Bloodbath at the House of Death

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #82 takes a look at the 1984 British horror/comedy Bloodbath at the House of Death. Price plays a 300-year-old satanic cult leader known as The Sinister Man.

 

Thanksgiving Turkey - Monstroid!

It's Thanksgiving time, so you know what that means. Doc Gangrene has another celluloid Thanksgiving turkey for you in the lab. This year's specialty... Monsteroid, It Came from the Lake! Cheesy giant rubber monster goodness from 1980!

Horror Hootenanny 14

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #81 - The House of the Long Shadows

 Dr. Gangrene takes a look at the 1983 horror/comedy, The House of the Long Shadows. All star horror cast featuring Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine in an old dark house mystery. Desi Arnez Jr. is a writer who takes a bet he can script a horror novel in 24 hours provided he has the proper setting. About this series: Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism. 

Music: "Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/ All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice #houseofthelongshadows #christopherlee #petercushing #johncarradine

House of Waxwork comic #1

In this video I take a look at the debut issue of House of Waxwork #1, from Waxwork Records.

Monster Kid Radio, The Uncanny, Horror anthology

It was my pleasure recently to appear on Monster Kid Radio and chat with host Derek Koch about a lesser seen and discussed horror anthology film, THE UNCANNY. It features an excellent cast (including Peter Cushing and Ray Milland in the wrap-around story) and we had a blast discussing it. I put together this video version of it for YouTube (with Derek's blessing) and thought you folks might enjoy it. THE UNCANNY is available on DVD and VHS.

 

Thank you George Romero

Off the cuff special thanks and tribute to George Romero, a truly iconic and influential filmmaker, and father of the modern zombie genre. Thanks for all you did, George. Not many people can create an entire genre of film, but you did. Without you, there is no Walking Dead, no Shaun of the Dead, no Zombieland, Zombi 2, or any other flesh eating zombie film in existence. #romero
 

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #80

Come join Vincent Price and John Carradine as they visit a very special club - The Monster Club - and tell you three short tales of terror in this 1981 horror anthology. Stellar cast and fangtastic music from The Viewers, B.A. Robertson, Night, the Pretty Things and more! Directed by Roy Ward Baker.
#themonsterclub #vincentprice #drgangrene




About this series:
Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.

Music: "Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/

All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice  #madhouse

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #79 - Scavenger Hunt

In his final final appearance of the 1970s Vincent appeared briefly in the wacky screwball comedy, SCAVENGER HUNT.

About this series:
Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.

Music: "Hot Swing"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

"Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/

All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #78 - Journey Into Fear

Episode #78 of the Fantastic Films of Vincent Price takes a look at the 1975 film noir, JOURNEY INTO FEAR.

Price plays an Arabian doctor onboard an ocean liner filled with quirky characters including Donald Pleasance, Shelley Winters, Yvette Mimieux, Ian McShane, and Sam Waterson, an employee of an oil coropration with a contract on his head.

Also covered on this episode are several other Vincent Price seventies side projects, including ALICE COOPER, THE NIGHTMARE and THE SNOOP SISTERS.


About this series:
Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.


Music: "Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/

All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice #drphibes #theaterofblood

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #77 - Percy's Progress

Would you believe Vincent Price appears in a film about a man who gets a penis transplant? Well it's true, in the 1974 British sex comedy PERCY'S PROGRESS, aka IT'S NOT THE SIZE THAT COUNTS.



About this series: Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.
Music: "Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/
All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice #madhouse

Dr. Gangrene named Best Columnist in 2016 Rondo Awards

Greetings Fright Fans! Dr. Gangrene here with some great news. The winners were announced in the 2016 Rondo awards and I am pleased to announce that I won BEST COLUMN for my Scary Monsters Magazine column THE DOCTOR IS IN-SANE.

 In addition the short film I wrote the script for, THE BEAST IN THE CAVE, (based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story and directed by Cameron McCasland) won BEST SHORT FILM.

 A huge thank you to everyone who voted for us. I truly appreciate your support and am over the moon about the wins. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated as well as all of the winners, especially Don and Vicki Smeraldi, editors of Scary Monsters Magazine who were given the prestigious MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR award for keeping the magazine alive.

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #76 - Madhouse

One of my favorite Price films, mainly because he shares so much screentime with the great Peter Cushing. This is a Price essential.

Every Vincent Price Death Scene

I put together a new video I think you ghouls will like - it's a glorious compilation of every Vincent Price Death Scene from his films - There were a lot!!

