(Originally posted on our old site on December 30th, 2012)

2012 – YEAR END REVIEW

Another year of great times spent with my family and the multitude of people that we call our friends, giving way to another full year of fantastic memories. As we look back at 2012, the year when it was all suppose to end, we’re all still here and no worse for wear. As we look back for the high points of the year, a lot of them are the same as the years before. But even if the events are the same, it really comes down to spending time with our friends and family during all of these great times. Since I’ve been going to these usually by myself or with other friends, having my family with me now, making it almost like a family business so to speak, it has been making it even more special and enjoyable then before. Can’t tell you how proud I am of both my wife Dawn and son Nick, when watching them work the Krypt table at a convention. As Dawn has told me many times before, this is who we are. This is what defines us. And for that, I really am the luckiest person alive. I mean seriously… how many wives and kids would be happy to spend the weekend at an out-of-state drive-in theater? So thank you to all of our friends out there for making them so much damn fun! And especially to Dawn and Nick for truly making this obsession of mine a real family adventure.

Now let’s get to the Year End Review!

WE MUST NOT FORGET

Each year, we lose more and more people that have contributed so much to the horror genre. The longer you are a horror fan, the more of these great talents we see part this world. But as students of the genre, it is our duty to make sure that their memory lives on and that their work in the genre is not forgotten. I know we just lost Charles Durning a few days ago, who gave us one scary performance in Dark Night of the Scarecrow, but he had been in so many other great movies and was a very talented actor. But he, along with the ones listed below, will always be kept alive by movie fans like us, so continue to watch their old movies and remember them as such talented people, whether they were in front of or behind the camera. So we take a minute to remember those who we lost this last year.

Ian Abercrombie, R.G. Armstrong, Ernest Borgnine, Ray Bradbury, Frank Brana, Robert Easton, William Finley, Jonathan Frid, Robert Fuest, Bill Hinzman, James Isaac, Herbert Lom, Richard Lynch, Carlo Rambaldi, Angharad Rees, Lina Romay, Kaneto Shindo, Danny Steinmann, Simon Ward, David Whitaker, Nicol Williamson

THE KRYPT & THE ARMY

2013 will be the 15^th year I will be running this website.  Granted, this has always been my outlet to the world, letting me have my own soapbox to praise and bitch about whatever I want. But if it wasn’t for my readers out there (all 4 of you), I wouldn’t have kept this going this long. But getting the emails, comments at conventions, and all of that from you really puts fuel on the fire. Can’t tell you how much those mean to me. It really does make all of this work worth while. I am just so glad that I have a receptive audience that puts up with my ranting, but also hopefully takes away a little of the message that I’m trying to put out there with each update. As the saying goes, Discover the Horror really is something I try to live by, and hopefully I have been passing that passion onto you. But I’m pretty sure that I have helped a few of you out there in doing just that, exploring films or filmmakers that you might not have heard of otherwise.  So when I hear that, it means that I’m doing my job.

Since this site is not sponsored by some corporate backer, you will NEVER see ad banners plastered all over this place. Sure, I might be able to make a little bit of $$ by doing that, but that is not why I am here or this site. I want people to be able to come to this place and know that I am not trying to sell you something. I have been asked at conventions why the stuff I sell at the shows is not listed on the site. It is because of that reason. I want the Krypt to be a friendly and inviting place to escape to and learn about the genre, not a commercial for whatever Hollywood is shoving down our throats.

As for the Kryptic Army, for something that was only going to be a 1 year deal, 2013 will mark our fourth year of service, with quite a few of you being there from the beginning. While yes, there are prizes for all of your hard work, I’m pretty sure that everyone involved love participating just for the fun of it. Well… maybe except during Turkey Month. But with each mission report I get, hearing someone else’s opinion on a particular movie is what most movie fans live for: to be able to talk about a movie they’ve seen, for better or for worse, to someone else that is going to be interested in what they are talking about. And you will get plenty of that here while in the Army. With the mission reports posted on the Message board, which I always comment on, we encourage you to post your own comments on other soldiers choices. We want to keep that discussion going. If you liked or didn’t like a particular movie that was posted, let us know YOUR thoughts on why. We’d loved to hear them. We’ve seen a lot of new names the later part of this year so hopefully you will all be back next year, to continue fighting the good fight, striving to learn and see more of this wondrous genre of horror! And please spread the word so we can get more soldiers fighting alongside of you. Again, thank you for the constant support.

