Tip of the Scalpel

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?"

"They're coming to get you, Barbra. There's one of them now!" And with those words, it began. The zombie apocalypse, whether it's in Pennsylvania, Atlanta, or anywhere else in the world, originated in the Evans City Cemetery 30 miles north of Pittsburgh in Night of the Living Dead when Bill Hinzman shuffled into frame.

"I used to work there. My brother did, too. My grandfather, too. My family's always been in meat!" I learned something about you this week, dear readers. Like myself, you really love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. And rightfully so. When it didn't show up on Dread Central's Top 10 Groundbreaking Films list, I heard from you. Now I'm not here to argue why it wasn't on the list or why it should have been; I'm just here to celebrate the awesomeness of the film. That's right - this week's Doctor Gash's Tip of the Scalpel honor goes to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in all its glory.

"The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see, as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

"To avoid fainting, keep repeating: It's only a movie ... only a movie ... only a movie ..." Of course this was the infamous tagline that accompanied the directorial debut of the man who would become one of the most successful directors the genre has ever seen. Wes Craven helped to mold modern-day horror with his early work, then reinvigorated it when needed the most.

"This is my boomstick!" Bruce Campbell was already a full-fledged horror icon before reciting that unforgettable line from Army of Darkness, but this put the cherry on top. "Boomstick" was Campbell's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", his "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", his "Stairway to Heaven".

"So many pretty parts and no pretty wholes." That basically sums up the motivation behind the title character of Lucky McKee's 2002 breakout film, May. And there was no bigger reason that the film and director found success than the unforgettable star of the film, and the newest Doctor Gash's Tip of the Scalpel honoree, Angela Bettis.