New Horror Host Book - Masters of Terrormonies

This week I released a project I've been researching and writing for over 20 years - Masters of Terrormonies: The History of Television Horror Movie Hosts in Nashville, TN.

 

Masters of Terrormonies is the definitive guide to the legendary horror movie hosts who terrified and delighted late-night viewers on the airwaves in Nashville, Tennessee from 1957-present.

From the dapper Dr. Lucifur (Ken Bramming) and the hunchbacked Sir Cecil Creape (Russ McCown) – Nashville’s most iconic and best-remembered host – to the modern mad scientist Dr. Gangrene (Larry Underwood), this book dives deep into the histories of these macabre masters and the broadcast eras that brought them to life in Music City.

Inside these pages, you’ll discover detailed biographies about the real-life people behind the makeup, exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, rare interviews, vintage newspaper clippings, and never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia.

Written by Larry W. Underwood, cover by Mark Maddox, interior illustrations by Jeff Wilson, foreword by Dr. Jeff Thompson.

Available on Amazon.com 

Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature

Back in the mid-2000s I hosted a program on the WB Channel 58 in Nashville called Creature Feature. It debuted in 2005, and ran off and on through 2010. During the run of the show the station changed named from the WB to the CW. It was an exciting time for me, as it provided a much wider audience and the station provided a terrific package of films for me to host.

 

Below is a partial list of films hosted by Dr. Gangrene while on the air on WNAB, Nashville's CW58. These were listed on my Wikipedia page, but I decided to move them here to clean up the page a bit, and link to them. First airing only listed (not reruns):

Film	Date
Bruiser	October 22, 2005
Dreamscape	October 29, 2005
Sometimes They Come Back... for More	November 5, 2005
Piranha	November 12, 2005
Specimen	November 19, 2005
Total Recall(1990 film)	November 26, 2005
DNA	December 3, 2005
The Devil Bat	December 10, 2005
Beyond Tomorrow	December 24, 2005
Nosferatu	December 31, 2005
The Descendant	January 7, 2006
Aerobicide	January 29, 2006
The Giant Gila Monster	February 5, 2006
The Ex	February 12, 2006
Phoenix The Warrior	February 19, 2006
Little Shop of Horrors	March 11, 2006
Space Mutiny	March 18, 2006
The Screaming Skull	March 25, 2006
The Brain That Wouldn't Die	April 8, 2006
Future Force	April 15, 2006
Future Zone	April 22, 2006
Total Recall1	April 29, 2006
Piranha	May 6, 2006
The Wraith	May 13, 2006
The House That Dripped Blood	May 26, 2007
Night of the Living Dead	October 13, 2007
The Last Man On Earth	December 29, 2007
Five Deadly Venoms	February 2, 2008
The Little Shop of Horrors	September 13, 2008
The Phantom Planet	September 27, 2008
White Zombie	October 11, 2008
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2002 Version d. by Mark Redfield)	November 1, 2008
Night Tide	October 17, 2009
They Crawl	October 30, 2009
The Hollow	October 30, 2009
A Christmas Carol (1949 TV version)	December 25, 2009
Deep Shock	July 10, 2010
The Cave	July 17, 2010
Black Cadillac	July 24, 2010
Absolon	July 31, 2010
Dark Waters (1993)	August 7, 2010
Glass Trap	August 14, 2010
Dark Descent	August 21, 2010
The Untold	September 4, 2010
The Sadist	September 18, 2010
Eegah	September 25, 2010
The Dreadful Hallowgreen Special	October 31, 2010

 

Following this run we changed the name of the show to Dr. Gangrene Presents. The format changed to a half-hour, with the Doc now hosting public domain TV shows like One Step Beyond, Suspense, and Boris Karloff's The Veil.

 Below is an episode of Creature Feature hosting The Brain that Wouldn't Die.

Dr. Gangrene in the Hall of Fame!

 Greetings Fright Fans - I am excited to share some big news with you all - Dr. Gangrene was inducted into the Rondo Award Hall of Fame this year! 

The fact that last year marked my 25th anniversary as a host made it doubly meaningful. It was also my 20th year of hosting movies live at Wonderfest last year, as well as the 20th anniversary of our Horror Hootenanny show held every October (although we missed a couple of years during Covid). AND last year was the year that we got the Sir Cecil Creape historical marker installed in Nashville, something I'm truly proud of. 

