Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Mystery Photo 5-24

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A little late, but still posted today, so it counts! But let’s not delay any longer. Last week’s photo was from Mr. B.I.G. himself, Bert I. Gordon with his 1972 film Necromancy, also known as The Witching, starring the lovely Pamela Franklin and Orson Welles! While not one that I would consider one of his best, it is still entertaining and needs to be seen, even if just for the cast, and being a Mr. B.I.G. completist. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Brian Doering, and Kevin Hart. Well done!

Now on to this week’s photo, yet another photo of a corpse. A theme, perhaps? Or just coincidence? You don’t want to know how this brain works. Trust me. But take a peak below and see if you can recognize what film it is from. Just send us an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com) with your guess. Just remember not to post your guesses here so that others can have a guess. Good Luck.

Movie Review: No Reason (2010)

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(2010)
Directed Olaf Ittenback
Stars Irene Holzfurtner, Mathias Engel, Alexander Gamnitzer, Andreas Pape, Annika Strauss, Ralph Willmann, and Timothy Balme

Being a young gorehound back in the VHS bootleg days, you were always looking for the next Evil Dead type of film, with over-the-top gore, showing you the blood and guts action you’d never see before. When you hear of a German film moving through the great market, even though it wasn’t available in English or subtitled, it was extremely gory, you know you had to see it. That is when I first became aware of German filmmaker Olaf Ittenback and his 1989 film Black Past. On this SOV film, Ittenback was the writer, director, producer, special effects, visual effects, and one of the actors! He followed that up with The Burning Moon in 1992, another gore-filled low budget epic. For some reason though, I never followed his career after those initial titles. Maybe because the availability of other films, and then with laserdiscs and DVDs, I had my hands full.

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Movie Review: Onibaba (1964)

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(1964)
Directed by Kaneto Shindo
Starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Sato, Taiji Tonoyama

Back in the days before the internet, horror reference books are where we learned about older movies. For me, Phil Hardy’s Encyclopedia of Horror (the title of the first version of the book I had) was very key into helping me discover a wide variety of titles from around the world. There was a shot from this movie in there, of a woman wearing a demon mask, with grinning mouth and wide eyes, that immediately made me want to know more about it. Eventually I would track down a copy and then understood why it was praised so much. When you are talking about classic Japanese horror cinema, this must be in the conversation.

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Mystery Photo 5-17

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I can still remember opening up the pages of Fangoria and seeing photos from this new gore-filled horror/comedy from some wacko from New Zealand. Who would have known then he would go on to win an Oscar and create some of the finest moments in cinematic history, such as with Meet the Feebles (1989) and some series about a ring or something. Of course, I’m talking about Peter Jackson, and our photo is from his directorial feature debut, Bad Taste (1987), that took over 5 years of weekend shootings to finally get it finished. But even bad then, you could see the talent within that mad genius. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Todd Barwick, Aaron Christensen, Craig Clark, and Dustin Moravick. Well done!

This week’s photo is another classic from a director that, while never won any Oscars, definitely made some big features. Take a look below and see what you can come up with. Just send us an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com) with your guess. Good Luck!

Turkey Day in May 2021

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I know it’s only 2 weeks notice, but we will be having our bi-annual Turkey Day Marathon this month, taking place on Saturday, May 29th, at approx. 10am. We’re still working on the final lineup but we are planning on 4-5 features. And like last time, this will still be an online event that everyone reading this is more than welcome to join the fun. Not exactly the format yet either but hope to have that figured out shortly.

Stay tuned for more details.

Return of the Kryptic World Tour

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It looks like we will be returning to the convention circuit (if all still goes according to plan) at the end of July, for the Flashback Weekend, taking place in Rosemont, IL, from July 30th to August 1st. It’s been a long time coming, so we are very excited about it.

As usual, Flashback Weekend has come up with a wide variety of guests that should make all horror fans happy! They have Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith from the Saw series appearing, Mark Rolston and Jenette Goldstein from Aliens (among many other roles), a Friday the 13th: A New Beginning reunion with Melanie Kinnaman, Deborah Voorhees, Dick Wieand, Ron Sloan, and Carol Locatell. Also on hand will be Kane Hodder and Nick Castle.

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Friday Favorites: Jess Franco!

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Two days ago would have been Jess Franco’s 91st birthday. He would had to have lived another 109 + years to be as old as how many films he directed! There were some years he averaged more than one film a month! Love him or hate him, there is no denying the man loved to make films. In fact, there is below quote from him that I think not only explains him and his work, but also a work ethic that I think many of us share in.

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Skyline’s Super Monster Movie Fest Update

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The Skyline Drive-in in Shelbyville, IN has announced their lineup for this year’s Super Monster Movie Fest, and it is a DOOZY! The theme this year was The Devil Made Us Do It and I have to say, ‘ol Lucifer really helped them in programming one hell of a show! Taking place the weekend of Aug. 27th & 28th, with a special appearance by Sammy Terry! Here is what they will be screening:

Friday August 27th
The Black Cat (1934)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
The Sentinel (1977)
Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971)

Saturday August 28th
Curse of the Demon (1957)
Black Sunday (1960)
The Exorcist (1973)
Evilspeak (1981)
Satan’s Cheerleaders (1977)

We’ve been going to this event for quite a few years now and always have such a great time. They really have an incredible lineup, from some old classics like The Black Cat with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi appearing together for the first time on the big screen, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, Jacques Tourneur’s Curse of the Demon, to some favorites from the 80s like Evilspeak! How can you go wrong with Clint Howard contacting demonic evil though his computer?!?! Not to mention all the devilish delights you’ll find at their snack bar throughout the night! Hope to see you there!

Movie Review: The Dead (2010)

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The Dead (2010)
Written & Directed by Howard J. Ford & Jonathan Ford
Starring Rob Freeman, Prince David Oseia

When this first came out, I was amazed at how well done and effective is was. I recently got the soundtrack, which made me want to revisit it for the first time in over a decade. I was still amazed how good it still is and realized that I had never officially reviewed it here on the Krypt. That is now fixed! For a sub-genre that is a half of a century old (yes, I am making Romero’s Night the starting point) and has hundreds of entries, it is very difficult to make one that is entertaining, let alone effective and scary after all this time. But with a very small cast to carry the story, some incredible special effects, and a land as barren and sparse as one’s hope in the film, the Ford Brothers has created one of the best zombie films in these last 50 years.

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Mystery Photo 5-10

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It seems that while the word is slowly making its way back to a little bit of normalcy, it is also here at the Krypt. Looks like we’re done moving things around for right now, and even replaced our computer without too much trouble! My son would be proud! Now hopefully we can get back to the important things at hand, like today’s new Mystery Photo! We decided to go with another fun one. But first, let’s go over last week’s, shall we? It was from the 1975 epic The Giant Spider Invasion from director Bill Rebane! Believe it or not, but Giant Spider was one of the Top 50 grossing pictures of that year! No matter how you might view it, I’ve always found it to be damn entertaining. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Kevin Hart, Gary McGuire, Michael Shields, and Mark Turner. Well done!

So on to this week’s photo. Take a peek and see what you can come up with. Might be pretty easy for most (at least I hope so) but maybe not for everyone. So we’ll see. Either way, Good Luck! Just remember to send us your guess in an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com).