Best of the Worst: Glenn Danzig's Death Rider in the House of Vampires 

I'm one of the few people who can say they saw Death Rider in an empty movie theater during that tiny theatrical run and can assure it had music, including opening with Danzig himself crooning a western-style metal power ballad. This blu-ray not having that music probably has something to do with why the film vanished for about two years. Now I want to know what that story is because it is almost assuredly more interesting than the movie itself.

You know an episodes going to be good when Rich has to cuddle an Enterprise like a baby blankey just to deal with what he's experienced

The running gag of Rich breaking down the very basic, tragically predictable formula of where a bad movie *should* have gone with the plot to be even remotely satisfying (but it doesn't) and Mike being like "it's almost as though you've watched a MOVIE before!!" never gets old to me

Jay's edit vs the original is like the difference between day and day for night.

Rich hugging the Enterprise like a security blanket is so precious

I love how Rich is clutching to his Emotional Support Enterprise.

Glenn Danzig VS Rob Zombie trivia would be the natural progression after this...

Tim's "Mr. Zig" joke is beautiful.

"Movies aren't meant to be exciting, or interesting. You're just meant to suffer through them in dead silence." -Mike Stoklasa, 2024

I love how sometimes Mike is shown pouring an alcoholic drink at the beginng of episodes as if it were really his first one of the day.

Tim's reasons for showing up: 1. Free beer 2. To watch his friends' sanity and dignity drain before his very eyes

Devon Sawa has been directed in film by some of the world's greatest musicians: Glen Danzig and Fred Durst! What an achievement.

That's a New Milestone for the channel. You guys have never reviewed a silent film before. Congratulations.

As somebody who doesn't know how movies are made, it's hard to appreciate how much invisible work happens behind the scene. Until you watch something like this. The way Jay re-edited that scene - we shouldn't take stuff like this for granted.

The explanation is actually pretty simple. Since around Danzig's 5th album he's been obsessed with doing his own everything and if you listen to the quality of the audio after that album it takes a nosedive. The mixing becomes horrible, the instrument tone starts to suck, it just becomes bad. Most people speculate that Danzig refuses to accept that his hearing is going after 50 years of loud music on stage. It's entirely likely that he just refused to take any input. It could be something as goofy as him mixing all the music into one audio track then accidentally muting it but not taking critique.

"Verotika is more interesting"... both the first time that phrase has ever been spoken and one of the most powerful warnings a person could give.

Data: "Sir, we have polarized the hull, but the creature just won't let go!" Picard: "Good lord!"

I saw Death Rider in theaters. I thought it would be fun to see it on mushrooms. The lack of music and lingering long takes made me feel uneasy and sick. At one point the screen went black but you could still hear the audio of the vampire prostitutes screaming. It took 5 minutes for someone in the audience to realize it was a projector problem and go ask for help. I think everyone else thought it was another another shitty creative choice Danzig had made.

Poor Devon Sawa. The man's not Laurence Olivier but he's a perfectly decent actor, and man has he ended up in some trash fire films.

I've just noticed that the girls that Fred Armisen kills are the Soska sisters, the horror directors.. And there's a continuity error, when Jay shows the unedited footage you can see them walking on the background of the saloon after they've been murdered 😂

Just an FYI, Danzig is one of Fred Armison's favorite bands, and had Glenn Danzig appear in multiple episodes of the show Portlandia. I think Fred was just in the movie because he likes Danzig.

The only problem with using Jay's editing throughout the film is that it would only have a runtime of 15 minutes.

Danzig’s tinnitus was scoring the film for him. Also, Fred Armisen being in this is not surprising. Guy was a punk drummer for like a decade so he’s assuredly a Misfits fan (and probably a bad movie fan too).

When Jay shows his edited version, it’s almost like they know what they’re talking about. Keep up the great work guys lol

Rich Evans holding the trophy for "Best Star Trek Fan that Knows More Than Mike About Star Trek".

