You can find anything on YouTube these days. You want to see a vintage toy haul? It’s there. You want to visit the Halloween Horror Nights scare houses but can’t get to Universal Studios? That’s also there.
I was flipping through the platform’s content the other day and found a unique horror game show called “Better Luck Than Chuck,” which uses the classic format of having three contestants stand at their podiums and answer questions asked by the host. In this case, two hosts. But these two hosts aren’t your regular Trebecks or Sajacks. They are supernatural.
One is “The Widow,” a beautiful witch, and the other is a rotting corpse named Charlie, or “Chuck,” the guy in the title. Together they ask three contestants questions about horror movies through witty banter and comical skits. It’s a funny bit.
Again, the premise is pretty simple: there are several categories for players to choose from, topics like “80’s Slashers,” “Modern Macabre,” or “Show Us Your Funny Bone.” Some questions are asked via video by horror celebrities such as director Mike Flanagan. The first person to buzz in and answer correctly gets points; usual boilerplate of this programming ilk.
The questions aren’t too hard, but even the most general ones can be hard to answer under the pressure of time. Here’s one example: “How Many years did Michael Myers spend in the hospital before escaping in the original ‘Halloween’?”
It seems easy at first, but being on a timer can really give your brain recall overload; therefore, unless you know the answer for sure, it’s pretty much a guess if you want to be the first to buzz in.
This little show is not only a tribute to our favorite genre, but also an homage to old-school local horror programming on TV.
It also doesn’t feel like a YouTube video pieced together on someone’s phone or MovieViewer. They’ve put some thought into this and made it fun. Take a look at the first episode below:
