In 2021, I stumbled upon the film Caveat online and decided to give it a try. Not only did it blow me away but made my Top Ten Favorites of the year. You can read my review HERE. Unique, different, and damn creepy, which has a lot to do with that damn stuff rabbit! It was written and directed by Damian Mc Carthy. Then last year, his next film Oddity came out, and I was lucky enough to see that at the theater. Once again, I was just amazed how good it was. You can read my review HERE. Another unique story, an amazing cast, and some very effective and creepy moments, sure to make some squirm in their seats.
Continue readingLawrence Raffel – Rest in Peace
It’s bad enough when I write these about people in the industry that made an impact on my life through their work in movies, but when I have to write one about someone I personally knew, it makes it even tougher. Way back in the ’90s, I was involved in sort of a horror newsletter/fanzine thing called Death at Work. Basically, it was a bunch of like-minded horror fans that would contribute their section, writing about whatever they wanted, and then having it all compiled into one and sent out to all the members. Years later, I was introduced to Lawrence Raffel through a mutual friend, Aaron Christensen. After a few moments of conversation, we realized we had both been involved with D.A.W. Small world, huh?
I had got to hang out with Lawrence a couple of times over the years at a few different conventions, where we had more than a few “heated” debates on various topics, including what was Argento’s best movie. I fondly remember those times. But because life can really be a real prick sometimes, Lawrence suffered a massive stroke last May, one that he would never recover from. Yesterday, we heard through our friend AC that Lawrence had passed away.
From running his website Monsters at Play years ago, to working for FearNet, to all the other things that he did to help promote the horror genre, Lawrence was one of those guys that you could talk to for hours about movies, and his passion never faltered. Horror fandom has lost a strong voice with his passing. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family, and especially to his wife and son during this most difficult time. Gone, but never forgotten.
Hammer Presents More British Horror
This is one thing I did not expect to happen but am thrilled at the aspects of it. Okay, maybe my wallet isn’t, but that’s a problem for Future-Jon to worry about! The new Hammer Films company, under the leadership of John Gore, has been making a lot of fans of the studio very happy with their amazing releases of some of their classic titles, such as the first two Quatermass movies, Captain Kronos, as well as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). But now, not only are they going to continue to do that, but they are also going to be putting out other British horror titles from different studios under the banner Hammer Presents.
Continue readingBook Review: Icons of Fright
Icons of Fright: 100 Interviews with Legendary Horror Filmmakers
Published by Harker Press, 2025. 469 pages
By Mike Cucinotta, Rob Galluzzo, Adam Barnick, and Jason Alvino
When you first look through this massive volume of interviews, it’s astonishing the number of people covered within the pages. The subjects range from directors, actors, screenwriters, makeup artists, stuntmen, and just about everyone in between! And the names in those categories ranges from the very well-known to the more up-and-coming ones that have just started in the industry or are just getting some notoriety from their work. But then I quickly noticed that the interviews are old… like decades or older. And I quickly thought, “Who wants to read interviews from 15 years ago?”
Continue readingBob Burns – Rest in Peace
Bob Burns was the ultimate fan of the sci-fi and horror genre. He was an author, actor, makeup man, consultant, historian, and more importantly, a collector and archivist. He knew the importance of these items, from the original Time Machine from the 1960s film to the armature from the original King Kong, not to mention masks from a young 16-year-old Rick Baker to pieces from both Alien and Aliens, and so much more. And the best part, he looked at this stuff like the same little 10=year-old that is inside of all of fans, with a sense of wonder and fascination.
He worked with Paul Blaisdell on films like It Conquered the World (1956) and Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), but in the early ’60s, they created a short-lived magazine called Fantastic Monsters of the Films.
He would often appear in a gorilla costume, usually billed as Kogar, but also was a Gorilla named Tracy in the 1975 Saturday morning show The Ghost Busters.
