Twenty-five years is a long time to do anything. In terms of television programming, it’s more than a lifetime. Considering some of the most beloved programs couldn’t even make it a decade, let alone two, any show that celebrates its silver anniversary is a testament to its enduring ability to entertain. If anyone knows this it’s Keven Scarpino, or as he is better known, Son of Ghoul. For the past 25 years he has been hosting “The Son of Ghoul Show,” which carries on the tradition of NEO legend Ghoulardi by showing campy B movies alongside comedic sketches. Scarpino became the Son of Ghoul after winning a Ghoulardi lookalike contest at the Cleveland Agora hosted by another Ghoulardi successor, The Ghoul (played by Ron Sweed). Shortly afterward, Scarpino began working at WOAC, where he got to know George Cavender. Cavender hosted “Thriller Theater” as The Cool Ghoul, and Scarpino eventually found himself acting in sketches on the program. When Cavender left WOAC in 1986, Scarpino auditioned and was hired for the hosting position, renaming the program “The Son of Ghoul Show.” In 1995, WOAC changed formats Scarpino moved his program to WAOH, where it can still be seen on Saturdays at 7 p.m. It also airs on WAX, channel 35. As the Son of Ghoul’s prestige grew, the man who’d given him his name grew angrier. About a year after the show aired, Sweed sued Scarpino for a half million dollars, claiming that he was stealing his act. The judge ruled in favor of Scarpino, given that most horror-show hosts were the same character — a version of Ernie Anderson’s original Ghoulardi. “We’ve appeared at the same venue a couple of time,” said Scarpino about Sweed. “Put it this way: There’s no love lost there, from either side, I’m sure.” Scarpino acknowledges, however, the debt any actor owes to Ghoulardi when hosting a classic horror program in a fake beard and wild getup is apparent. “Back in 1963 we only had three television stations, so when one of them had a guy that came on named Ghoulardi it captivated pretty much everyone’s attention,” Scarpino said. “The whole world was changing then. Things like the Beatles were on TV nationally, and then locally we had Ghoulardi.” In addition to Ghoulardi, Scarpino credits the magazine “Famous Monsters of Filmland” for turning horror movies into something more than just a hobby. “It [‘Famous Monsters’] had little ads in the back and you could buy a eight-millimeter silent movie projector with these Castle films, like ‘Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man’.” Scarpino said. “I sent away for the $35 projector and paid ten dollars for the films. That’s what I was into. It was a blast.” Scarpino says one of his earliest memories of horror movies is seeing “The Cyclopes” with Lon Chaney Jr. — specifically, the scene when the monster first appears from the cave. “I can remember as a kid my ass leaving the floor and going back about three feet,” he said. “These people turn around and there’s this monster and I thought, ‘Ooh, I like this.’” The interest grew as he got older, leading him to participate in his school’s audiovisual club. After graduation he began working at a 16-millimeter film-rental library in Canton, which he did until VHS phased out the format. Changes in format and the audience’s taste are things Scarpino is familiar with. His core audience is Baby Boomers who remember the movies he shows from their youth — and also remember watching his predecessor during his heyday. Scarpino knows it’s hard to reach the younger generations because of the slew of options they have. “Kids now are flooded with hundreds of channels, everything around the clock. They have DVDs, video games that way surpass a lot of the things that I thought were exciting,” he said. “They have such a wide variety of choice that it makes it irrelevant in some ways.” As indifferent as Generation X, Y and the Millennials seem to be with the Son of Ghoul and his forerunners, Scarpino is equally unimpressed by their tastes. He has little interest in catering to the extreme tastes of modern horror fans — those movies have little to offer true fans of the genre. He shows what he loves: classic B movies from the golden era of horror. Occasionally he does bring something new to his program, and Scarpino currently has a remake of the original “Night of the Living Dead,” completely redone as an animated feature. This might make fans of the original cringe, but Scarpino insists that it is tastefully done and stays true to the classic version. Knowing Scarpino’s passion for films, especially classics, it is hard to doubt this. In fact, he is one of the many people who hates Hollywood remakes of older films. Though the special effects may be better, he says, the movies lack the depth of the originals. Scarpino says that the slew of remakes being released is a sign that Hollywood execs are getting lazy and running out of ideas. “They do remakes and nine times out of ten the remake, even though it might be snazzier, doesn’t really mean that it’s a good movie,” he said. “Very few times will a remake top the original — although there are exceptions, like ‘The Thing’ with Kurt Russell.” Outside of showing movies and writing sketches, another part of Scarpino’s life as the Son of Ghoul is attending horror conventions, events featuring Northeast Ohio celebrities and rock ‘n’ roll of the ’60s. Besides regularly attending Cinema Wasteland in Strongsville, he also appears at Big Chuck and Little John events, including, of course, their upcoming Ghoulardi Fest. He also attends music events like the upcoming Beatlesfest. Rock ‘n’ roll may not seem relevant to the Son of Ghoul, but it’s actually a big part of Scarpino’s life. Besides witnessing the music revolution of the ’60s firsthand, he is also an accomplished musician. Last month he played a number of shows with blues guitarist Chris Duarte, who’s considered one of the ten best living guitar players in the world. At the end of the day, though, Scarpino’s heart is in the movies he shows and the audiences that love them. “I must be doing something right to be doing it for the past 25 years,” he said.