The 11th Tier

Rob Zombie in Concert

2009-11-25T14:23:00.001-06:00

I traveled with my 12 yr old son Luke last night to Louisville and saw Rob Zombie in concert. Man, what a FANTASTIC show - easily one of the top ten shows I've ever seen (and I've seen a LOT of concerts in my time, believe me)!

Before the show there was a soundtrack of horror music and clips from Universal horror films - definitely set the mood.

There were two bands opening - Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures and the Necromantics. Captain Clegg were featured in the Rob Zombie film Halloween 2 (which I still haven't seen yet - I need to watch that soon) and they were terrific. They have a steel guitar player in the band and a cool country vibe with a rockabilly sensibility to them. Their singer has a great voice and is very charismatic. They definitely wave that horror flag high and I love their costumes - kind of a groovy undertaker look. Good stuff, and a great live show. You should catch them if you get a chance.

AND they even came out to the merchandise table afterwards and met their fans, signing autographs and cds and shaking lots and lots of hands. I saw this fat toothless woman come up and have them sign her belly - talk about a horror show - hahaha!

Necromantics were next and they were really good, too. They brought their Psychobilly horror set to the crowd there and really rocked the place. They're playing in Nashville in a week along with Blitzkid and Hillbilly Casino (a KICK-ASS Nashville-based band) and I am planning on catching them again there. They're a 3-piece band with a female drummer - she rocks!

Rob Zombie finally hit the stage and man, it was amazing. An absolute barrage of light, video, and sound that was almost overwhelming. Rob had a giant screen behind the stage that played clips from horror movies, animation and more throughout the entire show. There were two more led screens onstage that played different video clips and animation, again from horror movies. I saw everything from Universal monsters to Nosferatu, Witchcraft Through the Ages to El Superbeasto. Amazing. Rob is a real monster kid, let me tell ya.

The music was so tight it was ridiculuous and the band sounded great. Rob was in top form, dancing and running around stage. He even came out into the audience with a giant flashlight he shined in the crowd, and he stopped and stood on the seats right in front of me and gave me a high five, nodded at my son and headed on around the stadium, working the crowd while his guitarist absolutely shredded the guitar with a smoking solo.

It was, again, a great show. Rob is touring in support of an upcoming cd, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" that is coming out in Feburary. If he tours again, make plans NOW to go see him. You won't regreat it!

Dr. Gangrene PSA nominated for Emmy

2009-11-21T11:03:00.004-06:00

Our Werewolf of Nashville PSA got nominated for an Emmy - specifically director Cameron McCasland in the writing category. Congrats Cam!! That's the PSA on cleaning up after your pets in public, and in it I get to throw the line "Remember, it's not what you don't do - it's what you DO do." doodoo. classic.

Roger Corman receives Oscar!

2009-11-20T14:46:00.002-06:00

Legendary movie director/producer Roger Corman received an honorary Oscar award this past Saturday, November 15th. Corman is one of my favorite directors. I've read his biography "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime."Truly inspirational and a great read too. Corman is one of the guys on my list of people I'd most like to meet. He is a legend in the movie business and fully deserving of this Oscar. Congratulations, Roger!

2009-11-04T09:41:00.006-06:00

A package arrived in the mail on Halloween day from my good friend Lewis D'Aubin. Lewis is better known as Professor Milo T. Pinkerton, the lead singer of the band THE C.O.G. (Consortium of Genius). Lewis had run across a CD at a local Halloween store and knew I’d want a copy – it is a CD of children’s scary stories called SHIVERS – Weird and Creepy Tales.

Now ordinarily I wouldn’t be all that interested in this CD, but there was one thing that made this one a bit different – or I should say, some one. The narrator of this CD is none other than legendary horror host John Zacherley! Zach introduces each story with little skits and narration, and returns at the end of each story to wrap it up. The stories are definitely geared for younger kids, very much in the Goosebumps mode, and kind of corny. But Zach’s bits make this pretty fun. I wound up scanning through the CD to Zach’s bits and skipping the stories.

I have never seen this CD before. It was made back in 1999 and apparently they made at least 3 different ones, although I’m not sure if he narrated them all. I’m going to track the others down on the internet – if you’d like a copy of this CD, you can find it here:
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/14781G.html
at good ole Oldies.com. Be sure to tell em’ Doc Gangrene sent you.

And to find out more about The C.O.G. go to:
http://www.consortiumofgenius.com/
They are a trio of musicians and mad scientists who have been cranking out music for the better part of a decade now. They’re based in New Orleans, and are very much fans of sci-fi and horror. You can find them on Myspace and Facebook, and at the website above, too.

Dr. Gangrene Newspaper Article

2009-10-29T12:49:00.004-05:00

The following article ran in a number of newspapers across Middle TN this week. Just thought I'd post it here for your enjoyment, along with a few pics they took too - Happy Halloween!!

Eerie things are going on in an old tool shed in a Hendersonville backyard.

By SCARY KEN BECK
Special to Main Street Media

It’s nothing new, because strange things have been brewing in the madcap mind of Nashville TV horror host Dr. Gangrene for 10 years.

Gangrene, who is host of “Chiller Cinema,” at 1 p.m. Saturdays on WNAB-Channel 58, tapes his show in his secret hidden lab, aka Gangrene Manor, in the midst of suburbia, but all normalcy ceases once mortals cross this threshold.

Turn to the right inside the tool shed turned studio and spy Styrofoam bricks painted to appear like a dungeon wall with curious laboratory equipment awaiting the doctor's maniacal touch. To the left looms a creepy Victorian-style mantelpiece with a pair of skulls, a fireplace, tattered old wallpaper and a midget knight in armor. And, if a visitor doesn’t watch his step, well, just beware of a trapdoor somewhere underfoot.

The mischief maker behind this mixture of hilarity and hauntedness is a nearly average guy by the name of Larry Underwood, whose day job for 15 years has been as a graphic designer for the V.A. Medical Center and veterans’ events in Nashville.

But on nights when the moon is full, or when it’s time to tape a show, Underwood transforms into the somewhere-between-the-goofy-and-the-ghastly Dr. Gangrene.

“Dr. Gangrene is mad scientist with a large ego who loves all things monster and Halloween,” says Underwood. “It’s his wish to make it Halloween all year long. He endeavors to do so by showing bad monster movies and cooking up strange experiments in his lab.

“Over the years Dr. Gangrene has become more like me. I’ve worn less makeup and the and costume has sort of changed,” said Underwood, who garbs his psychotic physician in white lab coat and black goggles.

The self-effacing TV show host concocted his character after tiring of writing and drawing comic books with creative partner Chuck Angell.

“I decided it would be neat to do a show of the type we had when I was growing up, a horror TV host that I remember, Cecil Creape and his ‘Creature Feature.’ I had a friend doing a cable access TV show at the time, and he suggested I give it a try,” Underwood recalled. “Chuck thought it would last three weeks, and here 10 years later, I’m still doing it.”

Doc Gangrene and his “Chiller Cinema” debuted July 1999 on the Hendersonville cable access channel and then hopped to the Nashville cable access channel and then to the UPN station before landing at The WB about three years ago.

His inspiration was a blend of two TV characters: Sir Cecil Creape, sort of his monster mentor, who was portrayed by the late Russ McCown, and Anthony Edwards, star of the now deceased NBC sitcom “E.R.”

“When ‘E.R.’ was popular, I was getting stopped by people and told, ‘You look like that guy from ‘E.R.’, Dr. Green (Edwards).’ I thought it would be funny to do a twisted version of medical doctor from Dr. Green to Dr. Gangrene,” said Underwood.

“I waned to do a show liked Sir Cecil Creape, who I met once when I was a Boy Scout. I got a patch that said ‘Sir Cecil’s Ghoul Patrol.’ The first thing I did when I started my show was sew his patch on my lab coat. It was real important to keep the show family friendly like Sir Cecil did.”

(McCown’s “Creature Feature” aired in the early 1970s on WSM-Channel 4 and was resurrected on The Nashville Network or TNN in the early 1980s.)

Nashville native Underwood graduated from Stratford High School before earning a degree in graphic design at Middle Tennessee State University. He and wife Karlee have three sons: Rob, 18, Ian, 17, and Luke, 12.

He has had four sidekicks over the decade as Linda Wylie currently fills the bill as Nurse Moan-eek. Gangrene’s henchmen included Oogsley and Lump, while Karlee used to portray Nurse Deadbody and fortune teller Madame Fortune.
Larry and Karlee celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary on Oct. 29.

“We were gonna get married on Halloween at a bonfire, but my parents found out,” said Karlee. “They wanted us to have a church wedding.

“Larry’s a natural as Dr. Gangrene. I was proud to see how far he’s come with it from cable access TV to regular commercial television on The WB. All of the boys grew up around it. The oldest two are more athletic, but our youngest one loves it.”

Underwood’s “Chiller Cinema” can take as much time as 40 hours to tape and edit an episode. For his efforts, he was nominated for a local Emmy Award and has captured two Rondo Awards (for classic horror excellence) for best Web site and for public service announcements that he has done for the state of Tennessee on littering and a fasten-seatbelts campaign.

He also has met many stars of classic horror films at conventions while taping interviews for his show. Those include director George Romero (“Night of the Living Dead”) and actors Gunnar Hansen (the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”), Michael Berryman (“The Hills Have Eyes”), and Ben Chapman and Julie Adams (“The Creature From the Black Lagoon”).

Recently, he has taken his horror hobby one step further as a vocalist with the horror punk Band Spookhand as he warbles about monsters and blood, etc.

“I do Dr. Gangrene for the fun of it. I haven’t really made any money at it but do it just for love of the genre. I have to have a creative outlet of some sort and this is it,” says Hendersonville’s only dad who moonlights as a mad scientist on TV.

KISS ALIVE 35 last night

2009-10-29T11:26:00.003-05:00

I took my 12 year old son Luke to the Kiss concert last night. It was a GREAT show. I was really impressed - I've seen KISS 5 times in the past, and this was perhaps the best show I've seen. Here's the tours I've seen:

Animalize

01/19/85 Nashville Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN

Asylum

11/30/85 Nashville Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN

Crazy Nights

09/02/88 Nashville Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN

Alive Worldwide

April 6, 1997 Nashville Arena - Nashville, TN

Kiss Alive 35

October 28, 2009 Sommet Center - Nashville TN

The band was really tight and the new guys, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are terrific musicians. Tommy is, IMO, a better guitarist than Ace, and Eric destroys Peter Criss on drums.

The set was really impressive with two large screens on either side of the massive stage and a GIANT screen behind the band - in addition there were a series of Amps stacked backstage with screens on the front of them too. They did all the KISS stage antics - spitting blood, breathing fire, flying into the rafters, zip line to a small stage out in the audience, drum solo, guitar solo, explosions, fire, confetti - Kiss definitely knows how to put on a show!

Great setlist - They played a bunch of songs I expected, and a few I didn't, like Parasite. Crowd was across the board, age-wise, from kids younger than my son to folks much older than me. Lots of faces painted in Kiss makeup.

Opening act was Buckcherry - they were okay. Not the worst I've seen but far from the best either. Best part of the evening, though, was seeing my son rock out and have a great time. Good stuff!

Alien Resurrection Reviewed

2009-07-29T17:38:00.008-05:00

I have avoided watching Alien Resurrection for years – twelve years, to be exact...now I know why. This movie, to quote my 11 year old son, "is terrible."

There are gonna be spoilers in this review – if you've not seen the Alien movies, be warned.

In Alien 3 we discovered Ripley has an alien growing inside her body. She takes the Nestea plunge into a fiery vat just as the alien erupts from her chest. Thus ends the tortured life of Ellen Ripley.

But not so fast – the powers that be apparently thought you couldn't have an Alien movie without Sigourney Weaver, so they concocted an explanation for her inclusion in Alien 4 – cloning. Thank god they didn't use the other obvious answer, time travel. That would have been even more ridiculous than this sequel…but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Alien Resurrection takes place 200 years in the future from Alien 3, onboard a spaceship called the Auriga. On it, a team of scientists have successfully cloned a new Ripley from a blood sample recovered on the prison colony where she became Shake and Bake in the last film. This time around the scientists aren't part of The Company as in previous installments – no, in the past 200 years the Company was bought up by Walmart (no lie) and no longer exists. These scientists are part of the military, and are interested in studying the aliens for weapon research

Enter the first unbelievable plot device, and it's the crux of the entire film. Not only did they clone Ripley, but somehow that drop of blood also contained the DNA of the alien parasite inside her. So when they cloned her they also got the alien as well. You know, I'm no expert on cloning, but I think if someone had a parasite like, say, a tick or a tapeworm, and they were cloned from a sample of their DNA, that parasite wouldn't be included in that clone. But in this film that is exactly what happens. AND not only that, but somehow the DNA from both parasite and host intermingled in the cloning process, resulting in an alien with some human characteristics (more on that later) and a human with alien characteristics.

As a result of this intermingling of DNA Ripley gains a host of new abilities, including lightning reflexes, enhanced strength, advanced fighting abilities, and acid blood to name a few (including shooting basketball like an NBA star). AND best of all, she is able to somehow regain a lifetime of learning within 4 days!! This is another gift from the Xenomorph blood now coursing through her body.

Much like the magic plot device of Batman's utility belt or MacGyver's handyman-itude, cloning is the catch-all for any plot problems in this movie. Why does Ripley have superhuman abilities? Cloning. How can she suddenly learn a lifetime of abilities and processes (from basics like walking, talking, thinking, and processing emotions to regaining full-blown memories of Ripley's former life) within days? Cloning. How does Ripley have an empathic link with the Aliens enabling her to sense where they are, what they are doing, and even smell if someone has a parasitic chest-burster growing inside them? Oh yeah, cloning.

In this film Ripley becomes a cartoon character, a bad comic book superhero with little resemblance to the Dan O'Bannon creation of the original film. Makes me wonder why they even needed her if they just wanted to change her so much. Why not use a less contrived storyline, one that didn't struggle so obviously to find a hokey method of resurrecting Ripley. There are a whole host of ways you could include her and still be true to her character - have the characters watch recorded messages of Ripley from the past, or listen to ship's logs, or use flashbacks – hell, a creative script writer could have come up with tons of great ideas. But. alas, that was not to be.

As we learned in Alien 3 (a whole other set of problems there), the alien inside Ripley wasn't just any alien – it was a queen alien. So the scientists on the Auriga have themselves a queen that they keep trapped in an isolation chamber for study. It quickly grows to giant size and begins laying eggs.

This is where the plot gets confusing time-wise. Ripley’s parasite was removed and she regained her memories and full capacities within 4 days. But by that time the queen is fully grown as well, plus there are also other fully grown aliens running around too. Thirteen of them, we later learn.

From here I can just imagine the script writer's next thoughts - Okay, so we've resurrected Ripley – brought the aliens onboard - what next? Oh yeah, a cyborg. That was cool in the first two movies. We need to have that. Except this time the twist will be it'll be a woman cyborg – cool!

This time around the cyborg is played by Wynona Ryder (whose character is named Call). She lands onto the Auriga with a crew of mercenaries onboard a space ship named The Betty. They are delivering cargo (humans, actually, who are in cryosleep). Turns out these folks are to be human hosts for the eggs the queen has laid. It isn't clear whether these humans are the same ones that become a meat-house for what ultimately grows into the 13 rampant aliens previously mentioned, or are in addition to those, but it doesn't matter – The aliens are onboard and replicating, that's all that is important. Here there be aliens.

Okay, from here you can probably guess what happens – the aliens escape, start killing humans, and it's up to the mercenaries and Ripley to defeat the aliens.

The twist is that the Mother alien, as I mentioned before, has gained new abilities from Ripley too, and she not only lays eggs but actually gives birth to an alien/human hybrid through a human-type womb.

What I love about this scene is how they add a commentary to keep the viewer up to date on just what the heck is happening. There is a conscious human, one of the lead scientists on the ship, in some sort of cocoon along the wall, very similar to what we see at the end of the first movie. There are several other humans in cocoons spread about there as well.

This lead scientist for some reason has taken on a sort of symbiosis with the mother – unlike similarly cocooned humans in previous movies who screamed in terror, this dude is really, really into it. He is in tune with the queen alien and keeps prattling on about how beautiful everything is, and gives a nice convenient running commentary explaining what's happening. Honestly it is a good thing he is there, because otherwise the audience would have no fucking clue what is happening. Basic storytelling 101 says show, don't tell – but when you have a turd of a script like this, you have to tell.

Well, the baby tears its way out of a skin sack, which is connected to mama's belly. Her offspring turns out to be a pink, fleshy alien with somewhat human facial characteristics. It is unintentionally hilarious looking, and when this thing appeared onscreen my son laughed out loud. It spots Ripley, who has conveniently fallen into the pit with the mamma alien just as it gives birth to this hybrid, and turns toward her. It advances and stops inches from her face (now where have I seen this scene before?). It then begins to rub its face over hers, licking and caressing her.

We are told by our boy in the cocoon that the baby has now accepted Ripley as its mother. Still dripping with embryonic ooze, this baby then turns on mamma alien and kills it. The queen was a badass in Aliens, but in this film the newborn baby easily and quickly dispatches her.

