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.

Halfway to Halloween UPDATE

 We just passed the halfway to Halloween mark, so here's an update about the Halloween countdown and some of the cool stuff coming up in Nashville this October season.

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

It's Rondo Time !

 It's awards season, fright fans, and in horror fandom, our special award, THE RONDOS, has just opened voting season. Ongoing now for an impressive 23 years, the Rondos are a fan-voted award for horror (and Science Fiction) excellence. The entries span an impressive variety of categories.

I am very honored to announce Dr. Gangrene has been nominated for 2 Rondo Awards this year:

1. Best Event of 2024 - Historical Marker dedicated near Nashville home of late horror host Sir Cecil Crepe, organized by Larry Underwood

2. Favorite Horror Host - Dr. Gangrene

I would also like to suggest you vote for Dr. Gangrene for Monster Kid of the Year for organizing the marker for Sir Cecil Creape. That makes him the first host in the country to have a permanent marker of this sort dedicated in his honor.

And Dr. Gangrene for Monster Kid Hall of Fame, for the 25 + years of hosting horror.

To Vote, simply send an email to taraco@aol.com and let him know you'd like to vote for Dr. Gangrene in the above categories. I'd be much obliged!

Thanks! And to see the entire ballot go to: rondoaward.com

The Hand of Death is Gripping!

 It was my pleasure to appear on the Bride of Monster Kid Radio this week to discuss the 1962 John Agar film Hand of Death. Always fun catching up with Derek, we talked about the Hand of Death, upcoming Dr. Gangrene projects, and much more. You can check it out at the link below, and be sure to check out Bride of Monster Kid regularly, it's a great podcast!

Bride of Monster Kid Radio #014 - Larry Underwood faces 1962's Hand of Death

Returning to the podcast is long-time friend of the show Larry Underwood, aka Dr. Gangrene. He catches up with Derek, letting us know about what he's been up to, what he's got coming up, and his thoughts on the 1962 John Agar film Hand of Death (dir. Gene Nolan). Plus, Mark Matzke's Beta Capsule Review (Ultraman Ace)!

Voicemail: (360) 524-2484
Email: monsterkidradio@gmail.com

Susan Oliver - a real thriller!

 I was watching an episode of Karloff's Thriller this week called Choose a Victim. It is episode 19 of Season One (1961 - directed by Richard Carlson). It's about a rich woman who befriends a beach bum and starts a romance with him, but it turns out it is a ploy that leads to murder (of course). I'm a big fan of Thriller. In fact, it might be my favorite anthology series of all time, depending on my mood... It's certainly one of my favorites. This episode starred Susan Oliver as the rich heiress and Larry Blyden as the beach dweller.

A couple of days later I watched an episode of The Twilight Zone and there was Susan Oliver again. This episode was People Are Alike All Over (episode 25 of Season One, 1960). It's about a pair of Earth astronauts (Roddy McDowell and Paul Comi) who crash land on Mars. Susan plays one of the Martians they encounter who are just a little too friendly.

Susan was a prolific actress on television, appearing in dozens of popular television shows the likes of Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, Gunsmoke, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Night Gallery, and The Wild Wild West. Her most famous appearance in genre circles was probably her performance as the green dancing alien in the original Star Trek. She appears in the closing credits of that show, so her image is burned into the memory of sci-fi fans everywhere. Her career stretched from the 50s to the 80s and she appeared in films as well, both made for TV and theatrical films. 

Susan was a terrific actress, stunningly beautiful and a talented performer. She is great in everything I've seen - I am definitely going to track down more of her work. Her career was tragically cut short when she died of cancer in 1990 at the age of 58. 

There is a documentary about Susan called The Green Girl that covers her life and acting career. It is available to watch on Tubi right now.

Tales of Terror

 

Last night, I rewatched my favorite film from the Corman Poe cycle - Tales of Terror. Made in 1962, this one features a fantastic script from the great Richard Matheson. Corman certainly recognized talent when he saw it. Matheson penned 4 of the Poe films - Charles Beaumont wrote another three, and Robert Towne wrote the final one, Tomb of Ligeia. Talk about an embarrassment of riches!

Tales of Terror is the fourth film in the series. It is a horror anthology comprised of three stories: Morella, The Black Cat, and The Case of M. Valdemar. Each of the stories features Vincent Price prominently. 

In Morella, Price plays Locke, whose estranged daughter Lenora (Maggie Pierce) returns to reunite with him before she dies of an illness. But the drunken, depressed Locke harbors a dark secret in the crumbling, cobweb-laden mansion…

The second tale is The Black Cat, a clever mashup of the Poe stories The Black Cat and The Cask of Amontillado. Matheson managed to combine the two tales flawlessly, and this story features my favorite segment of any film from Corman’s Poe cycle; the drinking contest between Fortunato Luchresi (Price) and Montresor Herringbone (Peter Lorre). Montressor stumbles into a wine-tasting convention and challenges the expert, Fortunato, to a tasting contest. The two actors play off one another perfectly in this segment, with Price genteelly sipping his wine in the approved fashion, while Lorre gulps great goblets of wine. 

The final story is The Case of M. Valdemar. Price plays Valdemar, an elderly man on his deathbed, who agrees to be hypnotized at the point of death by Carmichael (Basil Rathbone). This has unintended consequences, as Valdemar becomes trapped in a purgatory between life and death…

This film was a turning point in the series, as Corman decided to intentionally work humor into the script for the first time. Corman was worried they were beginning to repeat themselves in some ways with these films and thought working in humor would help differentiate this one. Which he should be credited for - always the artist, Corman wanted to stretch and try something new rather than take the easy route, which would have been more of the same. There had previously been humorous moments in the first three films, but this was the first time they intentionally made one of the films, or at least a segment of it, a comedy. The first three movies each featured a somber tone, but the second story in Tales of Terror leaned heavily into humor to great effect. That is not to say it was a straight comedy - it gracefully walks a tightrope between humor and horror, which isn’t the easiest thing to do. Matheson’s script has some genuine chills in addition to the laughs. This is the best segment in the film and sets the stage for a comedic feature film with the next Poe film, The Raven. 

“I am genuinely dedicated to your destruction.”

This segment also features a dream sequence that fits in with another theme I’ve been exploring recently - severed heads in films. Montressor returns from a heavy night of drinking at the pub and passes out on his bed. Now one note - at this point of the film he has discovered that his wife Annabel (Joyce Jameson) and Fortunato were having an affair, and has murdered both of them. He sealed their corpses inside a wall in the basement. He dreams that the two of them break free of their imprisonment and pull his head off, then begin playing catch with it. Lorre’s severed head begins protesting, “Give me back my head” while they play keep-away from his headless corpse, which is running around frantically.

It’s a neat little dream sequence, which these Corman films almost always feature - and has a touch of the macabre in it along with the humor; the scene of the corpses coming alive and breaking through the brick wall is legitimately spooky. I could see it giving young viewers nightmares in 1962.

All of the Poe films were influential to fellow filmmakers at that time, and it must be noted this was pre-Amicus days. There had been a few anthology films up to this point, but not a lot. This one helped pave the way for more to come, as Amicus’ first portmanteau, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, would be made just three years after this. It's not a stretch to imagine that Subotsky and Rosenberg, the founders of Amicus, were influenced and inspired by this film.