Follow Up to Yesterday’s Rant…

Yesterday’s post about the Rondo Awards got quite a few comments and stirred up a little controversy, mostly on Facebook. People are very passionate about their horror hosts and I take that as a good thing. It means that the host is doing something right and has a passionate crew and viewers. Horror hosting works best on the local level, that’s what it was designed for. You build a fan base and try to entertain them weekly – sometimes you succeed more than others. So it’s no surprise those same people defend their host just as passionately.
My point yesterday was lost in the midst of comments about other hosts. Let me sort of back up for a second and clarify – not all horror hosts feel that way about the Rondo Awards and in fact most are very proud to be nominated. There are a couple who have mentioned the contrary to me, but I think most are happy for the exposure and appreciate any chance for potential new viewers to check out their work. The point I was trying to make is that despite the negative comments I’ve heard several places – not just from other hosts – about the Rondos they do a lot to spotlight artists, writers, filmmakers, horror hosts and their work.

Is a voting award system perfect? Of course not. But unlike many online voting awards they go out of their way to try and eliminate fraud. It is an email only voting system – which I know discourages many voters because I’ve heard complaints firsthand about how difficult the process is. Every vote must have a name attached to count, and every email is personally read and votes tabulated by David Colton – by hand. He does this because it’s a labor of love for him, something he started because he wanted to spotlight the great work out there.

Let’s take a look at the list of hosts on this year’s ballot:

21. FAVORITE HORROR HOST OF 2011

(Active hosts only; if your favorite is missing -- there are far too many to list here -- please write them in)

-- A. GHASTLEE GHOUL (Ohio)

-- THE BONE JANGLER (Illinois)

-- KARLOS BORLOFF (Monster Madhouse, Washington, DC)

-- BROTHER JACK ANGRY (Omaha)

-- COUNT GORE DE VOL (Creature Features)

-- COUNT GREGORE (Count Gregore's Crypt)

-- DR. GANGRENE (Nashville)

-- Dr. MADBLOOD (Virginia Beach)

-- DR. SARCOFIGUY (Spooky Movie Television)

-- ELVIRA (Movies Macabre)

-- GHOUL A GO-GO (NYC)

-- LATE DR. LADY

-- MR. LOBO (Cinema Insomnia, California)

-- ORMON GRIMSBY (N.C.)

-- PENNY DREADFUL (Shilling Shockers, New England)

-- PROFESSOR EMCEE SQUARE IT'S ALIVE, Pittsburgh)

-- REMO D (California)

-- SON OF GHOUL (Ohio)

-- SVENGOOLIE (Chicago)

-- WOLFMAN MAC (Chiller Drive-In, Michigan)

-- ZOMBOO (House of Horrors, Reno)

-- Or write in another choice:

Twenty-one hosts mentioned, along with their show name in many cases (he didn’t list mine, interestingly enough) and a fill-in category in case YOUR host isn’t listed. That is twenty-one people that just got free advertisement for their show in a venue that thousands of people will see – AND it’s the SECOND time I’ve posted this list on the blog here, not to mention all the other places on the net it’ll get reposted. Not too bad, and you know what – I’ll honestly be happy for whoever wins it. I don’t take it personally. It is what it is. It would be nice to win, but ultimately doesn’t change what I do one way or the other. I’ll still be plugging away weekly making the best TV show I can. And THAT’S what it’s all about.

Long live the Rondos!

Leaving Marks

As I mentioned yesterday, my favorite thing about the Rondos is discovering new works that I'd probably not see if they weren't spotlighted in this award. It's going to take me a while to check out the links to all the nominees, but that's where the fun comes in. I wanted to share with you guys one of the nominees in the Best Independent Film Category:

It's called Bite Marks, and it's written and directed by Mark Bessenger, a first time film maker. It is, as you can guess from the title, a vampire movie. A big rig carrying a load of coffins, which later turns out to be a single coffin, stops to pick up a pair of hitchhikers. Along the way they pull over at a truck stop and things get out of hand quickly when the occupant of said coffin awakes.

The producers of this film are obviously big fans of Fright Night. There is a character named Brewster in this film and I also spotted actor Stephen Geoffreys in the trailer as well. He's the guy who played Evil in the original Fright Night. This film looks like it's a hoot. Nicely shot, a decent budget and my only complaint about the trailer is that some of the music in it is pretty bad. But this definitely looks like one I worth tracking down.

You can visit their Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bite-Marks-The-Movie/158292614208026

Here's the trailer:

Rock N' Roll Nightmare Review

This time I take a good look at metal classic, Rock n' Roll Nightmare. If you haven't seen this one you're missing out on some prime 80s cheese!
http://rocknrollhorror.blogspot.com/2012/02/rock-n-roll-nightmare-review.html

Pardon my rant.

You know the saying, no good deed goes unpunished. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of truth to that statement.

 The 10th annual Rondo Awards were just announced this week, and voting is now underway. The Rondo Awards were started in 2002 by David Colton. It was an extension of the Classic Horror Film Board, a message board that originally started as a chat group among peers on AOL, then moved to the message board site. David started the awards as a way to congratulate and honor the folks who have had outstanding achievements in the field of horror - writers, artists, filmmakers and more recently, horror hosts are all on the ballot. It is a really neat award and has really helped spotlight and bring attention to some worthy projects and creators.


But, alas, along with anything of this type you are going to have detractors, and that's true of the Rondos. I've heard complaints for years, mostly from people who haven't won or weren't nominated. I chalked those up to sour grapes. In some cases there was a legitimate oversight on the part of David and steps were made to correct it in future ballots.