Ripley runs away and she and the surviving mercenaries board the Betty and launch into space, away from the larger ship, which is on a collision course with a desolate part of Earth. But, and I know you'll find this to be a surprise, guess what? The alien baby snuck onboard and there is a fight to the finish between it and Ripley and the android, Call (again, where have I seen this scene before?).

In what I have to admit is the single coolest scene in the entire movie, the alien is defeated by being sucked through a hole in the ship's window. It is ripped into shreds of meat and ejected into space in pieces. The ship conveniently gains Earth's atmosphere just in time to save Ripley and Call from a similar fate, and we see the larger military vessel, the Auriga, crash into Earth and explode. The Betty lands on Earth and we see it is a wasteland, in complete ruins. Earth has been destroyed and apparently abandoned.

I have to admit I am a fan of the Alien franchise. The first film was a masterpiece, blending science fiction and horror and creating one of the scariest movie monsters ever. The second is more of an action film, true, but it still maintains the spirit of the original and expands the storyline in an interesting direction. The third has problems – the biggest of which is the arbitrary extermination of Hicks and Newt (who survived in Aliens). An early draft of this script called for Hicks to be the main character, with Ripley as a support character, (plans were for her to return in the 4th installment as the lead character). What a great movie that could have been. Despite its flaws Alien 3 still has one consistent element – Ripley. She is still the same Ripley, right to the end where she sacrifices herself to destroy the alien inside her.

This 4th installment pisses all over the previous alien films. There are silly plot points, (such as the mercenary who, hands up at gun point, ricochets a bullet off a ceiling - bouncing twice, no less - to hit his captor in the head and escape), that would be more at home in a B-western. Cliché one liners from Ripley ("Who do I have to fuck to get off this boat?" or "There's a monster in you, and I'm its mother" or in answer to "I thought you were dead" – "I get that a lot") that sound like they're straight from a corny Schwarzenegger action flick.

Not only did the filmmakers wreck Ripley's character (insisting on including her yet changing her – what's the point?), dismantle The Company (the real villain behind all three previous Alien movies), and reinvent the aliens (which were the coolest movie monster ever and didn't need reinventing), they also did away with the entire population of Earth.

Writer Joss Whedon is the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer – which pretty much explains a lot of the cartoon silliness that, while it worked perfectly in that series, has no place in an Alien movie. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a Frenchman, which explains why the ruins of the Eiffel Tower are seen among the ruins of the city in the final shot. Looks like Jean-Paul was paving the way for a possible future sequel with super-hero Ripley and her cyborg sidekick Call in a post-apocalyptic France. That might make for an interesting movie, but it doesn't have any place in the Alien franchise. I hope that movie never gets made. Far as I am concerned, Ripley died in Alien 3 and that is the end of her character.

In retrospect, perhaps time travel would be better than this cartoon monster flick.

Christopher Lee Knighted!

2009-06-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

Now this is cool!
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=414367&gt1=28101

What I've been up to...

2009-05-29T08:57:00.006-05:00

I've been busy.

Haven't blogged much over on this side of the blogspot, my personal Larry side, this 11th Tier site. But that isn't because nothing is going on - pretty much it's exactly the opposite.

Where to start... the good and the bad. I'll start with the bad. Whenever I am asked that question I always choose to hear the worst first - that way I can get it out of the way and absorb it, move on to better news. Kind of my approach to art projects too - if I have a stack of projects in front of me I like to tackle the biggest one first, get it out of the way. That way I'm not dreading it the entire time I'm working on the other, smaller projects.
But I digress...

The bad. I lost two pets over the past month. First, and hardest, was my beloved dalmation, Kelly. This is the finest pet a man could ask for. Best dog I ever had - best dog in the world. She was old, blind, deaf and losing her bowel control. We put her down and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Second, was my cat Sara. Sara was a male who we named mistakenly until a vet trip for spaying revealed to us that, no, Sara can't be spayed because HE has to be neutered. Gulp. Too late - the name stuck. They called him Mr. Sara at the vet. Well Mr. Sara passed away this past week. Went missing for several days, we feared the worst. I came home from work last Friday and knew immediately that he was in the house - somewhere. I searched, and finally found him behind my son's dresser where he had crawled to die. I just saw the tip of his orange tail sticking out of the back of the dresser. He was old, and frail and his time had come.

So I buried both pets at my mother's house, which is out in the country a bit. They have a nice little pet cemetery going. Morbid as it is, the Ramones song did pop to mind afterwards. Both pets are missed, but particularly Kelly. She will always be my baby girl and I think about her every day.

I missed Wonderfest this year. I was unable to attend and really hated not being there. I missed the show but most of all I missed all the great friends I have who I only get to see once a year at Wonderfest – friends like Bob Burns, J. Sorrels, Frank Dietz, Dave Conover, Donnie Waddell, Dave Colton, Eileen Colton, Tim Lucas, Donna Lucas, Kathy Burns, Gary Prange, Joe Busam, Harry Hatter, Jim Clatterbaugh, Marian Clatterbaugh, Kerry Gammill, and so many more that there is no way I could possibly list everyone, as well as all my friends from down this way who attend annually. It's like a big family get together and I really missed it.

Now on to the good...

Missing Wonderfest was necessary because at that time I was at my son's high school graduation! Actually, we had multiple graduations to celebrate - my wife graduated from college and my oldest son graduated from High school. I am SO proud of them both. My wife graduated magna cum laude, and we went to both their graduation ceremonies this past month, as well as an elementary graduation ceremony for my youngest son. Three graduations in a month! Huzzah!

Another fun offshoot of the Wonderfest weekend was the winning of a Rondo Award! Myself, Cameron McCasland, and Linda Wylie (Nurse Moan-eek) were all given Rondo awards for the series of PSAs we did last year in our "Go Green with Dr. Gangrene" campaign. It's just such a great honor to be recognized by our peers for the work we do, and I want to say thank you again to everyone who voted for us, and to David Colton and everyone at the Rondo Awards for the nomination. Cameron collected my statue for me and it now resides on the shelf next to my other Rondo (for Best Website).

I've been reading quite a bit. I read four complete collections of EC Comics: The Crypt of Terror (Vol. 1 of Tales from the Crypt), The Vault of Horror Vol. 1 & 2, and Haunt of Fear Vol. 1. These collections of EC books from the 50s are awesome. I LOVE EC comics. GREAT stuff.

I also read a biography on the Ramones called "Hey Ho Let's Go The Story of the Ramones" by Everett True. Great background on the history of the punk pioneers.

I've watched a BUNCH of movies - first I was on a western kick, and watched several Sergio Leone Eastwood movies - Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and the Good the Bad and the Ugly. I seen all these multiple times, but they were just as good this time around and I saw them in letterbox form off dvd, so they were really enjoyable.

Then I somehow got onto a Dario Argento kick, and watched several of his films: Tenebrae, Phenomena, Do You Like Hitchcock and Trauma. I still have one more that I plan to watch soon – The Card Player. I like all these movies, but my favorite of the bunch still has to be Phenomena.

I also re-watched ZOMBIE, the Lucio Fulci classic, just because I was in the mood for it.

And now lately I have become hooked on the TV show LOST. I was recently loaned the first season, and it sat on my vcr for about a month before I finally popped in the first disc. Now we're hooked, and my wife and youngest son and I all sit and watch two or three episodes a night. GREAT series and I can't wait to see where they're going with it!!

I saw Wolverine, Star Trek and A Night at the Museum 2 at the theater. I really enjoyed them all, but surprisingly liked Star Trek best of the three. I wasn't expecting to like it, honestly. But I went in open minded and other than a bit of a hang up about the time travel method I was okay with this reboot. They managed to reset the series without totally invalidating the original adventures, which was important. These are the same characters but set upon a new path with totally new set of circumstances, familiar yet different. Ought to be a fun franchise to watch – Gene Roddenbury would be proud, which is probably the best compliment I could give it.

I started a new video project. It is a series for youtube that I'm calling the Recommended Movie of the Week - not really a review but more of me as Dr. Gangrene highlighting a movie each week that I like and highly recommend. You can find them over at both my Gangrene blog and my youtube channel. I've done 6 so far as well as one other video showing off some of the goodies folks have given me over the years. Got a couple more of these coming up too.

I did a cameo for the new George Demick zombie movie DEAD START - George asked me if I wanted a part in his movie, and I told him I would under one condition... I wanted to be a reporter on the scene talking about the zombie epidemic, as an homage to horror host Chilly Billy Cardille who did the same role in George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. So he agreed, and in fact really liked the idea. I even named my character Russ Bramming, an amalgamation of names of both of Nashville's former horror hosts Ken Bramming (Dr. Lucifur) and Russ McCown (Sir Cecil Creape). Makes me smile to think of that, and I hope someone out there catches that when it comes out on dvd. There was a tremendous turnout that day - 500 people showed up to be zombies. 500 people! and they took names to prove it. Was quite a sight. I got killed by a mob of zombies led by a zombie belly dancer - yeah! There is a clip on youtube of my scene that was shot and posted by fellow horror host Dr. Pureblood who was a zombie extra in this movie. Good stuff! More on this movie as it gets closer to release...

And last but certainly not least, I have started a band. This is a project that I've directed a lot of energy toward the past couple of months, but which I'm REALLY enjoying. The band is called SPOOKHAND. The name comes from a nightmare my oldest boy had one night when he was about two or three. When we got him calmed down and asked him what was the matter he said, "There's a spookhand waving at me from the closet." Creepy! When we were searching for names for the band I remembered that story, and threw that name out there. It stuck, and here's the logo for the band.

It is a horror punk band, kind of Ramones-ish in flavor. All the songs are, of course, about monsters and horror movies and assorted fun. What else? There are five members: Steve Die on Guitar, Grim Jim Vegas on drums, Roamin D. Graveyard on guitar, J. Ghouls on bass, and me, Scary Larry on vocals. We practice once a week at a GREAT practice space in Nashville called Rockin Rande's Garage (if anyone in the Nashville area needs a great practice area drop me an email and I'll get you his info) and we recently played our first show at my friend Troy Guinn's (of the Exotic Ones) Birthday Bash. Went over well and everyone really seemed to like it. We added a new song just this week, which brings our total of originals to ten, I think. We have a show coming up at The End next month on the 17th.

This is something I've always flirted with but never pursued. After the Ramones/Misfits cover set I did last year (with Jeano of the Creeping Cruds as the Coffin Burys at last year's Horror Hootenanny show) I got the bug and really wanted to pursue it more. I figured hey, if I don't do this now, I probably never will. So I posted a Craigslist ad, got a few guys who responded, and ran with it from there. So far it's been a ton of fun and we do have a myspace page with songs up now – you can find it by typing simply www.spookhand.com

And besides all that I have a couple of other projects in the works that I'll talk more about in the near future... so yeah, I've been busy. But you know what? It's been a fun couple of months, and I look forward to an equally fun summer.

Dead Start zombie film in the news

2009-04-27T22:33:00.001-05:00

The Tennessean newspaper ran an article about the George Demick movie Dead Styart today. There is also a great photo slideshow with audio interviews here: http://www.tennessean.com/section/special0382

still can't get over 500 zombies - very cool!

Been a long time...

2009-04-26T23:11:00.004-05:00

It has been quite a while since I wrote anything on here. I have been very busy with a number of projects and events. I will try and catch you all up on some of these this week, and try and do a better job posting regularly... but no promises!

I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon today being a reporter in a zombie film. It is the latest George Demick movie, DEAD START, filming in Smyrna Tennessee. I got there at 8 am to find 500 EXTRAS who all showed up to be zombies! Wow! Talk about an army of the dead!! It was tremendous!

George had asked me a few weeks back if I wanted to do a bit part in the movie - I said sure, but only if I can do it as an homage to Chilly Billy Cardille, the horror host in Pittsburgh who appeared in the George Romero classic Night of the Living Dead. So I did play a tv reporter in it, and I called my character Russ Bramming, which is a combination of names from the first 2 horror hosts in Nashville, Ken Bramming and Russ McCown.

It was a fun time and I got killed by a zombie belly dancer. Doesn't get much better than that. I'll post pictures as I get them...

here's a link for more info:
http://www.myspace.com/deadstart09

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Belcourt

2009-03-28T14:17:00.003-05:00

My son Luke and I went to the midnight showing of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last night at the Belcourt theater in Nashville and the place was PACKED! I was stunned - I really didn't think there would be that many people in attendance. Ran into my cohort Cameron McCasland there, which was cool - it turned out to be a really fun evening.

They had an original arcade version TMNT video game in the lobby, served pizza and ooze drinks (which I'm not sure exactly what that consisted of, but I think it was alcoholic) and before the show started they held a pizza eating contest between 4 contestants chosen from the audience who each wore a different colored mask, one for each turtle. They all chowed down on a slice of pizza and Michaelangelo ate his the quickest, winning a pass to a couple of future movies.

Before the feature film they showed a TMNT cartoon from the 80s. Then the main ovie came on, and the crowd hooted and hollered throughout, really enjoying it. Was another fun time at the Belcourt!!

Once Around the Bloch

2009-03-04T07:30:00.003-06:00

I just finished Robert Bloch's biography - man this thing is terrific! From his early days writing for Weird Tales to his later days hobnobbing with Hollywood types such as Boris Karloff, Joan Crawford and Christopher Lee (all of whom were friends of his), this is one interesting read. He also talks about Psycho, Hitchcock, and William Castle - great stuff!

Old Time Radio Fun!

2009-02-28T21:10:00.007-06:00

Are you a fan of old time radio broadcasts? I know I am - last year I got on a huge STRANGE DR. WEIRD kick. I must have listened to 30 or more episodes on my way back and forth to work - great fun old stuff.

Well, I found a site that has tons of Old Time Radio broadcasts all in one place. It is:

http://www.otrcat.com/

They have way more episodes than I have ever even heard of, in a ton of categories, too. I listed them below:

CATEGORIES
Adventure - British
Children - Comedy
Detective - Drama
Historical - Holiday
Musical - Mystery-Horror
Personality - Quiz
Rare - Sci Fi
Serials - Soaps
South African - Sports
Westerns - WWII

This site sells cds of the shows, but there is free stuff on there too. There is a sample episode of every show offered, so you can see if it's something you're really interested in. And there is an episode of the week section, too, where you can listen to more free offerings.

There are many places on the internet where you can find old time radio broadcasts, but the nice thing here is they are already all collected in one spot and the cds are cheap - just $5 per disc, and each offer hours of listening entertainment for a cheap price.

Fun stuff - so check them out, and remember...
LIGHTS OUT... EVERYBODY!

I am such a dork!

2009-02-27T21:22:00.001-06:00

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the Belcourt theater is NEXT month! DOH!

At least I caught it before I went down to the theater and was surprised with a showing of Half Baked instead!!

Ridin' out with Jonah Hex

2009-02-26T22:27:00.007-06:00

I had a flat tire the other day... actually my wife did, but it was in my van... so the next morning I took it to the shop to get a new tire put on. I knew I would have a bit of a wait at the tire place, so I grabbed something off my bedside table to read. It was a little digest sized comic I've had laying around for years (4 and 7/8 by 6 and 3/4 inch size). I honestly can't tell you where I got it - it's just always been around - in a desk drawer, on a table top, under my dresser - it just always seemed to be there, and I never wanted to toss it. It isn't in great shape, but something made me hang onto it. I guess I figured one day I'd get around to reading it - and one day came this week.

It's a collection of western stories called JONAH HEX AND OTHER WESTERN TALES, and this is issue 3. It is edited by Ross Andru, whose name conjures up images of spider-man for me, as I remember reading many an issue of the webhead illustrated by Ross. But this time Ross put together a book of gunslingers, not webslingers, three of which featured the fiesty Jonah Hex (plus a one page strip featuring Hex, too). The other 5 stories were a random assortment of western tales.

These are all reprints from other books, and it's interesting to me that DC ever put these out to begin with. It cost 95 cents at the time of purchase, which was 1980. I can't imagine there was a big following of westerns in 1980, especially in this format. Wonder if they were sold in bookstores? After a bit of investigation I see that there were only three issues of this book released, so apparantly this is the final issue. The Jonah Hex stories in this book are:

Killers Die Alone from Weird Western Tales #14
Face Off with the Gallagher Brothers from Weird Western Tales #26
Hanging Woman from Weird Western Tales #17
Frontier Justice one page strip

I've always enjoyed a good western from time to time, and these stories somehow seemed appropriate as my iron horse was down and out and needed a new shoe. Thought I'd share the first story from that collection with you folks, as I enjoyed it quite a bit. Adios, amigos! Giddyup!

Heroes on a half shell

2009-02-25T20:24:00.005-06:00

Teenage mutant midnight movie, Teenage mutant midnight movie, Teenage mutant midnight movie,
Heroes in a half shell - at the Belcourt.

Okay, sorry about that - but I am looking forward to another fun midnight movie at the Belcourt theater in Nashville this weekend. This is the original Ninja turtles movie from 1990. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Master Splinter, Casey Jones, April and the Shredder all in one movie. Bodacious!

Rue Morgue Radio Rules!

2009-02-24T22:53:00.006-06:00

It's pretty typical of me to be late to the party.

Seems I'm always getting into things later than everyone else, whether it be movies, music, or books. But this time I'm still in time to catch the main event - and I have Jeano Roid from the Creeping Cruds to thank for it.

