Monthly Archives: December 2020

Movie Review: Prince of Darkness

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(1987)
Director John Carpenter
Starring Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Annie Marie Howard, Ann Yen, Ken Wright, Peter Jason, Alice Cooper, Thom Bray, Robert Grasmere, Ken Wright

This is another one of those examples where you have an opinion of a film from the first time you view it, but then at some point in your life, you revisit it to find yourself seeing something more than that first time. I was there opening weekend for this new Carpenter flick and don’t remember if I actually knew anything about the story before hand, but would never miss out on seeing his latest. My first thoughts were that even though I loved the music, I didn’t feel the same way about the film. I felt it was too slow and honestly the idea of a liquid evil or monster was just damn silly. I was also a little confused at who they were trying to bring from the other side, Satan or Satan’s father? Just a little too disjointed for me. At least, at that time. While my love of the score Carpenter did never wavered, eventually scoring a copy from a Japanese CD release (at a pretty penny), I never thought to go back to the film. I mean, if you don’t like something, why go back? But when one of Shout Factory’s Blu-rays came out, I picked it up during a sale and I figured I better give it another shot, trying to be a little more open-minded this time. Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 12-28

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Welcome to our very last Mystery Photo for 2020. Been a long year, that is for sure. I know I’m not alone is saying that I sure hope 2021 is a far better one then this year. I still feel its going to be a bit rough for the first half, but hopefully we start to see that change, at least once mid January hits. I know we haven’t had a lot of updates these last couple of weeks but the holidays have been taking their toll, so we’re hoping things will get back on track shortly.

Our photo from last week was from a made-for-TV movie from 1977, called The Possessed, that had an all-star cast including James Farentino, Diana Scarwid, Joan Hackett, Dinah Manoff, P.J. Soles, and some guy named Harrison Ford.

So to end the year, we’re going to go out with another obscure one, but not too rare. Especially since thanks to a recent Blu-ray label, this has now become readily available.  So give it a peak and see if you can’t end the year on a good note by sending in the correct answer! As always, please don’t post your answers here so that others can have a guess. Just send us an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com with your guess. Good Luck and see you on the other side.

Movie Review: Spider Baby

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(1968)
Directed by Jack Hill
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Carol Ohmart, Quinn K. Redeker, Beverly Washburn, Jill Banner, Sid Haig, Mary Mitchel, Karl Schanzer, Mantan Moreland

The first time I saw this film was on a shitty VHS bootleg that was barely watchable. This was still years away before it would released on laserdisc and VHS, and eventually DVD and Blu-ray. But even watching the grainy print on video, you could see something special in this strange movie. Thankfully we don’t need to worry about bootlegs anymore since there have been a couple of different special edition Blu-ray releases by now. How great to be a movie fan these days. Continue reading →

Happy Horror-Days and Merry Axe-Mass!

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I know there were some of us wondering if we’d ever make it to the end of 2020. Only another week to go, but looks like we have survived. Or at least most of us. While this pandemic still rages on, we can only hope things will look much brighter going forward, as long as we all play it smart, and take those precautions to keep yourself safe, as well as others.

That “others” part really is the key here, folks. Too many times we care about ourselves and not those “others”. This needs to change and can so easily do so with the simplest of actions.

I know this time of year, everyone puts on their holiday face and tries to be cheery and spread joy to others. But let us see if we can’t continue that once the holiday is over. Give someone a smile. Tell a worker at whatever store you are at that you appreciate what they are doing. If you are being served, in a bar or restaurant and get good service, maybe tip them more than you normally would, with a positive word or two. Maybe they’ve been having a bad day and are really struggling with life. You have the power to maybe change that person’s life at that very moment. Or maybe you just make their day with a nice tip, showing them that not all customers are jerks. And then continue that throughout the year.

Without any conventions for us this year, we have deeply missed our extended family, our friends from our horror community. But like real families, we know we’ll be seeing them again, hopefully sooner than later. We can only hope they are doing well and making sure we try to keep in contact with them as well, even if just to say hello and Happy Holidays. Friendship is one of the best presents one can get and receive, today more than ever. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Okay… enough of that sentimental crap. Wishing everyone out there a Very Scary Christmas to everyone out there from us at the Krypt. Try to get a couple of horror movies in while you’re (hopefully) off for the holiday! And if all goes well, maybe we’ll see you on the road again next year. Until then, be good to yourself, and others, and Keep Discovering the Horror!

Mystery Photo 12-21

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As I expected, our last photo was indeed a tough one. Honestly, I didn’t expect anybody to get it, although we had quite a few really good tries. But in the end, we did get one with the correct answer, and that was from Gary McGuire, who correctly guessed the Yugoslavian film, Leptirica, aka The She-Butterfly, from 1973. Well done, Gary!