Top 5 Classic Horror Anthology Countdown

In this video I take a look at one of my favorite sub-genres of film, the horror anthology movies, and countdown my top 5 classic horror movies.

 

Interview with Cameron McCasland

Great interview with Cameron McCasland about THE BEAST IN THE CAVE and THE PRISONER OF PERDITION over at Research my Trash website. Check it out here: http://www.searchmytrash.com/articles/cameronmccasland(3-17).shtml

and you can watch the film here:

Prisoner of Perdition trailer

We now have an official trailer and poster for the short film THE PRISONER OF PERDITION, based on my short story of the same name. This short, directed by Cameron McCasland and edited by Kyle Kelly, is currently making the festival rounds. It will eventually be part of an anthology released hopefully later this year, and hosted by Dr. Gangrene.

The Colorless Fists of Iron

I recently watched the new Netflix series IRON FIST, and really enjoyed it. Is it my favorite of the Marvel Netflix series? No, it’s not, but that is not because of the reasons I’m hearing other people dismiss the series, and I am honestly a bit perturbed by these dismissals.

I first encountered this attitude when listening to NPR recently. A reviewer named Eric Deggans reviewed IRON FIST on the day it was released, March 17th, prefacing the interview by claiming to be a superhero-aholic. He said, “Yes, I actually paid to “download the awful "Batman v Superman" movie, and I still watch "The Flash" and "Supergirl" on the CW Network.”



Ok, fair enough. I saw that movie and watch those shows too. He then goes on to give a very biased review of the show. He calls it clunky, the plot and pacing bad and actor Finn Jones (Danny Rand) overmatched, without any real explanation of why he thought so. It was clear from the comments and his tone that he didn’t give this series a fair chance.

The review then peels off to talk about and play clips from two other movies he had issues with – GHOST IN THE SHELL and DOCTOR STRANGE. You see, Eric had a problem with the fact that the lead character in Iron Fist, Danny Rand (Finn Jones), is white, and travels to an Asian city to train in martial arts, and returns as a Kung-Fu master (therefore supposedly appropriating their culture). In fact, he even said nothing has made him more ashamed of his love of superhero movies than IRON FIST.

Seriously?  Despite the diversity of the cast and the strong depiction of women (Colleen Wing and Claire Temple kick some serious ass in this one, and the baddest villain in the show is another woman, Madame Gao), this is what makes you most ashamed? Have you even watched or read anything that wasn’t made in the past four or five years?

This honestly isn’t anything different than Eric’s beloved Batman. In the Christopher Nolan movie BATMAN BEGINS (2005) Bruce Wayne goes off to an Asian city (Bhutan) be trained by Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Shadows, becoming their greatest warrior and returning to Gotham to fight for justice. Or how about ARROW on the CW, another show Eric undoubtedly watches. In it Oliver Queen is shipwrecked and eventually travels to an Asian city (I’m sensing a trend here) and trains with the League of Shadows, becoming a world class fighter. And how about any of the older superhero movies – like Tim Burton’s BATMAN (1989) for instance – there’s barely a face of color in the entire movie, and the women are set dressings or stereotypes at best.

BUT no objections were raised about any of these shows... Why the hate for Iron Fist?



Let’s step back for a minute and look at the history of the character of Iron Fist, aka Danny Rand. His partner and best friend was Luke Cage, Power Man, a black character, during the 1970s, a time of serious racial disparity. They operated in the roughest part of town and ran a business together, HEROES FOR HIRE in the book POWER MAN AND IRON FIST (note the black character is listed first), helping all those in need, without regard to race. He falls in love with Misty Knight, another black character. The book is full of characters of minority status. In fact, the whole point behind Power Man and Iron Fist is racial harmony and acceptance, and it’s a huge part of the character of Iron Fist. But that is all ignored in this review.

In fact, Iron fist wasn’t even the first Marvel martial arts character. The reviewer is either oblivious to, or intentionally ignoring the fact that Iron Fist was not the first Marvel martial arts character. SHANG-CHI: MASTER OF KUNG FU was created in 1973, six months prior to the first publication of Iron Fist. That was probably as much a part of the decision to make Danny a Westerner as anything else. They were differentiating him from the recently established character of Shang-Chi, an Asian. That’s important to note.

Marvel was merely staying true to the book with this TV series. They were depicting characters the way they were created, by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane, a faithful adaptation of the source material, which is an admirable way to approach it. I am all for diversity, and in this case would have been fine with them changing the character to another race (in fact I think it would have been an interesting take), but that’s not the direction the show creators chose to go. And that’s a perfectly valid decision as well. Unlike the two examples cited in the NPR review – Ghost in the Shell and Doctor Strange, which both changed races of characters FROM Asian to white, Iron Fist depicted the character as he appeared in the book since his inception in 1974. Which is a totally different thing. The comparison to those two movies is unfair, as they aren’t the same.