What I'm talking about is the Rue Morgue Radio Broadcast. I've been aware of this podcast for a long time, I just never took the time to seek it out. Now I've had a little experience with podcasts in my time, mostly through Cult Radio a Go-Go (winner of last year's best podcast category in the Rondo Awards) and the horror hosts who have their own shows on there. Heck, I even did my own podcast for a few episodes on Cult Radio a Go-Go - I think I did four in total, one a month. It was a lot more work than I was able to pull off at that time, but it was a fun experience. I also listen to several podcasts from Garagepunk.com, various shows featuring garage, punk and low-fi music (great stuff, btw).

Anyway, a few weeks back I was talking to Jeano about some projects we're working on and he asked me if I do podcasts? I said sure, some, but why? He mentioned that Rue Morgue had done a great interview with him about his band, the Creeping Cruds, and if I'm interested I should check it out. So I did. I found the archives section on their webpage and downloaded the podcast featuring the Cruds, and a couple other past episodes while I was at it.

After the first episode I was intrigued - after the second I wanted more - and now I'm hooked!

Rue Morgue Radio is a multimedia extension of their magazine, Rue Morgue Magazine, and is produced in Canada. It is a very professionally put together podcast, not just a bunch of songs slapped together like my podcasts were! They feature an eclectic mix of horror music from a variety of musicians, bands and movies, interviews with horror actors, directors and celebrities, and reviews of both modern and classic (and not so classic) horror movies, as well as trailers and clips from films, too. Being north of the US border gives them a unique outlook on the horror landscape, in my opinion, and definitely allows them to spotlight creators and events from that area.

While Rue Morgue Radio is billed as a blood splattered guide to all things horror. It is funny and irreverent, modern and hip, yet still manages to maintain a sort of classic horror vibe with tributes and segments honoring legends of horror such as Vincent Price and Zacherley the Cool Ghoul. Rue Morgue Radio has been nominated for a Rondo Award for Best Podcast again this year. Definitely a worthy candidate, and a podcast I will be tuning in to every week! Now excuse me, I have to go download some past episodes of Rue Morgue now...

The Goon turns 10

2009-02-23T20:24:00.008-06:00

There is an upcoming event taking place next month that I am very excited about - it is the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of The Goon.

The Goon is an comic book published by a good friend of mine, Eric Powell. It started off as an independent comic, and Dark Horse picked it up along the way.

To help celebrate this milestone Eric has booked two of my very favorite bands - Ghoultown and Calabrese.

WOW! If I were to set up my own show to celebrate my tenth anniversary (which is this year, too, btw) I would very likely have booked these very same bands. The only thing that would make it better is if he had The Creeping Cruds open the show.

The event is being held at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, Friday March 13th 2009, 8:00pm

The Cannery is located at 1 Cannery Row
Nashville, TN

To find out more about the Goon go here

To find out more about Ghoultown go here

To find out more about Calabrese go here

OFFICIAL DETAILS:

Friday the 13th (March) 2009 at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville. With musical guests Calabrese, Ghoultown, and DJ Fat Andy. Special guests include yours truly, Ruby Rocket, Miss Lolly Pop and Lux-O-Matic, the Nashville Rollergirls & Toad.

He wouldn't even hurt a fly...

2009-02-21T09:55:00.000-06:00

I finally sat down and read Psycho.

I've wanted to read this 1959 Robert Bloch novel for quite a while, but never made time for it. I should have. Psycho was just as entertaining as I had hoped, and I see why Hitchcock chose to adapt it to the big screen.

The Universal film is actually very, very close to the source material. There are a few differences, of course, but the majority of what you see on the screen is straight from the book.

One of the major differences is the character of Norman Bates himself. In the book he's a middle-aged, overweight bookworm - a recluse who still lives at home with his mother while running a shabby motel located at the bottom of the hill below their house.

In the movie the part is played by Anthony Perkins, who is much younger (and leaner) than the character described in the book. Bloch was asked what he thought about this change in the screen version of the character. Here's what he had to say in an interview with Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier when asked what he thought of the movie adaptation (you can read the entire interview at: http://mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com/lofficier_interview1.html)

"I was absolutely delighted. You know, it's generally the case that they take a title and the book and change it radically. But, in this case, it was about ninety percent from my book. He made only two drastic changes. He downgraded the age of Norman Bates, which was necessary visually. If they had presented a middle-aged man on the screen at that time, you'd automatically suspect that he must be the villain. So, that was a brilliant stroke on his part. The other thing he did was take a large segment of scenes that were in the book, but didn't describe fully. But the rest of it, the characters, the setting, various devices, all came from the book, right down to the last line."

There are several theories of where the character of Norman Bates might have originated, and one of these lies with real life serial killer Ed Gein. The Gein murders happened just a few miles from the small Wisconsin town where Bloch lived, and it certainly played a part in influencing the development of the character. But it was more of an inspiration, a kicking off-point, than a blueprint. Bloch also addressed this in interviews and mentioned the ideas of the murders themselves being influential to Psycho, but not so much the man Ed Gein himself.

Another very interesting theory is that Bates was based on real life magazine publisher Calvin Beck, best known for his ground breaking magazine CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Science Fiction writer Tom Weaver explored this connection in an article that is reprinted on the terrific B-Monster website .
Like Bates, Beck also lived with his mother and was dominated by her overbearing personality. Bloch knew Beck, and the idea that he based Norman Bates on Calvin Beck is more than plausible. Give that article a good read - it is fascinating and is just another example of the fine research that Tom Weaver has done over the years.

I wondered how well the book would hold up, given the fame of the movie adaptation. Psycho met all my expectations, and is a really good read. Of course, I expected no less from one of Bloch's lineage – he comes from the Weird Tales line of writers. Anyone who had work published alongside the likes of Robert Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Henry Kuttner, Ray Bradbury and Clark Ashton Smith is in the company of the finest horror writers of all time, and indeed is rightly considered one himself.

Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Other Productions

2009-02-19T17:49:00.001-06:00

I ran into my good buddy Jeff Thompson the other day at the PLANET OF THE APES screening at the Belcourt Theater. As I entered the theater I recognized a familiar face, so I went over and sat with Jeff. Before the film started we had a chance to chat and catch up a bit, and Jeff told me about an exciting new book he has coming out through McFarland Publications. It's called Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Other Productions, 1966–2006. Here is the McFarland website description:

The award-winning and innovative director Dan Curtis was known for helming epic war movies, but before that he darkened the small screen with the horror genre’s most famous soap opera. Curtis directed the groundbreaking daytime television serial Dark Shadows from 1966 to 1971 and then turned his lens to numerous made-for-TV horror movies. This book examines 16 horror films that Curtis produced, co-wrote, or directed, as well as the cultural impact of Dark Shadows and its various incarnations. The book features 69 photographs and a foreword by Jim Pierson of Dan Curtis Productions.

According to Jeff the 69 photographs are rare and some never before published photos of Dan Curtis. Jeff is a lifelong Dark Shadows aficionado. I've been to his house and it is a veritable museum of Dark Shadows and other fantastic memorabilia. (Tennessee Crossroads did a segment for a Halloween episode there, focusing on Jeff's enormous collection of memorabilia).

Jeff is an English professor at Tennessee State University and incorporates his love of horror films into his courses, even screening various movies for his students. He has written articles on Dan Curtis and Dark Shadows and attends conventions as a guest on Dark Shadows and horror cinema.

His new book will be available starting Friday, March 13th on the McFarland website,

and you can also order it through Amazon.com.

The 7th Annual Rondo Awards have begun!

2009-02-16T20:51:00.000-06:00

It's official - the Rondo awards have begun - the ballot was announced last night, and Dr. Gangrene was nominated for 2 Rondos -

Best Horrorhost
and
Best Fan Event
(for the Wonderfest Live Show)

It is an honor to be nominated, and I'd just like to say thanks to Dave Colton for putting these awards together. This is the 7th annual Rondo Award season, and there are some new categories this year such as Best Blog - so take some time and visit the websites and blogs - there are some really cool ones nominated.

I will put the entire ballot below - make your selections and mail them to taraco@aol.com.

HERE IS THE OFFICIAL BALLOT

FOR THE

SEVENTH ANNUAL RONDO HATTON

CLASSIC HORROR AWARDS

This year's awards are dedicated to the memory and legacy of Forrest J Ackerman,

the World's No. 1 Monster Fan

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Best Movie of 2008 (Pick one)

-- CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN
-- CLOVERFIELD
-- THE DARK KNIGHT
-- THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
-- DIARY OF THE DEAD
-- THE EYE
-- THE HAPPENING
-- HELLBOY: THE GOLDEN ARMY
-- INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
-- IRON MAN
-- JUMPER
-- LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
-- THE RUINS
-- THE SIGNAL
-- TWILIGHT
-- WALL-E
-- X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE

-- Or write in another choice:

2. Best Television Presentation

-- BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?' Sci-Fi Channel, 5.16.08. Adama and fleet consider an alliance with Cylon rebels. 'The one human flaw, mortality, is the one thing that makes you whole.'

-- DOCTOR WHO, 'Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead,' BBC, 5.31.08-6.6.08. A 51st Century library has every book ever written. 'Look at me, I'm old and thick, head's too full of stuff. I need a bigger head.'

-- FRINGE, 'The Arrival,' Fox, 9.30.08. A large cylinder, and an Observer, emerge from beneath the streets of New York City. 'You still think just because someone's dead, they're gone?'

-- HEROES, 'The Eclipse, Parts 1 and 2,' NBC, 11.24.08-12.1.08. Solar mayhem causes heroes and villains to lose their powers. 'I never thought I'd be able to hurt again. It sucks but it's wonderful.'

-- LOST, 'There's No Place Like Home, Parts 1 and 2,' ABC, 5.15.08-5.29.08. Time twists as six escape and Ben 'moves' the island. 'We have to go back.'

-- SUPERNATURAL, 'In the Beginning,' WB, 10.2.08. Dean goes back in time to warn his mother of death in her future. 'No matter what you hear or see, promise me you won't get out of bed.'

-- TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, Fox, 3.3.08. Birthdays and family complicate the battle to stop the future. 'You fool yourself. Then you remember what this place'll look like when it's on fire.'

-- TORCHWOOD, 'Exit Wounds,' BBC, 4.4.08. Death and time travel as the team saves the city. 'Give me one good reason why I shouldn't keep bloody screaming.'

-- TRUE BLOOD, 'Cold Ground,' HBO, 10.12.08. Escape from the blood proves elusive. “Our killer seems to be targeting women who have associated with vampires.'

-- Or write in another choice:

3. Best Classic DVD

-- THE HAUNTED CASTLE (Murnau; Alpha version)
-- THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (Hammer)
-- THE MUMMY (75th Anniversary)
-- PHASE IV (Saul Bass insect fear)
-- THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
-- PSYCHO SPECIAL EDITION

-- RODAN/WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (U.S. and Japanese)
-- 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD (DVD and Blu-Ray)
-- STANLEY (Special edition)
-- VAMPYR (Criterion)
-- WORLD WITHOUT END/SATELLITE IN THE SKY

-- Or write in another choice:

4. Best Classic DVD Collection

-- ABBOTT & COSTELLO: COMPLETE UNIVERSAL PICTURES COLLECTION
-- CHARLIE CHAN COLLECTION Vol. 4 and 5 (Sidney Toler era)
-- FOX HORROR CLASSICS Vol. 2 (Chandu the Magician, Dragonwyck, Dr. Renault's Secret)
-- HOUDINI THE MOVIE STAR (Kino collection of films and serials)
-- ICONS OF ADVENTURE: Stranglers of Bombay, Terror of Tongs, Pirates of Blood River, Devil- Ship Pirates
-- ICONS OF HORROR: THE HAMMER COLLECTION: Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, Scream of Fear, The Gorgon, Curse of Mummy's Tomb
-- MAGIC OF MELIES (Kino collection of his films)
-- PLANET OF THE APES (First five films, Blu-Ray set)
-- RAY HARRYHAUSEN COLLECTIBLE DVD GIFT SET (Colorized and B/W of It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth)

-- Or write in another selection:

5. Best DVD TV Collection

-- DOCTOR WHO: The Complete Fourth Series
-- HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN: Gory Gory Transylvania. Vol. 2 (nine more episodes)
-- THE INVADERS (Season One)
-- MUNSTERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES

-- NIGHT GALLERY: Season Two (Rod Serling's classic)
-- OUTER LIMITS: ORIGINAL SERIES COMPLETE (all 49 episodes)
-- THE STARLOST (Rare 1973 series with Keir Dullea)
-- SUSPENSE: THE LOST EPISODES (Vol. 1 of early TV anthology)
-- TORCHWOOD: Complete Second Season.

-- Or write in another selection:

6. Best Restoration (or video upgrade)

-- CHANDU THE MAGICIAN (Bright and detailed, Fox Horror Classics Vol. 2)
-- CONQUEST OF PLANET OF THE APES (Director's cut)
-- DEAD MEN TELL (Much improved version in Charlie Chan set, Vol. 5)
-- THE GREEN ARCHER (Restored Serials version)
-- HOUDINI: THE MAN FROM BEYOND (Restored Serials version, also on Blu-Ray)

-- THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (Technicolor sequences sparkle, splices gone)
-- RODAN (Japanese version)
-- THE SKULL (finally widescreen)
-- 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (DVD and Blu-Ray)
-- TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (uncensored)
-- VAMPYR (Criterion)
-- WORLD WITHOUT END (Cinemascope)

-- Or write in another choice:

7. Best DVD Extra

-- ADVENTURES IN SPACE: Space Patrol's Ralston Rocket Giveaway promotional film from 1954.
-- CHARLIE CHAN COLLECTION Vol. 4: Chan's Killer Actress: Feature on Kay Linaker.
-- THE MUMMY (1932): 'He Who made Monsters,' documentary on Jack Pierce.
-- NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 40th Anniversary Edition: 'One for the Fire' documentary brings cast members back to cemetery.
-- PSYCHO SPECIAL EDITION: Episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 'Lamb to the Slaughter.'
-- 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD: 'Remembering the 7th Voyage of Sinbad,' Harryhausen talks about the special effects.

-- STANLEY: 'The Dark Side of Eden: The Making of Stanley.' Includes new interviews, behind-scenes footage.

-- Or write in another choice:

8. Best DVD Commentary

-- Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Bob Burns, Steve Haberman, Brent Armstrong, THE MUMMY (1932)
-- Bill Condon, Michael Murphy, Dan Shor, STRANGE BEHAVIOR Special Edition.
-- Ray Harryhausen, Phil Tippett, Steven Smith, Arnold Kunert, Randall Cook, 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD
-- Angela Lansbury with Steve Haberman, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
-- Gregory Mank, CHANDU THE MAGICIAN
-- John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg, and Nick Redman on Bernard Herrmann, DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Blu-Ray)

-- Jeff Miller, HOLD THAT GHOST (Universal box set)
-- Tony Rayns, VAMPYR (Criterion)
-- Stephen Rebello, PSYCHO SPECIAL EDITION
-- James K. Shea, Fred Olen Ray, three animators, PLANET OF DINOSAURS 30th Anniversary Edition
-- Tom Weaver, Richard Scrivani, ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Universal box set)

-- Or write in another choice:

9. Best Independent Production (film, documentary or short)

- BLIND DATE OF COFFIN JOE (Ray Castile uncannily channels the unholy one in search of the superior woman)
-- CARTOON ADVENTURES OF MAJOR MARS (Bob Burns' cartoon series as it might have been)
-- THE DUNGEON OF DR. DRECK (Horror hosts abound in this fun look at a TV station takeover).
-- EDGAR ALLAN POE'S THE RAVEN (Christopher Walken reads, Gustave Dore decorates in this Len Hart animated short)
-- FANEX FILES: SAMUEL Z. ARKOFF (Documentary and interview with AIP's no-nonsense vice president)

-- SPINE-TINGLER: THE WILLIAM CASTLE STORY (Feature-length documentary about the maestro of ballyhoo)
-- TERROR IN THE PHAROAH'S TOMB (Latest sendup of public domain footage by Sue Svehla)
-- THIRTY SECOND DOOM (Short parody of sci-fi serials, Rocketman and all)
-- TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD (Sci-fi lunacy from Larry Blamire, Dan Roebuck and gang)
-- WATCH HORROR FILMS: Keep America Strong (Documentary about San Francisco's Creature Features)
-- ZOMBIE HUNTERS: CITY OF THE DEAD (Crispy online episodes)

-- Or write in another choice:

10. Best Book of 2008

-- THE BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR, edited by Amy Wallace, Del Howison and Scott Bradley. Notables including Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Tim Lucas and others pick bests and worsts.

-- THE CINEMA OF TOD BROWNING, edited by Bernd Herzogenrath. Scholars dissect the director's work.

-- CLAUDE RAINS: An Actor's Voice, by David J. Skal with Jessica Rains. Based on unrevealed interviews and a daughter's recollections, a look at one of horror's finest.

-- THE GREAT MONSTER MAGAZINES, by 'Bobb' Cotter. A look at the black-and-white monster and comic magazines of the 50s, 60s, 70s.

-- HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: Fans Behind the Camera, by Clive Young. From fake Little Rascals in the 20s to backyard Batman, a look at the tribute film craze.

-- HORROR 101, edited by Aaron Christensen. The essentials and more outlined by 78 writers.

-- I TALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, by Tom Weaver. Interviews with 23 horror and science fiction personalities, including Ann Carter, Eric Braeden and Lee Meriwether.

