Tip of the Scalpel

Two things are certain: Everything is scarier when you are a kid, and kids make everything scarier. With these two facts in mind, I realized I have a couple of stories that you just might find enjoyable, and I want to share one with you in this Doctor Gash Tip of the Scalpel to Childish Horrors, Part 1.

You often hear the phrase "The Golden Age of Television" referring to the early days of TV, the 1940's through the late '50's-early '60's. But for horror fans, it isn't hard to argue the fact that the golden age of television is occurring right now.

Well Dreaddies, it's that time again. Time to reflect on the year that's passed and look ahead to the future. It's time for the final Tip of the Scalpel for 2012. Today we celebrate a certain guy that comes and visits kids this time of the year... but not the big, jolly one you're thinking of.

Horror fans love their icons. We watch our favorite movies repeatedly. We visit horror conventions to get up close and personal with the horror stars. We've worshiped the Romeros, Cravens, Hoopers and Carpenters and loved the Englunds, Moseleys, Todds and Hodders.

As horror fans, many of us remember the exact moment we fell in love with the genre. Whether it was the first time we were blown away by a particular film or got our first look at some of the characters that would go on to become icons of modern horror.

Man at bar: Hey, Ernie? Put that pepper steak on for me, would ya? And a hamburger for the lady. Ernie: How do ya want that? Man at bar: How do you want it, honey? Marsha Quist: Rare.

Demon: I'm not Regan. Father Karras: Well, then let's introduce ourselves. I'm Damien Karras. Demon: And I'm the Devil. Now kindly undo these straps. Father Karras: If you're the Devil, why not make the straps disappear? Demon: That's much too vulgar a display of power, Karras.

"Is this your wife? What a lovely throat." -Graf Orlock, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) Vampires, oh how they've changed through the years. Unfortunately, it seems that somewhere along the line the vamps lost their…their GRRR!

"I met him…15 years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes...the devil's eyes."

I was lucky enough to sit down with the great Doug Jones last month to talk about John Dies at the End and a potential reunion with Guillermo Del Toro for a dream Frankenstein project. The great thing was, the interview went so well, I had a ton of extra material that wouldn't fit in the original piece. What to do, what to do?

"Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast."

"My name is Anne Wilkes. And I am..." "I know," he said. "You're my number-one fan." "Yes," she said, smiling. "That's just what I am."

As we wind down Indie Horror Month here at Dread Central, we've got one more Tip of the Scalpel especially saved for our indie friends. But before we get into that, there's one more group that deserves a nod.

"I made the choice to do indie films, and I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had much better roles than a lot of the women that are working in Hollywood because I get to do the sort of crazy, nutty characters... like in American Nightmare I play a psycho serial killer. Very seriously. Not for laughs. I get to play really good roles, and that’s why I’ve always been drawn to it."

“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it?"