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There was a mini horror convention near where I live; held
at a local library. It was free and pretty fun for me and
my wife and kids. While I was there I met a guy named Chris
Curry. Chris had written a book-length study of Herschell
Gordon Lewis called A Taste of Blood and got it published
by Creation Books. A little bit of time passed and I ended
up visiting Chris at his home, and I marveled at his immense
collection of DVDs, movie memorabilia, one sheets, props and
other cool stuff.
Having published a work on one exploitation master, Chris
is now striving to perfect a new book. This time his subject
is Ted V. Mikels, director of such grindhouse classics as
Astro-Zombies, The Corpse Grinders, The Doll Squad
and 10 Violent Women.
I caught up with Chris on a chilly Sunday afternoon to ask
him a few questions.
HD-I: Chris, how did you first become interested in vintage
exploitation films such as those by Herschell Gordon Lewis
and Ted V. Mikels?
CC:
When I was five or six years old I saw a movie on late night
television called "The Dead Don't Die." This thing
was wretched, but it did have Reggie Nalder
in it and I've never shaken the image of his peculiar face
from my mind. If you've seen Reggie then you'll know what
I'm talking about.
Chris Outside the Suez Hotel
(From Blood Feast) |
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Fast forward eight years and the video
rental market is exploding. Coupled with that is USA Network,
showing "The Incredibly Strange Film Show" and then
of course "Drive-In Theater" with Joe Bob Briggs.
From here my taste for these low-budget exploiters really
started to get under way.
I'll never forget the episode of "Incredibly
Strange Films" where Jonathan Ross interviews Herschell
and then shows scenes from "Wizard of Gore" where
Montag is fondling and caressing the viscera before him. It
almost seemed sexual in nature. Big budget horror films just
didn't do that.
The other thing that I loved about
these films was that they were shot on location and not some
sound stage. These apartments and houses and places of business
were very real. To me the movies became time capsules of a
sort.
So, it really started with Joe Bob
Briggs and Jonathan Ross. Remember, this was before Something
Weird Video existed so finding some of these obscure titles
could be maddening. "The Astro Zombies" in particular
nearly drove me batty. I couldn't find that sucker anywhere.
Eventually my best friend, John, found it somewhere in Kentucky
where he lives.
Incidentally, Western Kentucky seemed
to be some kind of a wormhole for these old, out of print
VHS tapes. John could find any damned thing there. Here I
was living in more metropolitan areas and having to send my
friend on hunts for these things, and he was somehow always
turning them up. Of course nowadays it's easy to find most
anything like that. DVD has afforded way more titles than
VHS did, and then with the internet and Ebay and whatnot it's
become very easy to locate oddball films.
HD-I: The Dead Don't Die! I remember that! It was directed
by Curtis
Harrington, from a Robert Bloch teleplay. It's a great little
movie.
Man, I'm with you on Jonathan Ross and Joe Bob. I loved those
shows and they
had an immense influence upon me as a lover of bizarre cinema.
I used to have
them all taped. I sure miss them.
At what point did you decide to write a book about Herschell
Gordon Lewis?
CC:
Well, I'd spent a good amount of time trying to track his
movies down on VHS, but still I'd not gotten them all. My
friend, Mike, had RE/Search's "Incredibly Strange Films"
book and I found out that Herschell had over three dozen movies.
Of course, they weren't all gore films, but I was so taken
by the raw intensity of his work that I didn't care what they
were about. I just knew that they were going to be at least
interesting to look at.
So, about the same time as I was reading
"Incredibly Strange Films" where Boyd Rice asks
Herschell about Dan Krogh's book "The Amazing Herschell
Gordon Lewis & His World of Exploitation Films" I
discovered an old copy of Fangoria. In this issue there was
an ad for that very book. It was old, but I phoned them up
just the same. The book was long out of print and they had
no intention of ever reprinting it. I was told that they set
out to create a collector's item and they did just that. So,
after I hung up the phone I sat there a might irritated and
finally came to the conclusion that I'd write my own damned
book on Herschell and his films.
