s loyal to a fault.

The name, Anok, came from the local radio station where Martin was employed, KONA. KTCI’s Lloyd Swain suggested turning the letters around backwards and the idea stuck.

Publicity
Femme Fatale - Sept./Oct. 2001 and November 2001

Gear - October 2000, Gear was an American men's magazine published by Bob Guccione, Jr. devoted chiefly to revealing pictorials of popular singers, B-movie actresses, and models, along with articles on gadgets, cars, fashion, sex, and sports.

FHM Magazine - October 2000, FHM (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries.

Scary Monsters Magazine - The 2000 Yearbook featured Friday Fright in an article written by John Skerchock.

Vampira and Her Daughters - Robert “Bobb” Cotter, January 2017 McFarland ( https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/vampira-and-her-daughters/ )

Stone Circle Cinema
In early 2001, Friday Fright was rebranded as Stone Circle Cinema  in the hopes that removing the stigma of only airing on Friday’s would open up more avenues for the show. The Ravena character was recast again this time with former Playboy model and actress Brandi Coppock in the role. The show was shopped again and this time was given a verbal agreement with the new channel B-Mania out of West Palm Beach, Florida. During the course of pre-production the tragic events of September 11 took place and all production was ceased.

Present and Future
In October 2020, four original episodes of Friday Fright were featured every Friday night on the streaming service, The Film Detective with a four-show marathon on the fifth Friday.

Once again this October 2021, The Film Detective will be featuring four episodes of Friday Fright in a double bill with Elvira’s Movie Macabre.

There is discussion of doing a complete reboot of the series possibly slated for 2022.