David runs this award by himself for the most part, and there's no way any one person could possibly keep up with every worthy nominee in every category. It is just impossible. So he relies on nominations.  It is well advertised that in order to get something on the ballot, a nomination needs to be made on the Classic Horror Film Board sometime in the preceding year. That gives folks an entire year to nominate or have someone else nominate their work. But still they don't and then complain they're not on the ballot.

Lately I've even heard griping from fellow hosts. They complain that the voting system makes this a popularity contest. Yet every one of them admits the three winners of "favorite" horror host - Svengoolie, Penny Dreadful (2-time winner), and Count Gore DeVol are all deserving winners. Oh, and I put the word "favorite" in quotation marks because that was changed to appease these same hosts. It's the only category that reads "favorite" rather than "best." Why? Because some hosts whined and didn't like the term best. Really? Doesn't seem to be a problem with "Best Writer," "Best artist" and so on. People need to grow a little thicker skin, that's ridiculous.

One horror host yesterday, I won't mention his name, said he is on the Rondo ballot but doesn't want to be, he is bigger that that and doesn't need it. He said don't vote for him, contests are for losers. But this same host was the very one complaining a few years back when he wasn't on the ballot and complaining about his show not getting the respect it deserves. He also won a Telly award - which means he forked out about $250 dollars to enter and get an award and statue. Kinda pricey for something that is for losers.

Multiple awards have sprung up in the past decade as a response to the Rondos, and just today I read about one that really made me say WTF!? The Horror Host Award - "The first ever award for hosts by hosts." The way it works is they're judging individual shows, not the hosts themselves, and the people who pick the winners are - get this - the nominees themselves. Really? So you're giving yourself an award?

That is lame.

The host I mentioned before said he'd be down for a contest between hosts in a heartbeat. Let me show my show is better than the rest. OK, let me be very clear here:

HORROR HOSTING IS NOT A CONTEST.

It is about creating the best, most entertaining and informative show possible. About building a fan base and connecting with them. About making a fun show that can teach a generation of kids what classic horror is all about, to build an appreciation of b-movies and all things schlocky rather than simply dismissing them as crap. Bottom line - I compete with myself every week - compete to get my show done on time despite working 40 hours a week, managing family crises, and all the other things that come up daily. Life gets in the way and sometimes it can be tough, but you know what? It's fun, so I continue. That's my competition. And if someone wants to reward me for my hard work, to say hey - you do a great job and here's a statue to say congrats, then that is terrific.

So for all the Rondos have done to spotlight all the talented artists, writers, filmmakers and yes, horror hosts out there, let me be the first to say thank you. It is a very nice gesture and David puts in countless hours - why? To reward folks in the genre and spotlight their work. And to all the detractors who want to complain about something done with the best intentions - go enter one of the countless sour grapes awards.

1951 Down Place

You know what the best part of the Rondo Awards is? The very best part? Ok, the BEST part is the kickass statues given to the winners - but the next best part is looking over the ballot and finding a link to something cool you never knew existed. That's exactly what happened when I started going through the podcasts nominated on this year's ballot. 1951 Down Place is a new podcast dedicated to Hammer Horror films. There are three hosts -  Derek Koch aka Brother D, Casey Criswell, and Scott Morris, and they discuss various Hammer films each episode in an informative, entertaining and well produced podcast that I really enjoyed. And to top it off imagine my surprise when, in episode 2, I heard my own name invoked! Extra points for referencing Doc G!

Defintiely check this podcast out, as well as all the nominees on this year's Rondo Awards. It is a fantastic reference place to find out about some cool stuff you never knew existed.

And they give away some kick ass statues, too!

Scary Monsters Yearbook on Noosestands soon

Keep your eyeballs peeled for the new Scary Monsters Magazine, SCARY MONSTER MEMORIES Yearbook 2012. This time around I have an interview with artist Eric Pigors. It's at the printer as I type this, so should be out soon!!

Morgus the Magnificent for the Hall of Fame

I ran this post last year and wanted to re-post it now that the Rondo Award voting season is here!!So without further adieu...

Last year there were sadly no horror hosts inducted into the hall of fame, and I'd love to see that rectified this year.




I once again nominate Dr. Morgus aka Morgus the Magnificent.

Dr. Morgus began airing January 3, 1959, in New Orleans. Played by actor Sid Noel he is the classic mad scientist archetype. Along with his faithful sidekick Chopsley, Morgus introduced movies until the 1980s. In 2006 he came back on the air with a new batch of shows.

That is an incredible 50 year span as a horror host dating to present.  Morgus syndicated into Detroit in the 1960s, first with a 5 minute weather spot/skit at 5:55 together with a robot sidekick named 'Armsby' (the forecast was projected on Armsby's front panel/chest), then later with MORGUS PRESENTS hosting movies. It also ran on WPIX in New York at one point, as well as a few other cities, I believe.

Week of Nov. 21-29 he appeared in TV Guide nationally...(thanks to David Sechrest for posting them here in the CHFB originally (click to enlarge and read)

Morgus made a feature length movie in 1962 called THE WACKY WORLD OF DR. MORGUS.
It featured the Instant People Machine, which turned people into sand and then back again - a plot device that would be lifted in 1966 in a little film called BATMAN.



Dr. John even recorded a groovy Morgus theme song called MORGUS THE MAGNIFICENT

Right click here to download: Morgus The Magnificent

(not sure if that link will work, but you can find it here: http://www.horrorhostgraveyard.com/2008/10/morgus-magnificent.html at the Horror Host Graveyard)

Mardi Gras coin of Morgus

Actor Sid Noel is alive and well in New Orleans. I'd love to see him get this award while he is here to appreciate it.

Vote Morgus for the Hall of Fame. 

In the name of SCIENCE!