-- THE MONSTER HUNTER IN MODERN POPULAR CULTURE, Heather L. Duda. From Van Helsing to Buffy, a look at those who fight back.

-- 100 EUROPEAN HORROR FILMS, by Stephen Jay Schneider. A screen guide for films from Caligari to today.

-- RAY HARRYHAUSEN: MASTER OF THE MAJICKS, Volume 2: The American Films, by Mike Hankin. From Mighty Joe to the Cyclops.

-- SHADOWS OVER NEW ENGLAND by David and Scott T. Goudsward. A guide to the locales of the region's scariest legends, Dark Shadows included.

-- TWILIGHT ZONE: Unlocking The Door to a Television Classic, by Martin Grams. Through interviews and production notes, every episode submitted for your approval.

-- VIDEODROME, by Tim Lucas. Finding the secrets hidden behind the knobs of David Cronenberg's classic.

-- YOU'RE NEXT: Loss of Identity in the Horror Film, edited by Anthony Ambrogio. From alien takeovers to brain-swaps, who's next?

-- Or write in another choice:

11. Best Magazine of 2008

-- Famous Monsters of Filmland
-- Filmfax
-- G-FAN
-- Horror Hound
-- Little Shoppe of Horrors
-- Mad Scientist
-- Monster Bash
-- Monsters from the Vault
-- Phantom of the Movies' VideoScope
-- Rue Morgue
-- Scarlet
-- Scary Monsters
-- Screem
-- Shock Cinema
-- Starlog
-- Video Watchdog

-- Or write in another choice:

12. Best Article of 2008 (PLEASE PICK TWO)

-- 'Amy and Her Friends: The Ann Carter Interview,' by Tom Weaver, VIDEO WATCHDOG #137. A career retrospective with the young star of a Val Lewton classic.

-- 'Beverly Washburn: from Superman to Spider Baby,' by Donald Vaughan, VIDEOSCOPE #68. Interview with actress who appeared with George Reeves, Old Yeller, Lon Chaney and Captain Kirk.

-- 'Bewitching Hazel,' by David Del Valle, VIDEO WATCHDOG #140. Remembrance of late Hammer star Hazel Court.

-- 'California Gothic: The Corman/Haller Collaboration,' roundtable with Roger Corman, Daniel Haller, Joe Dante, moderated by Lawrence French, VIDEO WATCHDOG #138. Tales from the sets of the Poe films and more.

-- 'Cinematographer Gary Graver: The Man Who Shot Everything,' by Gary Graves, PENNY BLOOD #11 (online). One of last interviews with man behind the lens of Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Naschy films.

-- 'Coffin Joe Resurrected.' by Scott Gabbey and Jovanka Vuckovic, RUE MORGUE #85. Career retrospective on notorious Brazilian filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins.

-- 'Color Them Monsters,' by Mark Thompsen, STARLOG #370. Four pages of colorized Universal stills, from the Phantom to the Creature.

-- 'The Curse of the Cat People: A Production Diary,' by Greg Mank, MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #25. Everything about the haunting Robert Wise classic.

-- 'El Vampiro Speaks,' by Bryan Senn, Richard Sheffield and Jim Clatterbaugh, MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #24. Rare interview with Mexican horror star German Robles.

-- 'A Eulogy for Charles B. Griffith,' by Justin Humphreys, VIDEO WATCHDOG #141. A friend remembers the touching final days of the eccentric writer behind AIP classics.

-- 'Harry Redmond Jr.: Last Survivor of Skull Island,' by Mark F. Berry, VIDEO WATCHDOG #146. Interview and revelations from last remaining production member of Willis O'Brien's films.

-- 'Head Scratchers Explained,' by Prof. Anton Griffin, SCARY MONSTERS #66. Filling in some of the monstrous plot holes in Universal's classic films.

-- 'Intruding on William Shatner,' by Dan Lybarger, FILMFAX #117. Insights into the controversial 1962 Roger Corman film.

-- 'Jamie Lee Curtis and the Virginity Myth,' by Mark Allan Gunnells, MIDNIGHT MARQUEE #76 (online). Retracing Curtis' gritty heroines in Halloween, The Fog and other films.

-- 'Lost Nightmare: The Mystery of the Missing Spider Pit Sequence,' by Gary Vehar. FILMFAX #118-119. Rounding up everything known about King Kong's lost scene.

-- 'Manly P. Hall: Dracula and the Complexities of the Classic Horror Film Sequel,' by Gary Don Rhodes, MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #25. How the sequel to Dracula might have been very different.

-- 'Of Dogs and Monsters,' by Deborah Painter, SCARY MONSTERS #65. Sniffing out the hounds of hell and heroism in the monster movies.

-- 'The Prisoner: A New Order,' by Tim Lucas, VIDEO WATCHDOG #142. Making new sense of the village by reshuffling the episodes.

-- 'Remembering John Brahm,' by Marty Baumann, MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #24. Director's daughter recalls his work on The Lodger, Outer Limits and more.

-- 'Scare News,' by John Skerchock, SCARY MONSTERS. Fandom's insider column, appearing regularly.

-- 'Scream and Scream Again: The Uncensored History of Amicus Productions,' by Philip Nutman, LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS #20. Deep examination of the studio that emerged from Hammer's shadows.

-- 'Special Effects Wizard John P. Fulton,' by daughter Joanne Fulton Schaeffer as told to Tom Weaver, MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #24. Growing up with the genius behind Universal's horrors.

-- 'Spine Tingler,' by Greg Goodsell, SCREEM #16. A ghost-viewer look at William Castle's career through the new documentary.

-- 'Stan Winston Remembered,' by Scott Essman, FANGORIA #276. Tribute to the late makeup master.

-- 'Sullivan's Travels in Hollywood,' by Paul and Donna Parla, additional material by Anthony DiSalvo and Lawrence Fultz Jr., SCARY MONSTERS #67. Career retrospective on the man who tamed the Gila Monster.

-- 'Suspense: The Lost Episodes,' reviewed by Kim Newman, VIDEO WATCHDOG #140. Episodes from dawn of TV described in kinoscopic detail.

-- 'The Ubiquitous Dabbs Greer,' by M.J. Simpson, VIDEO WATCHDOG #144. The character actor interviewed about House of Wax, body snatchers and more.

-- 'Video Invasion,' by Matt Moore, HORROR HOUND #12-14. Reconstructing the gory-movie VHS boom of the 80s, clamshell boxes and all.

-- -- 'Who Saved Hitler's Brain: The Making and Re-Making of Madman of Mandoras,' by Brian Albright, FILMFAX #118. Proof that every picture has a backstory.

-- Or write in another choice:

Remember, please pick TWO articles from the list above. One will win.

13. Best Magazine Cover

FILMFAX #119

By Harley Brown

G-FAN #85

By Matt Harris

HORROR HOUND #12

By Ed Repka

LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS #20

Alternate cover by Bruce Timm

MAD SCIENTIST #18

By Don Marquez

MONSTER BASH #8

By Lorraine Bush

MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #25

By Daniel Horne

RUE MORGUE #83

By Basil Gogos

SCARLET #1
By Michael Wilk

SCARY MONSTERS #65

By Terry Beatty

SCREEM #16

By Bill Chancellor

VIDEOSCOPE #68

By Kevin Hein

VIDEO WATCHDOG #137

By Charles Largent

Or write in another cover choice:

14. Best Website (Online magazine, message board or tribute site)

Classic Horror Film Board, sponsor of Rondos, is not eligible

-- Atomicmonsters.com (Fun look at 50s scifi)

-- Creepy Classics (Monster Bash and latest product news)

-- Deadbooks.com (A rich multimedia serial based on the sci-fi series)

-- Eccentric-cinema (One of earliest cult sites)

-- E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts (amazing)

-- Film Noir Foundation (For fans of long inky shadows)

-- Gallery of Monster Toys (The source)

-- Horrorhosts.com (Home of horror host rebirth)

-- Latarnia: Fantastique International (all things Euro and more)

-- Lugosiphilia Yahoo Group (Just Bela)

-- The Many Faces of the Frankenstein Monster (like it says)

-- Midnight Marquee (online magazine)

-- Monster Kid Online Magazine

-- Monster-Mania Forum (monster conventions)

-- Serialsquadron.com (Cliffhangers, restored serials and talk)

-- Shriekfreak Quarterly (online magazine)

-- Themonsterclub.com (Still excited about monsters and thrills)

-- Thethunderchild.com (Online magazine)

-- Trailers from Hell (Joe Dante, pros comment on trailers)

-- Universal Monster Army (Toys, masks and more)

-- Witch's Dungeon (Home of the monstrous Hollywood tributes)

-- Or write in another website:

15. Best Horror Blog

-- Blogue Macabre (Strange musings with Gary D.)

-- Cinema Dave (Quick-footed movie blog)

-- Cinema-suicide (Smart look at modern films; soundtracks, too)

-- The Drunken Severed Head (Max Cheney's unique blog about it all)

-- Final Girl (A voice that must be heard)

-- Frankensteinia (If it didn't exist it would have to be invented)

-- Gary's Blog (Gary Svelha's cinema musings at midmar.com)

-- The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla (August Ragone's G-blog)

-- Gorillamen.com (Blog goes ape)

-- Groovy Age of Horror (Not for faint-hearted)

-- HorrorHostGraveyard.com (All host news, all the time)

-- The Horrors of it All (Horror in the comics and more)

-- Monsterama.blogspot.com (Friendly creeps from Jay Stevens)

-- Monstermoviemusic.blogspot.com (Music is just the start)

-- Obscure Hollow (The look of horror)

-- Secret Fun Blog (childhood reveries from creator of Flip!)

-- Vault of Horror (Blog for every era of horror)

-- Video Watchblog (Tim Lucas goes deeper than even his magazine dares)

-- Zombos' Closet of Horror Blog (John Cozzoli's generation next)

-- Or write in another blog of your choice:

16. Best Convention of 2008

-- B-MOVIE CELEBRATION (Franklin, Ind.)
-- CHICAGO FILM FESTIVAL
-- CHILLER (Meadowlands)
-- CINEMA WASTELAND (Cleveland)
-- CLASSIC MOVIE MONSTER CON (Kingsport, Tenn.)
-- DRAGONCON (Atlanta)
-- FANGORIA WEEKEND OF HORRORS (Meadowlands)
-- G-FEST (Chicago)
-- HORROR-FIND (Baltimore)

-- HORROR HOUND WEEKEND (Indianapolis)
-- IT'S ALIVE ZOMBIE FEST (Pittsburgh)
-- MONSTER BASH (Pittsburgh)
-- MONSTER FEST (Chesapeake, Va.)
-- MONSTER-MANIA (Cherry Hill, N.J.)
-- RUE MORGUE'S FESTIVAL OF FEAR (Canada)
-- SERIAL FEST (Pennsylvania)

-- SCHLOCKTOBER (NYC film fest)
-- SCREAMFEST (Orlando)

-- SPOOKY MOVIE: International Horror Film Festival (Washington, D.C.)
-- WONDERFEST (Louisville)

-- Or write in another choice:

17. Best Fan Event

-- Addams Family Meets the Munsters: Q&A with Lisa Loring, Pat Priest, Felix Silla and surprise visit from Grandpa Munster (Ron Chamberlain), at Monster Bash.

-- Blob panic reenactment of moviegoers fleeing, held at actual theater where movie was filmed in Phoenixville, Pa. (Blobfest)

-- Dr. Gangrene's Chiller Theater Live! at WonderFest features midnight madness with Bob Burns, John Goodwin, Frank Dietz and Nurse Moan-Eek!

-- Godzilla-suit actor Haruo Nakajima receives 'Mangled Skyscraper Award' at G-FEST XV.

-- Klaatu Barada Ohio: Patricia Neal speaks at 25th Annual Ohio Sci-Fi Film Festival, a 24-hour marathon held outside Columbus.

-- Paul's Brain Trust charity event at Dark Delicacies in L.A., featuring Blade Runner reunion with Ridley Scott to benefit producer and video store legend Prischman.

-- Spellbound: Reunion of Ray Bradbury's 'The Jar' on Alfred Hitchcock Presents with director Norman Lloyd, cast members and Bradbury by phone at the University of Northern Alabama. Hosted by Terry Pace.

-- Universal Monster Army monster toy exhibit, including rare toys from 50s and 60s, at WonderFest.

-- Witches' Dungeon Classic Movie Museum. Startling recreations of full-sized classic monsters, open at Halloween in Bristol, Conn.

-- World Zombie Day included zombie walks and charity events in Monroeville, Pa., Grand Rapids, Mich., and 40 cities.

-- Or write in another choice:

18. Favorite Horror Host of 2008

Who is following in the tradition of Vampira and Zacherley? It is of course impossible to list them all, but here are ghostly hosts to choose from. If your favorite is missing, please write them in.

-- A. GHASTLEE GHOUL (Ohio and Internet radio)
-- THE BONE JANGLER. (Illinois, afternoons too)
-- KARLOS BORLOFF (Suburban Washington, D.C.)
-- COUNT GORE DE VOL (Washington, D.C. area)
-- DR. GANGRENE (Nashville)
-- DR. PUREBLOOD (Smyrna, Tenn.)
-- GHOUL A GO GO (NYC area)
-- GRAVELY MacCABRE and GRIZELDA. (Pennsylvania, West Virginia)

-- MR. LOBO (California)
-- ORMON GRIMSBY (North Carolina)
-- PENNY DREADFUL (New England)
-- PROFESSOR EMCEE SQUARE (Pittsburgh)
-- REMO D (California)

-- SINISTER MINISTER (Las Vegas)
-- SON OF GHOUL (Ohio)
-- SVENGOOLIE (Rich Koz; Chicago)

-- There are plenty of others, so if your favorite isn't listed, write in another choice:

19. Best Audio Horror Site or Podcast (Web only)

-- Cult Radio a Go-Go. Talk, reviews, interviews.
-- Deadpit.com: Bloody talk.
-- The Monster Club's Old Time Horror Radio: Horror stories and more.
-- Monster Movie Music 1950-1969 (A blog, too)
-- Old Time Radio Network at Podshow
-- RadioHorrorHosts.com: Guide to the spooky voices of the past.

-- Rotting Flesh Radio: The Haunt Industry's Top Podcast
-- Rue Morgue Radio. Latest from the splatter world.
-- Science Monster Radio Library. Being rebuilt, but a prime resource.
-- Uncanny Radio, talk for the paranormal.

-- Universal Horror Sounds. Essentials are here.
-- Voices-in-the-Dark: Devoted to audio from Price, Lorre, Karloff, Lugosi and others.
-- Without Your Head Horror Radio: genre talk shows and more.

-- Or dial in another choice:

20. Best CD (Soundtrack, novelty or band)

-- THE BLOB (and other scifi), score by Ralph Carmichael, production by David Schecter. (Monstrous Movie Music)
-- CREEPING CRUDS: Tennessee Bloodbath (horror rock)
-- THE DEAD MATTER: Cemetery Gates (Sounds of horror, based on film)
-- DEATHMOBILE: Deathmobile (horror rock)
-- DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN, William Lava score (Elysee)
-- THE HORRORPOPS: Kiss Kiss Kill Kill (Horror rock)
-- GHOULTOWN: Life After Sundown (western/horror rock)
-- THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD by Miklos Rozsa (Prometheus)

-- LITTLE STEVEN'S UNDERGROUND GARAGE PRESENT HALLOWEEN A GO GO (Compilation)
-- MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND, original 1969 tapes by Tito Arevalo. (Elysee Productions)
-- THE MOON-RAYS, 'Swingin' at the Seance' (horror rock)
-- NIGHTMARE REVISITED, tribute to 'Nightmare Before Christmas'
-- THE OUTER LIMITS, by Dominic Frontiere, 3-CD set from La-La Land
-- SHE, Max Steiner soundtrack by John Morgan, William Stromberg, Anna Bonn (Tribute)

-- Or write in another choice:

21. Best Horror Comic Book

-- ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS (Collecting stories by Steve Conley)
-- ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN. Robert Kirkman.
-- CITY OF OTHERS. Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson.
-- THE GOON. Eric Powell.
-- GRAPHIC CLASSICS: AMBROSE BIERCE. Revised with 70 new pages.
-- HELLBOY: In the Chapel of Moloch, by Mike Mignola.

-- LOCKE AND KEY: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT (Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez)
-- THE TRAP-DOOR MAKER (Collecting Peter Bregman Phantom prequel; new cover by Gogos).
-- WULF AND BATSY (Bryan Baugh)

-- Or write in another choice:

22. Best Toy, Model or Collectible
Nominees developed with help from the Universal Monster Army!

Hitchcock's 'The Birds' Barbie (Mattel)

Creature Premium Format (Sideshow)

The Exorcist, Regan spider-walk (NECA)

Big Frankie' (Moebius)

Invasion of the Saucer Men

(Ultratumba)

Rondo Hatton 12-inch collectible figure

(Amok Time)

-- Or write in another choice:

23. Count Alucard's Controversy of the Year

-- Is classic horror Blu? Classic monsters and science fiction are missing in the excitement over the new Blu-Ray format.

-- London After Midnight, or on the LAM? An L.A. fan claims to have held the missing Chaney classic in his hands, igniting a firestorm that would have made MGM proud.