This is a true honor, and I'd like to thank David Colton, everyone at the Rondo Awards, and everyone who voted for me this year. The Rondos are THE biggest award in our industry, and to be inducted into the hall alongside such greats as Zacherley, Vampira, Morgus, Chilly Billy, etc. is a true honor (I love that David used the photo of me and Zacherley on the website for the announcement). Congratulations to all the other winners as well as everyone who was nominated. Being recognized by your peers is the best part of the Rondo Awards. It makes it all worthwhile. #rondoawards

The Frozen Dead

 A couple of days ago my friend Tim Lucas (film critic, writer, former editor of Video Watchdog magazine) posted a photo on Facebook from The Frozen Dead (1966). I’ve been aware of this movie for some time now and always meant to watch it but somehow never got around to it. Which is surprising because subject matter-wise it’s right up my alley. So, I thought I’d do myself a favor and finally seek this one out.

The Frozen Dead stars Dana Andrews as a Nazi mad scientist named Dr. Norberg, speaking with a German inflection no less! I’ve always liked Dana Andrews, so that was a plus for me right off the bat. The plot is suitably ridiculous for this type of film: Norberg is attempting to revive a squadron of Nazi soldiers that have been frozen since WWII, and in the process, has been carrying out wild experiments, which include a wall of severed arms kept “alive.”

He maintains a hidden room full of botched experiments—soldiers that were faultily resurrected as brain-dead zombies. The doctor’s niece unexpectedly arrives for a visit with a friend named Elsa (Kathleen Breck). Their stay doesn't go as well as expected, however, as one of the resurrected soldiers murders Elsa on their first night at the mansion.

(Gotta love that the frozen soldiers are held by clamps on their HEADS, like frozen chunks of beef.)

Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, Norberg uses this as an excuse to perform an experiment he'd always wanted to try. He keeps Elsa’s severed head alive in a box, with a plastic dome mounted over the top of her skull where the brain is now exposed. Her skin is also inexplicably blue.

While I appreciate the mad science shenanigans in this one, it’s unfortunately nowhere near as interesting as it could have been. The setup is great, but the film falls short in the execution; large portions of this one are just plain boring. The film also lifts heavily from the much better film The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962). Just as in that film, this one has a female head kept alive through science, a failed experiment locked away (the monster in Brain, the zombie soldiers in this one), and the head develops telepathic powers in each. Elsa begs for them to "Bury me," and in Brain we hear the woman (Jan, played by Virginia Leith) beg, "Let me die." By the way, The Brain that Wouldn't Die in turn borrowed material from the German film The Head (1959), which brings us back full circle with the Germanic influence.

The Frozen Dead was directed by Herbert J. Leder, who also directed It! starring Roddy McDowall. In fact, this film played on a double bill with It!. Leder had also previously written the screenplay for Fiend Without a Face.

Despite the pacing issues, The Frozen Dead is still worth a watch with plenty of outlandish elements, including zombies, frozen Nazi soldiers, gruesome experiments, a dungeon laboratory, severed body parts, and a head kept alive. Plus, it's got some memorable visuals. If you're a sucker for mad science films like me, then check it out!

Cameron Mitchell, Horror Host

Last week, I discussed actor Cameron Mitchell's appearance in the film Nightmare in Wax. A few days later, I posted about my Halloween countdown of films from the Shock! package of Universal movies and the horror hosts who showed those films in their initial run on television in the 1950s and 1960s. Did you know that Cameron Mitchell also took a turn as a horror host? 

Well, sort of. More accurately, he played a horror-host-STYLE character in Terror on Tape (1985). This was a shot-on-video production that featured Mitchell playing the proprietor of a video store that specializes in horror movies. A trio of customers come into the shop (including scream queen Michelle Bauer), each looking for the scariest and goriest films in existence. Mitchell shows them clips from various horror movies on a television set resting on the counter. The film keeps cutting back and forth between the video store and the movie clips, with Cameron enthusiastically introducing each segment with a cheesy flair that would make the best horror host proud.

This program was made by Comet Video and Continental Video, and the movie clips were all from films distributed by Continental.

The movies featured were:

Nightmare

The Eerie Midnight Horror Show

Frozen Scream

Cathy’s Curse

Return of the Alien’s Deadly Spawn

Ruby

Night Creature

Suicide Cult

Scalps

Slayer

2000 Maniacs

Blood Feast

Color Me Blood Red

To the Devil a Daughter

Kidnapping of the President

Vampire Hookers

Alien Prey

City of the Walking Dead

Bloodtide

Madhouse Mansion

The best I can tell, Comet Video shot this for Continental. Either it was a collaboration between the two, or perhaps Comet was a subsidiary of Continental. Either way, it was a clever idea from Continental. Put together a fun little video using clips from their catalog - Instant advertising for their own movies. Ingenious!

Terror on Tape was released straight to video and became a favorite of kids of a certain age who stumbled across it at their local video store. Nowadays, these tapes go for big money - a quick search on eBay showed listings between 150 - 400 dollars. However, I think 150 is the standard price you can expect to pay on VHS in 2025 depending on the quality of the tape. Someone has it for sale there on DVD as well, but it’s pretty cheap (and is probably just a rip from tape). It’s those original VHS tapes that are coveted by collectors.

