(originally posted on our old site on December 29th, 2013)

2013 YEAR IN REVIEW

For a year that according to the Aztecs was never supposed to happen, it sure was quite a year for us here at the Krypt. But before we get into all that, we want to take a second to remember all of those that we lost over this last year that we feel had an impact in the horror genre in one way or another. Whether a director, actor, stuntman, writer, or producer, these people below gave us something that we can still watch and appreciate even today. And because of these films, these people may have left this world but their memories will be kept alive by fans like us that refuse to let these movies pass on to obscurity. So please take a second to not only just read over the list of names below, but remember something that they worked on, something that you enjoyed watching, entranced, intrigued or simply just entertained by their work. That is how we keep them alive and remembered, and able to pass it on to the next generation of movie fans.

Karen Black, Richard Brooker, David Early, Roger Ebert, Jon Finch, Jess Franco, Julie Harris, Ray Harryhausen, Anthony Hinds, Jose Larraz, Wojciech Kilar, Richard Matheson, Eddie Romero, Ted Rusoff, Patty Shepard

A few milestones and changes were made these last 12 months for me, both on a personal and professional level. On a personal one, I celebrated my 25^th Anniversary with my wife, Dawn. Putting up for me this long she surely deserves Sainthood. Or a trip to the nut house, one of the two. These last couple of years she has been my regular partner in crime at the shows, along with our son Nick as well, really making it a family business. I can’t express enough how proud they make me feel and how happy I am that it has really become a family outing for us. I have also recently switched jobs. Yes, as much as I would love to have the Krypt as my full-time job, I have to work in the real world to support this thing. It is always a scary thing changing jobs, but I felt that it was the right time and was just getting too frustrated with the way things were being run at the old job. Nothing worse than having a high work ethic only to see your bosses not caring enough to fix the problems around. I found myself getting lazy and just not caring anymore, and that was just killing me. So when an opportunity came up, I jumped at it.  Only been at the new place for less than a month, but I have high hopes.

Also, I celebrated my 48^th birthday this year. That in itself wasn’t that big of a deal. Just another year. But at my party this year, something incredibly amazing happened. For my birthday last year, my son had bought me a projector and a movie screen for outside, so we have made it an annual event to celebrate my birthday with a double feature movie screening with a bunch of friends. Last year, my wife Dawn made a cake that looked like a drive-in theater, which was pretty cool. But this year, she really outdid herself. The double feature we were going to show was Sting of Death and Z.A.A.T., two low budgeted Florida based monster movies. Not great movies, but a lot of fun. Well, Dawn made a cake that featured the two beasties from these movies, making them out of rice crispy treats and fondant, slaving away for over a week forming them and painting them. It really was breathtaking how incredible they turned out. Knowing that I most likely had the first cake ever to feature these two characters, it was unbelievable. But then posting a photo of the cake on Facebook and getting responses on from the director of Sting of Death, William Grefe, as well as cult director Frank Henenlotter once I posted it was also pretty cool, but again it just showed Dawn’s talent. Once again, the amount of work and trouble that Dawn goes through for me is just staggering and makes me feel so unworthy to deserve such a person. So if there is anything that I am thankful for, being lucky enough to have her in my life each and every day is more than I could ask for.

This little website here also celebrated an anniversary, Discovering the Horror for 15 years now and still going strong. There have been times when I’ve considered shutting it down, giving me more time to spend on other projects, or even just having time to watch a few more movies, but it never happens and it keeps going. Who knows…one of these days when I have to upgrade the web design programs that I’ve been using since the beginning that it might be the day to make a change. But we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. For now, the support I receive from you out there in the wacky World Wide Web really keeps me going, as well as just knowing that I have this outlet for my passion.  So I want to say thanks for those that continue to come back here. No words can show my appreciation.

