Salutations, horror fans! Welcome to the first edition of the monthly column, "House of Blood, Scars, & Sinister Stars", your place for all things macabre to go along with your metal fix. So why horror? Actually, it is a no-brainer (and in the case of the first topic, that might be because they have been devoured), most hard rock fans have love for terror, and it has always gone hand in hand. It's like Jason Voorhees and his hockey mask, these two things just go together! We here at Dead Daves wanted to bring you everything that rock fans love, so here I am bringing you the fear you crave! You may be asking yourself why is this guy the one to bring it to you? Well, I will fill you all in on my creepy credentials. I have been working in the horror industry for almost five years beginning with a dream and a few interviews for a small horror site. With no assigned interviews or help. I began contacting publicists and agents in Los Angeles and other areas and acquired interviews with stars like Michael Biehn (ALIENS, Terminator), Laurie Holden (The Mist, The Walking Dead), and the list grew and grew! I started a free podcast which turned into a worldwide radio show in mere months, and through that I spoke to over two hundred genre stars in three years. I have also directed two short films, one which was picked up by the great FEARnet, and have a highly successful horror book series called "The Binding", which has a script and a deal with Sandra Araya, wife of Tom Araya of SLAYER as Executive Producer. I adore horror, I live and breathe the genre, it is in our home, adorned on my body, and my first newborn son's middle name is Vincent, in honor of the great Vincent Price and I have extensive list of friends in the industry and throughout the wicked world. Are you convinced yet? Good! My evil mission is to bring all of you the latest and the greatest in horror including news, reliving the classics, and of course interviews. And I want to get to know all of you, and make you feel like my fiendish friends, we as horror fans are a family here. So pull up a velvet chair, make yourself at home in the darkness, welcome to the mysterious and deadly "House"!
Let's start the sideshow with an icon of the zombie world! A few months ago I had attended a great genre convention called "Walker Stalker Con", a massive venue for fans of "The Walking Dead". Before I ventured around the convention center I always had a massive love for George A. Romero's finest and most underrated film "Day Of The Dead". The movie had a grindhouse feel, a great story, mesmerizing gory fx work by Tom Savini, and memorable performances from the cast including the talented actor, Howard Sherman. Howard played the first zombie with a mind of his own. A zombie that had the power to think, although like a child learning its first steps, and we all know him simply as "Bub". Sadly, the film did not fare well at the Box Office in its time, and over the years grew to cult status, but happily acquired a strong fan following.
Which brings us to our first "Sinister Star". I have been a fan of Howard Sherman's work for a very long time including his smaller performances in projects such as my favorite miniseries "The Stand", and his episode of "Seinfeld" involving a Thin Mint, but nothing reached my dark heart more than his portrayal of one of the greatest undead creatures ever placed on screen. It was always a "Bucket List" situation getting a chance to meet the man, but receiving the chance to hang out and interview with the actor who was nothing but generous, kind, and everything I hoped he would be, it was nothing but a nightmare come true.
Ladies and gentlemen, and zombie fanatics,
I give you my interview with "Day Of The Dead"'s "Bub", Howard Sherman
Rob: Howard, first of all, thank you so much for spending time with me today, it really is an honor.
Howard: The pleasure is all mine, thank you so much for wanting to do this.
Rob:(chuckles) Believe me, the pleasure is all mine. So Howard, I have always been interested in the process of how actors got into the business. Was it something that you were schooled for, or was it something maybe you fell into? I have spoken to more than a few people who had actually stepped into acting out of luck, so how did that happen for you?
Howard: Well, luck counts! And I would say I was very lucky. I was lucky enough to go to school in California at a time when it had great public schools, and also had wonderful drama programs. So that's what happened, I became the star of my drama program in the years I was in high school. And through that experience, I know that I wanted to be an actor, but had no idea how to go about doing that I kind of knocked around, it was the late sixties and I was kind of a hippie, and I tried a bunch of different kinds of jobs and went to school and dropped out earlier on. Then I took I took an intensive summer ten week training program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, they gave me a scholarship to take the full program and from there made me a part of the acting company. I got my Actor's Equity, or my Union card, and after that I got to be lucky enough to make my life as an actor. You know, mostly theater for about twelve to fifteen years, then I kind of transitioned to film and television, and I have continued to be a professional actor ever since.