Eerie voice of the future

Quietly, persistently, the Old Time Radio culture of bygone years has worked its magic on a select audience of new listeners. With the dawning of the digital era, and easy online access to uncopyrighted material thought long-lost, interest in the old audio dramas has not only revived, but also increased. Now, worthy successors to such serial masterpieces as Arch Oboler’s Lights Out and other creepy utterances such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries and the Weird Circle are finally emerging from within our midst.

Witness the folks at Mind’s Eye Productions, home of the newly christened Horrorscopes, whose roots lie in the Rocky Coast Radio Theatre and the Nightmares on Congress Street series of full cast horror stories, available on Amazon.com, Audible.com, and elsewhere (try starting at http://www.mindseyeproductions.com/).

I sat down with Maine's own William Dufris, founder of the company, for an interview early this month, which I’ll be posting parts of on the blog as I transcribe it. He has teamed up with Maine horror author Rick Hautala to unleash their 2008 series. I suspect we will not be disappointed, if their past productions are any indication.

Dufris has some favorites in the company’s repertoire, including the War-of-the-Worlds-style original “The Horror of Walker Point” by Anthony Marino, which takes place as a live broadcast in downtown Portland with horrific results. Other delicious tidbits include classics like H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Statement of Randolph Carter” and previously unheard originals such as “The Cabin in the Woods” by Clay Graybeal, which will make you think twice about inheriting that seemingly idyllic cabin in the Maine woods from your well-meaning relative.

Pick whichever tale you like, the care put into these productions is evident, creating a convincing and compelling audible world that will swallow you into its sweetly screaming oblivion. For a sample, visit http://www.radiodramarevival.com/ and pull up Episode 38, which is one of Dufris’ most recent recordings, an adaptation of horror legend William Hope Hodgson’s “The Derelict,” about a crew of sailors that finds a strange boat adrift in the endless ocean, and discovers all too gruesomely the reason for its abandonment! From the creak of the oars to other, less friendly sounds that the sailors encounter, listeners will find themselves walking with them every horribly fascinating step of the way.

Dufris confided his surprise that none of his neighbors came to investigate the noises being made in his garage during the recording of “The Cabin in the Woods.” I suspect they were scared away.

NOTE: More samples of chilling tales are available as part of Radio Drama Revival's 2007 Halloween Extravaganza. Enjoy!

TONIGHT! Horror Stalks the Airwaves!

Radio drama rises from the dead this Halloween as WMPG unleashes a triple set of tales of terror. From 8:30-10PM on October 31st all manners of ghouls, gods, and ghosts will infiltrate the eardrums of listeners with tales by Mind's Eye Productions/William Dufris, The Grist Mill, and an original by Portland's own FinalRune Productions.

A demon may be loose in the world, but no one believes him. A god forgotten since ancient days confronts an awestruck human. Two friends head to a haunted house and awaken an ancient evil. The terror is non-stop Halloween night as we hear H.P. Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter," Joe Lansdale's "God of the Razor" (winner of the 2007 Ogle Award), and Frederick Greenhalgh's "Dark Passenger."

This live audio event is a collaboration of WMPG DJs Eric Poulin and Frederick Greenhalgh, the latter of whom runs a weekly show dedicated to audio theater called Radio Drama Revival! Listeners can tune in to WMPG at 90.9/104.1 FM, stream online at www.wmpg.org, or hear the podcast of the presentation after the fact at www.radiodramarevival.com.

Photo features Chris Reiling butchering a pumpkin while Philip Hobby screams in terror (see on YouTube )...

Curious? You can also hear the promo for the whole thing online.

Who is this William Dufris, and why is he trying to scare the pants off of you? He is a Maine native, hailing from Houlton. After a 13 year residency in the UK, where he had the distinct pleasure of regularly performing in a number of BBC Radio Plays, as well as producing for The Story Circle, he returned Stateside in 2001, only to discover a lamentable lack of audio theatre in the area. He immediately sought out a number of theater friends and acquaintances from his pre-UK days, with the intention of producing a localized War Of The Worlds, a la Orson Welles. However, the events of 9/11 put that idea to rest, and thus was born the series Nightmares On Congress Street (with its obvious allusion to Nightmare on Elm Street). His original plan to produce a 'live' horror disaster set in Maine finally came to fruition with "The Horror Of Walker Point." But don't rest easy... he still intends to realize his original plans for A War Of The Worlds, but for now...).

Thanks to Mr. Dufris for pointing out that tonight WKIT 100.3 FM in Bangor (Stephen King's radio station) will be doing a Halloween broadcast of some old Nightmare favorites, as well as a new piece from The Tales From The Crypt series.

Horror on the Radio Waves

I've been wanting to write a piece about this quiet little element in Portland's audio scene for quite some time, and the recent addition of an eerie William Hope Hodgson episode to their repertoire seems like the perfect opportunity. To quote Radio Drama Revival's blog:

This is the premiere broadcast of a new work by Mind’s Eye Productions, an excellent audio theater operation run locally by the celebrated audiobook narrator William Dufris. Dufris lends his amazing talent to his audio theater work and pairs it with excellent sound effects and eerie music, resulting in stories that will leave you unable to get out of bed for a while. Today’s story is a thrilling adaptation of William Hope Hodgson’s “The Derelict,” about a crew of sailors that finds a strange boat adrift in the endless ocean, and discovers all too gruesomely the reason for its abandonment.
[Source]

You can go to the Radio Drama Revival site to download the story and listen to it for yourself.

For years now, the folks at the Portland-based Mind's Eye Productions have been cranking out a slow but steady stream of Old Time Radio style recordings of horrific tales, under the series name of Nightmares on Congress Street. Their newest series is being released in 2008, under the title of Horrorscope, presented by Maine horror author Rick Hautala. I can't wait!

To see more about these audio theater series, check out their website, and listen to some samples!