The Overlook Hour Guest Profile: Kai Wada Roath of the Super Shangi-La Show

This week on The Overlook Hour, our guest is a man who wears many hats. He is the host of the Super Shangri-La Show series at the Balboa Theatre, and ambassador of Confusion Hill, a bay area resident and a paranormal enthusiast. But who is he really? Here's a bit more about our fellow horror nerd.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

Kai: I have loved the supernatural and obscure history since I was a kid. This has driven me to lead a five week expedition in the Himalayas to collect folklore and interview witnesses about the abominable snowman, picnicking in cannibal caves on Easter Island, to visiting as many haunted saloons and hotels of the old wild west as I could. I’ve been double cursed in one year by entering King Tuts’s tomb and digging for Blackbeard the pirate’s cursed treasure the month after. On vacations I always try to stay at haunted historic hotels, and this was great on my travels in Transylvania. My motto is SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MONSTER. 

What's your favorite film genre?

Kai: My favorite movies are mostly late 1950s- early 1970 supernatural horror, with some jungle adventure flicks sprinkled in there. I am also a huge fan of 1960’s Italian Sword and Sandal movies...especially the ones that have a mythological flare to them. 

What are your top 3 movies? 

Kai: This is a toughie…but in all honesty my 3 top current favorites I could always see again are… The Crawling Eye (1958), The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), The Invisible Man (1933).

What's the last movie you watched? 

Kai: Plunder of the Sun (1953)

What's the most treasured item in your collection? 

Kai: Movie collection? Hmm…right now I’m really into my new box set of Ultra Q. (Ultra Q can be described as a half-hour Toho kaiju series. Executive Producer Eiji Tsuburaya intended this series to be more like the American television series The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, featuring all kinds of strange and unusual stories). 

Now that you're acquainted, check out Kai on episode 10 of The Overlook Hour podcast. 

Find it here.

Also check out the upcoming programming that the Super Shangri-La Show will be screening at the Balboa Theatre, the first of which is tonight.

You can find out more about the Super Shangri-La Show at their Facebook and reach Kai at kaiwada@gmail.com.

"Support your local monster!"

-Huntress