The Countless Qualities of Nosferatu

I kicked off my 2025 movie-watching season with a trip to the local theater to see director Robert Eggers' remake of the 1922 film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. I've liked all of Egger's work to date, especially The Lighthouse, so I was looking forward to his new film, Nosferatu. I enjoyed this one. It’s a bit long, clocking in at 2 hours and 15 minutes, but never seemed to drag. It was a moody, dark, and gory take on the 1922 original that added some new wrinkles and additions, primarily Ellen Hutter’s psychic connection with Count Orlok. It is also dark lighting-wise—while beautifully shot, much of this film takes place in shadows and darkness. This would not be one to see at a drive-in. It needs to be seen on the best screen possible. The look of Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgard, seems to be the biggest conversational touchstone for this film. Certainly, it’s a unique take on the creature—but I’m okay with that, as it makes it Egger’s own interpretation. This count is decrepit and disgusting, yet somehow the mustache that is garnering so much controversy makes him more humanistic at the same time. 

 

I followed this up with a rewatch of the 1979 Werner Herzog film Nosferatu the Vampyre. Talk about contrast—watching those two back-to-back is fascinating. Where Egger’s version is shrouded in darkness, much of Herzog’s takes place in bright light. You can see details clearly in most of this film, including the Count himself, played by Klaus Kinski. He skulks around brightly-lit for much of this one. It’s beautifully shot, though, and full of a moody melancholy throughout. The makeup follows the 1922 design fairly faithfully, and Kinski really leans into the rat-like qualities of Count Dracula, as he’s called here. In fact, they use all of the names from Dracula—Harker, Lucy, Mina, Dracula, Renfield, and Van Helsing. The 2024 film, by comparison, sticks with the names from Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror—Hutter, Ellen, Harding, Knock, and Count Orlok. Which really underscores the intertwined nature of the two films. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, made without permission. Separating the two is near impossible; they’re like dark twins, shadow versions of one another, and the remakes further punctuate this. Egger’s Count Orlok is named after the F.W. Murnau character, yet looks-wise, he resembles more closely the character from the Bram Stoker source material. In comparison, Herzog’s Count resembles the character from Nosferatu, yet is named Dracula. 

 

 

Each of these films is excellent, and each has its own merits. If I were to rank them, I’d put them in order of release. The 1922 F.W. Murnau film is, for my money, the greatest vampire film of all-time, and the best silent film I’ve seen. Herzog’s film is a fantastic remake and tacks on an unexpected ending that is magnificent. Egger’s film is excellent in its own right, really painting in shadows to keep the Count cloaked in darkness. All three are worth watching, and I recommend viewing the last two back-to-back—it’s an eye-opening exercise.

1929 enters the Public Domain

As of January 1st, a new batch of films entered the public domain—this time films from 1929. Among the notable films from that year are the Alfred Hitchcock film Blackmail, the first Marx Brothers film, The Cocoanuts, and the number 1 grossing film of that year, The Broadway Melody. Even though there aren’t many films from this year’s offerings that I will screen on my show, it’s still exciting for me as a horror host as it inches us that much closer to the big two becoming public domain. And by those big two, I mean the two films that kicked off a new era of monster movies for Universal Studios and had a huge impact on me as a kid… Dracula and Frankenstein. Due to their 1931 creation, both Dracula and Frankenstein will become public domain in 2027.

That will be a day to celebrate, but it’s absolutely incredible to me to consider where we’d be if it hadn’t been for one particular piece of legislation and one particularly diabolical congressman—Sonny Bono. That’s right, Sonny Bono, of Sonny and Cher fame. Sonny became a congressman in California, and Disney quickly got him in their pocket. He proposed a piece of legislation largely to protect the copyright of Mickey Mouse. It became known as the Copyright Term Extension Act, also known as the Sonny Bono Act. It essentially put a moratorium on films entering the public domain for 20 years. 20 YEARS!

That means that instead of films from 1929 entering the public domain this year, we would have had films from 1949 entering. That blows my mind. The Third Man, Rope, It’s a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Miracle on 34^th Street, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Cat People, The Maltese Falcon, King Kong, and SO MANY others would be public domain now.

Sonny Bono will forever be a villain in my book, right up there with Fredric Wertham (the psychiatrist that attacked and smeared EC comics and their fellow comic book companies in the 1950s). His name should forever go down in infamy.