GHOST STORY / CIRCLE OF FEAR….FINALLY!

On a nostalgic point of view, the biggest highlights of the year for me was the DVD release of an old TV series from the early ‘70s. It was called Ghost Story the first year and then changed to Circle of Fear for the 2^nd and final year. Produced by William Castle, each week we got a new frightening tale that dealt with ghosts, haunted houses, revenge, and all sorts of scary things. There were tons of people in this show, from Martin Sheen, to Janet Leigh, to even a young Jodie Foster. What makes this show so special to me was that not only were most of them pretty creepy (for a 7-year old at least) and had a great cast, but this is the series that I can actually remember watching each week when it first came on. But even watching them now, I still have that same feeling I did when I was first watching them. And some of them, actually still hold up, 40 years later. I had copies of most of the episodes that I had picked up over the years from different collectors and gray market places, but the quality was always a bit rough. But now, thanks to Warner Archives, they have released the complete series in one DVD set, and they look amazing. This brought back a lot of old memories and is one of those viewings that can really take you back to another time.

ISOLATED INTERVIEW

And lastly, one of the more recent highlights of this year happened just a few days ago. That was when I had the wonderful opportunity to interview writer/director Billy O’Brien, who gave us the amazing horror film Isolation. That interview will be up on our site in the next few weeks. It was one of those times when things just fell together the right way and we had a great conversation about a movie that I feel really strongly about and hope that more people will seek it out because of the interview.

DEAD WEIGHT

It was quite a few years ago when I first met John Pata. It was at movie convention where he was promoting his short zombie film called Better Off Undead. We became good friends from then on (really only because I thought his film showed promise), which one wouldn’t think that if you’ve ever heard a conversation between me and Pata. But none the less, I have always admired John’s passion for not only the genre, but for working so hard in getting other people involved and bringing fellow fans together. From doing the House of Horrors shows, to their Friday Night Frights, and other film fests, John is one person that I am glad is fighting on our side.

So when I heard that he was working on his first feature film, Dead Weight, with his buddy Adam Bartlett, I was anxious to see what they were going to make. When we finally got to see it, I was not only so impressed with it, but also just so proud to know quite a few of the talented people involved. Not being a filmmaker myself, it was so thrilling to see some good friends of mine be able to create such a thought-provoking and emotional film, that was entertaining but still packed a solid punch, and one you’d be thinking about days after. With all the low budget crap out there, seeing Dead Weight once again gave me hope for that independent market that I usually tend to stay away from.

FILM FEST, DRIVE-INS, & ASSORTED SCREENINGS

Anybody who follows this site knows that we go to a lot of events throughout the year, like conventions and film fests. Being close to Chicago, we are able to attend quite a few of the things that go on during the year, especially around in October. From the midnight shows, to the 24-hour movie marathons, and other special screenings, there is always something cool showing. This year we had two different 24-hour marathons, which we attended both and had a blast at each one, getting to see some great classic films on the big screen.

One of the theaters that we go to for these events is the Portage Theater. It has been a shaky year for them, first with a threat of being bought by a church and closed down as a theater, and now with some other financial issues, that possibly could close down the theater for good. I think we sometimes take for granted these special kinds of places that doesn’t want to turn into the same old multiplex theater, showing the latest blockbuster that Hollywood is churning out. There are a lot of people working very hard out there to try and keep the theater up and running and every little bit helps. So from donating to the theater, showing up at one of their fund-raisers, or whatever you can do, it all helps keep a theater like this open and allows these film fests that we love so much to continue.

One event that was held at the Portage in 2012 was a special showing of Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut. Every fan of this movie knows that there were rumors going about since the film came out about all this uncut footage that was lost. Even with the theatrical version, which does has its issues, but it still remains one of my favorite films. Any die-hard horror fan can relate to that. But thanks to the hard work of people like Russell Cherrington, we were able to get a peek at a rough work print of the film with the “lost” footage spliced back into the film. Sure, there is still a lot of work to do and honestly I think it still needs to be cut down a bit more, but just being able to see this on the big screen, seeing sequences that we had only read or heard about before, it was a great time. And once again, this was screen at the Portage Theater, so kudos again for them being around for something like this to even take place.