-- Too many Famous Monsters? Legal battles multiply as two publishers insist they own the Famous Monsters trademark.

-- Can monster mags survive? Chain stores closing, mags go online, Diamond Distributors cuts back.

-- What would Jason do? Endless remakes draw big receipts but ...

-- Or add your own dispute:

WRITE-IN CATEGORIES:

24. Classic Most in Need of Restoration

Which classic horror film, either released or unreleased, do you think most deserves a restoration?

25. Writer of the Year (for 2008)

Who do you think did the best published (or online) work in 2008 to advance the state of classic horror research?

26. Artist of the Year (for 2008)

Not your favorite all-time artist (although they might be the same), but which painter, illustrator, sculptor, model-maker or designer did the best published (or online), work in 2008?

27. Favorite DVD reviewer

A new category. Which DVD reviewers are most engaging, most reliable? This is a way to honor some of the genre's critical heroes. Who is your favorite?

28. Monster Kid of the Year

Who deserves to be named 'Monster Kid of the Year' for efforts beyond the call of duty to build a better world of gods and monsters?

29. Monster Kid Hall of Fame

Who should be this year's inductees into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame?

Past inductees: Bob and Kathy Burns, Forrest J Ackerman and James Warren, Zacherley and Vampira, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Alex and Richard Gordon, William K. Everson, Rick Baker, Basil Gogos, Roger Corman, Dick Klemensen, Gary and Sue Svehla, James Bama, Bobby 'Boris' Pickett, Paul and Jackie Blaisdell, Joe Dante, Don Glut, Jack Davis, German Robles and Frank Frazetta. And last year: Bernie Wrightson, Ben Chapman, Cortlandt Hull and Dennis Vincent, Ed 'Big Daddy Roth, Archie Goodwin and Ghoulardi.

Tell us your suggestions. We'll pick six more.

Whew! That's it!!!

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VOTING IS NOW OPEN

TO VOTE: Simply cut-and-paste, check or highlight your picks, or type out your

selections to taraco@aol.com

You do not have to vote on everything. And one vote per monster. Thanks everyone!

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And remember, even the Creeper himself can't stop Rondo VII!

Want more information about the Rondos?

Email david colton at taraco@aol.com

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's day everyone - hope you're all having a good one. I went to the grocery store this morning and was amused at the crowd of men all buying last minute items for their sweeties. I had to push my way through the floral section and there had to be at least ten guys in there.

Got a couple of pics from last night's Friday the 13th part 4 showing at the Belcourt. Thanks to Belcourt photographer Frank Keesee for sending me these shots!!

Me and Robin and Bryan Pelfrey before the show started.

Sparing no expense, the Belcourt even had
the star of the movie on hand!

Werewolf of Paris

2009-02-11T20:16:00.000-06:00

I recently watched the 1961 Hammer film CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF with my youngest son, Luke, and we had a good time with it. I've always liked this movie, and since Luke is such a fan of the Universal Wolfman movie, I figured he'd enjoy this movie, too, and I was right. He thought it was pretty good and that the werewolf looked "cool".

I had never really paid attention to the opening credits, but this time one particular credit caught my eye…”Based on the novel THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS by Guy Endore”.

Interesting! I was curious how close to the source material the movie was, so I tracked down a copy at the Nashville Public Library. After a little investigation it turns out Endore also wrote the screenplays for MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, MAD LOVE, and THE DEVIL DOLL. I am a big fan of MAD LOVE, which stars Peter Lorre, so I became that much more anxious to read this novel.

The Werewolf of Paris was written in 1933, and tells the tragic story of Bertrand Caillet, who was born with the curse of lycanthropy. His werewolfism is the culmination of a variety of events... His mother was raped by a priest who came from a twisted family with a tainted bloodline (brought on by decades of decadent and immoral behavior). Bertrand was born on Christmas Day, at the hour of Christ’s birth. He was a blasphemy and born with this dread curse. Tragedy, if not death, eventually befall all who come in contact with Bertrand.

The Hammer film actually follows the source material fairly faithfully, at first, but leaves out many details, and alters several others. The ending definitely strays from the book, but the bare bones of the story are taken directly from Endore's novel. I have to say in my mind's eye Bertrand (in the book) looked exactly like Oliver Reed.

It's a good book and at times I couldn't believe it was penned in 1933. Compared to the cinema of the day, it is much more shocking, with equal amounts of sex, violence and gore to go around.

The following is a quick excerpt from a scene where Bertrand, under the spell of lycanthropy, attacks and murders his childhood friend…

"Though a moment before Bertrand's hands had itched to be at the man's throat, they made no move to seize and hold his prey. The tension was not in his limbs but in his face, in the masseter muscles of his jaws. His mouth had opened wide. His teeth had dug through cloth and flesh. His face was inundated with a warm fountain, which he licked at greedily..."

Endore explores both the disease of werewolfism and the conflicted nature of poor Bertrand, who fights a losing battle against his malady. It is as much of a social commentary on the wolves of society and man's violent nature as it is a story about the mystical monster, all set within the backdrop of a war entrenched France. For anyone who enjoys classic horror literature, this is one not to be overlooked.

Here's the trailer for CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF:

American Scary

2009-02-11T18:50:00.000-06:00

The terror-ific new documentary American Scary by filmmakers John Hudgens and Sandy Clark is officially being released today! The American Scary website can be found HERE

American Scary is a look at the nation's tradition of horror hosting, from Zacherley to A. Ghastlee Ghoul.

It features interviews and footage from hosts from the 1950s to the present, such as Zacherley, Vampira, Ghoulardi and others (like, ahem, DR GANGRENE), along with memories from celebrities and fans who were influenced by these hosts.

American Scary has been in production for a number of years - John and Sandy flew from coast to coast conducting interviews and gathering information. This is the most extensive look at the art of hosting horror movies ever put to film, and it is really an entertaining DVD. Highly recommended!

Here is the trailer for American Scary:

And a section on Nashville Horror hosts:

Friday the 13th Part IV

2009-02-10T20:10:00.000-06:00

While I'm on the subject of the Belcourt Theater, the Belcourt is showing Friday the 13th Part IV... It's being shown both Friday and Saturday at Midnight - It's part of the Belcourt's Midnight Movie series, which is always a really fun time. They usually have some kind of themed events wrapped aound the movies, and attendance is usually really good. I am going to try and catch it on the 13th.

So if you're in the Nashville area put this on your schedule of things to do this weekend.

Fri & Sat, Feb 13 & 14 @ Midnight - FRIDAY THE 13 IV: THE FINAL CHAPTER -Come early to get your pictures with Jason in the lobby, it's like Santa, but not.

2009-02-09T23:44:00.000-06:00

I made it down to the Belcourt theater in Nashville Sunday afternoon for the matinee of Planet of the Apes. I ran into a friend there, Jeff Thompson, who I didn't know was going. The show was well attended - probably 30 or 40 folks there, which was pretty impressive considering it was a gorgeous 70 degree day outside.

The print of the movie was beautiful - it was really a good time - thanks to the belcort for showing this!

Wonderfest Card

2009-02-08T22:57:00.000-06:00

This is a Wonderfest exclusive freebie we gave away in 2006 during the live show. It was a mock "Mars Attacks" trading card featuring me and Bob Burns. The Wonderfest convention had these printed. We handed them out after the show while everyone was milling around listening to the band. Not sure who did the actual art but I intend to find out...think I'll give Conover a phone call tomorrow...

Rondo Awards - Best Independent Production on DVD

2009-02-07T14:52:00.000-06:00

In my ongoing review of categories for the 2008 Rondo Awards, we come to the

Best Independent Production on DVD -

and my choice is
Trailer Park of Terror!!

Trailer Park is a really fun and well-made movie - I reviewed it here.

It is out on DVD now, and if you haven't seen it you should! It's my choice for Best Indy production on DVD, and btw, they announced yesterday that the Rondo Awards will begin next Sunday!! Woo hoo!

It's a Madhouse Matinee!

2009-02-06T09:34:00.000-06:00

This weekend, Sat Feb. 7th through Monday Feb. 9th, the Belcourt Theater in nashville is showing my favorite movie of all time, Planet of the Apes.

This is, of course, the original version. I dismiss the remake as an unfortunate mistake, not worthy of inclusion in the apes franchise, below even the tv series, which I enjoyed. No, this is the original 1968 version, starring Charleton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, and the lovely Linda Harrison, who I had the pleasure of seeing at Wonderfest recently and who is still beautiful as ever.

Accoding to the Belcourt website this is a new 35mm print courtesy of Criterion Pictures. Hell yes! I am really looking forward to seeing this movie on the big screen - showtimes below:

Sat-Sun, 2/7-8 @ Noon
Monday, 2/9 @ 7:00p

I'll be at the noon show Sunday. Don't let them make a monkey out of you - come see Planet of the Apes!!

Goodbye Lux - Long Live The Cramps

2009-02-05T13:03:00.000-06:00

"You Ain't No Punk You Punk"

Lux Interior died last night. The singer for The Cramps passed away from a pre-existing heart condition. He's survived by his wife, band member and band co-founder Poison Ivy.

I've been on a major Cramps kick the past couple of years - this past summer in particular. I had, of course, heard them before, but never really dug in and consumed their music like I did over the past year or so. I can't tell you how many times I drove back and forth from home to work or around town on errands with The Cramps blasting on my car stereo in the dead of summer, windows down and diggin the wonderful weirdness that is The Cramps.

The Cramps are one of the pioneers of psychobilly music. Part punk, part garage, part rockabilly, part psychopathic - they are truly a gift to horror fans and rock music junkies like me. Pop culture, sex, sleaze, monsters and more abound in their music, and Lux is a fantastic frontman. Just type in The Cramps on youtube and check out their live performances for yourself. Lux writhes, twists, and slithers about the stage while eating the mic and owning the stage - you can't look away from him.

The Cramps were true pioneers of punk - the quote at the top of the page is from their song Garbageman, a commentary on poser punks who came after them but just didn't have a clue. The Cramps had a clue.

Long live the Cramps. Goodbye Lux.

City Council Proclimation Video

2009-02-04T23:04:00.000-06:00

This is the video of the City Council meeting presentation of the proclamation at last night's City Council Meeting. Thanks to Bob Brown for taping this for me - it was broadcast on Gov access ch3.

Happy Birthday George Romero!

2009-02-04T20:54:00.000-06:00

I woke this morning and turned on the news and saw a birthday greeting for George Romero - a quick trip by IMDB confirmed the master of horror turned 69 today! Happy birthday George! Here's to many, many more. And thanks for making more zombie movies - nobody does em like you!

150th Post!

2009-02-04T20:52:00.000-06:00

Well this is the 150th post I've made on this blog. Not bad - for me, it's a record. Not that it is that huge of an accomplishment as far as blogging goes, but it is the longest I've been able to keep a journal online going, and this is the 3rd go around with it for me. I've been enjoying posting thoughts, ideas and random musings here, as well as news about the show. So I'll keep it up and we'll see how long it takes to get to 200.

Nashville City Council Meeting

2009-02-03T22:44:00.000-06:00

Tonight I headed down to the Nashville Metro City council meeting with Nurse Moan-eek (Linda Wylie) and our director Cameron McCasland. We were there because tonight was the official presentation for the Go Green with Dr. Gangrene proclamation. It was really incredible to stand there before the city council of Nashville TN, the city where I was born and raised, and be recognized by the city leaders... I was overwhelmed, especially when the council gave us a standing ovation.

I made sure when I spoke at the meeting tonight that I thanked everyone who made it possible, and I also made sure to mention Sir Cecil Creape, the horror host of Nashville TN who paved the way before me. I also want to take a minute to thank Council member Duane Dominy for sponsoring the proclimation, and to thank Cameron for getting the ball rolling and making this all possible.

this pic was taken when we shot the "Two Lane Trash Stop PSA"

from left: Michael Creason, Nurse Moan-eek, Zombie Chuck, Doc Gangrene, Cameron McCasland

Now on to all the projects we have in store for 2009 -
it's gonna be a fun year!!

Rondo Awards - Best CD

2009-02-01T23:17:00.000-06:00

The ballot is being finalized as we speak, and I expect an official announcement of this year's Rondo Award nominees soon. In the category of Best CD, my choice for 2007 is Nashville's own premiere horror band, The Creeping Cruds and their latest CD, Tennessee Bloodbath!

The official Creeping Cruds website is: http://www.creepingcruds.com/ and you can, of course, find them on myspace too at: http://www.myspace.com/creepingcruds

You can pick up this cd at either of these spots or on CD Baby, Interpunk.com, itunes, amazon.mp3 or emusic. This is a terrific batch of horror schlock and roll, with songs to make any true monster kid howl with delight such as Come Out Neville (Based on the movie The Omega Man and the Matheson novel I am Legend ), I Kicked Dracula's Ass (sung from the Frankenstein Monster's perspective), and Meat and Three about a man who discovers his baby is now a part of the menu. Big loud guitars, in your face rock and roll with a horror twist - highly recommended.

The guys were also recently interviewed on Rue Morgue Radio - go to
http://www.ruemorgueradio.com/?a=archives
and download the January 9th show.

The Frankenstein Monster

2009-01-27T11:50:00.000-06:00

I've been on a bit of a Frankenstein kick lately, Mighty Marvel style!

I've been reading the Marvel Essentials THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN trade paperback and have to say I've really been enjoying it. I never had a chance to read these comics in their original format, which was published from 1973-1975. The original comic books were printed in color, but this book, as with all the Essentials line, is printed in black and white. This series, however, unlike Marvel's Tomb of Dracula series, really does work better in color, and it's a shame they haven't been collected together in that format. That said, it is still a great opportunity to enjoy a collection of stories that I otherwise probably never would get a chance to read.

The book was originally titled THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN, but starting with issue #6 they changed it to THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER. The storyline continued despite the slight name change, which I doubt readers even noticed or cared much about it, truth to tell.

Issues 1 - 11 were written by Gary Friedrich, who kept the series fairly faithful to the source material, Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein. Doug Moench takes over the writing from issues 12-17, and the final issue of the original run was written by Bill Mantlo. Pencils and inks were done by Mike Ploog, John Buscema, John Verpoorten, Bob Brown, Jil Kane and Val Mayerik. The series was edited by Swamp Thing writer Len Wein.

The main character is, as stated in the title, the Monster of Frankenstein. He is frozen in a block of ice and is found by a descendent of Robert Walton, the ship captain from the original novel to whom the story is told. The first couple of issues are basically Mary Shelley's novel told from the creature's perspective. It explains the monster's survival from the end of that novel and continues his further adventures. The early issues are really good, and the creature in these is a tragic character as in the novel, who is torn between survival and the need for human companionship, which he is forever denied due to his inhuman origin and hideous looks.

This series started off strong, but kind of degenerated into a murky mess as it went along. Somewhere along the way the comic loses focus and the character changes from a sympathetic character to a super powerful killing machine bent on the murder of every member of the Frankenstein lineage.

It was during the Doug Moench run of the series that the book jumps off track for me. The monster loses his ability to speak, which throws off much of his humanity. Perhaps he wanted to make the monster more like the Universal version. But with the loss of his speaking ability the monster also apparantly loses intelligence, and becomes little more than a super strong brute. He also becomes increasingly more powerful - where earlier in the series a single rifle blast almost kills him, he later becomes completely impervious to bullets.

The monster is brought into current times during the Moench run by means of being frozen in a block of ice (for the second time). The book runs even more off track for me at this point, as he is really out of place in modern soceity and the monster's motivation become even more muddled. He is just a dumb brute, and little of the humanity that makes him so appealing early on exists in the later creature.

Despite all this, I have to say I am still enjoying the series. I am about three quarters of the way through the book, and look forward to finishing out the series. Included in this collection are the original series issues 1-18, GIANT-SIZE WEREWOLF #2 (a crossover issue), and stories from MONSTERS UNLEASHED #2 and #4-10 which all feature the Monster.

BEST CLASSIC DVD COLLECTION

2009-01-23T14:19:00.000-06:00

Turning attention toward a newly added cate-GORY in last year's Rondo Awards, my choice for Best Classic DVD Collection would be the Icons of Horror Hammer Films collection.

It features four movies never before released on DVD - The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Gorgon, The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, and Scream of Fear. It's a great 4-pack of Hammer Horror fun - and it's my choice for BEST CLASSIC DVD COLLECTION.

2008 Rondo Awards - Best Movie

2009-01-21T10:04:00.000-06:00

2008 was a terrific year for big budget horror, fantasy and sci-fi movies. There were some really fantastic films released, and the choice for Best Movie was really tough this time around.Here's a partial list of some of the movies release in 2008...

Cloverfield
The Spiderwick Chronicles

Let the Right One In

Diary of the Dead

Iron Man

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Happening

The Incredible Hulk

WALL-E

Hancock

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

The Dark Knight

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Igor

Saw V

Quantum of Solace

Twilight

Punisher: War Zone

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Spirit

It's by no means a complete list, just some of the ones I felt were deserving of possible Rondo inclusion.

Looking at the above list, I have a hard time narrowing it down to just one choice.
I almost chose Cloverfield (it comes in a close second for me), but I have issues with that movie. My number one beef with it is the camera work. I understand that the hand held look is because we're seeing the action through a video camera held by a scurrying survivor of this devastating event (a giant monster invasion), and we're watching the events unfold first person as it happens.