In all sincerity seeking a publisher
was the furthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to compile
all the information that I could about this strange filmmaker
named Herschell Gordon Lewis. If I was the only person to
have a copy of this thing then so be it.
So, at the time, it was pretty easy
to get all the stuff together. Author Randy Palmer, who wrote
a great book about Herschell called "Godfather of Gore,"
had conducted two lengthy interviews with Herschell in Fangoria.
His book was far from finished at that point, but I did locate
those two issues of Fango. By the way, Randy was killed in
a car accident about 3 years ago while living in Ashland,
Virginia. Anyhow, the only other extensive information out
there about Herschell and his films resided within a handful
of John McCarty's books and then, of course, Dan Krogh's book.
Chris Curry and Bill Rogers
(From A Taste of Blood) |
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I had the John McCarty books with the
applicable information, but I needed Dan's. I contacted Dan
and he didn't have a copy that he could sell to me, but he
told me who he sold his last one to, Bill Rogers from Herschell's
"A Taste of Blood". I contacted Bill for an interview
and he obliged, and from there I kept in touch with Bill and
visited him on numerous occasions. Bill was a wonderful soul
who unfortunately passed away two years ago.
Still, I didn't have Dan's book. I
had to pull a fast one. I inter-library loaned this thing
and it came up from Texas. To my dismay all of the nude and
even SEMI-nude photos had been excised with a razor blade.
I wasn't so concerned with the graphics, but the back sides
of the pages were missing vital information. I contacted Bill
and told him of all the pages that had been butchered and
he sent me photocopies of what I needed in order to repair
this damaged copy of Dan's book.
So, here's where the "fast one"
comes in that I mentioned earlier. I knew that I was going
to need this book for some time so I contacted the Dallas,
Texas, library and inquired about them selling the book to
me. I explained to them that the book was sliced to shreds
and that I had taken it upon myself to repair it. They were
gracious as to my efforts, but would not budge as far as selling
it goes. I assured them that once they were aware of the book's
condition that they'd surely throw it in a box at a book sale
and move it for 10 lousy cents. I offered the full face value
of $14.95. I was told, rather curtly, "Sir, we are not
in the business of selling books. We only loan them out."
Well, I figured I needed it more than
they did and so I had it conveniently lifted from my car.
I called the library stating the incident and they said, "Oh,
it's okay. We have another one in our archives." I thought
sheesh, you have two copies and I'm offering you cover price
for a piece of shit and you won't go for it! So, the book
magically reappeared and I carried on with my take on Herschell's
films. Incidentally, I did thank the Dallas, Texas Public
Library for their cooperation on page three of the book.
I should also mention that my father,
John Curry, was an immense help with this book. He did all
of the typing and helped me so very much when it came to timely
commentary. My father grew up in the drive-in era and he was
able to help me put things into their proper perspectives.
The project would have never been completed without his help;
in fact, on the title page he is credited as my co-author.
He's also helping me in this regard with the Ted V. Mikels
book. Dad's a history nut and he can recall things that would
take me hours to dig up. He's really like a walking encyclopedia.
HD-I: So, you eventually contacted Herschell, right?
CC:
Right, but I'll have to back track a bit on this one as it
happened before the notion of writing a book had occurred
to me. Here's what happened, one evening I was alone watching
"The Gruesome Twosome" and I had a crazy thought.
I wondered if Herschell was indeed still alive. I knew that
he was last living in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and I'd lived
there just a few years earlier. I called Information and asked
for Herschell Gordon Lewis. The operator read me the number;
I wrote it down and called. I got an answering machine and
blindly left my name and number. I said in the message that
I'd hoped that I'd gotten the correct Herschell Gordon Lewis,
the one who directed "Blood Feast" and so on.