But something that I’ve been involved with this year that I am most proud of is the release of the book Hidden Horror. Not only am I privileged to be in the same group of so many other talented writers, but the whole concept of this book is so dear to my heart. Since I’m always waving the “Discover the Horror” banner, this book really sums up that philosophy to a tee. So when Aaron Christensen first told me about the concept for his 2nd book, I was very excited about it. He then went through the hard work of recruiting 101 gifted writers from around the world to focus on 101 movies that they felt needed more attention. Just compiling the list of films alone was no small task. But the 101 movies that they came up with up with is a dozy of a list, enough to keep even the biggest diehard fan busy for some time. The amazing amount of work done by Aaron, gathering this motley tribe together really shows in the finished product. And of course, making all of us writers look even better is the layout accomplished by John Pata, who slaved away for many months on this project (after even contributing an essay himself!) to make it look as good as it does. Many kudos to him. Though…just hope he remembered to spell my name the CORRECT way! But this is something that I am very proud of and deeply honored to be associated with such stellar group of writers and movie fans. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.

Another incredible thing that happened this last year was that my column in HorrorHound magazine was nominated for a Rondo Award for Best Magazine Column. Sure, I was the runner up, losing out to John Bowen from Rue Morgue, but honestly if I was going to lose to someone, I’m glad it was Bowen since he also works hard in his column trying to put a spotlight on films that need more attention. So kudos to him and hope he continues to fight the good fight! But honestly, just being nominated was a great thrill if only because it means the readers out there enjoy what I’m doing. That makes it all worthwhile, as well as it meaning that maybe I’m turning some people on to some films that are also off the beaten path.

We set up at 2 more conventions this year than we normally do, making it a total of 8 for the year. Two of which were first time shows for us, one of which will now be a regular stop in our schedule. As always, attending these shows is a real thrill for us. We get to meet some many new fans and dealers, making new friends at each and every show. We also attended two 24-hour movie marathons in October, even setting up again at one of them, not to mention the other special screenings and double & triple features we hit throughout the year, including a few trips to the drive-ins! Every time we go to one of these special kinds of events, and see the horror fans come out to celebrate these movies, it shows me time and time again how strong and faithful horror fans are. And I just love that.

At one of the shows this last year, I stumbled upon a book that I had been just wanting to add to my collection for a very long time, that is without paying an arm and a leg for it. It was the book on George Romero, The Zombies That Ate Pittsburgh. I’d seen them on ebay many times before, but I wasn’t going to drop $100 for a book. Sorry…not going to happen. But at one of the shows, while wandering through the dealer room, I spotted a copy on a table and quietly asked what the price on the Romero book was. Once I heard “$20”, I couldn’t get my money out fast enough. Granted, this guy was just dumping stuff from his collection and had no idea of the value, I wasn’t about to pass this chance up. But the real moral of this story is that if you wait long and patiently enough, you will find what you are looking for. Sure, it might take awhile but have patience. This was a book that I’d been looking for well over a decade, but I knew what I thought was a fair price and was going to wait. So many things over the years that I’ve seen with such a high price tag on it, I usually see it at some point later at a much reduced price. Not always, but you just never know.

We have added quite a few titles this year to our ever-growing horror reference book library, ending the year with a total of 675 titles in the collection, the last one being the recent one on Roger Corman, entitled Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses – Roger Corman: King of the B Movie, which my son got me for Christmas. Even with the cries that print is dead and bookstores are dropping off the map like Blockbuster Videos, I still continue to see more and more horror reference books being published that I add to my ‘want list’. While the whole e-book thing is the new rage, we’re hearing reports that percentage has dramatically dropped since last year. It is still up like 40%, but when they report it was over 100% the year before, that is a bit of drop. So there is still hope for book lovers like myself.

It has been years since I’ve gone to see a band play live. In my youth, it was something that I did a lot of, but it has become more of a hassle and way too expensive for me these days. It happens when you get old! But when the news that the Italian band Goblin was going to be touring the US for the first time, and would be playing in Chicago, I knew that I had to go. Every fan of Italian horror movies know who Goblin is and their work, with their incredible scores for Argento’s Deep Red and Suspiria, not to mention quite a few others. So having the chance to see them playing live would be incredible. And it was. Since I have passed on my love of their music to my son Nick, he was excited to come along with me to this event. It was also so cool to see so many of our Chicago friends at the show, not to mention a couple of our buddies, Ken and Justin, that drove all the way from Indianapolis for the show. That is hardcore! So with all that together, it just made one hell of a night. Standing there and hearing these iconic sounds coming from the stage, ones that we’ve heard for years coming through the movies we’ve watched over and over again, was just incredible. And then getting to meet the band after the show was even better. It really is one of those experiences that you can look back on later in life and say, “yeah…I was there.” Great memories.