Sir Cecil Creape honored with historical marker

2024 was a banner year for us here at the Cinetarium. Not only was it the 25^th anniversary of my career as a TV horror movie host (we celebrated with a special 25^th anniversary live cast and crew reunion show), but I was also able to spearhead a project that paid homage to the man that was my direct inspiration for this endeavor—Sir Cecil Creape.

Sir Cecil Creape was Nashville’s horror host of the 1970s and 80s, and was played by Russ McCown, a film editor for WSMV (called WSM-TV at the time). His original show, Creature Feature, was legendary in the Nashville area, and is still fondly remembered to this day. Over the years we’ve done many tributes to Sir Cecil on the show, and I regularly ended the credits with the words, “Dedicated to the memories of Russ McCown and Ken Bramming, horror host legends of Nashville.” (Ken Bramming was Nashville’s first host, Dr. Lucifur, of the 50s and 60s).

In 2023 I contacted the Metro Historical Commission in Nashville and pitched the idea of a historical marker for Russ. I sponsored the marker, and was thrilled when it was approved. 

“Every single time I mention this marker to anyone who grew up
in Nashville their faces light up in a way that never happens
for any other marker.”
Jessica Reeves, Metro Historical Commission.

 

On Saturday, July 13^th Russ McCown, a.k.a. Sir Cecil Creape was honored with a permanent historical marker outside his former home at 3712 Richland Avenue in Nashville, TN. Russ passed away in 1994 and would have been amazed to be honored in such a way. He is, in fact, the very first horror movie host to have a permanent marker erected in his honor.

Below is the induction ceremony from the marker unveiling. Speaking at the ceremony were Jessica Reeves of the Metro Historical Commission, Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell, Council Member Brenda Gadd, and Dr. Gangrene. Members of the McCown family were also present for the ceremony. 

 

Watch the dedication ceremony below: 

If you find yourself in Music City stop by and check out the Sir Cecil Creape historical marker - it is located at 3712 Richland Avenue, Nashville, TN 37205. 

New year, new look for this blog

Happy 2025 fright fans! 

As we kick off the new year I figured it was time to finally give all of my sites a facelift. I decided to streamline things here on the blog, make it cleaner and easier to read, and did away with some ads and links that were cluttering the page as well. I haven't been blogging anywhere near as often as I should over the last couple of years and plan to remedy that. Most of the posts over the past few years have  been links to what film I'm showing that week. I removed most of those, and narrowed the blog back to actual posts for the most part instead of just video links.

The website drgangrene.com also got a facelift - it now takes you to a nice clean interface where you can find links to all my various pages, as well as socials and more. I will be updating the store link soon and have much more merchandise available. That is the question I get asked most frequently - where can I buy DVDs and merchandise. I'll be adding a much better selection of merchandise soon. Check back over the next couple of weeks for that.

 The other question I get asked a lot is where folks can watch my weekly TV show, Dr. Gangrene's Cinetarium. I've added a link on the main website  for VIDEOS - It will take you to a page that features the episode that is screening each week, so you can watch it there via my Vimeo page. There's also a link there for my YouTube channel. 

So in closing, thank you to everyone who has supported the show over the years, and stay tuned for more fun stuff as well as an announcement on a big new project later this year. 

Thanks, and as always...

STAY MAD!
Dr. Gangrene

Shock! Halloween Countdown - Day 1

 Dr. Gangrene kicks off the annual Halloween countdown today - this year we're taking a look at 31 films from the Universal Shock! package of films that aired in the 1950s. First up is a classic of the genre - Dracula. Tune in all month on Youtube to see a new video every day looking at a different film from the Shock! package of films from 1957.

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Dr. Gangrene 25th Anniversary show

 Dr. Gangrene celebrated his 25th-anniversary hosting horror movies in the Middle Tennessee area with a special live show with a studio audience, live music from The Exotic Ones, and the first movie he ever hosted - White Zombie. Check it out below...

CREEPY CRAWLIES - 2023 Halloween Countdown - Day 1

 Dr. Gangrene kicks off the 2023 Halloween countdown! This year's theme is Creepy Crawlies, movies featuring critters that creep, and crawl, and slither and slime. Nature attacks in the lab all October - tune in every day for the Halloween Countdown. Day 1 takes a look at the 1988 flick SLUGS.