Chris Curry Meets Herschell |
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The very next day I was in the shower
and my ex-wife came in and said it's him! It's Herschell Lewis
and he's on the phone! I didn't believe her. I got out, dried
off a bit and headed for the living room. I took the phone
and sure enough it was him. I was floored. I told him of my
adoration for his films and he was quite appreciative. Keep
in mind this was before he became the Monster Festival favorite
that he is these days and he seemed genuinely taken by my
love of his films.
Again all of that happened before I
decided to write the book. Later I would interview him on
numerous occassions and he was always affable and very willing
to answer my questions. There was only one time that he ever
seemed to take offense to one of my questions. The set up
was that it was the psychedelic 60's and that drugs were all
about. I asked how it was that a man could make such insane
movies without the aid of a drug or two. I was not implying
that he DID use them, but rather the opposite. He got a little
beside himself, a little flustered, and I had to try and reel
him back in so that we could continue the session. I don't
know, maybe it was an inappropriate question, but other than
that instance he's always been the kindest of gentlemen.
Sometime after the book surfaced I
was visiting my friend Kevin in Ft. Lauderdale. I still had
Herschell's number, so I phoned him up. He was glad to hear
from me and invited me to breakfast the next morning at the
Ft. Lauderdale Country Club. Of course I accepted and had
a little over an hour of one on one talk with the Wizard of
Gore. Herschell had pecan pie and coffee and I, with my stomach
in knots, could only get the coffee down. He autographed several
of my books and treated me very warmly.
Then in 2001 my girlfriend Kim and
I attended the Maryland Film Festival where they were screening
two of Herschell's films, "The Gore Gore Girls"
and "Two Thousand Maniacs". Herschell was introducing
both movies and yet again I was in the presence of the Mad
Hatter of Splatter. It was a thrill to say the least, though
not as cool as the previous in person meeting that I'd had
with him.
This part was really cool. They screened
"Two Thousand Maniacs" at Benji's Drive-In. This
was the drive-in featured at the end of John Waters' "Cecil
B. Demented". Any how, Herschell is wheeled up to the
concession area in a long black hearse. He got out and did
an introduction to the movie and a bit of Q & A and then
it was time to see "Two Thousand Maniacs" as it
was meant to be seen...on the giant drive-in screen, with
a six pack of beer, some greasy pizza and a hot date.
HD-I: Man, that sounds like the greatest time. I'm
jealous!
CC:
It was cool and I'm very fortunate that Herschell and now
Ted are so receptive to what I'm doing. Ted is especially
excited about this project and in turn it makes me strive
even harder to make a chronicle of his film career that I
feel befits him and shows him and his work in a proper light.
HD-I: Getting back to the book, was Creation the
first publisher you talked to about it?
CC:
They were definitely one of the first. I had purchased their
"Inside Teradome: The History of the Freak Film"
book and I figured they might be up for job, but the project
was actually picked up about a year earlier by Fantasma Books
out of Key West, Florida.
So, here's what happened with that
— they loved the work and they were even gonna use my
original title, "Please Leave the Theater: The Films
of Herschell Gordon Lewis", but they'd just published
an unauthorized book on Godzilla, and Toho were not in the
least happy about it. Toho sued Fantasma completely out of
business and in this debacle lay all of my materials; pressbooks,
one sheets, lobby cards, promo photos, everything. I was panicking.
I knew that in the mess of it all that returning my quaint
little project was probably not a top priority for them. It
took several months, but I finally did receive every bit of
it back with a recommendation letter that I could use for
my subsequent queries. I was sweatin' bullets to say the least.
Chris and Dan Krogh (author
of The Amazing Herschell Gordon Lewis) |
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Now, once all of that was over with,
I had to start the query process all over again and Creation
responded as well as another British publisher; Fab Press.
Ultimately, Fab didn't dig the project as they felt that it
was too light-hearted and not nearly as analytical as they
prefer. Creation loved it and I really liked the idea of my
book being part of a transgressive film encyclopedia set.
Here's another funny bit about all
of that. While I was corresponding with the rep at Fab Press
I asked about Creation Books. He (I can't remember his name)
said that they were their biggest competitor and that they
(Creation) never did color inserts. As it turned out "A
Taste of Blood" was Creation's first book to include
color pages. I'm very proud of that fact, but it also makes
me snicker as well.