So now it comes to our “Best of” list. As always, we do not limit those movies to the ones that came out this last year, but the ones that we’ve seen for the first time this year. Although, it is surprising to see all but two of these titles had come out either this year or 2012. Usually don’t see that many new ones that impress me that much. So let’s get to them. They are listed in alphabetical order.

American Mary (2013) – We had never gotten around to seeing Dead Hooker in a Trunk, so this was our introduction to the Soska sisters. Have to say I was pretty impressed. So great to see such an original story come out these days. Then again, it obviously didn’t come from Hollywood. Hopefully their originally continues in their career.

Byzantium (2012) – While the vampire genre has been done to death time and time again, leave it to Neil Jordon to come up with a refreshing take on it. Taking more than a few things in the vampire mythos and turning them on end, Jordon creates a different kind of vampire race. Saoirse Ronan is a young looking vampire but with a deep conscious of what she has to do to live, always dreaming of being able to tell the truth of what she is. Beautiful film.

The Conjuring (2013) – We were big fans of Wan’s Insidious, as well as the first SAW movie, so we were hoping he was going to be able to continue the thrills he gave us in those. And he did. I think one of the things that really set this movie to a high standard was the great cast. Very effective, creepy and scary. Though I did have an issue or two with the story, especially since it was supposedly based on a true story, but I still thought it was a very effective horror movie.

Evil Dead (2013) – This was a film that was met with a lot of grief when it was finally officially announced it was actually going to be remade. Honestly, I never paid attention to any of that rhetoric when the first rumors started about it, because I honestly didn’t care. Sure, I didn’t think it was going to be any good because remakes generally aren’t. So I never paid attention to it. When the trailer first started to appear, I will admit that the makeup and the possessed looked pretty cool. Even with the slight controversy about the film not having any digital effects, which was later, re-qualified, I wasn’t completely sold yet. But I did have plans on going to see it, if only just so I can give it an honest opinion. So we saw it opening weekend. And other than a few minor issues here and there, I thought it was very well done. Creepy, scary, and more gore on screen than I have seen in a very long time. Very impressed. So whether you take it as a remake, or just as a standalone movie, I think it does what it is suppose to in spades. This is one of the few remakes that really are worth watching.

Grabbers (2012) – I had heard about this one from a friend who’d seen it at a foreign film festival and raved about it. It is a story about some sort of alien squid being landing near Ireland but won’t attack and eat you… if you’re drunk! One of the few movies that really can do a great job balancing horror and comedy and they do it rather well here. Shame this movie hasn’t gotten more attention when it finally hit DVD over here, but I would highly recommend seeking this one out. Lot of fun.

The Loved Ones (2009) – This was one that I had heard about when it first came out, but just never got around to it. Wow… what a kick in the teeth. While it does go a little excessive when it comes to the pain inflicted here, it is still one hell of a twisted movie and one that will have you clenching your fists on more than one occasion. A dark and dirty film, but very well done with a great cast.

Maniac (2012) – Yet another remake that had fans crying foul, though not to the degree of Evil Dead did. The real difference here is that while it is a remake of the basic story as the original, it is quite different, especially in its delivery. The whole idea of the movie literally being shown through the narrative character is a very unique and chance-taking idea. But I think it worked. And I think Elijah Wood does a very commendable job here. No, he’s not playing the same character as Joe Spinell did in the original, but a different take on him. And I think it works quite well.

The Pact (2012) – If had watched this movie just a few days sooner than when I did, it would have made it on my Best of last year. But since that didn’t’ happen, it is making this year’s list. So great to see something not only original, but damn creepy as well. Once again showing that when you have talented people in front of and behind the camera, magic really can be produced.

The Revenant (2009) – Our second and last movie in our list that wasn’t from the last two years. Not sure how we stumbled upon this one but was not expecting to find some a dark and entertaining tale of the undead, gunplay, and vigilantes. A well written and funny script, good cast, and top notch special effects really set this movie apart. I’m sure it doesn’t help when the writer/director has worked in special effects for a few years, on films like The Abyss, Lost Boys, or Phantasm 2 & 3, just to mention a few. Definitely worth checking out.

