BALD HEADED BLUES 

A documentary movie review by Robert Long II

Starring John Dimes, Dick Dyszel, Jerry Moore, Leanna Chamish, Bob Hinton, Cynthia Hamill, Mark R. Blackmon

Narrated by Penny Dreadful

Produced, Written and Directed by C.W. Prather

Run time: 90 minutes

BALD-HEADED BLUES is the story of Washington D.C. comedian John Dimes. It traces the creation of Dime’s alter ego – Dr. Sarcofiguy. This side of Dimes lets him be many, many different characters including a blues singer, beat poet, President of the United Monster States, and not least of all – a horror host.

This documentary is laid out a bit like a bluesy stream – of – conscious, but is basically in chronological order. From the humble camcorder beginnings on doing his show – SPOOKY MOVIE – on local public cable access (in 1995) to his debut of the show on DVD (with co-host Leanna Chamish), this feature covers it all.

As I write this the documentary is playing first run over in the LAB at Count Gore’s website. I am told that this will be available on DVD (probably with extra features). On the whole this was very entertaining. The first half I found to be running a tad slow, but by the time Dimes starts to work with Jerry Moore II (Monster Madhouse) and Dick Dyszel (Count Gore De Vol) it really picks up steam.

An interesting sequence is where Jerry Moore’s Monster Madhouse was banished from access television, and he was doing it from his home. Moore’s show got a lot more “blue” and I didn’t find that to be as humorous. Sticking it to the “man” is funnier when people are being more subtle about it.

 Dimes himself comes off well in the documentary. He is gracious and funny, and likes to his gigs improv’d and off the cuff. What was lacking – at least it seemed to me – was more actual face time with Dimes being interviewed. There’s a lot of him doing his act and interacting with others, but the documentary left me wanting more about knowing the man and his experiences in his own words.

C.W. Prather is a long time friend and collaborator of John Dimes, and is the man behind the excellent documentary EVERY OTHER DAY IS HALLOWEEN. He is the current producer of SPOOKY MOVIE TELEVISION which is hosted by Dimes and Chamish, and I have heard word that these shows are to come to DVD as well. I hope it’s soon, as these two misfits have shown great chemistry on screen. Plus they are very slickly produced – which I always appreciate.

In the end I give this a 7/10 as a stand alone documentary. While I enjoyed Prathers’ documentary on Count Gore more, I think this has a lot of heart and humor as well, and is definitely worth a watch. I am looking forward to seeing it on DVD! Check it out HERE.

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