Dr. Gangrene

Last updated

Dr. Gangrene
DrGangrene.jpg
Larry Underwood as Dr. Gangrene.
Born
Larry W. Underwood

(1966-09-09) September 9, 1966 (age 58)
Career
ShowDr. Gangrene's Cinetarium
StationNashville Music City Arts CH9
Time slotSaturday @ 9pm central
CountryUnited States
Previous show(s)Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature, Dr. Gangrene Presents, Chiller Cinema - est. July 1, 1999
Website www.drgangrene.com

Dr. Gangrene is a television horror host based in the Middle Tennessee area, played by actor/writer/producer Larry Underwood.

Contents

History

Underwood was inspired to create the character as an homage to Sir Cecil Creape, a former Nashville horror host. Created in 1999, the show was originally a half hour Public-access television cable TV program called Chiller Cinema in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Chiller Cinema

The first episode aired July 1, 1999, on the Hendersonville, TN Public-access television station. The show quickly expanded into Nashville, TN where it aired on Community Access Channel 19. Chiller Cinema was the first program to broadcast live out of the new Public, Educational, and Government Access television building where CH 19 broadcast from. Chiller Cinema was soon seen on other Public-access television stations across the country, making Underwood one of the first horror hosts to self-syndicate his program. The show won much praise and accolades and was named one of the country's top 20 cable access TV programs by Gear Magazine.

Creature Feature on Nashville's CW58

The show moved to Nashville's WB affiliate WNAB in 2005, and was renamed The WB58 Creature Feature, expanding to a two-hour format showing horror and Sci-Fi movies. Underwood later changed the name slightly to The CW58 Creature Feature to match WNAB's switchover from The WB to The CW in September 2006. The show ran through 2010.

Dr. Gangrene's Cinetarium

In celebration of his 20th anniversary as a TV horror host, Dr. Gangrene returned to the airwaves in 2019. The new show was called Dr. Gangrene's Cinetarium, and once again aired on Nashville's CW58 for the month of October, running for 4 episodes. [1]

In January 2020 the show returned for a second season, this time on Nashville's NECAT Arts Ch9 in Nashville. The show airs weekly on Saturday nights at 9 pm central, and simulcasts on the station's website as well as their Roku channel. [2]

Awards and Media

2005 for BEST WEBSITE [3]
2008 for his "Go Green with Dr. Gangrene" PSA Campaign (see below) [4]
2014 for BEST HORROR BLOG [5]
2016 for BEST SHORT FILM for "H.P. Lovecraft's The Beast in the Cave" (script by Underwood based on the H.P. Lovecraft story) [6]
2016 for BEST COLUMNIST (for his Scary Monsters Magazine column) [7]
2017 for BEST COLUMNIST (for his Scary Monsters Magazine column) [8]
2018 for BEST COLUMNIST (for his Scary Monsters Magazine column) [9]
2020 for BEST INTERVIEW -for his interview with Bruce Campbell in Scary Monsters Magazine #116 [10]

Dr. Gangrene continues to stay busy, producing a weekly horror host TV program Dr. Gangrene's Cinetarium, which airs weekly on Nashville's NECAT Arts CH9 on Comcast out of Nashville, TN, Saturdays at 9pm central. He is a regular guest at the Wonderfest convention held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, where he hosts live movies every year. He also occasionally writes articles for Scary Monsters Magazine (interviews, reviews and essays on horror movies and creators).

Go Green With Dr. Gangrene Campaign

In 2008, Dr. Gangrene appeared in a series of Public Service Announcements entitled Go Green With Dr. Gangrene. The initial three shorts were entitled "Bonehead", "Two Lane Trash Stop", and "Trash Day Of The Dead". The shorts were written by Cameron McCasland and Larry Underwood and directed by Cameron McCasland. The series went on to win several local and national awards, including an Emmy Nomination for McCasland, [14] and citations from the Governor of Tennessee Phil Bredesen, and the Nashville City Council. [15] In the 2008 Rondo Awards the PSAs were awarded a special Rondo Award in The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards called "The Vasaria Public Service Rondo Award" http://www.rondoaward.com/rondo/RondoVIIwinners.htm

Acting career

Larry Underwood has appeared in a number of independent films, as well as the documentary American Scary. However his best known work is as the Horror Host Dr. Gangrene on the long running WNAB television programs Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature, and Dr. Gangrene Presents, as well as his earlier cable-access program Chiller Cinema and current program, Dr. Gangrene's Cinetarium.

Comics and Writing

In 1994 Underwood co-founded OUT OF THE CELLAR COMICS (later changed to VOLUNTEER COMICS) with his longtime creative partner, Chuck Angell. [16] Among the books they published was BEST CELLARS #1 in 1995, which featured the first-published work of Eric Powell, a story called MONSTER BOY, a precursor to The Goon . It was during this period he first started writing, first scripts for comics, then scripts for the television shows, and finally short stories. To date he has had a number of short stories published in various anthologies and magazines. In 2016 he published a collection of short stories called "Dr. Gangrene's Tales from Parts Unknown". He is a columnist for Scary Monsters Magazine where he researches and writes about horror and sci-fi cinema. In addition, he won a Rondo Award in 2014 for BEST HORROR BLOG.

Musical Endeavors

Personal life

Larry Underwood was born in Nashville, TN, and currently lives in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

References

Notes


Citations

  1. Dr. Gangrene Interview
  2. Dr. Gangrene's Cinetarium Halloween Marathon
  3. 4th Annual Rondo Awards
  4. 7th Annual Rondo Awards
  5. 13th Annual Rondo Awards
  6. 15th Annual Rondo Awards
  7. 15th Annual Rondo Awards
  8. 16th Annual Rondo Awards
  9. 17th Annual Rondo Awards
  10. 19th Annual Rondo Awards
  11. Dr. Gangrene Scares up 3 Emmy Nominations
  12. American Scary
  13. Saturday Evening Post
  14. Zahn, James (November 25, 2008). "An EMMY nod for TRASH DAY OF THE DEAD". Fangoria. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
  15. Dominy, Duane (January 6, 2009). "RESOLUTION NO. RS2009-600". TN.gov. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
  16. "Grand Comics Database". comics.org. Retrieved June 20, 2016.

Sources