My buddy has done sound for Danzig. Glenn is actively hostile to sound guys, has no idea how it works

I've loved Glenn's music since discovering The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig in 1990. I heard Metallica's Garage Days, and bought a bootleg of the Misfits' Beware out of curiousity. It was amazing. I was thunderstruck. It was like the Ramones, who I loved, fronted by Elvis, with a Cramps swampy twang (on the Horror Business tracks). His voice was amazing. I quickly bought the 2 Danzig albums, which were all that he'd released at the time. And I picked up the Samhain CDs in short order. I loved the graphics, the melodies, everything. I loved horror movies, so the Misfits made sense and were also great fun. And before the internet, they were a complete mystery. I bought the Danzig albums as they came out (although I don't really love anything he's done in about 20 years.) I thought Glenn had a world-class talent and was one of the greatest voices in punk. I even shrugged off the Punch, as I think Danzig handled the fallout like a badass, by ignoring it completely and keep moving forward. I think the bubble popped once and for all after I saw him dragging a cat-sized coffin in the Crawl Across Your Killing Floor video. And I'm disappointed, almost saddened, to learn he has absolutely no taste in filmmaking. The lighting is awful, the editing is awful, he puts the worst porn stars in acting roles, the script is teenage boy level awful... i can forgive the HD video (which I hate, and not just in his movies) and lame special effects as he might have been on a tight budget, but the writing and the cinematography are utterly amateur. Hearing him cite Eyes Without A Face (1960) as an influence on Verotika gave me some hope, but that was dashed on actually watching the results. To this day whenever Danzig comes up in conversation my girlfriend will quote Verotika: "Milk? Or beeahr?" I'm convinced Julian Sands wandered out into the wilderness to die before this movie came out. That poor, poor man. And yes, i don't think he's very good at sound. Or maybe he's just cheap. Danzig never sounded good once they left Def American and Rick Rubin's production. 5 and 6 were passable, but it got worse over the years. His covers album and the Elvis tribute sound awful to me. Maybe on their own they sound ok, but in comparison to the Rubin recordings, hoo boy. Samhain and some of the Misfits recordings suffer from bungled mixes as well, but the songs shine through most of the time.

This really makes me appreciate the actual talent that goes into directors directing films. You take it for granted when a film is mostly competent.

It's crazy how Jay's edit of that scene was so much better, actually made it watchable. Goes to show how important audio is.

Fred armisen being in the movie for no apparent reason other than him making a goofy face for 3 secs is incredible.

"you see you can use my music Mr Zig..." Cracked me up Tim fuckin' a

"I was supposed to be home YESTERDAY." was great. Love Tim.

I think Rich Evans' bear-hugging his Emotional Support Starship to keep the Danzigs away is my new favorite thing ever.

The baffling lack of music makes me wonder if there wasn't a rights issue with the release, like maybe Danzig himself was demanding some ridiculous sum of money to use the score and the distribution guys just stripped it out completely.

The percentage quote Mike was struggling with at around the 8-minute mark, (i.e., 80% of movies is music") is a sentiment/quote shared and credited to multiple people, each with different percentages. “Sound is 50 percent of the moviegoing experience.” From: George Lucas “The truth is, for me, it’s obvious that 70, 80 percent of a movie is sound.” From: Danny Boyle “Sound is fifty percent of a film, at least. In some scenes it’s almost a hundred percent. It’s the thing that can add so much emotion to a film. It’s a thing that can add all the mood and create a larger world. It sets the tone and it moves things. Sound is a great “pull” into a different world. And it has to work with the picture - but without it you’ve lost half the film.” From: David Lynch

Rich's calm demeanor leaves me wondering if an Emotional Support Galaxy Class really offers galaxy class emotional support.

29:44 The Spirit of Culkin trying to posses Tim was a highlight I was never expecting.

I love how Danzig is actually credited for the "original movie score."

