Larry Brent

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Larry Brent is a fictional character from the booklet novels of the same name published by Zauberkreis Verlag . The novels are currently being published again by Blitz Verlag . The author of the stories was Jürgen Grasmück alias Dan Shocker . A total of 213 novels have been written by Dan Shocker since 1968, and new stories have appeared since the new edition by Blitz Verlag. However, these are from other authors. Larry Brent is the oldest horror magazine hero in Germany and founded the genre.

In the 1980s, some stories were also implemented as radio play series by Europe . The radio plays were brought out in a new edition in 2000 and the series was then continued with four new episodes. At the age of 14, Christoph Schlingensief filmed the novel The House of the Dead of Lady Florence in 1974 as an amateur film . This was u. a. by broadcasting on WDR and in 1991 at the International Short Film Festival Berlin of Interfilm Berlin .

To person

Larry Brent aka X-RAY-3 is the best special agent in the Psychoanalytic Special Department (PSA). The PSA is an international organization for the fight against supernatural and unusual crime. The PSA recruits its members from members of the secret services of all countries. It is led by David Gallun alias X-RAY-1, who is only known to his agents as a voice and whose identity remains a secret. The headquarters of the PSA is located in an underground complex under the Tavern on the Green in New York's Central Park and has offices for the individual agents and computer rooms for the powerful analysis computers ( "Big Wilma" & "The Clever Sofie" ) of the PSA via secret entrances and exits.

Brent, of a Lotus Europa drives, uses a Smith & Wesson - laser in the form of a conventional gun and, like the other male agents of the PSA with a PSA-ring that is used to communicate with the central office and this also provides information about the body temperature the agent delivers, equipped. In the first novels, the ring was only a transmitter, only from Larry Brent No. 11 "Sanatorium of the Dead" began the tests with new rings, which also included a receiver.

In his adventures, Larry Brent saves humanity more than once from unscrupulous scientists, criminals and figures from the world of demons. There are also other male and female PSA agents at his side. Among other things, his best buddy and so-called Towaritsch ( Russian comrade ) Ivan Kunaritschew (X-RAY-7) and the Swedish fairy Morna Ulbrandson (X-GIRL-C).

The archenemy of PSA is Dr. Satanas, a mad scientist who also works with the dark forces. He made his debut in the novel Die Wahnsinnsbrut des Dr. Satanas ; he died in the novel Larry Brent's Dance of Death . However, Satanas has a son and other allies who make life difficult for the PSA agents.

Novels

Volume 747 "The horror creeps through Bonnard's house" in the Silber-Krimi series of the Zauberkreis Verlag was the first Larry Brent novel to appear in 1968. With the subtitle "Scary crime thriller number one - a novel for strong nerves" of this volume, Dan Shocker founded the mix of crime thriller and horror, which is still successful as a novel booklet in Germany. The success of the individual novels led to the silver horror crime series , which in addition to Larry Brent novels also contained stories by other authors. Initially, the silver horror thriller appeared as a sub-series every four weeks within the silver thriller . In the early 1970s, the silver horror thriller was published as a separate series every two weeks.

In 1981 a separate series of issues was finally started under the title Larry Brent . In addition to reprints of novels already published in the other series, new novels were also repeatedly reprinted. In the double-sided horror chest , Dan Shocker answered letters to the editor, published news about the novels and radio plays and also printed fan art such as B. comic strips. Until it was closed in 1986, the series 192 Larry Brent Adventures appeared. In the last volume ( striptease of a zombie witch ) issue 193 ( Dracula's Vampire Trap ) was announced, but it was no longer published.

In 1994 and 1995 eight more Larry Brent novels came out. Four were published as novel booklets in the Dan Shocker series, but these were only written by other authors after Grasmück's exposés. Four other novels came out as a book entitled Dracula's Vampire Trap . However, these novels were only reprints from the silver horror thriller.

From 1998 onwards, four new editions of Larry Brent novels were published in a paperback by Blitz Verlag. Under the title Larry Brent. The secret X-files of the PSA appear at the same time new novels in the Blitz Verlag, which are not written by Dan Shocker. Since 2004 a new edition of the novels has also been published in the form of e-books by story2go . Story2go was discontinued at the end of 2015.

