SATURDAY NIGHTMARE
THE BAD SANCTUM

BRUCE F. GANTENBEIN (BRUK GANT)
- "DR. MORBIUS"

"Saturday Nightmare" was a hosted horror movie show with Bruce F. Gantenbein as "Dr. Morbius" presented movies on Saturday nights at 10:30pm on KCRG Channel 9, Cedar Rapids, Iowa between June 1986 until November 1988. The show was originally not hosted. Dr. Morbius was a goofy balding vampire' hosting the film from inside his castle that he named Castle Mare, his shows opening theme was Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach and his castle was lit with candles. "The Bad Sanctum" is a 15 minute short with Dr. Morbius. The movie has Enoch Rector, "The Man Who Was Bad," going through life encountering constant mediocrity and tastelessness in society, including art, Christmas, food, and intimate relationships. His adventures are hosted by "Dr. Morbius," horror film host for a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, TV station. Bruce F. Gantenbein (3 September 1951 - 9 August 2013) A lifelong entertainer, Bruce performed professionally as a singer and guitarist in several bands, including Gambler, Cabala, the Uptown Serenaders, McCandless and Gantenbein, Kelly and the Komb-Overs, and Last Chance. In addition, he performed as a solo act under the names of "Bruk Gant" and, more recently, "Big Bruce." He also performed as a stand-up comic throughout the Midwest, and was a regular at Penguin's Comedy Club in Cedar Rapids. He may be best known to eastern Iowans, however, as "Dr. Morbius," host of KCRG's "Saturday Nightmares" television show. He also won two "Addy" awards from the Cedar Rapids Advertising Federation. He worked for the City of Iowa City for a number of years, he became an officer with the Iowa City Police Department, where he worked from 1978-1980. He attended the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in 1979, where he was vice president of his class. Following that, he began work at the University of Iowa, becoming a campus police officer in 1990, and later a security officer with the UI Department of Public Safety. He retired from the University in 2011.

Portrait of "Dr. Morbius" by Bradley Beard.
"Dr. Morbius" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)

Another one of my hometown horror hosts. Tonight I present Dr. Morbius, host of Saturday Nightmare on KCRG-TV Channel 9 in Cedar Rapids, IA, which ran from June 1986 to November 1988. Sadly for me, I'd moved to Las Vegas, NV in 1985 and completely missed Dr. Morbius' show. Dr. Morbius was played by Bruce Gantenbein, a lifelong entertainer who performed under his professional name of Bruk Gant. Gant was a singer and guitarist as well as a stand-up comic. During his horror host days, he recorded a novelty song with The Invisible Band entitled the Morbius Rap. The flipside of the single was a song honoring the Iowa Hawkeyes called the Hawk Rap. Several clips from the show can be found on YouTube as well as both novelty rap songs. In the words of Dr. Morbius, "Remember, you can't trust your apparition, you can't trust your poltergeist, you can't trust your ectoplasm, but you can trust your doctor." In 2016, Bruk Gant - "Dr. Morbius" from "Saturday Nightmare", was inducted into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame". The "Morbius Rap" by Dr. Morbius. Play Clip The following is an opening from the show: "Saturday Nightmare" - a show opening from The Professor's Scary Clips on Vimeo.

LINKS