I’ve posted so many pictures, videos, and details about The Lashman in the past and a bunch of news about Dr. Gangrene’s Go Green campaign recently, that I figured it was time that I spoke to the man who plays such a big role in each project. While Larry Underwood only has a cameo in The Lashman, he served as Cameron McCasland’s confidant during the early stages of the film. He’s also the man behind the…goggles…in Go Green by playing Dr. Gangrene. Read my interview with Larry below to get the information on the latest Go Green PSAs, his time with The Lashman, his friendships with Cameron McCasland and Ben & Stacey Dixon, as well as a little bit about his band, Spookhand. You’ll find that Larry is quite the popular horror host these days!
I know that new Dr. Gangrene shorts are coming out soon. Tell me a little bit about Go Green with Dr. Gangrene.
The Go Green campaign is a series of PSAs that run on Nashville’s CW58 station,WNAB. They air on Saturday mornings during the kids’ block of programming and they broadcast in all of Middle Tennessee and into southern Kentucky, as well as online. This is the fourth year of Go Green PSAs and they were all made in conjunction with director Cameron McCasland. In them, we use a mix of Dr. Gangrene and classic monsters to talk about environmental and safety issues such as littering, pet safety, and recycling. It’s been a huge success and the series has been nominated for two Emmys and received a Rondo Award.
Has this branched off into another Dr. Gangrene project? (IE: Dr. Gangrene Presents:, Horror Hootenanny)
No actually it’s the other way around. I started hosting movies as Dr. Gangrene in 1999. The other projects, including the PSAs, all spun off of the horror host show. The Horror Hootenanny is an annual horror concert that features multiple bands and is hosted by Dr. Gangrene. It started as a fund raiser for the show and evolved into an annual event every fall. This year’s event is the 8th annual Horror Hootenanny and takes place Saturday October 8th at THE MUSE in Nashville.
Dr. Gangrene Presents is a new half-hour program that begins this fall. It is basically a shortened version of the 2-hour program where I’m hosting short films and old television programs. It will also air on Nashville’s CW58. We’re also working on getting a feature length film package, so there will be lots of new Dr. Gangrene episodes coming this fall. We’ll be posting details as they are finalized at my website, www.drgangrene.com
Dr. Gangrene was also featured in a film alongside Penny Dreadful in The Dreadful Hallowgreen Special. What does it feel like to have a DVD with you on the cover?
It’s pretty neat to see it in the Alpha Video catalog, and that DVD is the number one Top Seller at Alpha, so lots of people have seen that cover! Alpha’s art department put that cover together and did a terrific job. One funny thing about that shot is that when they contacted me about needing a photo it was last minute, as they were trying to get it ready in time for the Wonderfest convention in Louisville. The photo I originally sent them to use wasn’t high-res, and I couldn’t reach the person who took it to get a larger copy. I had to send them a shot I had lying around, and the only one that worked was an older pic of me. No one else probably noticed, but to my eyes I look younger on the cover, so I kind of always get a chuckle out of that!
Moving on to The Lashman, one of the films I’ve been covering extensively. Tell me all you can about this film, without breaking contracts, of course.
The Lashman is a horror film by Cameron McCasland, who is also the director of my show. It is an old school 80’s style horror film, and in fact is set in the 80s. It is about a group of kids who find themselves confronted with the legend of a killer called the Lashman, which may or may not be true. This is Cameron’s first feature length film but he’s done lots of work previously including television and music videos, and I know he has several other films lined up after this one. I think he felt this would be a good story to make as his first film, and I look forward to seeing the end result.
Why have you chosen to spoil anticipating fans by telling them your character dies in the film?
Well, my character is such a minor character it’s really not much of a spoiler. I think knowing that I die in the movie is probably more of a draw for my fans, who will pick it up to see what gruesome fashion I get killed in. And believe me, there’s plenty of blood in my death scene. I had to pitch the shirt I was wearing afterwards!
Cameron McCasland stated in my interview with him that you were the only person that he showed parts of The Lashman script as he wrote it. Did you feel privileged? How is Cameron as a writer?
Cameron and I are best friends and have a terrific working relationship. We constantly pitch ideas and stories back and forth, so his sharing the script with me seemed like a natural extension of our daily working relationship. I do feel privileged he thought highly enough to share the script and wanted my input. He is a very creative writer and director and I think this will turn out to be a fun film.
There’s a little reunion going on with Stacey Dixon appearing in the new Gangrene shorts. She also stars in The Lashman. I take it she’s a good friend of yours at this point, too?
I’ve known Stacey and her husband Ben for years. Ben Dixon is the owner of Lone Wolf Body art, Nashville’s best known and best overall tattoo studio, and the man behind the big Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Convention in Nashville every spring – in fact Ben even did a tattoo for me! He’s been a huge supporter of my program for years, as a sponsor and a friend, and I’ve appeared in a couple of his films in cameos. Stacey is a fantastic actress and model and she is going to absolutely blow up in the horror community – I don’t think she even realizes the potential she has. It was awesome having her in the Go Green PSAs and I’d be happy to work with her and Ben any time.
Another conquest of yours is Spookhand, a band that you are a part of. I take it that you play bubble-gum pop music, obviously. No, really, tell me about the band. Is it rock? Where can we hear some Spookhand tunes?
Spookhand is a fun little side project of mine. After hosting the Hootenanny for so many years I think I just got the bug for live music, so I started my own band. Heavily influenced by bands like the Ramones and Misfits, our first few songs were straight punk, but over the past two years we’ve started to find our own sound and move toward a heavier sound. All our songs are, of course, horror themed, but I don’t dress as Dr. Gangrene for this band. To me it was important to keep the two separated, even though they’re obviously related. Just kind of helps keep it from getting boring that way. We’re working on our first CD now and should have it done in time for the Hootenanny. You can find us at www.spookhand .com or on twitter @spookhand.
If your character Dr. Gangrene met your character Eustice (in The Lashman) for a beer, what would they talk about?
Hmm. Well, Dr. Gangrene tends to talk about himself a LOT, so he’d inevitably steer the conversation that way, but Eustice is bug-fuck insane so holding a conversation with him is pretty impossible. I think it’d be a pretty quick conversation because Gangrene would tire of Eustice’s rambling pretty quickly.
Favorite indie film of all time:
Off the top of my head I’ll go with Robert Rodriguez’s EL MARIACHI. I love that film and the whole DIY attitude of it. Rodriguez did anything and everything possible to make this film outside the Hollywood system and the end result was a true labor of love. That film rocks!
Awesome answers, Larry. Make sure you check out his band and music for some groovy tunes. (I don’t know if the word groovy really fits, but I just felt like saying groovy tunes…) I’ll keep everyone up to date on all of the Dr. Gangrene and The Lashman announcements as they come. But, in the meantime, you can follow Larry Underwood on Twitter @drgangrene and on Facebook here. Also, you can view the rest of his resume and accomplishments here. Remember to “like” his IMDB page to increase his star-o-meter.
Thank you for your time, Larry.