Radio plays

The Europa publishing house implemented some of the novels as radio plays . The adaptation came from Charly Graul (behind this pseudonym the actors Douglas Welbat , Katja Brügger and Bertram von Boxberg hid themselves . Episodes 1 to 15 were produced and released between 1983 and 1986, and four more radio plays followed in 2003. The manuscript for the last of these episodes (No. 19) was written by André Minninger , a European employee .

After indexing the episode The Snakeheads of Dr. Gorgo by the Federal Testing Agency for Media Harmful to Young People , the series was discontinued in 1986. From 2000 on, Europe brought the old radio plays back onto the market under the title The Return of the Classics . A few passages have been defused by shortening the speaker texts and noises. Furthermore, due to a legal dispute with the composer Carsten Bohn, a few pieces of music from the original recordings had to be replaced by others. The snakeheads of Dr. Gorgo was published by BMG in 2004 in a revised and abridged version . The shortening was in turn supplemented by a few complete soundtracks at the end of the radio play.

In 2003, Orungu, Grimace from the Jungle, was the first of the newly produced episodes. This and the three subsequent series episodes were created from scripts from the 1980s that were in part unfinished. With the exception of the late Günter König , whose role of narrator was taken on by Wolfgang Kaven , the roles were again cast with the original speakers from the 1980s. The fan reaction was divided. If some missed the charm of the first radio plays, others could get excited about the new episodes. There were different reactions, especially with the individual series episodes of the new season. The episode The Black Palace of Vienna was praised almost exclusively for its implementation, while Count Dracula's horror party was mostly rated poorly.

Although these were radio plays for adults - the sound carriers were provided with a small yellow sticker with the words radio plays for adults - the cassettes were usually placed on the shelves with children's radio plays . In this respect, the sticker had more of a sales-promoting effect with the wrong target group.

The original covers of the novel booklets were not used for the covers of the radio plays, but our own were made. This met with criticism from the fans of the novel series, but the content of the series was always praised.

The Russel & Brandon Company published a two-part series in 2012 with the episodes "The Return" and "Zombies on the Orient Express", which are based on the novel No. 110 "Zombies on the Orient Express". Also in 2012 the Russel & Brandon Company released the episodes "Die Wahnsinnsbrut des Dr. Satanas" and "Party im Blutschloß". Six months later, the Romantic Rest also started a new series with settings, which are not based on the original novels, but on newly written books from the Blitz-Verlag. The series was able to win over the original speakers from the old EUROPA radio plays. Since episode 6 in 2014, the series has been published by WinterZeit as Larry Brent Classics .

speaker

In addition, well-known actors and radio play speakers took on guest roles - often in several episodes: Hans Clarin , Horst Frank , Günter Pfitzmann , Reinhilt Schneider , Gernot Endemann , Gottfried Kramer , Helmut Zierl , Edgar Bessen , Franz-Josef Steffens , Hans Paetsch , Horst Stark , Joachim Wolff and Thomas Fritsch .

Episode index of radio plays

For Europe:
First publications 1983–1984:

  1. Odd journey of the skeletons
  2. Marotsch, the vampire killer
  3. Fear awakens in the death castle
  4. The horror machine
  5. Chopper - ghost voice from beyond the grave
  6. In the cabinet of horror
  7. Lady Florence's house of the dead
  8. The horror of Blackwood Castle
  9. The snakeheads of Dr. Gorgon
  10. Diablos' otherworldly carriage
  11. Sylphidas spirit of revenge
  12. Atomic ghosts
  13. The demon with the dead eyes
  14. The monk with the devil's claw
  15. Demon spawn


First publications 2003-2004:
16. Orungu, grimace from the jungle
17. The black palace of Vienna
18. Horror party with Count Dracula
19. Killer virus from hell


At Russel & Brandon Company / Zauberstern, from 2012:

  1. The return
  2. Zombies on the Orient Express
  3. The mad brood of Dr. Satanas
  4. Party in the blood castle
  5. Never kiss Chopper's ghost bride
  6. The vampire's coffin
  7. The wolf man in a bloodlust
  8. Death screams from the blood moor
  9. The hanged man from Dartmoor
  10. Murder eyes
  11. The vampire clinic of Dr. Satanas
  12. Dracula's love bite
  13. Dracula's journey into hell
  14. Ice cold death
  15. The plague ate everyone
  16. Prisoner of the invisible
  17. Death in the haunted mansion
  18. Cursed from beyond the grave
  19. Monster castle Höllenstein
  20. Medusa's ossuary
  21. The bloodsuckers of Tahiti
  22. Madame Wong's killer dolls
  23. Dr. Satanas - Lord of the Skeletons
  24. Satan's killer watch
  25. Secret experiment death spores
  26. Dr. Satana's killer computer
  27. The horror creeps through Bonnard's house
  28. Amoeba sucks people out
  29. Scream when the witch slayer chokes you
  30. The secret of the bone tomb
  31. The garbage monsters
  32. The curse of the bleeding eyes
  33. The ripper from beyond
  34. The uncanny from the sarcophagus
  35. The snow witch
  36. The castle of the devilish Deborah