Continue readingMytery Photo 12-15
Happy Monday! We survived our freezing temps over the weekend, but then again, this is the Midwest, so just another winter. That didn’t stop me from traveling into the Chicago a couple of times over the weekend for some cool events. Hopefully everyone out there also had a good weekend. But let’s get to why you’re here. Our photo from last was indeed from Ryan Coolgler’s Sinners (2025). It was definitely one of my favorites of the year but can understand why not everyone feels the same as I do. But that’s the fun part about movies. We did get quite a few correct answers, which is always nice. They were: Hoby Abernathy, Sherry Alvarez, Aaron Christensen, Dada Debaser, Chris Dyer, Kevin Hart, Steven Kennedy, Erik Martin, Gary Miller, Jeff Owens, Jennifer Pike-Cruz, Chris Richmond, Bryan Senn, and William Wilson! Well done!
This week’s photo is not as current as that last one, nor is it as well known. So yeah, another one from the vaults. Take a peek and see if you can remember where this little guy came from. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And Good Luck!
Those that Inspire
“Read good books, say kind words, do good deeds, be a good person.”
Earlier this morning, I braved the minus 1-degree temps and headed into Chicago for a screening of the documentary Ishirō Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director, by director Jonathan Bellés. Afterwords would be a Q&A with authors Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle, who’s latest book, Godzilla: The First 70 Years had just come out. They had previously written Ishirō Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa, which came out in 2023. It also gave me the chance to have them sign their new book that I recently got. So even though it was cold as hell, I knew it was an event I didn’t want to miss. The good thing (for me anyway) was because it was so cold, traffic was pretty much non-existent, so getting into the city was a breeze.
Continue readingBook Review: Fulci’s Inferno
Fulci’s Inferno: Faith in the Films of a Horror and Giallo Auteur
Published by McFarland, 2025. 257 pages.
By Matt Rogerson
Anytime I see a book dedicated to Lucio Fulci and his work, I’m immediately in, which was the case for this book from Rogerson. That’s mainly because there isn’t a ton of work on him, which is very sad. I will say this work is more in the “academic study” style, which for me at least, were usually a little too “out there”, with lots of theories as to what the filmmaker really meant, at least according to the authors. But I’ve found that as I’ve gotten older is that while I may still not agree with what the author is saying, and that’s with any author, I really now do enjoy reading about these different ideas or theories and just thinking about them. Doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with them, but I love the fact that it gets your mind pondering different ideas and maybe thinking about a particular film, or even a single scene in the movie in a way you didn’t before.
Continue readingDtH Episode 111 – Paul Naschy
Count Dracula’s Great Love (1973), Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973), Panic Beats (1983)
We’re finally back to discuss the wonderful cinematic world of Paul Naschy! Back in episode 21, we covered three different entries in Naschy’s werewolf films. So, this time out, we are covering three of his NON-werewolf titles. This is to show newer fans that while he was known for his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf films, but that he had made plenty of other films, incorporating a bunch of different kind of monsters. And if you are familiar with more of his work, then what better time to revisit some of them, right?
Making over a hundred titles in his career that spanned decades, Paul Naschy loved the horror genre and made the kind of films that he wanted to, giving fans a wide variety of well-known beasties, as well as ones we’d never seen before. While some might say they vary in quality, Naschy’s passion never did, and always put his heart and soul into each one of them.
Films mentioned in this episode:
Continue readingIshiro Honda Documentary in Chicago
This Sunday at Facets in Chicago, they will be screening the documentary Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director, directed by Jonathan Bellés, put on by the Chicago Japan Film Collective. The screening will start at 10:30am and then is followed by a panel discussion with Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle, authors of Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film and Godzilla – the First 70 Years: The Official Illustrated History of the Japanese Productions.
Barry Kaufman from House of Monsters will be in the lobby before and after the screening with copies for sale of both books by Godziszewski & Ryfle.
For tickets to the event, just click HERE.