CLASSIC MONSTERS

This last October, in celebrating 100 years of Warner Bros., they were screening a bunch of classic movies in theaters. One of these events was a double feature of the original Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. Now I have seen both of these in the theater before. But any time I get the chance to see these two films in that presentation, I jump at the chance. Since the original Frankenstein is one of my favorite films of all time, seeing this on the big screen, the way it was all those years ago is a powerful time for me. The original film is one that I don’t think has lost any of its impact in the story or the performances. Karloff’s portrayal can still bring up the pathos for the character. There is a reason why people are still talking about this movie 80+ years later. And while Bride does have a little too much of the silly humor, Whale and Karloff still make quite an impact with this tragic tale. It was so cool seeing the theater pretty full when Dawn and I went to see these two films. It put a little smile on my face to see that many people coming out to see these classics. 

Another revisit was getting to see Jaws on the big screen, which was the first time in a theater since seeing it originally back in the ‘70s. This was the only film I have ever seen that had given me nightmares non-stop for 2 weeks. To this day, I have not set foot in a body of water that wasn’t a bathtub or swimming pool. This film is one of the few that can still make me feel uneasy during certain scenes. So having the chance to experience on the big screen again was just thrilling.

I can not stress enough that anytime you have the chance to catch a classic movie on the big screen, you need to jump at the chance. Not only do you get to see the film the way it originally was designed to be seen, but by going you are also showing the theaters that these kind of events will draw people in and then they will continue to do them. So please show your support.

SKYLINE DRIVE-IN

This year we made another little mini-vacation to just south of Indianapolis to the Skyline Drive-in Theatre. They were having two nights of horror movies playing all night, with 4 features each night. These weren’t your normal classics either, but some pretty obscure titles. So leaving on Friday morning, and making our way south, we stopped at a few great places to eat and a few book stores throughout the weekend.

The Skyline Drive-in is located right off of I-74, just south of Indianapolis and is a great little theater. I mean how could it be bad when on the snack bar menu, you can have bacon added to anything for only $.50!!! The folks there were super friendly and had plenty of great food there to keep us busy the whole weekend. It really was a blast and is something that I would encourage more people to do. Even though this vacation was only for 3 days, it was a lot of fun to get out of the house spending time to enjoy life. Once again, it really is the little things in life that make it worthwhile. Don’t let those times escape you.

Even if you can’t make it out to one of these for a weekend trip, in the Chicagoland area, we have the Midway Drive-in, which usually holds a couple of these all night horror film fests during the year. We always hit those as well and they are a blast. So mark those links and come next spring, plan those little outings and make it happen.

CONVENTIONS

Of course, going to conventions throughout the year is another thing that is always a highlight for us.  We usually hit around 5 shows a year, but in 2012 we did 7 shows. That was because of an extra HorrorHound show, as well as finally making it to a show that I’ve wanted to go for year, the Wonderfest Hobby Expo in Louisville Kentucky. This is basically a show for model kits from the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres. And it’s big. If you’re not into models, it might not be the best show for you. But I have to say, even for someone like me, who has retired from that aspect of my fandom, it was great seeing all of these amazing pieces of work these sculptures and artists have created. Just walking around the dealer room, seeing so many kits from obscure movies, was a lot of entertainment alone. But the other great thing was this was so different from the normal conventions that we go to. This wasn’t about celebrities and buying autographs. This was what a convention use to be like 15 or so years ago. Where if there was a guest, they were just happy to see you and not worried if you were going to spend money at their table. So it was a nice change of pace to be at a show were the people coming through the door were looking to spend their money on the dealers… not autographs. Oh, how I miss those days.