It's a great idea, but the problem lies in the execution. I felt the filmmakers had little respect for the viewer in this area - the whirling, shaky, constantly moving camera movement was way overdone, and in fact I literally felt nauseous watching it, (and even had to turn away from the movie at one point due to motion sickness). This constant camera motion also became distracting to the point of pulling me right out of the story.Instead of being swept up in this gripping event I was constantly annoyed at the camera work.

For an example of how this technique can be used properly check out Diary of the Dead. The lead characters in this film are also on the run in the face of a disaster, a zombie plague in this case, and we're seeing the action through the lens of their video camera, too.This film manages to pull off the same effect without the nausea inducing overuse of Cloverfield. I didn't think it was as good of a movie as Cloverfiled, but I did at least appreciate Romero's restraint on the hand held technique.

The Dark Knight was a good film, and featured an amazing performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker. But although I liked the movie, I didn't feel it was the best picture of 2008.

My choice for Best Movie for 2008 has to go to Iron Man. It was a near perfect comic book adaptation, and really hit a home run in my book.Fantastic special effects, great casting and acting, and a fun storyline. I grew up an avid Marvel comics reader, and for me it really held true to the source material.

It was as if the pages of a comic book had come to life. I had my doubts going in whether they could convincingly pull off the armor effects, but it was really well done.Robert Downy Jr. was fantastic as Tony Stark, and Jeff Bridges was a perfect villain. I liked the always lovely Gwyneth Paltrow as love interest Pepper Potts too.It was just a really entertaining movie, and in my opinion the best of 2008. So it gets my vote for Best Movie in the 2008 Rondos!

Happy 200th birthday, Poe!

2009-01-18T21:29:00.000-06:00

January 19, 1809 is the birthdate of Edgar Allen Poe. He would have been 200 years old this year, and I just wanted to take this time to pay homage to this great American author. Happy birthday, Edgar!

My good friend Mark Redfield made a great movie called the Death of Poe that explores the strange circumstances of Poe's death. To find out more and get your own copy, go to http://www.redfieldarts.com/

Celebrations are being planned all over to celebrate the 200th birthday anniversary of Poe - to find out about some of the bigger ones, go to:

http://www.poebicentennial.com/
http://www.poe200th.com/

Haven't read any Poe lately? Well here's your chance - go here to read a great collection of Poe stories, poems and more:

http://www.poestories.com/stories.php

Rondo Awards - Best DVD Company - Alpha Video

2009-01-18T11:46:00.000-06:00

The 7th annual Rondo Awards are just around the corner, so I thought I'd spend the next few days going over some of my personal endorsements for this year's awards. First up I'll take a look at Best DVD Company.

In the DVD Company of the Year category, my personal selection is, and has been for several years now, ALPHA VIDEO. Alpha Video is best known for low priced public domain movies. They typically have no (or very few) extras on the discs. Why, you might ask, would I vote for a DVD company like Alpha for best video company when they don't even have extras on their discs? Well, let me tell you...

Alpha Video has done more to keep classic horror alive than most video companies out there. People who are willing purchase expensive films from companies such as Criterion, for instance, are genre fans – they would buy these movies regardless of the price. It’s the non-genre fans who are paid the biggest service from Alpha Video, and that is exactly the way in which Alpha is helping keep classic horror alive.

Now don’t get me wrong – I LOVE many of the films that companies like Criterion put out. They have a really terrific selection of DVDs. I just am not going to spend 30-40 dollars on movies like THE BLOB, or FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, as fond as I am of those movies (and believe me, I really, really like both of them). As much as I might like to buy these, I am a father of three boys, and my discretionary income for DVD purchases is severely limited. I won’t buy a $40 DVD, but I might just pick up a 5 or 6 dollar print of something like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, SHOCK with Vincent Price, REEFER MADNESS, or any of a number of the fun films from their catalog. And I know there are many people out there just like me, folks who might otherwise not even think about buying an old horror movie, but for five bucks, why not?

Alpha has a terrific selection of movies in a variety of categories: Horror, Sci-fi, Exploitation, Serials, Silent Movies, old Television series, and more. Plus they’ve started distributing some newer material such as Mark Redfield’s terrific DR.JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, (which I highly recommend). Their covers are really top notch, and really make these DVDs stand out on the shelves.

So for these reasons I’m voting for Alpha Video for DVD Company of the Year in the Rondo Awards again this year. Good luck Alpha, and I hope all of you out there vote in the Rondo Awards this year.

Gangrene is Law!

2009-01-10T23:29:00.000-06:00

The Nashville City Council recently met and passed a Go Green with Dr Gangrene resolution. For now on Dr. Gangrene will be on the official lawbooks of Tennessee! We here at Creature Feature are deeply honored! Here is the full resolution below...

RESOLUTION NO. RS2009-600

A resolution recognizing the contributions of The Go Green With Dr. Gangrene campaign, New Valiant Productions, and WNAB CW 58 Creature Feature for their faithful service in the best interest of the City of Nashville Tennessee and Davidson County.

WHEREAS, Mr. Larry Underwood, Ms. Linda Wylie, Mr. Cameron McCasland, and Mr. Michael Creason award winning film makers and television producers here in Nashville have achieved tremendous success and are well deserving of recognition; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Larry Underwood began his career at Middle Tennessee State University, Ms. Linda Wylie began her career with the Globe Theater London, UK and Second City Chicago, Mr. Cameron McCasland began his career at East Texas Baptist University, and Mr. Creason began his career with the New York Institute of Photography; and

WHEREAS, New Valiant Production's film makers Cameron McCasland & Michael Creason began in Nashville, Tennessee in the summer of 2007, and joined with Larry Underwood, Linda Wylie & the staff of Nashville WNAB CW58 Creature Feature which began broadcasting in Nashville in June of 1999, to create the series of public service shorts entitled Go Green With Dr. Gangrene to bring awareness to environmental and safety concerns to the citizens of Nashville; and

WHEREAS, Larry Underwood playing Dr. Gangrene, and Linda Wylie playing Nurse Moan-Eek have provided quality television entertainment to the Nashville area since 1999 with the award winning television program, Creature Feature (Where it’s Halloween all year long) on WNAB CW 58, keeping in tradition of former Nashville Horror Host Sir Cecil Creape portrayed by Russ McCown on WSM-TV in the 1970s continuing the tradition; and

WHEREAS, New Valiant Productions premiered the series of shorts entitled “Trash Day Of The Dead” , “Two-Lane Trash Stop” and “Bonehead” for the “Go Green With Dr. Gangrene Crusade (produced by Michael Creason and directed by Cameron McCasland and Starring Larry Underwood and Linda Wylie as Dr. Gangrene and Nurse Moan-Eek) on Creature Feature's home station WNAB Nashville CW 58 as well as on the web through their official web pages www.gogreencrusade.com , www.newvaliant.com, and www.drgangrene.com; and

WHEREAS, during their tenure at New Valiant Productions and Nashville WNAB CW58 Creature Feature Undewood, Wylie, McCasland, & Creason won several awards including The 2008 Sapphire Blingy Award For Environmental Excellence, The 2008 Golden Marcom Award, and the 2008 AEGIS Finalist Award for the short Trash Day Of The Dead as well as being recognized with the Governors Award Of Merit for their work on the Go Green With Dr. Gangrene campaign awarded by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that the Metropolitan Council recognizes Mr. Larry Underwood, Ms. Linda Wylie, Mr. Cameron McCasland, and Mr. Michael Creason for their distinguished careers and wish them well on their future projects.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:

Section 1. The Metropolitan Council hereby goes on record as recognizing the contributions of The Go Green With Dr. Gangrene campaign, New Valiant Productions, and WNAB CW 58 Creature Feature for their faithful service in the best interest of the City of Nashville Tennessee and Davidson County.

Section 2. The Metropolitan Council Office is directed to prepare a copy of this Resolution to be presented to Mr. Larry Underwood, Ms. Linda Wylie, Mr. Cameron McCasland, and Mr. Michael Creason.

Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.

Bob Wilkins passes away

2009-01-08T11:21:00.000-06:00

A pioneer of the horror host industry passed away yesterday - Bob Wilkins. Bob is best known as the host of Creature Features, a show that ran from 1972 - 1981 in the San Francisco Bay area. Bob got his start, however, in the Sacramento area, where he worked as a weather man. He hosted a show there called Seven Arts Theater before moving to the Bay area. He even did a stint in the 70s as a kids host known as Captain Cosmic.

The neat thing about Bob is that he was a non-costumed host. He wore a suit and tie and hosted the show from a set that resembeled a run down house. He sat in a rocking chair and introduced the shows in a low key manner. Best of all, he interviewed many of the stars from the Hollywood films he showed, a perk to hosting a show in California. Among his guests was Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Forrey Ackerman, Ray Harryhausen and Christopher Lee.

For more information about Bob go to www.bobwilkins.net. There is even information there about where to send condolences to his family.

Scary Monsters card

2009-01-06T23:02:00.000-06:00

Ran across this the other day and thought I'd share it here. It's a limited edition card Scary Monsters Magazine put out - it came in the limited edition Dr Gangrene special of Scary Monsters # 36. From time to time I think I'll toss some of the different photos and other assorted goodies on here that I've collected over the years.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T15:33:00.000-06:00

Here's wishing all of you a happy and productive 2009 from all the ghouls here on Shackle Island. And to quote my old collegue, Dr. Septimus Pretorius:

"Here's to a new world of Gods and Monsters"

There's Triffids among us!

2008-12-30T08:33:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. It is a story about a spectacular meteor shower that rains over the earth, causing blindness in the inhabitants who watched it. The is also, simultaneously, a race of carnivorous plants called Triffids that seize upon the natural disaster and attack the now vunerable race of humans. The few remaining people with sight find themselves in a strange new world filled with threats not just from the Triffids but other humans as well.

I've seen the original movie version of this story, made in 1963 (though it's been a long time since I last watched it), but had never read the book until recently. It was really good, and now I plan to dig the movie out and give it another viewing for comparison. I understand the BBC aired a television version of the novel back in 1981 as well, and it's available on Amazon.com. It is supposed to be a pretty good adaptation, so I might just pick up a copy.

I also just read that a new Day of the Triffids series is being made for television, scheduled for a 2009 release. It is, again, a British production, and according to IMDB is supposed to air in August next year.

You know, all this talk about killer plants has me in the mood for some vegeterian food - think I'll go get me a big salad for lunch.

One Last Christmas Gift

2008-12-29T06:57:00.000-06:00

I got one last Christmas gift yesterday when the Miami Dolphins beat the New York Jets and got a playoff berth in the process. Amazing - to go from 1-15 to 11-5 in one year is just incredible! AND, best of all, this win not only got them a playoff game next week, but also knocked both the Jets and Patriots out of the playoffs in the process! Go Phins!!

The 13 Days of Christmas - Christmas Day

2008-12-24T23:11:00.000-06:00

One Christmas Day my blue ghoul gave to me...

One very scary comic - Santa Claus Conquers The Martians!
That's right - it's a comic book adaptation of this crappy old movie, from Dell Comics - now tell me this isn't scary! It came with a record version of this movie, which is pretty wacky to think of. Who thought THIS would be a big seller?

If you haven't seen the movie, then here you go - Scary Christmas!!

The 13 Days of Christmas - Christmas Eve

2008-12-23T21:49:00.000-06:00

One the day before Christmas we have the infamous Crime Suspenstories #22, published May 1954 by EC comics. This is the one that was particularly focused on in the congressional witch hunt, er, hearings on comic books that effectively put EC and many other publishers out of business. When asked whether this lovely Johnny Craig cover was in bad taste, EC publisher William Gaines responded no. Bad taste would be showing the head a little higher with blood dripping. That's tellin' em, Bill!

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 3

2008-12-22T23:23:00.000-06:00

On the 3rd Day of Christmas we have a pair of young lovers - how sweet! Chamber of Chills Magazine #23, again 1954. These covers were simply awesome! Scary Christmas! 2 more days till the big Sandy Claws comes - He knows when you've been sleeping... He knows when you're awake. He knows when you've been bad or good... Geez, no wonder so many kids are screwed up - that's creepy as heck!!

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 4

2008-12-21T20:44:00.000-06:00

On the 4th Day of Christmas, my blue ghoul gave to me...
a comic that's just crawling with suspense - this is Mister Mystery #11, from 1953. This is a book that really bugged some parents, I'm sure!

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 5

2008-12-21T09:02:00.000-06:00

I'm sure this comic made a big splash when published - On day 5 we have Tomb of Terror #16, published in 1954. This beautiful cover is by artist Lee Elias, who you can read more about HERE

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 6

2008-12-20T00:37:00.000-06:00

On the 6th Day of Christmas, we have an explosive little cover - Tomb of Terror Number 15, from 1954, which seems to have been a really popular year for gruesome comic books. Awesome!

The 13 Days of Christmas

2008-12-18T22:37:00.000-06:00

On the 7th Day of Christmas, we have a fiend who obviously knows how to show a lady a good time! From 1954 this is Startling Terror Tales #10

13 Days of Christmas - Day 8

2008-12-17T22:59:00.000-06:00

For day eight we have a delightfully violent entry - I had to give you something good, couldn't leave you hanging you know! You can always count on good ole EC comics, and they came through with Crime Suspenstories #20 from 1954! Love that Johnny Craig cover!

13 Days of Christmas - Day 9

2008-12-16T22:28:00.000-06:00

On the 9th Day of Christmas, my grue love gave to me...
Black Cat Mystery #50, from 1954

Now THAT is an awesome cover!!

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 10

2008-12-15T23:51:00.000-06:00

On the 10th Day of Christmas, my grue love gave to me...
a hot poker to the eye with Mister Mystery #12, from 1953. Boy they just don't make em' like that any more, do they? Bet there were some parents out there in 1953 who didn't approve of this cover!

by the way, it just occured to me I'm doing this 13 days of Christmas countdown backwards, from 13 to one, but somehow it just seems appropriate that way.

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 11

2008-12-15T06:51:00.000-06:00

On the 11th Day of Christmas, my ghoul love gave to me...

Chamber of Chills from Marvel comics, 1976. This is one I remember reading as a kid, and I still have this comic today. The 70s Chamber of Chills featured reprints from the Chamber of Chills magazine published in the 50s.

The 13 Days of Christmas

2008-12-14T08:35:00.000-06:00

On the 12th Day of Christmas, my ghoul love gave to me...

Horrific Comic, issue 3 from 1951. Check out that Don Heck cover. Awesome!

The 13 Days of Christmas!

2008-12-13T14:24:00.000-06:00

We're in the home stretch now! For the next 13 days I'll be presenting a great old horror comic cover each day as a way of celebrating the Howl-idays. Enjoy - this one is a pre-code horror comic called Weird Mysteries #5 from 1953!

PSA Receives Accolade Award

2008-12-12T18:28:00.000-06:00

Boy the awards keep rolling in!

The "Trash Day Of The Dead" PSA from the "Go Green With Dr. Gangrene" campaign has been honored with The Award of Merit from The Accolade Awards in La Jolla, California.

Here's the Press Release below:

Trash Day Of The Dead" was written & directed by Cameron McCasland and Produced by Michael Creason of New Valiant Productions. The Accolade is the latest in a host of honors poured upon the environmentally minded short which stars Dr. Gangrene (Larry Underwood) and his assistant Nurse Moan-Eek (Linda Wylie) as they battle against litter and zombies in downtown Nashville, TN.

"Trash Day Of The Dead" has gained notoriety nationally with wins at the Ava, AEGIS, Blingy, and Marcom awards this year, as well as receiving an Emmy nomination in writing for Cameron McCasland. The thirty second spot has also garnered praise from Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, as well as other Tennessee lawmakers for it's call to arms in "Going Green With Dr. Gangrene".

The Accolade recognizes film, television and video professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce outstanding entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Information about the Accolade and a list of recent winners can be found at www. theaccolade. net.

Dr Gangrene, Physician of Fright, has haunted the scarewaves since 1999. Together with his faithful assistant Nurse Moan-Eek he continues to provide chills throughout Middle Tennessee on WNAB CW 58 Nashville, TN. For more information visit www. drgangrene. com

For more information on the Go Green With Dr. Gangrene campaign visit gogreencrusade. com

New Valiant Productions is based in Nashville, TN and is owned and operated by Michael Creason & Cameron McCasland. For more information go to www. newvaliant. com

The Forgotten Horror Host - Vampirella!

2008-12-11T16:47:00.000-06:00

Posting about Forest J. Ackerman yesterday got me thinking about Vampirella, a character he created that starred in her own magazine through Warren Publishing.

Vampirella is best known as the scantily clad vampire comic book character, the alien bloodsucker who haunted magazine racks for over 100 issues. But for the first 7 issues of that magazine, Vampirella joined the ranks of the horror hosts.

The magazine was patterned after fellow Warren Publishing books Eerie and Creepy, and Vampirella hosted an anthology of horror stories each issue, much like Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie did in THEIR magazines. The difference, however, was that Vampirella also starred in one of these stories, too.

It wasn't until Archie Goodwin took over editing that Vampirella became a regular headlining character, starting with issue 8. From that point on she starred in the magazine with feature length stories rather than hosting multiple short stories.

So here's to a little remembered Horror Host - Vampirella.