This tape is a nostalgic snapshot of a bygone era,
an age of big-box VHS and mom-and-pop video stores.

This tape is a nostalgic snapshot of a bygone era, an age of big-box VHS and mom-and-pop video stores. The clips are fun, but the host segments are what really make this work. They’re campy and fun and Mitchell does a great job as the cornball spooky host. The fog-shrouded store is decorated with cobwebs and spooky artifacts, and Mitchell makes the most of it, shuffling about the set, conversing with skulls, and introducing the films with a hammy flair. It’s silly, ridiculous, and completely charming. Worth a look, you can find a copy on YouTube or archive.org.

Farewell Salute to Big Chuck Schodowski

I was very saddened this week to hear about the passing of legendary horror host Chuck Schodowski. “Big Chuck” as he’s known affectionately to fans, rose to fame in the Cleveland market and hosted films on television for an incredible 47 years on station WJW. He originally worked with the great Ghoulardi, crewing on that show as well as appearing in skits. When Ghoulardi left to pursue work in LA the station encouraged Chuck to take over the hosting duties. He was at first reluctant to do so, which is easy to understand since Ghoulardi’s show was incredibly popular and was a hard act to follow. But he eventually agreed, co-hosting the show with local weatherman Bob Hoolihan Wells beginning in 1966. 

The Hoolihan and Big Chuck show quickly became popular in its own right, largely because they didn’t try to do the same schtick that Ghoulardi did, instead creating their own unique brand of entertainment. Their show consisted largely of short comedic sketches filmed in and around Cleveland. That show ran for 13 years on WJW, until Hoolihan left and moved to Florida. He was replaced by Lil’ John Rinaldi, and the Big Chuck and Lil’ John Show became even more popular, running for another 28 years on WJW.

Big Chuck is a legend in the horror host field, and arguably the longest-running horror host of all time. Their host bits for their show were filmed live-to-tape in front of a studio audience and the show is fondly remembered by Clevendars to this day. Chuck published an autobiography that recounts his favorite stories over his 47 years of television work. It’s a great book and a fun read, I highly recommend it. 

We here at Shackle Island want to give a big salute to Big Chuck -  I’ve been able to see his show through recordings from fans and have loved the humor, warmth, and positivity of the show. Here’s to ya Chuck, thanks for all the entertainment and inspiration. You’re a one-of-a-kind!

Made in Wax

FROZEN INTO ZOMBIES
DOOMED TO UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS . . .

There’s just something cool about movies set in wax museums. Perhaps it’s that uncanny valley effect of the lifelike yet still disturbing figures, or maybe it’s that so many wax museums specialize in horror and gore. Whatever the reason, I really dig them, and studios obviously agree with me, as they’ve made great settings for films through the years. I decided to watch one of these this weekend, the 1969 schlocker from Crown International, Nightmare in Wax.

 Now, before I get started, let me make one thing clear. This is in no way what would be considered a “good” film. It’s cheap, poorly paced, and trashy. Story-wise, it’s basically a rip-off of the much better House of Wax (starring Vincent Price). But I gotta admit, the trashy aesthetic of this film is 100% in my wheelhouse.

It stars Cameron Mitchell, who is one of my favorite actors. He was in a ton of cheap and low-budget pictures but always delivered, despite the quality of material he was given. He stars in this one as Vincent Renard, the proprietor of a wax museum who is a former Hollywood special effects artist. We eventually learn that he was permanently (and intentionally) maimed by the head of the studio he worked for and blinded in one eye, which is why he wears an eye patch. Recently, star actors of the studio have come up missing. Guess you can see where this one’s going! The police investigate Vincent and have a few questions, especially as he’s created lifelike figures of each of the actors who have come up missing. We eventually learn Vincent has a unique method for creating such realistic work involving hypnotism and a secret serum that turns people into catatonic zombies for his dioramas.

I love that Cameron’s character is named Vincent in this one. It’s a neat little nod to Vincent Price that had to be intentional. It is also appropriate that he has an eye patch, as the director of House of Wax, Andre De Toth, was blind in one eye and wore a patch as well. This was written by Rex Carlton, the writer and producer of The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. This one has a touch of that same sleaze feel to it that Brain has. It was directed by Bud Townsend, who also directed Terror at the Red Wolf Inn in 1972.

 

Despite its low-budget, cheap sets, and poor pacing, I think Nightmare in Wax is still fun and worth a watch. It would be nice if there was a remastered version out there somewhere—this could be just the type of film someone like Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome should restore. I think it would improve a lot from being cleaned up, both audio and video-wise.