HD-I: What good would a book on Herschell be with
black and white pictures, right?
CC:
Well, I certainly felt that the book would be all the more
impressive for it.
HD-I: Were you happy with your experience with Creation?
CC:
Mostly, but they did omit a few things that I would've liked
to have seen left in. For instance, I had an entire chapter
devoted to H.G. Lewis memorabilia. Comics, records, pressbooks,
one sheets, the novelizations of "Blood Feast",
"Two Thousand Maniacs", "Color Me Blood Red"
and "Moonshine Mountain" and on and on. I really
wish they'd left that in there. In fact, one critic pointed
out that I'd forgotten to mention those novelizations that
Herschell had written as tie-ins for those movies. But of
course I hadn't forgotten at all.
Now, here are a couple of pieces of
the experience that I also wasn't so happy about. Number one,
they never sent me any proofs to look over and I assumed that
they would. I'll never assume anything like that ever again.
The other part that I kinda screwed myself on was in the contract
it stated that I would only receive royalties if the book
was sold at its $22.95 cover price. What this translates into
is that if they sold 4,000 copies of my book at $22.50 then
I'd never receive one penny. It was a big mistake on my part,
but I was just so anxious to see the damned thing in print
that I just went along with it.
HD-I: What made you decide to go with Ted V. Mikels
as your next book-length subject?
CC:
I always knew that my second book would be on Ted as I love
his films as much as I do Herschell's. I don't want to give
too much about Ted away, it'll all be in the book, but he's
just one fascinating man. Most everyone knows of his infamous
castle and the castle ladies that he lived with, and that
seems to supercede his film career, which is nothing to sneeze
at either.
Another factor in deciding to do the
H.G. Lewis book first was my rather limited writing skills
at the time. I figured it might work in my favor if my written
commentaries were to reflect the feel of a Lewis movie. So
it was kind of contrived in a way and mostly I think it worked.
Ted's movies are more technically adept than Herschell's so
I knew that project would need a better handling of the written
word, so I've been writing constantly since "A Taste
of Blood" came out and I feel that I'm ready to finally
tackle this book.
HD-I: How close are you to completing it?
CC: It's about one third
or more finished, but I'm always finding out new information
and going back and tweaking this and that. I interview Ted
about once a week and a lot of times he'll remember something
that he'd long since forgotten, and invariably it will always
be about a film that I've already finished the chapter on.
It's cool though. I want this book to be the best that it
can be, so everything he recalls of interest is going in this
sucker.
HD-I: Do you plan to submit this one to Creation,
or are you seeking a new publisher?
CC:
They're certainly on the list, but I'm not about to sign the
same contract that I did last time.
HD-I: So, after the Mikels book is sold, what's next?"
CC:
Well, I've been messing around with a piece of fiction called
"Indiana." Filmmaker-wise we'll have to see. Hmmm,
Ray Dennis Steckler might be in the running. Sybil Danning
of all people asked Ted to ask me if I would be interested
in writing her biography. So who knows?
HD-I: I'm a big Steckler fan! And writing a bio of Sybil
Danning would be most revealing, I'm sure.
One last thing: You write for Film Threat. Does Chris Gore
live up to his reputation of being notoriously cheap?
CC:
I've never dealt directly with Chris Gore. My go- between
is Eric Campos and I only get free screeners for my efforts.
I really just do it to help me keep improving my writing.
It's basically just more practice.
HD-I: Thanks for taking the time to answer all of these questions,
Chris, and good luck with the books. Oh, one more thing…if
any readers are interested in obtaining signed copies of A
Taste of Blood, can we work something out?
CC:
Sure!
Thanks once again to Chris for taking the time out of his
hectic schedule to answer my questions. Look for his reviews
at Film Threat and for those interested in obtaining a signed
copy of A Taste of Blood, drop me a line and we'll
iron out the details.
noclublonewolf@verizon.net
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