At the other shows we attended, we were able to see a few guests that have eluded us over the years that we finally had the chance to meet. Of course, the biggest of the lot was John Carpenter. Sure, I haven’t cared much for his later work, but you can’t deny his work in the first part of his career, making several classic movies during that period, with his version of The Thing (1982) still being one of my favorite movies of all time. Since he has started doing more appearances, I knew it was only a matter of time before our paths would meet. And thanks to Flashback Weekend this last summer, it happened. Didn’t need to get an autograph, but just wanted to meet him, shake his hand, and give him a copy of the retrospective I wrote for HorrorHound, which he didn’t have. So it was well worth the 30 minutes in line (went on Sunday…much smaller line).

Another icon I had the chance to meet was Pam Grier, who was super friendly. Being in so many cult films in her career, she is one talent that really deserves the attention she gets. Another one was David Schmoeller, who we actually got to interview while at the Cinema Wasteland show, and heard some great stories. As a horror fan that has been going to conventions for over 25 years, it is getting harder and harder for me to get excited about a guest these days. So it was nice that in 2012 I was able to find a few that I still was happy to take time to meet and talk with at a convention.

Out of all the shows these last few years that my wife and son have been going to, there are not too many celebrities that they get that excited about. At one of the HorrorHound shows, Nick was pretty stoked to meet Timothy Balme, from Peter Jackson’s Braindead.  But at the October Cinema Wasteland show, Nick was able to meet someone that he’s been wanting to meet ever since he was announced as a guest. That would be Reb Brown. Nick is a huge fan of those cheesy movies that Brown made in the ’80s and ’90s over in Italy, like Robowar and of course Yor: Hunter from the Future. So getting to see how excited Nick was to meet Mr. Brown, it reminded me of all those years ago when I use to get that same feeling and excitement. So yes, we do re-live something through our children.

But the biggest surprise of all, for me at least, was at the HorrorHound Weekend in November. While everyone was there to meet Jamie Lee Curtis, we got the opportunity to meet her sister, Kelly, who happened to work with one of our favorite directors, Michele Soavi, in The Sect (aka The Devil’s Daughter). She wasn’t even a guest, but there making a documentary on her sister’s appearance. So I think she was as surprised as I was when some horror nerd came up to her and asked her about this movie. But it is times like this that just make the weekend a great one. Special thanks out to our good friend Buzz for pointing her out to me.

DRIVE-IN SCREENING/BIRTHDAY PARTY

But I have to say, the biggest highlight of 2012 was my birthday this year. Not because I was turning another year old (at this point in the game, those can stop!), but because of what my son did for me. Nick had bought me a DVD projector and all off the supplies to build our own little movie screen, so we could turn our backyard into our own little drive-in theater. Minus the cars, of course.

While we had ‘tested’ the set up a time or two before my actual birthday, we decided to have a bunch of friends over to really break it in with a great little double feature of The Green Slime (1968) and The Blob (1958). My wife Dawn had made this amazing drive-in birthday cake as well as a movie sign that would light up pointing to the festivities. From seeing my good friends that came out for the occasion to the home made corndogs, it was a blast. Can’t thank Nick and Dawn for making it happen. I’m sure that this birthday party event is going to become a regular now. Once again it shows that friends and family, especially when they are getting together to enjoy some horror movies, are really the most important thing one can have in their life. And for that, I am eternally grateful and a very lucky man.

BEST AND WORSE OF 2012

Now let us get to my top movies of the year. Once again, remember that these are my Best Of that I watched in 2012, not that came out that year. Since most of the films I watch are older or came out in the last year or so, it is hard for me to come up with a Best Of from the current year alone. So here we go, in alphabetic order:

• Beast Wishes (2012) – This was the documentary on Bob & Kathy Burns that we got to see at Wonderfest. It was such a heartfelt tribute to one of the biggest fans of horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. Not to mention getting any fan to drool over their collection of props.
• Chained (2012) – This one literally just got added to our lists yesterday. This was the latest film by Jennifer Lynch and stars Vincent D’Onofrio as a serial killer who keeps a young boy captive to teach him “the ways”. A very dark and disturbing tale, but D’Onofrio’s performance is stunning, as always. Not one for Sunday Afternoon with the family, but well worth the watch.
• Corman’s World (2012) – Another documentary on the legendary Roger Corman. Finally getting an Oscar for his work, this documentary talks to a lot of the people who came up through the Corman school of filmmaking, a lot of who has gone on to do much bigger things. It is a great inside look to this talented filmmaker.
• Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal (2012) – We caught this at the Music Box of Horrors this year and knew nothing about it before watching it. Very strange, gory, and quite funny. Something completely different than what we’d normally see coming out of Hollywood. Which is a great change of pace.
• The Hole (2009) – Joe Dante’s film that has been sitting around for a few years, finally gets a DVD release. Why they didn’t decide to release this to the theaters was a big loss of $$ since I think it would done quite well. For a PG movie, it was pretty scary. Very well made and a lot of fun.
• The Land Unknown (1957) – This is the oldest film in our list this year, but is a fun little movie. It is a great film that will change your life? Well, maybe if you were an 8-year old kid that didn’t grow up watching Jurassic Park. But I just love this film due to the effects that they were able to create, including some fun dinosaurs like a T-Rex (with working mouths) and some sort of water monster, it was damn entertaining. Sure the effects are very dated, but for those that are fans of classic black and white movies, I think you’ll be entertained.
• The Perfect Host (2010) – We had been meaning to catch this when we first heard about it but just didn’t get around to it until this year. We’ve always been a fan of David Hyde Pierce, so that might be one of the reasons that we enjoyed this film. But it was also a great storyline that had plenty of twists and turns in it that kept the plot and the movie going. Such an strange film, mainly due to Pierce’s performance, but we just loved it.
• The Skin I Live in (2011) – Now this might not be a film that I would probably watch again, it was one that I thought was very well done, and had one hell of a punch to it. It really is like no other film you’ve ever seen before. Great performances, very complex story, and one hell of a rollercoaster ride.
• Things (1989) – Another one from our Turkey Day event, this Canadian film is like no other film you’ve ever seen before. Words cannot express or explain this film. Such a low budget oddity that really has to be seen to be believed. But please…. watch it with some other like minded film fans. It will increase the enjoyment of the film even more.
• Woman in Black (2012) – While I did think they used too much CGI in the film, I still think they made an effective horror film. And it was great to see Hammer going back to their roots, with a great little gothic horror piece. Radcliffe did a great job, breaking out of his Potter reputation, portraying a highly depressed man who had recently lost his wife.  Well worth the watch.

As for this year’s Worst Of, I really only came up with 4 titles. And while some of these I don’t think are terrible films, which I’ll explain, they are more here because of the disappointment than anything.

• Cabin in the Woods (2011) – After hearing so much about this film, we finally got to see it when it hit DVD. This is one of those cases where even though it was so popular amongst horror fans, I just don’t get it. Not the movie… I get it. Didn’t think it was entertaining or good, but I get it.  What I don’t get it the love for this movie. Sorry… didn’t think it was funny, didn’t think it was a great story, and just didn’t find it entertaining.
• Promethius (2012) – We went to the theater to see in this 3D and have to say that this was the most amazing looking, beautiful, wondrous, technically thrilling piece of crap that I have ever seen. Talk about ‘eye candy’? That was all this film had going. Lame story, worse characters, and some of the dumbest things I’ve seen characters do before. I’ve seen smarter characters in a Friday the 13^th rip-off than in this film. So once again, the old adage that you can polish a turd as much as you want… it is still a turd.
• Theatre Bizarre (2011) – I had such high hopes for this movie since all the different people involved, I figured how could this be anything but amazing? But sadly, I thought it was just a mess. At best, a story or two was just okay, but the rest were just bad. So disappointed in the talent behind the camera and what we got to see on screen.
• The Thing (2011) – If there ever was an example of why a movie should just not be made, this prequel to Carpenters’ epic film is the prime one. While they tried to be different in some ways, they also mimicked certain scenes from the original film. It seemed that their main point of the movie is to make sure they hit all the key things that are left over in the original film, like the ax in the door. They spent more time on that aspect on the film than say… or a cohesive story that made sense? Didn’t matter if it made no sense whatsoever. Plot holes big enough to drive a snowplow through. Do I need to go on? While Carpenter’s original is still be rightly paraded as a classic 30 years later, I seriously doubt people will be talking about this film much longer. In fact, if it hits any end of the year lists now, that will probably be the last of it.