Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has come to mark the beginning of the holiday shopping season. The name is said to derive from the circa 1960s throngs of serious shoppers who swarmed stores in downtown Philadelphia and gridlocked the city.

By the 1980s, retailers everywhere had appropriated the catchy term, using "Black Friday" to refer to the beginning of a fiscal quarter in which businesses often climb out of the red and start turning a profit, or go "into the black."

This year, the historic Hollywood Theatre in Dormont took a stab at giving Black Friday a darker meaning.

In concert with the local horror convention group Horror Realm, of Castle Shannon, the theater on Friday night hosted a holiday horror night certain to dampen even the jolliest elf's holiday spirit.

Emceed by horror film aficionado and author Tim Gross, of Brookline, the night kicked off with a horror trivia contest, followed by the showing of two cult-classic Santa slasher films -- "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984) and "Christmas Evil" (1980) -- and included an appearance by a beer-guzzling, chainsaw-wielding "Psycho Santa" who passed out goodies to the naughtiest patrons.

Rich Dalzotto, of Peters, acted out the part of an evil Santa.

Tickets were $6 per movie and benefited, along with donations, the Bradley Center, a behavioral health care and child welfare organization.

Mr. Gross manned a table selling copies of his five "Gross Movie Reviews" when he wasn't entertaining patrons.

To date, Mr. Gross, who started writing the reviews as a joke five years ago, has sold about 400 books.

He said that while he doesn't make much money from sales, his efforts are more than repaid with free movies, free beer and encounters with horror celebrities such as Bruce Campbell ("Fangoria," "Killer Tumbleweeds"), John Saxon (mainstream actor-turned-shockmeister of "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Hellmaster") and Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, (a former Pittsburgh Steeler and Oakland Raider who starred in the "Resist Evil" series, among other films).

Mr. Gross, 34, who has acted in more than a dozen horror movies in addition to writing more than 1,000 reviews, engaged the crowd during movie breaks by reminiscing about his encounters with famous actors, directors and producers within the horror movie genre.

He said he became interested in horror movies as a child after seeing the "Twisted Brain" and the "Creeping Terror" on Bill Cardille's Chiller Theater on Channel 11. He recalled going to the movies by himself to see horror films as a teen.

"They were really cracking down and not letting kids in for R-rated movies. If I would go by myself they'd let me in the theater. If I'd go with friends they wouldn't," he said.

Over the years, Mr. Gross said he had seen the genre change significantly.

"[Horror films] have gone from shock value to the point where [copious amounts] of blood and gore don't even scare anyone," he said.

Jeff Liebmann, of New York City, a horror fan who traveled to the South Hills for the event, said he didn't care for horror movies that regress into gore for gore's sake if there is no great philosophy behind the violence.

Mr. Liebmann, who is studying to become a Unitarian minister, said he frequently uses old episodes of television's iconic "Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits" as a platform for discussing larger issues with youth groups.

"I find this genre interesting because it allows you to discuss the issues of good, evil, right, wrong in a way that is very black and white, but as soon as you go past the surface it all becomes very gray and it's all very interesting. You get into the whole thing of, 'Who's the real monster here?' So it just opens a whole lot of metaphysical discussions," he said.

Other horror fans said they were drawn to the genre because it acts as a release that allows them to escape the stress and monotony of reality for a few hours.

On this particular Black Friday, the Santa slasher films got more laughs than screams, as the cheesier, more tongue-in-cheek 1980s horror films typically do.

"It's a celebration for me because I know like half the people that came here today," La Roche College student Joe Mazzotta said. "So, it's sort of like an extended family get-together."

Horror Realm is an offshoot of the group that hosts the annual "It's Alive" Zombie Fest weekend at the Monroeville Mall each October.

The organization will be holding its annual three-day convention next September at the Crowne Plaza, Pittsburgh South.

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