Why do vampires in movies spray blood everywhere when they eat? Like, they're just pouring out their food on the floor for no reason.

I really appreciate the added touch of this episode having almost no background music

"Ironically, he's [Glenn Danzig] a musician, who's probably been in the studio, and understands sound mixing, right?" -- Mike Stoklasa, 2024 Mike, let me tell you about "Danzig Sings Elvis" album. Now, that's a hit!

Death Rider was so bad it caused Tim to manifest a detached phantom hand at 29:44.

My first interaction with Glenn Danzig was when he bought Carl Brutananadilewski's house that was haunted by the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future in Aqua Teen Hunger Force. After watching this episode of BOTW, I hope Carl is doing ok.

Jay laughing at Mike’s jokes is so wholesome it makes me believe for a moment there’s nothing wrong with the world.

This is a completely unsubstantiated theory, but I think Danzig probably made the first cut of the movie with music, but then found out that he either couldn't get the rights to the music he wanted, or it was so ridiculously expensive that he in some bizarre act of ego-tripping decided to strip out (almost) all music as if to spite the companies that said no to him.

that scene of Julian Sands with his hands templed as he's staring into space... you can almost hear his inner dialog: "Has it really come to this? Is this paycheck really worth it?" RIP, Warlock. You were so much better than this.

Bela Latigo= latigo is spanish for whip. It was a way to continue the trend of giving Trejo a last name that involves a weapon.

That Jay cut is probably most effective way to explain to any film student how a movie is generally made.

The ghost at 29:43 has deeper lore than Death Rider.

"Movies aren't supposed to be exciting, or interesting. You're just meant to suffer through them." - this might be my favorite Mike quote of all time

Imagine Glenn Danzig entering the ring to fight Rich Evans, but he has no theme song playing as he walks in, and all you hear is background noise.

Poor Julian Sands. He deserved better. The "dying-in-the-desert" thing sucked, too.

Holy shit, I never appreciated what Jays editing can do until I saw his version of the upstairs/downstairs seen. It’s actually so much better it’s like Danzig was just filming coverage and packaged this movie so Jay had material to edit a decent 30 minute Twilight Zone episode.

@29:44 "So you might be confused on what happened there". Nah, just a half a floating hand for a half second. Perfectly normal.

I went to film school for sound design. Death Rider feels like the projects that we would get from the production side of the school for us to work on.

I didn't realize how Rich Evans is adorable until I saw him hugging an Enterprise ship like a teddy bear and 31:46 getting poked on the nose like a cute puppy... No wonder after all these years, Mike had such strong attachment to Rich...

“This f*cking house was supposed to come with that f*cking robot and now it’s f*cking gone”

That's actually insane how much better the scene becomes with Jay's edits. It really is true that every film is made twice: once in the screenplay, and once in the edit.

This movie feels like Danzig saw From Dusk Til Dawn, Interview with the Vampire, Vampire Assassin and maybe a couple episodes of Deadwood and thought "I could do that!"

That "Mr. Zig" joke from Tim got me pretty good.

I'm happy to see the Red Letter Media team came to an understanding offline and awarded Rich Evans with the recognition he deserves as Star Trek Trivia champion. The Enterprise Trophy looks great.

Uhm Rich hugging his enterprise model like a security blanket is the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages!!! Love it

DANZIG VS MANPIG almost made me spit my drink out. 😂

Okay so... I'm like 10,000 percent sure they made Rich hold that Enterprise for the whole video to keep him from subconsciously covering up his mic with his hand and arm.