Background to the indexing of the episode Die Schlangenköpfe des Dr. Gorgon

This Larry Brent radio play is one of the few radio plays ever to have been put on the index in Germany.

In 1986 the Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young People gave the following reason for this step: “The audio cassette is undoubtedly brutal because it builds up aggression in the listener and keeps him in a state of tense, latent aggressiveness. The audio cassette achieves this by confronting the respective listener with atrocious acts of violence. Acts of injury, the effects of mutilations or "operations" as well as the suffering of the victims' relatives are staged in detail. From another girl, Dr. Gorgon's brain in a laboratory. He transplanted this into a collie. Released, this animal leads Larry Brent to the operating room. Here he keeps running his head against the wall; Splash blood and pus. Finally the dog's head bursts. "

This episode wasn't just indexed because of glorified violence or scenes that were too gruesome. In addition, it was about allowing vigilante justice. As a result, a mad doctor transplanted human heads onto octopus bodies. In the final scene, one of these creatures strangles the doctor in the presence of a Scotland Yard inspector. However, this does not intervene. According to the Federal Inspectorate for Media Harmful to Young People, this creates a false image for the police, who in this situation should have protected the doctor despite everything and thus prevented the murder. With the return of the new edition of the classic Larry Brent CDs, the episode came back on the market in a heavily abridged version, which was supplemented by some soundtracks at the end of the story.

The consequences of the odyssey of the skeletons and atomic ghosts were also suggested for indexing.

Audio books

After the radio play series was discontinued, Europe started publishing audio books based on the booklet novels as readings with Rainer Schmitt, who already spoke the title character of the radio plays. Each audiobook extends over three CDs, the original covers of the novels have now been used again. The audio books follow the publication sequence of the Larry Brent series . However, novels already set to music as radio plays were omitted. Only the novel Fear Awakens in the Castle of Death was included in the audiobook series despite the radio play, as a storyline describing Larry Brent's inclusion in the PSA was previously left out. The Larry Brent audiobooks were produced by the Lausch production company.

The following audio books were published by early 2008:

  • The horror creeps through Bonnard's house
  • Fear awakens in the death castle
  • At night when the dead come
  • The curse of the bleeding eyes

Since October 2012, more audio books based on the new novels have been published by the Romantruhe . The speakers are Rainer Schmitt, Rüdiger Schulzki, Henry König and Wolfgang Rüter. Each audio book consists of 3 CDs:

Since episode 7, every audio book has only consisted of 2 CDs.

From episode 10 production as a radio play, the main characters Larry Brent & Ivan Kunaritschew have new speakers. The old speakers left at their own request.

0. The Kennedy Riddle
1. Marble death
2. Gargoyle
3. Zombie insects
4. Parasite death
5. Mothers of Death
6. The Devil's Lodge
7. The horror baby
8. Attack from the past
9. The sanatorium
10. The plague girl
11. Demon Biter
12. The island
13. Megarosh

Others

  • In the title music of the Larry Brent radio play series, the beat from the song Codo by DÖF was sampled .
  • The episode Chopper - Ghostly Voice from Beyond relates to an actual incident; see: Chopper (ghost) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Schlingensief's biography on filmportal.de ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.filmportal.de
  2. ↑ Program of the International Short Film Festival Berlin 1991 ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.interfilm.de
  3. ↑ Interview with Simeon Hrissomallis from Russel & Brandon Company on zauberspiegel-online.de
  4. ↑ Interview with Simeon Hrissomallis from Russel & Brandon Company on hoerspiegel.de
  5. ^ Larry Brent radio play series with Russel & Brandon Company
  6. ↑ http://www.halloween.de/empfänger/horspiele/larry-brent-die-schlangenkopfe-des-dr-gorgo-haben-9--4724
  7. ↑ a b Indexing application on hoercuts.de ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hoercuts.de
  8. ^ Larry Brent audio book series at romantruhe.de