Sinister (2012) – Not too many films from Hollywood that come out that I find actually good, let alone pretty damn scary. This one really knocked me for a loop. It is creepy and damn scary, but the beauty of it is how effective it is without really showing you the nasty stuff that is going on. It shows you just enough to let your imagination fill in the rest. There is even one scene that while you’re watching it,  you know damn well what is going to happen, but when it does just what you’re expecting, it STILL makes you jump. Very impressed with this film.

Some honorable mentions that all our still within the last 3 years: Attack of the Werewolves (2011), The Awakening (2011), John Dies at the End (2012), Mama (2013), and Resolution (2012).

We also want to mention some great documentaries that we seen this year as well.

The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters (1994) – I had no idea that this documentary even existed until I stumbled across while doing some research for a Horror History lesson for the website. It is a documentary on artist Reynold Brown. This was the man responsible for creating so many great works of art that just so happened to be used for movie posters! So many pieces of his work will be recognized by horror fans when they see them. Such an amazing talent.  While this documentary seems to be more about the industry than Brown himself, it would have been nice to stick with the main subject.  But none the less, a history lesson well worth taking.  It is available on youtube.

The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry (2010) – While I’m not too big of fan of the title, which is explained at the very end of the documentary, it is still a great look at one my favorite actors, Paul Naschy. It has been way too long for a documentary to come out showing the work of this talent actor, director, writer, and all our amazing figure when it comes to the realms of the fantastic cinema. Writer/director Ángel Agudo did a great job with this piece. Shame it hasn’t had more access to the fans, but maybe that will change in 2014.

Men is Suits (2013) – This was brought to my attention from our buddy Aaron Christensen who had caught a screening of this at one of the film fests that he had gone to this year. Writer/director Frank Woodward has taken on a noble cause with this great documentary, putting the spotlight on these actors, or “suit performers” as they are more commonly known as, and showing that they are so much more than just a person in a suit. Doug Jones is showcased here, probably being one of the more well known of these actors, but they also show quite a few and the tough and hard work they go through for their craft. And it really is a craft. Making a creature come to life when you are completely incased in foam rubber, makeup, and mechanical armatures, is no walk in the park. Yet these people do it all the time, but rarely get the credit they deserve. You can get a copy of this on Amazon. Well worth the $20.

Now that we’ve covered our favorites from this last year, it is time to mention a few that were at the other end of the spectrum.

Beneath (2013) – So disappointed with this one. Being a big fan of Fessenden and his work, both as a director and producer, I couldn’t have been more disappointed with his return to directing with this film. I do have to give him MAJOR kudos for not going the CGI route with the killer fish but actually having a real animatronic fish made. But as cool as that is, it doesn’t make up for the incredible poor script and some of the dumbest characters I’ve seen. This almost didn’t make my Worst of List because of the great fish…. Almost.

Blackenstein (1973) – For some reason I had never gotten around to watching this cult title, which is pretty surprising actually. As the saying goes, the only bad movie is a boring one. And that is exactly what this one is. Just a boring and terrible film. Not the blaxploition film that one would expect. Just a poorly made film from beginning to end, from script to direction to editing. Really a waste of time.

Iron Sky (2012) – This movie had all the makings of an instant cult classic, but they just didn’t have a clever enough script to hold it together. Give high marks for production designs, but it was just more silly than entertaining.

Return of the Killer Shrews (2013) – This title was something that we just watched within this week, and will have a full blown review of it shortly. For now, let’s just say the original 1959 film has better acting, a better script, and more importantly, better special effects than this new sequel does. I’ve seen better CGI on the children’s TV show Blue’s Clues! After getting my hopes up that low budget filmmaking can actually turn out a decent film these days, this one just put that thought back about 20 years. Just don’t understand how someone making this film can look at these terrible CGI creatures and the attacks and say “Yeah…that looks great!” A $10 hand puppet from Spirits Halloween store would have been more effective and entertaining.

This Is the End (2013) – The last one on our list was one of those that a lot of people seemed to not only enjoy but thought was funny as hell. Uh… I just didn’t get it. Maybe I’m too old, but just didn’t think this movie was funny in the slightest. Well made? Sure. Great special effects? Top notch!  Entertaining? No.