The reviewer mentions he would prefer if the creators of this show made Danny Rand Asian. I’m curious if he would have been fine with them making Luke Cage (from the Netflix series of the same name) Asian, or any other race, as well? And if not, why not? Perhaps that speaks more to his own racial biases than any problems in this show.

Shame on NPR for allowing such a shallow and unfair take on this topic. Why not contact Iron Fist creator Roy Thomas and ask him about the creation of the character and his thought process? Or better yet the writers of the new TV series and ask about their intentions? Why not get a real comic book expert on the show who could address the history of the character? Why not mention the diversity of the cast of IRON FIST, and the strong female characters in the show, and in fact the diversity of all of the Netflix superhero series? They’ve done a tremendous job in that regard.

But then none of that was the point of this NPR segment, was it? You just wanted to attack this perceived racial injustice of “white washing” and promote an agenda, and I guess that is ultimately what NPR is most interested in.

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price - Theater of Blood

Vincent Price stars as Edward Lionheart, a much-maligned Shakespearian actor who is believed to be dead, driven to suicide by negative critics reviews. When those critics begin turning up dead, it is discovered that Lionheart is still alive, and on a mission of vengeance!

 

About this series: Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.



Music: "Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/
All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice #drphibes #theaterofblood
About this series: Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.

Catching up with Count Gore DeVol

Wherein I call my old friend Count Gore DeVol, aka Richard Dyszel, legendary horror host, and see what he's been up to in the lab lately.

Rondo Award Nominations officially Announced!

Greetings Fright Fans! I have some good news to announce - This year's Rondo Awards ballot is out, and I'm very honored to have been nominated in a total of five categories! First off my ongoing Vincent Price series THE FANTASTIC FILMS OF VINCENT PRICE was nominated in the Best Multi-Media Horror Site category. I was also nominated for Best Columnist for my work on Scary Monsters Magazine, and I was nominated in the Favorite Horror Host category. In addition this blog was nominated for the Best Horror Website or Blog category. And last but not least, our short film BEAST IN THE CAVE was nominated in the Best Short Film Category! In celebration we have made it available for free viewing on YouTube. Check it out below, and when you're done swing over to http://www.rondoaward.com and drop us a vote in any of the above categories - I would greatly appreciate it!

The Amityville Horror vs. The Shining

Taking a look at a couple of haunted house classics...

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

In episode #73 of The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price Dr. Gangrene takes a look at The Abominable Dr. Phibes. In it Vincent Price stars as Dr. Anton Phibes, a man whose wife died on the operating table. On his way rushing to the hospital Phibes' car slid off the road and he was presumed dead in a horrible accident. However, he survived, and now seeks revenge against the surgical team that operated on his wife. Together with his assistant Vulnavia, he is killing each member is bizarre, exotic fashions that follow the ten plagues on the pharaoh in the bible.

Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature - The Screaming Skull

Here's another one from the vaults, a 2006 episode filmed live at the Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Fest in Nashville. Guests interviewed include Reggie Bannister, Ed Neil, Gunnar Hansen, Tiffany Shepis, and Ken Foree.

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #72

In this episode we take a look at some of the TV work of Vincent Price from 1971 - some truly standout efforts.

Scary Monsters #100

In issue #100 of Scary Monsters magazine, the last of publisher Dennis Druktenis' run, I reached out to a few of my horror host pals, including Zacherley and Svengoolie, to get a quote about congratulating Dennis on his epic milestone of 100 issues.


Click to enlarge and read. Congrats again, Dennis my friend - stay scary!

Prisoner of Perdition news

Yesterday I congratulated my director and good friend Cameron McCasland on his recent Emmy nominations, and today I share more good news as a short film the two of us collaborated on - THE PRISONER OF PERDITION, has been accepted into not one but two film festivals. This is a weird western scripted by me and directed by Cameron, shot on location in Hopkinsville, KY.

The Prisoner of Perdition will make its big screen debut at Trail Ruts in Duncan Oklahoma this weekend. About it, Cameron said,  "We were invited by the wonderful people at Traildance and I'm excited to be invited to the start of their new chapter."

The Prisoner Of Perdition is also an official selection of The Red Dirt Film Fest in Stillwater Oklahoma and will be playing on the Oklahoma State University Campus March 2-5 2017.

