View source for Commander USA's Groovie Movies


{{more citations needed|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox television
| image = CommanderUSA.jpg
| image_size = 250
| caption = Commander USA
| genre = [[Comedy]]<br>[[Variety show|Variety]]
| runtime = 
| creator = 
| language = English
| writer = [[Jim Hendricks]]
| executive_producer = 
| starring = [[Jim Hendricks]]
| country = United States
| network = [[USA Network]]
| first_aired = {{start date|1985}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1989}}
| num_seasons = 
| num_episodes = 
}}

'''''Commander USA's Groovie Movies''''' is an American movie showcase series that ran weekend afternoons on the [[USA Network]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1821&dat=19850214&id=YTYtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Kr4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3691,4793098|work=[[The Rock Hill Herald]]|date=February 14, 1985|title=USA Lineup Home Of The Strange}}{{deadlink|date=April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SUwVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FuQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5855,2755814&hl=en|work=The Free Lance-Standard|date=February 16, 1985|title=USA stings viewers with cult shows}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Command USA Groovie Movies Halloween Special|url=http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/commander-usa-groovie-movies-halloween-special/|website=I-Mockery.com}}{{unreliable source|date=April 2025}}</ref>

The show premiered January 5, [[1985 in television|1985]] and ran through [[1989 in television|1989]]. It was hosted by [[Jim Hendricks]] as "Commander USA" (Soaring super hero! Legion of Decency - Retired), a wacky but slightly seedy blue-collar [[comic book]] [[superhero]] who occasionally displayed powers such as "microwave vision" (usually to prepare a mid-movie meal of fish or eggs).

==Overview==
The show originally ran [[double feature]]s of horror and science fiction movies on Saturday afternoons, then later a single feature on Sunday afternoons. Later movies on the show tended to be [[Lucha libre|Mexican wrestling]] films or heavily edited violent films from Japan.

The Commander's show originated from a secret headquarters located under a [[New Jersey]] shopping mall. The Commander was almost always enthusiastic about the films he showed, whether it was a "gem" like ''[[Inframan]], [[Blood Beast Horror]]'', or any other number of Grade-Z celluloid oddities. The Commander was often joined on the program by either his agent ([[Barry Kluger]]) or "Lefty", a [[hand puppet]] created by drawing a face on his ''right'' hand with cigar ash. Over the course of a show, Lefty's face would inevitably get smeared or washed off, but the Commander would always redraw it with his unlit cigar.

In 1988, Eclectic Publishing published ''Commander USA's World of Horror'', a 32-page magazine which was intended to be published bi-monthly, but only one issue was ever released.

In all, more than 200 episodes were produced.