I can't say for Danzig personally, but I'm both a musician and an audio producer/editor, so I have some insight into the audio mixing process. The artist often has nothing to do with the mix or edits. Maybe some suggestions like "boost this" or "cut that" but honestly, when they leave, you ignore that shit and go back to how you mixed it because most of the performers are near deaf and probably drunk/high when they're in the studio anyway. In fact, we specifically can record their performance direct from an instrument or mic in a way that after they leave, we can replay it through the equipment without them swearing that "no, this is totally how it needs to sound". What works live is often terrible on an album. Remember, the editor is not a part of the band, so they get paid based on what *they* make out of the artists' performances, not what the artist can do on tour. Some bands get enough clout that they can dictate exactly how the album should sound, and that's why "St Anger snare" is an industry joke. On stage, the artist still isn't fully in control of their sound, as the front-of-house mixes it for the audience. You can't hear what you sound like to the audience when on the stage, since there's a whole room between you changing the way your audio fills that space. Hell, you likely can't hear *yourself* with most "hard rock" musicians because they often think loud equals good, and are personally hearing-challenged because of it. For large venues with a huge crowd, we have artists use in-ear pieces, and they might not even be hearing the full mix: usually, they're getting the drum mix and themselves to keep on time, with other parts turned down or even muted. So, it's possible that Glenn has never been at the mixing desk, and if he was, any changes he made were immediately undone when he left.

I met Glenn Danzig at a comic con once, he was a huge POS, which is saying a lot for a dude who's 4 feet tall

Rich wasn't hugging the Enterprise for comfort, the Enterprise was hugging Rich Evans for comfort.

As a Star Trek fan who’s been to Vasquez Rocks three times, I’m amazed it took Mike and Rich two hours to find it. It’d be like going to Manhattan and not noticing the Empire State Building.

To those who aren't familiar with Glenn, him not supplying sound or music to large chunks of his films despite being a Musician, a very popular one at that, may sound strange. But, Glenn is a huuuuuuuuuuge Cheap-Skate so it's really not that surprising at all. Just look up the history of their 1996 Album "Static Age". Long-Story Short: Static Age was originally suppose their Debut Album recorded way back in 1978 and had a bunch of unreleased songs. However, due to issues with the Record company it was never released. However, when the band broke up the first time in 1983, Glenn went back and reissues and remastered a bunch of these songs, then in 1996 he sold the Album and pocketed all the profits. For decades Static Age was the last straw for the band and why they wanted nothing to do with Glenn. A bunch of the original members even tried to sue him over it. Then, in 2000, Glenn tried to Sue Jerry Only for lucrative marketing deal Jerry had worked out with Hottopic claiming ownership everything Misfits related, Glenn said Jerry did all this behind his back. However, Jerry said that never happened, Glenn waited too long to file suit against him and he never attempted to use Misfits Trademark. Eventually the entire court case was thrown out. Only didn't really have a counter suit against him and Glenn couldn't prove anything. So, Glenn has a History of being a shifty cheapskate and kind of an asshole.

Danzig was on an episode of Portlandia, so Fred Armisen probably thought he couldn’t say no to being in this movie.

Yes, silver was actually traditionally associated with killing vampires in addition to (and potentially even before) werewolves. Both folklore and modern films tend to vary drastically when it comes to what works on their monsters, but the silver/vampire connection is a legit one.

"Can you register the Entprise-D as a support animal?" - Never thought I'd read that sentence. I could see that on a T-shirt.

It looks like Danzig figured out how to switch his camera out of the log color profile. Good for him.

I hope Glenn Danzig never stops making movies. Either he gets better, or he doesn't, but we'll all win either way.

When I saw Rich gripping that Enterprise D like a safety blanket, I knew it was going to be bad

Rich cuddling that enterprise like a small wounded animal while Mike gingerly tops off his glass is such a relatable visual.

Even if the guy was using that ram with full-force, that's not how you break down a door. You don't smash a hole through the middle, you hit it next to the doorknob to break the deadbolt.

Rob Zombie movies may be crappy, but they have some charm that comes from the passion put into them by Rob Zombie. As anyone who has seen The Haunted World of El Superbeasto can tell you, that man makes films for himself and no one else.

This channel is so good at getting unexpected celebrities to join them for Best of the Worst. I was shocked when I saw Paul Giamatti sitting on the couch with Mike, Jay, and Rich in this episode.

