Monthly Archives: December 2020

Movie Review: Barracuda (1978)

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(1978)
Directed by Harry Kerwin & Wayne Crawford
Starring Wayne Crawford, Jason Evers, Roberta Leighton, Cliff Emmich, William Kerwin, Bert Freed

Being fans of Jaws, and all of his underwater brethren, I’m always curious, though tread lightly, on movies that deals with a type of killer fish. But if was made in the ’70s, on the box office wave the Spielberg movie made, it is even more appealing, mainly because they never could hold water compared to the original. Granted, no matter how good or bad they might be, it always enforces my fear of what just might be in the water waiting for me. Continue reading →

Soundtrack Review: Dracula A.D. 1972

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Dracula A.D. 1972
Released by BSX Records
15 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 53 min.
Music Composed by Mike Vickers

Growing up watching a lot of television in the early ’70s, you became pretty accustomed to theme shows from shows. So the first time I remember hearing the score for Dracula A.D. 1972, in my head, I heard “A Quinn Martin Production”. While most of you out there have no clue what I’m referring to, they were a production company that made more than a few shows back then.

Anyhoo… That is the big difference with this score, coming from Hammer that was known for their bold and gothic musical scores, hitting your ears as hard as the bright red blood hit your eyes. Vickers came up with a very modern, almost jazz sounding Main Theme, that while dramatically different from Hammer’s past, it actually works quite well here. The music, as well as the film, are quite dated in their look and feel. But Vickers does a pretty good job blending in the new with the old. Track # 5, Devil’s Circle Music: Excerpt from White Noise, is a wild mixture of percussions, distorted screaming, and other disturbing sounds, blended together like a bad acid trip. But when viewed in the film, it works just right. Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 12-7

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Welcome to the first Monday of December. Only one more month folks before this year will be officially done. Let’s just hope it wasn’t a warmup for 2021!

Our photo from last week was from Dario Argento’s Cat O’Nine Tails (1971), of the poor soul pushed in front of the train. Not the best way to start your morning, huh? Congrats to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Troy Howarth, Bryan Martinez, Vincent Simonelli, and William Wilson.

Now we’ll just have to see how easy our photo below will be for you. Is it an easy one? Obscure? Only you will know! Just remember not to post your answers here so others can have a guess. Just send your guess to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Holiday Ideas for Horror Book Lovers

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If you’re looking for a gift for someone that is an avid book lover that also loves the horror genre, there are so many titles out there to choose from. And they just seem to keep coming out too! In fact, it’s really hard for me NOT to buy them for myself! Yes, having a library of horror reference books is not as cheap as it once was, but I’m not complaining. To be fair, I do not have copies of any of these yet. Key word… YET! But I know at some point, I’m going to have to kick my son out of the house so my library can take over his room!

If you know a big fan of Dario Argento, then I would highly recommend the latest book by Troy Howarth, Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento. If you’re not familiar with Howarth’s work, this would be a great place to start. I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but I have never been disappointed by his work, always making them not only very informative, but entertaining as well. This covers not only his work as director, but writer and producer as well. You’ll read about everything from his early work in westerns to his move into the director’s chair, giving us plenty of memorable films, from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) to Suspiria (1977) to Sleepless (2001). You read new interviews with Argento himself, along with daughter Fiore Argento, actress Sally Kirkland, Irene Miracle, composer Claudio Simonetti, cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. Continue reading →

Soundtrack Review: Maniac (2012)

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Maniac (2012)
Released by Hamburger Records  2013
16 tracks with a total running time of 35 min.
Music by ROB

When this remake was first announced, most fans (including me) were scratching their head, wondering once again why are they bothering remaking a classic, trying to replicate the incredible performance given by the late, great Joe Spinell. But it happened. And no one was more surprised than me on how good it actually was. One of those elements that helped it break that “shitty remake” barrier was the music. Continue reading →

Turkey Day 2020

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We may have just set a record with this year’s Turkey Day, at least when it comes to attendance. Once again, with the pandemic raging on, we were force to hold our Turkey Day marathon online, through a streaming service. This time though, we opened it up to everyone if they wanted to join in. And I think we had around 20+ people in the screening throughout most of the day. So for that, I think it was a great success. We did have a few glitches in the beginning, but thankfully my technical staff (aka Jason Coffman) was able to help me fix the problem and from there on went on with very little issues. Continue reading →

A New Look at Dracula

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For years, some horror fans have concluded that even though Bela Lugosi’s performance is highly memorable, that the original 1931 version of Dracula itself doesn’t hold up well today. Honestly, I would have to agree with that. Which makes me even more excited to read this new book that has recently come out from Hemlock Books and author Matthew Coniam, entitled Dracula AD 1931.

In this 182 page volume, author Coniam wants fans to give this film a second chance, with his aim “of bringing it back to Undead life and to counter the accusations of staginess and anti-climax that have dogged it for 90 years. Through a detailed study of the film that makes much use of original research, he offers a new way of seeing Dracula that restores the urgency and excitement with which it was embraced by its original audiences.”

Now, as I said, I’m not the biggest fan of this movie, but do understand and agree why it is considered a classic. But I am very anxious to read this book to maybe learn a few things I wasn’t aware of, or even hearing another person’s insight that might shed new light to my thoughts about it. I mean, being open to different ideas about films is something all film fans should embrace, isn’t it? You never know what you might learn then.

Priced at £17.95 (approx. $24), one can order this title directly from Hemlock Books at their website HERE. Now if these books weren’t so darn expensive to import over here in the states….

December Kryptic Army Mission: End of Days

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For our final mission for 2020, I figured what better subject that the end of the world. I mean, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, so what better way than to go out fighting, right?

Now your subject matter is pretty wide open here, meaning you can go with a worldwide zombie outbreak, some sort of disease that has wiped out most of the population, or even some sort of creatures invasion that have taken out mankind, or at least a majority of it. The only key element that is required is that it would seem that humanity might be on its last leg, or has at least been seriously crippled. But besides that, it should be pretty easy to come across a couple of films that you haven’t seen yet. Continue reading →