==Movies shown==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
*''[[The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas]]''
*''[[The Alligator People]]''
*''[[Animal Crackers (1930 film)|Animal Crackers]]''
*''[[Alone in the Dark (1982 film)|Alone in the Dark]]''
*''[[An American Werewolf in London]]''
*''[[The Aztec Mummy]]''
*''[[Bedlam (1946 film)|Bedlam]]''
*''[[Beginning of the End (film)|Beginning of the End]]''
*''[[Black Carrion (Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense)|Black Carrion]]''
*''[[The Black Cat (1980 film)|The Black Cat]]''
*''[[Blood and Roses]]''
*''[[Bloodbath at the House of Death]]''
*''[[The Blood Beast Terror]]''
*''[[The Blood of Nostradamus]]''
*''[[Blood Song]]''
*''[[El vampiro sangriento|The Bloody Vampire]]''
*''[[The Brainiac]]''
*''[[The Brood]]''
*''[[The Brute Man]]''
*''[[Bug (1975 film)|Bug]]''
*''[[Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter]]''
*''[[Cat People (1942)|Cat People]]''
*''[[Cave of the Living Dead]]''
*''[[The Children (1980 film)|The Children]]''
*''[[Child's Play (1985 film)|Child's Play]]''
*''[[C.H.U.D.]]''
*''[[The Contraption (short film)|The Contraption]]''
*''[[The Corvini Inheritance (Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense)|The Corvini Inheritance]]''
*''[[Countess Dracula]]''
*''[[The Trollenberg Terror|The Crawling Eye]]''
*''[[The Creature Wasn't Nice]]'' 
*''[[Cry Wolf (short film)|Cry Wolf]]''
*''[[The Curse of Frankenstein]]''
*''[[Curse of Nostradamas]]''
*''[[Curse of the Aztec Mummy]]''
*''[[The Curse of the Cat People]]''
*''[[The Curse of the Crying Woman]]''
*''[[Curse of the Doll People]]''
*''[[Curse of the Vampire]]''
*''[[Dance of the Dwarfs]]''
*''[[Harlequin (film)|Dark Forces]]''
*''[[The Day Mars Invaded Earth]]''
*''[[The Death Kiss]]''
*''[[The Death of Bruce Lee]]''
*''[[Demonoid]]''
*''[[The Devil Bat]]''
*''[[The Devil Bat's Daughter]]''
*''[[The Devil's Gift]]''
*''[[The Devil's Nightmare]]''
*''[[Doctor of Doom]]''
*''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]''
*''[[Exorcism at Midnight]]''
*''[[The Final Terror]]''
*''[[The Flying Serpent]]''
*''[[Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell]]''
*''[[Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed]]''
*''[[Fräulein Doktor]]''
*''[[Friday the 13th (1980 film)|Friday the 13th]]''
*''[[Friday the 13th Part 2]]''
*''[[Friday the 13th Part III]]''
*''[[Gamera vs. Barugon]]''
*''[[Genii of Darkness]]''
*''[[God Told Me To]]''
*''[[The Hearse]]''
*''[[Hercules in New York]]''
*''[[The Hills Have Eyes Part II]]''
*''[[Horror of the Blood Monsters]]''
*''[[Horror of the Zombies (film)|Horror of the Zombies]]''
*''[[Horror Planet]]'' a.k.a. ''[[Inseminoid]]''
*''[[House of Psychotic Women]]''
*''[[House of the Long Shadows]]''
*''[[House of 1,000 Dolls]]''
*''[[The House Where Evil Dwells]]''
*''[[I Married a Monster from Outer Space]]''
*''[[I Walked with a Zombie]]''
*''[[Inframan]]''
*''[[In Search of Dracula]]''
*''[[La invasión de los vampiros|Invasion of the Vampires]]''
*''[[Island Claws]]''
*''[[Island Monster]]''
*''[[It's Alive (1974 film)|It's Alive]]''
*''[[J. D.'s Revenge]]''
*''[[Kingdom of the Spiders]]''
*''[[Land of the Minotaur]]''
*  [[Las Vegas Weekend]]
*''[[Laserblast]]''
*''[[The Late Nancy Irving (Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense)|The Late Nancy Irving]]''
*''[[Let's Scare Jessica to Death]]''
*''[[Little Mad Guy]]''
*''[[The Little Shop of Horrors]]''
*''[[The Living Coffin]]''
*''[[The Living Head]]''
*''[[The Loch Ness Horror]]''
*''[[Mako, The Jaws of Death]]''
*''[[The Man and the Monster]]''
*''[[The Man and the Snake (short film)|The Man and the Snake]]''
*''[[The Man With the Synthetic Brain]]''
*''[[Mark of the Devil (Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense)|Mark of the Devil]]''
*''[[Mark of the Vampire]]''
*''[[Mausoleum (film)|Mausoleum]]''
*''[[The Monster Demolisher]]''
*''[[Monster in the Closet]]''
*''[[My Bloody Valentine (film)|My Bloody Valentine]]''
*''[[Night of the Creeps]]''
*''[[Pandemonium (1982 film)|Pandemonium (film)]]''
*''[[Panic (short film)|Panic]]''
*''[[The Pied Piper (1972 film)|The Pied Piper]]''
*''[[A Polish Vampire in Burbank]]''
*''[[The Possession of Joel Delaney]]''
*''[[Princess of the Nile]]''
*''[[The Premonition (1976 film)|The Premonition]]''
*''[[Psychophobia (film)|Psychophobia]]''
*''[[The Psychotronic Man]]''
*''[[One Dark Night]]''
*''[[Q (1982 film)|Q, the Winged Serpent]]''
*''[[Rabid (1977 film)|Rabid]]''
*''[[The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy]]''
*''[[Samson vs. the Vampire Woman]]''
*''[[Samson in the Wax Museum]]''
*''[[Satanik]]''
*''[[Savage Sisters]]''
*''[[Scared to Death (1947 film)|Scared to Death]]''
*''[[Shanghai Massacre]]''
*''[[Simon, King of the Witches]]''
*''[[The Space Children]]''
*''[[Stranglehold (short film)|Stranglehold]]''
*''[[Student Bodies]]''
*''[[Swamp of the Lost Monster]]''
*''[[Tales That Witness Madness]]''
*''[[Taste the Blood of Dracula]]''
*''[[The Terror (1963 film)|The Terror]]''
*''[[They Still Call Me Bruce]]''
*''[[Three in the Attic]]''
*''[[Trick or Treats]]''
*''[[Toxic Zombies]]''
*''[[Undersea Kingdom]]''
*''[[The Unseen (1982 film)|The Unseen]]''
*''[[Up in the Cellar]]''
*''[[The Vampire (1957 film)|The Vampire]]'' 
*''[[The Vampire Bat]]''
*''[[Vampire Circus]]''
*''[[The Vampire's Coffin]]''
*''[[What? (film)|What?]]''
*''[[What's Up, Tiger Lily?]]''
*''[[The Witchmaker]]''
*''[[The Witch's Mirror]]''
*''[[The Woman Who Came Back]]''
*''[[Women in Chains]]''
*''[[World of the Vampires]]''
*''[[Zorro's Black Whip]]''
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0274247}}
*{{facebook|Commander-USA-81232569476|Commander USA fan page}}

{{USANetwork Shows|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:1985 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:1989 American television series endings]]
[[Category:1980s American comedy horror television series]]
[[Category:1980s American science fiction comedy television series]]
[[Category:1980s American variety television series]]
[[Category:American television shows featuring puppetry]]
[[Category:Horror movie television series]]
[[Category:Midnight movie television series]]
[[Category:USA Network original programming]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Commander USA's Groovie Movies|access_date=2026-03-01}}