Dr. Gangrene Interview with Forrey Ackerman - Rivercon 2000

2008-12-09T23:10:00.000-06:00

The recent passing of sci-fi icon Forrey Ackerman got me thinking about the time I met him. It was at Rivercon, in Louisville, KY back in 2000. This was actually the final Rivercon convention, and Forrey was the guest of honor. I had always wanted to meet Forrey, so I wrote him ahead of time and introduced myself, and asked if he'd mind spending some time with me doing an interview. He agreed, and Saturday morning at the show my wife and I met Forrey in the lobby and we had breakfast together at the hotel restaurant.

Before I go any further I have to mention that I had only been doing my show for a couple of years at this point, and was still pretty green around the gills. I got so excited about the interview and meeting Forrey that I actually drove all the way to Louisville before I discovered that I had left my camera at home! I was sick to my stomach - the main reason I decided to come to this show was to meet Forrey, and I really, really wanted to get an interview with him.

Well, I asked around Friday evening at the show and managed to find someone who graciously loaned me the use of his camera. So after we ate breakfast I found a quiet room in the hotel and the four of us, (Forrey, myself, my wife and the cameraman), all stepped inside to do the interview.
The cameraman (whose name I don't remember - but if you happen to read this blog please write me and remind me your name - I am very grateful) had a tripod as well as a camera, which was a good thing, since as soon as Forrey started talking he sat enthralled and didn't work the camera one bit - not a single zoom in the shoot, cut, camera movement, nothing. But you know what? I didn't care, I was just glad to get the interview.

It is amazing how much healthier he looked a mere 8 years ago. He really went downhill fast once he got sick. At 84 he was still spry enough to flirt with my wife and speak Esperanto to her when I left the table to head back to the breakfast bar. Forrey did two interviews with me that morning, and I just sort of let him talk and tell some of his favorite stories. He was still full of puns and Forrey-isms, and you just get the feeling that some of these stories were ones he had told a thousand times before.

But I thought you guys might like to hear them once more time, so I dug out this interview and posted it on youtube. Here it is below ...

Ghoul's Night Out rocks!

2008-12-09T09:24:00.000-06:00

Here's a pic of me and the gals from Ghoul's Night out that I ran across on the web recently - this is from a show at The End a couple of years back. They are a terrific band out of the New England, MA area. They really need to put out a second cd - their first one rocks! Myra, guitarist/singer for GNO, also plays in one of my favorite surf bands, Gein and the Graverobbers, who have also played here in Nashville too, a couple of times. http://www.ghoulsnightout.com/ for more info.

Farewell Forrest J. Ackerman

2008-12-05T19:55:00.000-06:00

It has been confirmed that Forrey Ackerman, Mr. Sci-fi himself, has passed away at the age of 92. Forrey was the founder of Famous Monsters Magazine and an inspiration to legions of horror and science fiction fans worldwide. I had the pleasure of interviewing Forrey for my show back in 2000 - he did two separate interviews with me where he sat down and told some of his favorite old stories. I think I'll dig up that interview and post it online sometime soon. Goodbye Forrey, and thanks for the inspiration!

here's a link to a story about Forrey's passing:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_en_ot/obit_ackerman_7

Trash Day Of The Dead Takes Top Prize At Ava Awards

2008-12-04T19:56:00.000-06:00

Received some good news last night - Our multi award winning PSA, "Trash Day Of The Dead" received top honors at the International Ava Awards! The PSA from the "Go Green With Dr. Gangrene" campaign took home the Platinum Ava Award in the Television/Public Service Announcements category.

"Trash Day Of The Dead" has been on a roll with wins at the AEGIS, Blingy, and Marcom awards this year, as well as an Emmy nomination for writing for Director Cameron McCasland.

The Ava Awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The international organization consists of several thousand creative professionals. The Association oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges and sets standards for excellence. For more information visit avaawards.com

Doc Gangrene mentioned in Nashville Scene article

2008-12-03T20:05:00.000-06:00

Doc Gangrene was mentioned in the Nashville Scene newspaper today in an article about the Batpoet telethon that took place at the CH19 studio last Saturday evening. The article was written by the one and only Jim Ridley - Doc G. is mentioned several times throughout the article, most especially here:

"If you mention 19 to someone, they go, 'You mean The Bat Poet Channel?', " says Larry Underwood, who, as horror host Dr. Gangrene, is regarded with awe by fellow Channel 19 vets for landing a Saturday-afternoon slot on The CW—the equivalent of a sandlot player getting called to the bigs.

here's the link to the entire story on the Nashville Scene website...

http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-12-04/news/health-woes-have-the-bat-poet-down-but-he-s-not-forgotten/

By the way, Jim modestly refers to himself here:

the only "civic luminary" the show could dredge up was a visiting drudge from the Scene.

Well, that dredge was Jim himself, who was the highlight of the evening in a rant about why the batpoet should return to the airwaves and what has happened to the streets of Nashville in his absence. Hilarious stuff, Jim!!

Dan the Man Johnson

2008-12-03T11:46:00.000-06:00

Wanted to take a minute and point viewers to Creature Feature staff writer Dan Johnson's homepage.

Dan is a busy guy - in addition to his writing duties for us here, he also is a professional comic book writer. At left is his latest graphic novel, Herc and Thor, from Antartic Press. He also writes for various magazines and other projects.

Dan also writes strips for the Dennis the Menace cartoon. I have posted one of the most recent below.

Thanks again Dan, for all your hard work!

PSA recognized by City Council

2008-12-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

I went to a Nashville City council meeting last night along with Nurse Moan-eek (Linda Wylie) and director Cameron McCasland. This was a local district 28 meeting held at the police precinct on Harding Rd. in Nashville. At this meeting the District 28 Councilmember Duane Dominy (pictured here) presented the Go Green with Dr. Gangrene psa and showed the "Trash Day of the Dead" psa videoprojected on a large screen there. They wanted to recognize the campaign, and councilman Dominy plans to present this to the entire Nashville Metro City Council at the next meeting for special recognition there. Thanks so much, Councilman Dominy!

Helping out The Bat Poet

2008-11-30T20:10:00.000-06:00

I made an appearance on CH19 Cable Access TV Saturday night... A long time producer of Nashville public access, Joey Bowker, a.k.a. The Bat Poet, has had a number of medical procedures including open heart surgery, and has even found out he has Diabetes, to top it off. Worse yet, Joey has no health insurance.

Well, Joey is one of the longest tenured members of CATV, Nashville's Public Access channel. He is best known for his crazy show, The Bat Poet.

If you aren't familiar with the Bat Poet, it's an insane public access show where anything can and does happen - a fly by the seat of the pants show that is sort of like a train wreck - you can't turn away. Joey appears in a batman mask, and does pretty much whatever comes to mind onscreen. It's nuts.

Well, after so many years of performing onscreen for free, providing entertainment for the people of Nashville, the station decided to hold a telethon to help raise money for Joey. I offered my services to help out in the event, as I started on access, and am glad to help out a long time producer.

If you'd like to help, it's easy -

Checks made out to Joey Bowker should go to:
Joey Bowker Fund
c/o CAC & MEAC
120 White Bridge Rd. #45
Nashville, TN 37209

here's a Nashville scene newspaper article about Joey and the telethon:
http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2008/10/the_bat_poet_needs_your_help.php

AND, here's a quick youtube video to make you familiar with this crazy man and his insane show!! Long live The Bat!

GREAT new dvd!

2008-11-28T09:16:00.000-06:00

Below is a flier for a great looking new dvd from the fine folks at Alpha Video - it is released on their new imprint, Smash Vision. This dvd is called Dark Dreamers - it's a series of interviews with over 30 of the most influential writers, artists, filmmakers and special effects artists. Just take a look at the list of interviewees - amazing! Everyone from writers like Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison, to directors such as John Landis and Wes Craven, to fan favorites Forrey Ackerman and Bob Burns - this looks like a real treat!!

It's a 4-dvd set, and I can't wait to get my hands on this one and watch it!!

Go Green PSA gets Emmy Nod

2008-11-26T13:57:00.000-06:00

The “Trash Day Of The Dead” PSA from the “Go Green With Dr. Gangrene” campaign has been nominated for an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the 23rd Annual Midsouth Emmy Awards.

“Trash Day Of The Dead” Writer & Director Cameron McCasland was nominated for writing in the “Advanced Media Writing” category announced earlier this evening at The BMI headquarters on Music Row in Nashville, TN. This is the first Emmy nomination for McCasland, and his production company, New Valiant Productions. New Valiant founders Michael Creason and Cameron McCasland were on hand for the event. When asked about the nomination McCasland stated. “I’m elated! This project has been a love affair from the start for everyone involved. And I’m honored to be in such great company thanks you to everyone at the NATAS.”

“Trash Day Of The Dead” stars Creature Feature's Dr. Gangrene (Larry Underwood) and his faithful assistant Nurse Moan-Eek (Linda Wylie) as they battle against littering zombies on the streets of downtown Nashville. The short has gained multiple honors this year both nationally and locally for its environmentally minded message, including a special honor from Tennessee State Governor Phil Bredesen. The short was shot on location in downtown Nashville, TN. The 23rd Annual Midsouth Emmy Awards will be announced in Nashville on January 24, 2009 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The show will be hosted by Country Music Legend Hal Ketchum. For a full list of this years nominees please visit http://nashville.emmyonline.org/The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a non-profit, professional organization dedicated to fostering excellence in television. The academy has 19 chapters with 15,000 members nationwide.

New Valiant Productions is based in Nashville, TN and is owned and operated by Michael Creason & Cameron McCasland. For more information go to http://www.newvaliant.com/

Happy Birthday Boris

2008-11-23T08:51:00.000-06:00

Today is the birthday anniversary of the one and only Boris Karloff - 121 years ago William Henry Pratt was born, better known to the world as his stage name, Boris Karloff. Here's to the King of horror films, a true icon of horror cinema. I'm gonna celebrate by watching some Thriller episodes tonight!

Blitzkid show

2008-11-20T21:24:00.000-06:00

Tues night I got out to THE END in Nashville and caught the Blitzkid show. Had a great time - opening for them was The Creeping Cruds, (of which I just caught a few songs but were terrific nonetheless, as always), and The Rock and Roll Hooligans. I had heard of the Rock and Roll Hooligans before but never got a chance to catch them, and was glad to finally do so. They are a great band who really kick ass.

Blitzkid came on last and brought the horror tunes aplenty. There was a good sized crowd for a Tuesday night, and the folks there were diggin it. They played a set of horror tunes and had a misfits kind of vibe working - especially as Dr. Chud from the American Psycho days of the Misfits was playing drums. Great show!

George Romero in Maxim!

2008-11-19T08:02:00.000-06:00

You now have an extra reason to go out and pick up the latest Maxim magazine, other than getting a good look at the new Bond girl...

Horror director George Romero is interviewed in a 2 page spread in a retrospective of his career. Nice interview, and worth reading.

The new Bond girl ain't bad either... although I TOTALLY disagree witht heir list of top 7 Bond girls of all time. They lean WAY too heavily toward the last few films... someone needs to go back and look at a few of the Connery films, when they had the most gorgeous women of all the films on screen.

I'd suggest starting with Daniela Bianchi in From Russia with Love. But then I prefer my Bond ladies to look like women, not girls... and they have become increasingly younger looking over the years. Ah well... Olga Kurylenko, the latest Bond girl is beautiful and I will reserve judgement on her, and the film, until I see it.

for the record...

2008-11-15T19:34:00.000-06:00

I rewatched Spider-man 3, and just have one thing to say...

infuriating.

That is all. I feel better now

Horror Host Graveyard

2008-11-13T08:36:00.000-06:00

My good buddy Chris Corpse over at the Horror Host Graveyard blog wrote a nice entry on us today:

http://www.horrorhostgraveyard.com/

Chris does a great job with daily entries on horror hosts past and present. His is one of the few sites I look at daily. I especially like when he digs up clips of retired hosts or presents info on some long gone but not forgotten TV personality. Great job, Chris, and thanks for including us in the Horror Host Graveyard!!

PSAs Mentioned in Tennessean newspaper

2008-11-12T18:57:00.000-06:00

The Tennessean newspaper had a nice write-up this morning about the PSA campaign we've run recently... Here's the text below...

Local filmmakers win award

Nashville-based New Valiant Productions filmmakers Michael Creason and Cameron McCasland were awarded the Sapphire Blingy Award for environmental excellence at the 2008 Blingy Awards.

The New Valiant Public Service short Trash Day Of The Dead from the "Go Green With Dr. Gangrene" campaign was honored.

This is the second award for Trash Day Of The Dead as it was also named a 2008 finalist in the AEGIS video & film production awards.

The 30-second spot stars WNAB CW 58's Dr. Gangrene, portrayed by Larry Underwood, and his assistant Nurse Moan-Eek, played by Linda Wylie as they do battle against litter on the streets of downtown Nashville.

The Blingy Awards is a cutting-edge design competition honoring the best of video, film, print and Web.

For more information about the Nashville film company, visit online at www.newvaliant.com.

Creature Feature recognized by GOVERNOR of Tennessee

2008-11-11T18:25:00.000-06:00

The Governor of Tennessee, Governor Phil Bredeson, has awarded the staff of Creature Feature and New Valiant Pictures a special award for service to the state of Tennessee in conjunction with the Go Green Campaign and PSAs. This is a tremendous honor, and it's been my priveledge to bring horror to the citizens of Tennessee the past decade,and the PSAs have been a really great way to spread environmental awareness. Thanks to New Valiant Pictures for their past producing these public service announcements,and look for another batch of psas soon!!

The Creeping Cruds - Tennessee Bloodbath

2008-11-10T20:18:00.000-06:00

The Creeping Cruds, Nashville's premiere horror band, has released their second CD, "Tennessee Bloodbath". This cd features 12 high energy tunes filled with blood, monsters, and kick ass guitar licks. Released in October (naturally) of 2008, this one is a terror-ific followup to their first CD, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became The Creeping Cruds."

On the first CD Jeano Roid did all the singing as well as the lead guitar - This CD features a different singer, Wolfie, who also does a fine job bringing the horror, freeing Jeano up to concentrate on the guitar work. There is also a different bassist this time around, Handsome Jimmy, and a new drummer too, Boomer (who is a long time collaborator with Jeano from previous bands in the past). The final member of the horror troop is McNasty, who was a member of the band from day one and once again provides guitar and vocals.

They all come together to bring a slightly different sound to the Cruds this time around - slightly more polished, I suppose, while retaining the same energy and horror themes fans have come to expect from their live shows.

Tracks:

Blood At The Door

Tennessee Bloodbath

I Was A Teenage Werewolf

I Kicked Dracula's Ass

The Blob

Best Friend's Girl

Chainsaw A Go-Go

Meat And Three

Mosquitos

Hellhounds

I Killed Santa Clause

Come Out Neville

My favorite song on the CD is one based on the Richard Matheson novel "I Am Legend" - it's called "Come Out Neville" and is especially fun live. All the songs on the CD have little intros or spoken bits between the tracks, adding to the ambiance. This is nice follow up to the first CD and one well worth picking up. Go to www.creepingcruds.com to get your copy today! Tell em' Doc Gangrene sent ya!

Ps – I lied about one thing. There is actually a special hidden track on this cd – but you'll have to pick up your own copy to find out what it is!!

Hey Abbott!

2008-11-09T11:43:00.000-06:00

My good pal Scott Essman over at Universal Studios posted this fantastic Abbott and Costello animation on Youtube. Scott spearheaded this creation, writing, directing and producing it.

Scott is my choice for Monsterkid of the Year in the Rondo Awards - Scott has consistently pushed the classic monster genre year after year, both in his job there at Universal as well as his personal pet projects, such as this. Check it out, and take a look at some of Scott's other videos on youtube and you'll understand why he's my choice for Monster Kid of the Year!

2008 Horror Hootenanny 5 pics

2008-11-06T17:58:00.000-06:00

Big round of applause to Ray and Wendy for posting pics of the Horror Hootenenny South - it took place at The Pond in Franklin. Thanks to everyone who came out to see a kick ass show - Dave and the Country Rebels, The Creeping Cruds, Psychocharger and the Coffin Burys - fun stuff!!

See all the pics HERE:
http://raywen.org/concert/hoot102508/

Tanya Roid, in Wolf Costume!

Psychocharger hits the stage!

The Coffin Burys in action

100th post - Woo Hoo!!

2008-11-05T22:18:00.000-06:00

This is the 100th post here on the Gangrene blog!

Way cool - I've been very sporadic with this thing, the first post being way back on 10-26-06. But the way I see it is it's here for me when I feel in the mood or have time to write about stuff.

With Halloween over things have slowed down a bit, so I feel a bit more energy for some side activities. Speaking of which...

There are pictures up from the Horror Hootenanny now at:

http://raywen.org/concert/hoot101808/index.html

The Exotic ones rockin THE BASEMENT

Some of the costumes at the Hootenanny

Ray and Wendy, regulars at the Hootenanny shows, as well as many other events around town, took these and posted them online. This was the first Horror Hootenanny this year, October 18th 2008 at The Basement - and featured The Exotic Ones, The Creeping Cruds, The Coffin Burys and Daikaiju.

Rockin' with the Creeping Cruds

Unfortunately Ray had to leave before Daikaiju or the Coffin Burys came on, but he took some terrific shots of the Cruds and the Exotic Ones. Thanks Ray, and thanks to everyone who came out!!

