The band - named after the English title of Drácula contra Frankenstein, the 1972 horror film directed by Jesús Franco - was formed by guitarist Tony McCormack (later McKormack), who recruited former singer with The Waste, Sam Missile (Simon Bignall), bass guitarist Mal Page, and drummer Mark Ogilvie.
[1] The band built up a strong local following which spread farther afield with coverage in fanzines such as Gez Lowery's Rising Free and through sales of their demo tape.
They followed their first tape with a more formal release, the Children of the Boneyard Stones cassette, which came with a badge and a copy of the band's own fanzine, Warcry.
The band's next release, the "Night Creatures" 12-inch single, saw them break into the UK Indie Chart, reaching number 22 in September 1983.
In 1989, McKormack formed pagan gothic rock band Incubus Succubus with Candia Ridley and Adam Henderson,[3] and in 1997 formed a new version of Screaming Dead, without Page or Upton, touring Germany twice and recording the album Death Rides Out, released on Resurrection Records,[4] before they disbanded again in 1999.