What I know Glen Danzig from is an old issue of Wizard magazine that suggested him as an actor for Wolverine. Cheers to the reality where that did not happen.

Not enough props in the comments for Jay’s re-edit if the film. It was very well done, especially if he did it in the time he gave himself! I especially appreciate the mirroring of the shot at 42:07 into 43:48 The cut in the original is super jarring and ruins the moment, almost as much as having no score.

My friend was unfortunately the makeup artist for Verotica. Danzing does not only make crappy movies, but he treats his production team and actors like crap as well. Everyone is either a friend of Danzing/dating a friend, working for “exposure” or for abysmal pay (if they don’t get checks that bounce). Hope he stops making awful vanity movies. 🗑️ PS- Blonde actress was engaged to Danzing during both films I think they have since broke up.

Jay's re-edit was insanely good! You can really see what sound and post-production can do to a scene. ...well, I guess Glenn just wasn't interested in his own movie. xD

Jay better send that bill for that immaculate level of editing he kindly did for Danzig.

I love the image of Rich hugging the Enterprise-D for emotional support.

29:44 Alert Mike, the screening room is haunted!

“The sound and music are 50 percent of the entertainment in a movie.” George Lucas “The truth is, for me, it’s obvious that 70, 80 percent of a movie is sound.” Danny Boyle

Silver traditionally also hurts vampires. Silver is attributed to purity, which is why it burns unholy creatures like vampires or werewolves to the touch. The reason they have no reflections in mirrors comes from silver being used in mirrors, and they wouldn't show up from the purity of the metal. Whether a silver bullet would kill a vampire is another question entirely, but according to old folklore it would hurt them. Like how iron is seen as a natural metal, which is why cold iron is attributed to hurting magical creatures like fairies and stuff, which are wildly unnatural.

Death Rider seems to me like the perfect movie for aspiring sound editors to use as a template to hel them hone their craft.

29:43 Oh my god, did you see that spooky ghost hand ?!?!

Vampire westerns have been done before, though. "John Carpenter's Vampires" was one (I watched it once, in the theater when it was released). Wasn't "From Dusk Till Dawn" sort of a western? (I don't remember much from that movie, except for Salma Hayak's dance scene!) Edit: I just looked up From Dusk Till Dawn, Danny Trejo was in that movie too!

Tim's ability to deliver genuine laughs out of left field never fails.

29:44 (close enough) Watch and tell me what the hell pops out beside the couch beside Tim near the floor. Has Nukie come back…in the flesh? Heard people yelling Dookie and got confused? Scarier than anything in this movie.

How is Josh not on this episode? He's the only man wearing a Danzig T-shirt, for crying out loud!

the lead brings a real late stage David Carradine energy to the screen

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who love Rich's laugh, and those who haven't learnt to love it yet.

There's no way this was meant to be released like this. My working theory is that there were some sort of copyright/cost problems with the music he used and he had to strip them for the DVD release. Maybe that's why it took so long to make it to home media after the theatrical release... he had to re-edit the whole thing. I just can't believe it was meant to be dead silent during most of the film, especially in the scenes like the cantina where the dancers ARE DANCING TO NOTHING. I mean, it would be beyond incompetence and venturing into the territory of actual madness to edit a movie this way. Did anyone see this in the theater? Was it like this during the original theatrical run? I've watched a lot of bad movies, and seen parts of many many more as a fan of RLM for years now, and this... this one is fucking BAFFLING.

I like how the big guy who punched Danzig threw such a powerful punch, (a haymaker from my research into this Glenn Danzig lore), that he made himself lose balance because of his sheer size and then proceeded to stumble over Glen's unconscious body as it wavered like a falling leaf to the ground.

Watching young Rich Evans enjoying his Trek toy is so wholesome.

41:09 competent work, Jay. A gigantic improvement over the original. Of course, if the actual movie had been edited this way it’d be 35 minutes long.