Top 5 Horror Hosts Countdown

The Top 5 TV horror hosts of all-time, as counted down by award winning Nashville horror host Dr. Gangrene.


Toccata and Fugue in D Minor Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Cameron McCasland 2 Emmy Nods

I want to publicly congratulate my good friend Cameron McCasland (Long-time collaborator and Dr. Gangrene director) on receiving not one but TWO Emmy nominations. The local Emmy Awards show is this weekend, where they'll be announcing winners. Cameron is nominated for his short film, TAILYPO, based on the folk tale of the same name, and for a music video he directed called KIDS WITH CARS.


Kids with Cars
Artist Dallas Smith did an amazing job on this old-school stop motion video.







Tailypo
Winner of last year's Rondo Award for Best Short Film.


Good luck Cameron, we're keeping our scalpels crossed for ya!

The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price #71 - Cry of the Banshee

 Vincent Price stars as Lord Whitman, a 16th century magistrate with a vendetta against witches. He sentences accused witches to a variety of tortures. When his men disciver a coven of witches in his province they attack them, slaughtering a number of them. In retaliation their leader, Oona, summons an avenging spirit, a sidhe, to attack the Whitman family.

 About this series: Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.

 Music: "Backed Vibes", "Hot Swing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

 Opening Credits Artwork: Used by permission from Mark Maddox, http://www.maddoxplanet.com/

 All film clips © respective studios and used purely for academic purposes and Fair Use under Copyright Act 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 #drgangrene #vincentprice #cryofthebanshee #hilarydwyer

One Step Beyond - the Open Window

I posted an episode of my Dr. Gangrene Presents online recently - some of those old ONE STEP BEYONDepisode were pretty good. they tended to lean toward supposed real-life supernatural events, rather than the more Sci-fi and fantastical stories in The Twilight Zone. It was an interesting series, and I hosted a number of them on my DR. GANGRENE PRESENTS series, as they are in the public domain. This one is called THE OPEN WINDOW, and is more than a little reminiscent of Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW


Host Segments: Segment 1: 0:23 Segment 2: 10:18 Segment 3: 10:39 Segment 4: 19:22 Segment 5: 23:51

dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature - The Last Man on Earth

Here's one from the vaults: Dr. Gangrene hosts THE LAST MAN ON EARTH starring Vincent price. This originally aired on 12-29-07 on Nashville CW58.


Host segments:
Segment 1: 0:48
Segment 2: 14:56
Segment 3: 28:42
Segment 4: 42:09
Segment 5: 53:02
Segment 6: 1:07:54
Segment 7: 1:25:50
Segment 8: 1:38:25
Segment 9: 1:40:05

Top 5 Frankenstein Films

It's Alive! 2017 is here, shambling from the smoking ruins of the previous year like the Frankenstein's unstoppable monster. And that's just what I'm tackling in this latest video - the Frankenstein films, a Top 5 Countdown of my own personal favorite Five Frankenstein movies

Take a look and let me know what you guys think. Do you agree or disagree with this list, and what would your own list look like?

And do me a quick favor too, if you would. If you're not following me on my YouTube channel, click the subscribe link at the end of the video and become a Dr. Gangrene subscriber on YouTube. I'd appreciate it, as it helps my videos rank higher and get seen by more people.

Vincent Price films of the 60s

Greetings Fright Fans, and Happy New Year!
I wanted to share a video I put together exploring all of the films of Vincent Price from the 1960s.


This video collects episodes 44 - 69 of THE FANTASTIC FILMS OF VINCENT PRICE and compiles them into one comprehensive video.
Films covered: House of Usher 00:23 Master of the World 06:18 The Pit and the Pendulum 10:05 Convicts 4 15:15 Confessions of an Opium Eater 20:39 Tales of Terror 26:12 Tower of London 33:00 The Raven 38:45 Diary of a Madman 43:05 Rage of the Buccaneers 49:49 Beach Party 51:59 The Haunted Palace 55:16 Twice Told Tales 1:01:33 Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile 1:08:58 The Comedy of Terrors 1:11:18 The Last Man on Earth 1:14:44 The Masque of the Red Death 1:19:25 Tomb of Ligeia 1:24:06 War Gods of the Deep Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs House of 1000 Dolls The Jackals Witchfinder General More Dead than Alive Trouble with Girls The Oblong Box
To see the entire Fantastic Films of Vincent Price series on Youtube go to playlist here: http://bit.ly/2hoQfgt

Scary Monsters Sneak Peek - #103

Hey Gang - here's a sneak peek at the upcoming Scary Monsters Magazine, #103