Our photo for today is a little more closer to home. In fact, right from your living room. Hint, hint. But give a look and see if you can come up with the correct answer. PLEASE remember not to post your answers in the comment sections so everyone can have a chance at guessing. Just send your guess to me at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Book Review: Horror Express

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Midnight Movie Monographs: Horror Express
Published by Electric Dreamhouse, 2018. 137 pages
By John Connolly

This is another one that I just don’t know where to start. I came across this publisher about a month ago when they were having a Black Friday sale. I thought about ordering a few of their titles but being from the UK, it would have been a bit pricy. Out of all the titles, this is the one that had my interests the most, so I just ordered it from Amazon. Now, at a book that is only 6″ x 8″, and priced at $29, AND is only 137 pages, makes you wonder if it would be worth it. In this particular case, I would have to say no.

This is a strange one, since being so short, you’d think the author would dive right into the thick of it, but we go 30 pages before the author even starts to write about the movie! That’s almost a quarter of the book?!?! We read about traveling on trains, about the Spanish film market, the British film market, with some details that really have no bearing on the subject at hand. Now maybe if this volume was several hundred pages long, this information would fit in, but it’s not. So why waste precious pages on subjects that have only a distant connection with the movie? There is even a paragraph where the author states that at this point in his writing, he hasn’t seen the movie since he first saw it as a kid! Again, why waste space for that? Continue reading →

Mike “McBeardo” McPadden – Rest in Peace

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You don’t need to be a filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, or even makeup artist to have an effect on the film industry. When you’re a writer that is constantly waving the flag of cult and obscure, and just plain fun and crazy cinema, you are doing wonders for the genre. And this week, we lost one of those people.

Mike McPadden was an author and true champion of the weird and strange film titles that went across many different genres. His two books, Heavy Metal Movies and Teen Movie Hell, were proof of that. I had only met McPadden a couple of times over the years, seeing him at a few local Chicagoland events, but you couldn’t help but see his crazy enthusiasm. Mike passed away in his sleep earlier this week.

Our condolences go out to his friends and family at this difficult time. A friend has started a GoFundMe page (click HERE) to help funeral and living expenses for his wife and newly foster child they had just recently opened their door to. Mike’s voice was a strong one and one that I hope keeps going through his written word. Rest in peace, McBeardo.

Mystery Photo 12-14

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For our photo from last week, I decided to go with something a little more mainstream, but tried to pick a shot that maybe wasn’t as well known. Apparently I was wrong. It was from Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist (1982) and the man leaning into the window is none other than Lou Perryman, better known to most horror fans as the lovable L.G. from Texas Chains Massacre 2. I had the opportunity to meet him at a Cinema Wasteland show in April 2004, and he was such a great and friendly guy. When he was invited back to Wasteland five years later, we arrived Friday afternoon to hear the news that he had been murdered in his own home the night before. Such sad news to start the weekend off. So I chose that photo because most people didn’t know that was him, and to pay a little tribute to this great human being.

We did get a lot of correct answers, even some trying to post their answers on the site and Facebook. For shame, people, for shame. But kudos to the lot of you: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron AuBuchon, Cary Conley, Dahlia Daniels, Chris Dyer, Rick Hayden, Bryan Martinez, Martin Meeks, Gary McGuire, Erich Polnow, and Karen Shaub, William Wilson.

Since that one was so easy, I guess I’ll have to throw a curve ball and go with one that might be a little more challenging. If you feel up to it, take a look at the photo below and see what you can come up with. Once again, PLEASE do not post your answer here so that others can have a guess. It just makes it more fun for everyone. Just send your answer instead to me in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck.

Movie Review: Night of the Demon (1957)

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Night of the Demon (1957)
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Athene Seyler, Liam Redmond, Reginald Beckwith, Maurice Denham

There are those films regarded as classics, even amongst the horror genre. This is one of them. Released here in the states as Curse of the Demon, the story is a simple battle between the forces of good and evil. But it is also about what you believe in and if maybe, just maybe, there is something out there in the dark waiting for you. That the supernatural and all that goes with it, is real. Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Holiday Horrors?

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Everyone has their traditional horror movie titles they bust out every Halloween, from Night of the Living Dead (1968) to Trick ‘r Treat (2007), to so many other fun flicks. But we know us horror fans do the same thing for Christmas, don’t we? So with the holiday just a couple of weeks away, we want to know what Holiday Horrors you always watch this time of year? While others might be decorating the tree with It’s a Wonderful Life on, you’ve got Silent Night Deadly Night (1984) playing! What are some of the other seasonal favorites for this time of year? Gremlins (1984)? Rare Exports (2010)? Sint (2010)? Krampus (2015)?

Let’s here you!