I'm hooked!

2008-11-04T21:54:00.000-06:00

I've watched every episode of the new HBO series True Blood that has aired so far, and I have to say I am hooked. It is a really clever series that stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress who gets caught up in a love affair with a vampire named Bill Compton, played by Stephen Moyer. The series is based on a series of books called The Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Charlaine Harris .

It is a fresh take on the vampire mythos, and has featured several twists and turns I didn't see coming. I love the flashbacks to the past history of vampire Bill, especially the Civil War flashbacks. This series is spearheaded by Alan Ball, the guy who brought us Six Feet Under. It feels kind of like a cross between that show and Carnivale, with a hint of cajun Louisiana undead spice thrown in for good measure.

My only regret - we're already on episode 9 of the first season of 12. It'll be over soon and we'll have to wait till next year for more new episodes!!

The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates CD

2008-11-02T20:47:00.000-06:00

Got the post-Halloween blues?

Then Midnight Syndicate's newest release, The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates, is just the thing to help you keep it Halloween all year long!

The folks at Midnight Syndicate have been quite busy - in addition to their haunted soundtrack work, they have also been involved creating a motion picture, The Dead Matter. Co-written and directed by Edward Douglas of Midnight Syndicate, the film is scheduled for a 2009 release.

The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates CD includes several tracks from the upcoming soundtrack and is some of the best work Midnight Syndicate has done to date. It is done in the dark orchestral style Midnight Syndicate has become known for and is highly recommended - this is one CD Halloween lovers must have!

Here's the track listing:

1. Cathedral Ruins
2. Shadowed Grove
3. Meeting of the Acolytes
4. The Revenants
5. Called From Beyond
6. Nightfall
7. The Hunt
8. Across the Chasm
9. Cemetery Gates
10. Entering the Crypt
11. Alchemists's Chamber
12. Tear of Osiris
13. Forging the Scarab
14. Shadows Descend 1
5. Inside the Scarab
16. Exodus
17. Dark Legacy
18. Lullaby
BONUS TRACKS
19. Lost
20. Not Your Saviour
21. Theme to "The Dead Matter" (A.B.T. Remix)

To find out more about this film and listen to some of these tracks, go to:
The Dead Matter website - www.TheDeadMatter.com

Here is the teaser trailer for the film:

Happy Post Halloween

2008-11-01T19:31:00.000-05:00

Hope you all had a fun and fright filled Halloween - I know I did! I made many appearances and hosted several live events - among these was a radio appearance I did at Jack FM 96.3 - They asked me to come in and be their ORDINARY LISTENER OF THE WEEK, where I basically read all the events for the week of Halloween. The station put together a little tape of the bloopers from that day. Here it is below - enjoy my screwups!

Treat yourself this Halloween!

2008-10-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

Every Halloween I take some time to enjoy reading a good book to enjoy the season. Last year I read the Marvel Comics Essentials Dracula series - these collect the DRACULA comics from the 1970s by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, which is one of my favorite comic book series of all time. I have vol. 1-3 of the essentials, which complete the entire run of the initial series.

The year before last I re-read Death Makes a Holiday by David J. Skal, who is one of my favorite writers. This book is a fantastic history of Halloween, and traces it's roots back centuries. This is a really interesting and fun read, and I may have to pull it out again soon to reread again.

THIS year I am continuing the vampire motif from last year, and reading DRACULA by Bram Stoker. Not many books are better Halloween reading material to get you in the spirit of the holiday than Dracula. Makes you realize why so many different version of this story have been filmed, as the original is so powerful and entertaining, even 110 years after it was written!

So treat YOURSELF this Halloween season by picking up some spooky reading material. Doctor's orders!!

Trailer Park of Terror!

2008-09-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

Yee Haw! Trailer Park of Terror is coming out on DVD!

I had the pleasure of catching this gem at the Nashville Film Festival this past summer. It is a southern-fried feast of horror, gore, and undead trailer trash!! The film has a true rock and roll sensibility about it, which makes sense as it's directed by Steven Goldmann, who made his mark in music videos, having directed over 200 of them for well known artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Faith Hill.

Speaking of well known musicians, country singer Trace Adkins has a role in this movie, too, and really does a fine job as the devil himself.

Trailer Park comes out on DVD October 21st. It's based on a comic book series from Imperium Comics. There are two different versions of the movie on the DVD, an "R" rated as well as an uncut version. There are also cast interviews and a "Life at the Trailer Park of Terror" featurette.

Highly recommended and three thumbs up from Doc Gangrene!!

Tim Lucas birthday poem

2008-09-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

I recently had a birthday, and my good buddy Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog magazine posted a pretty cool little poem over on the Classic Horror Film Board:

There once was a doc named Gangrene
Who brought horror to the Nashville scene
He'd give lectures about why
The brain wouldn't die
And why zombies find flesh fine cuisine.

One man crazy, many many satisfied spectators!

Happy Birthday, Larry!

Many thanks, Tim! Really neat poem !!

ps - I want to encourage everyone to check out Tim's Videowatchblog - very entertaining and well written blog updated much more regularly than mine!!

Dr Gangrene's Creature Feature back on the air

2008-09-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

Dr Gangrene's Creature Feature is back on the scarewaves! Here's the update I mailed out to folks today...

Join the mad medico and his lovely assistant Nurse Moan-eek as they present a new fright flick every Saturday afternoon at 1pm during September and October.

The doctor is celebrating his 10th season as Nashville's horror host, and this season has added a new feature to the films - FACT-O-RAMA! So be sure to tune in every week - the first film in the new season is the schlocky grade z-movie THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, which features a living decapitated head, mad scientist, mutated monster in a closet, strippers and more!!

Other movies in the lineup include THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (the first filmed version of I am Legend starring Vincent Price), WHITE ZOMBIE starring Bela Lugosi, Hammer films' THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and the horror classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Monster Kid Cartoon

2008-08-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

My pal Scott Essman from Universal has spearheaded a pilot of a new animated series that should be near and dear to my viewers. It is a monster kid cartoon, with youngster versions of the classic monsters - the writer on this is Joseph Fotinos, aka horror host Professor Griffin from Texas. We wish them the best of luck with this, and hopefully we'll see it on the scarewaves soon. Check it out below:

Congratulations from Nashville Mayor

2008-07-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean sent a letter of congratulations on the "Go Green with Dr. Gangrene" campaign. The New Valient production crew did a terror-ific job on these PSAs, and I have included the Mayor's letter below.

I also wanted to announce the official page for the Go Green Campaign is up and running now. You can find it at: http://www.gogreencrusade.com/

Excelsior!!

Lon Chaney

2008-06-14T07:18:00.000-05:00

Universal is releasing the dvd Lon Chaney, Man of a Thousand faces later this month. It stars James Cagney playing the horror master. About time this one got a proper release.

Next 2 PSAs

2008-06-14T07:10:00.000-05:00

Here are the next 2 PSAs that we put together - they are slated to start airing this following Monday, the 16th!

PSA press release

2008-06-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

Here's the press release New Valiant sent out about the PSAs:

New Valiant Goes Green With Dr. Gangrene

For immediate release:

Nashville Filmmakers Fight Littering With Mad Science

Nashville, TN (06.06.08) New Valiant Production's Filmmakers Michael Creason and Cameron McCasland have teamed up with Dr. Gangrene and Nurse Moan-Eek from WNAB Nashville's CW 58 Creature Feature to produce several Earth friendly Public Service Announcements that will begin airing later this month under the campaign "Go Green With Dr. Gangrene".

Larry Underwood who portrays the Mad Scientist Dr Gangrene stated, "It's important that we take care of our city and our environment. Even little things can add up to a big difference if we all take part. The "Go Green with Dr. Gangrene" Campaign is our effort to help promote environmental and safety tips. If everyone works together we can have a safer, cleaner city for everyone to enjoy."

New Valiant Productions plan to premiere the series of newly completed shorts (produced by Michael Creason and directed by Cameron McCasland) on Creature Feature's home station WNAB Nashville CW 58 as well as on the web through their official web page www.newvaliant.com on the New Valiant Myspace page, www.myspace.com/newvaliant and Youtube channel www.youtubecom/newvaliantprod .

When asked about what brought this project together director Cameron McCasland stated, "This is our attempt to think globally and act locally. I think most people know they should be doing something to help make a cleaner planet, but have no clue where to start. As filmmakers, we wanted to provide information to viewers, while being entertaining. We tried to blend both the horror and comedy themes that Dr. Gangrene and Nurse Moan-Eek are known for while educating people on simple tasks that are good for the planet as a whole. The Creature Feature crew was responsive to our ideas for Going Green With Dr. Gangrene and it was a lot of fun using a zombie apocalypse as a metaphor for saving the planet."

The initial rollout includes three shorts titled "Bonehead" which tells the importance of safety belts. "Two Lane Trash Stop" that explains the dangers of highway litter. And "Trash Day Of The Dead" a tongue in cheek commentary on the evils of litter, set in downtown Nashville, TN. All three were produced locally in Nashville by Michael Creason, and directed by Cameron McCasland. They follow Dr. Gangrene (Larry Underwood) and Nurse Moan-Eek (portrayed by Linda Wylie) as they remind us to pick up our litter, as well as buckling up for safety. Later this month a new website www.gogreencrusade.com will launch with tips from the good doctor on how to stay safe and help protect the planet. And more short subjects will follow in coming months.

Producer Michael Creason had this to say about the classic cinema perspective spun with the new shorts. "With the ever growing emphasis on a global movement, we at New Valiant hope to do our part by capturing the attention of the people and families of middle Tennessee with a classic theme on a very contemporary concept. I think our Public Service Announcements relay the messages of safety and "Going Green" to a broad spectrum with some comedic relief. If people get the message and it sticks with them, then we have done our job. Everyone who worked on this project has a great sense of accomplishment and I am proud to be a part of it."

In a world where even Mad Scientist do their part to save the planet, we may have finally turned the corner for a better tomorrow for everyone. New Valiant Productions and Dr. Gangrene invites you to "Go Green With Dr. Gangrene" visit them on the web at: www.newvaliant.com www.drgangrene.com and the newly launched www.gogreencrusade.com

About Dr. Gangrene, Nurse Moan-Eek, and Creature Feature
Dr Gangrene, Physician of Fright, has haunted the scarewaves since 1999. Together with his faithful assistant Nurse Moan-Eek he continues to provide chills throughout Middle Tennessee. Creature Feature is set to broadcast new episodes in September of 2008 on WNAB CW 58 Nashville, TN. For more information visit www.drgangrene.com

About Cameron McCasland, and Michael Creason
McCasland and Creason are Nashville based filmmakers who work under the banner of New Valiant Productions. Their last collaboration "Fashionable: A Music Video For Quiet Company" won the "Best Music Video" category at both this years Crossroads Film Festival in Jackson, MS and Fearless Film Festival in Ft. Worth TX, as well as the "Silver Remi Award" at the Worldfest International Film Festival in Houston, TX.

New Valiant Productions is based in Nashville, TN and is owned and operated by Michael Creason & Cameron McCasland. For more information go to www.newvaliant.com

PSAs online now

2008-06-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

We shot a series of PSAs a while back, and the folks at New Valiant have done a fine job putting these together. Here's the first of the psas now for your enjoyment:

Late night a GO-GO!!

2008-05-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

Just found out Cult Radio a Go GO is now playing a second repeat of the horror host block tonight/tomorrow morning - if you're a night owl, here's your chance to catch the fun!

The repeat starts at 10:30 pm pacific / 1:30 am Eastern
My show will therefore will be the first in that block!

Cult Radio a Go Go

2008-05-30T21:09:00.000-05:00

My latest radio show is scheduled to play tomorrow on Cult Radio A Go Go - it's part of the horror host block of programming on Cult radio a go go. This is the 4th episode of my show, The Cure For The Common Corpse - here's the ad:

This episode is a special King Kong episode to commemorate
the 75th anniversary of the original movie.

Check it out tomorrow at 4:30 central,
then stick around for all the other hosts:

Count Gore DeVol at 5pm central,
Jebediah Buzzard at 5:30 central,
Dug Graves KDOA at 6:30 central,

THEN
at 7:30 - 10:30 it's CultRadioAGoGo LIVE with these guests:

Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Sheer
John Waters
Kathryn Leigh Scott
Rob Zombie!!

WOW!! GREAT Lineup. Click this art to enlarge and check out the details.

Scary Tales and the Barnum and Bailey Circus

2008-05-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

This time around I'm posting another of the comic books I had as a kid. This is a rather interesting one, as I have three copies of it! The reason for the multiple copies is that I got them free at the circus. Every year the Barnum and Bailey circus would come to town, and sometimes they would hand out packets of comic books wrapped in plastic. If memory serves me - and this is close to thirty years ago now, so it's a bit hazy - these came wrapped in plastic three to a pack and they handed them to you at the door as you entered.

I must have grabbed multiple packs of these comics, probably scooping up discarded ones on my way out the door, and that's most likely how I wound up with three copies. Not sure exactly, but I definitely do remember that this was one of those circus comics. It's from Charlton Comics, and was published in 1981, which would have put me at 13 or 14 years old. Sounds about right

There are three stories here, and there are two hosts for this book. Neither introduces themselves, which is odd, they just introduce the stories. The first host is a blue skinned man with dark circles around his eyes and a purple jacket. We see him at the beginning and end of the first story.

The next is a woman with long red hair. She's the same woman who appears on the cover in a circle next to the Charlton logo. Again, no clue who these nameless hosts are. Guess it isn't important.

The book is even weirder as a circus freebie as all the stories involve Satanism or Satan himself. The most noteworthy name in the book is Mike Zeck, who draws the best and final story in the comic, Hades University. I always liked Zeck's work in Marvel superhero books, particularly Spiderman, and he's clearly the most talented of the bunch in this book, too.

Good ole Charlton comics - you gotta love em. They all have that same flat coloring on cheap newsprint. But they're fun to read nonetheless. Overall this ain't a great comic at all, and really not even a very good one, to be honest. The cover art is merely a blow up of a frame from the Zeck story! But it has memories for me and hey, I have three copies, so I guess I'm covered in case something happens to one of them, right!?

New layout - Comments enabled

2008-05-29T10:16:00.000-05:00

The reason for the new layout here is that with the layout I was using I couldn't enable the comments section. I had to go back to a more basic version in order to get the comments link to show at the bottom of the posts.

I thought I'd try adding that feature for awhile, as some of the comments people have emailed me have been pretty interesting. Plus I always enjoy looking at the comments on other folks blogs, too, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

So if you ghouls and gals see something interesting, feel free to comment away - now you can!

The 11th Tier

Rob Zombie in Concert

Dr. Gangrene PSA nominated for Emmy

Roger Corman receives Oscar!

Dr. Gangrene Newspaper Article

KISS ALIVE 35 last night

Alien Resurrection Reviewed

Christopher Lee Knighted!

What I've been up to...

Dead Start zombie film in the news

Been a long time...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Belcourt

Once Around the Bloch

Old Time Radio Fun!

I am such a dork!

Ridin' out with Jonah Hex

Heroes on a half shell

Rue Morgue Radio Rules!

The Goon turns 10

He wouldn't even hurt a fly...

Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Other Productions

The 7th Annual Rondo Awards have begun!

Happy Valentine's Day

Werewolf of Paris

American Scary

Friday the 13th Part IV

Wonderfest Card

Rondo Awards - Best Independent Production on DVD

Best Independent Production on DVD -

and my choice isTrailer Park of Terror!!

It's a Madhouse Matinee!

Goodbye Lux - Long Live The Cramps

City Council Proclimation Video

Happy Birthday George Romero!

150th Post!

Nashville City Council Meeting

Rondo Awards - Best CD

The Frankenstein Monster

BEST CLASSIC DVD COLLECTION

2008 Rondo Awards - Best Movie

Happy 200th birthday, Poe!

Rondo Awards - Best DVD Company - Alpha Video

Gangrene is Law!

Bob Wilkins passes away

Scary Monsters card

Happy 2009!

There's Triffids among us!

One Last Christmas Gift

The 13 Days of Christmas - Christmas Day

The 13 Days of Christmas - Christmas Eve

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 3

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 4

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 5

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 6

The 13 Days of Christmas

13 Days of Christmas - Day 8

13 Days of Christmas - Day 9

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 10

The 13 Days of Christmas - Day 11

The 13 Days of Christmas

The 13 Days of Christmas!

PSA Receives Accolade Award

The Forgotten Horror Host - Vampirella!

Dr. Gangrene Interview with Forrey Ackerman - Rivercon 2000

Ghoul's Night Out rocks!

Farewell Forrest J. Ackerman

Trash Day Of The Dead Takes Top Prize At Ava Awards

Doc Gangrene mentioned in Nashville Scene article

Dan the Man Johnson

PSA recognized by City Council

Helping out The Bat Poet

GREAT new dvd!

Go Green PSA gets Emmy Nod

Happy Birthday Boris

Blitzkid show

George Romero in Maxim!

for the record...

Horror Host Graveyard

PSAs Mentioned in Tennessean newspaper

The Tennessean newspaper had a nice write-up this morning about the PSA campaign we've run recently... Here's the text below...

and my choice is
Trailer Park of Terror!!