Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Mad Ron Roccia – Rest in Peace

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Back in the early days of VHS, there weren’t too many tapes out there of just trailers. Especially ones that just were about horror films, especially some obscure ones. But if you were lucky enough to stumble across Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell (1987), then you were in hog-horror-heaven! For young horror fans, this tape because a checklist of movies you had to find. Showing us bits from classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), but also more obscure ones such as Three on a Meathook (1972), Night of the Bloody Apes (1969), Deranged (1974), The Ghost Galleon aka The Horror of the Zombies (1974), and so many more.

Sadly, we heard that Mad Ron himself, Ron Roccia had passed away earlier this week. Ron was just part of the crew that gave us that wonderful tape, but it was sad news to hear of his passing. His work on that tape helped me want to seek these films out, and I know there were thousands of other fans that did the exact same thing. So, us horror fans salute you, Mad Ron, and thank you for opening those doors to us all those years ago.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this difficult time. Rest in Peace, Mad Ron. You will always be fondly remembered. Your legacy lives on.

Hong Kong Horror

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Back in the early ’90s, I saw an episode of the British TV show, The Incredibly Strange Film Show, with host Jonathan Ross, which features some of the best of cult directors, from Ted V. Mikels to George Romero. In one of the episodes, it featured Stuart Gordon in one part, and then Hong Kong producer/director Tsui Hark on the other part. One of the films they showed clips from blew me away, showing me creatures and monsters that I had never imagined before. From a long-tongued tree-demon, to stop-animated undead, to flying heads, and so much more. It was from the film A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). I knew I had to find this movie and immediately started my search. My first copy was a shabby looking bootleg on VHS, with no English sub-titles. And I just loved it. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorites.

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Book Review: Making of The Descent

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The Making of The Descent
Published by Telos Publishing, 2025. 184 pages.
By Janine Pipe and Neil Marshall

Back in 2005, I didn’t think I was claustrophobic. Then I watched Neil Marshall’s The Descent and quickly realized just how much tight spaces affected me. Just the first half of the film, I was on pins and needles, as these women crawled their way through incredibly tight passages, under water, and even getting stuck at one point. Oh yeah, and then the monsters show up!

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DtH Episode 102 – Bob Clark

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Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972), Deathdream (1974), Black Christmas (1974)

Director Bob Clark will probably always be remembered for his now classic holiday film, A Christmas Story (1983), released the same year as his previous film, Porky’s, which is one of the raunchiest sex comedies of that era! But he started off making horror films, 3 of them in particular, before he moved on to making films in just about every other sub-genre. But it is these 3 horror films that we are going to discuss on this episode. One of these set many of the standards of what would be known as a slasher film, while the others have two very different take on zombies. All made low to moderate budgets, but still are still so well made, it’s a shame that Clark didn’t continue on in the horror genre. Maybe that’s why he’s not remembered as much as names like Carpenter, Cronenberg, or Craven. And that’s why we’re discussing it now!

Films mentioned in this episode:

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Cinema Scares at the Skyline Drive-in

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Figures. The same weekend that we’ll be at Monster Bash, the Skyline Drive-in announces their incredible lineup for their Cinema Scares 2-day event. And to make it even worse (for me), they are screening a Paul Naschy film!!! If I could only clone myself…

None the less, if you are free the weekend of Oct. 10th and 11th, and can make it out Shelbyville, IN, then I would strongly suggest planning a weekend at the Skyline. Not only do they have an amazing lineup of films but have 4 special guests that will be attending on both days. Here’s the list of features and guests:

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Mystery Photo 8-4

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Welcome to August! Just 2 months away from our favorite month! Well, at least mine, but I’m sure there are a few others out there. Of course, that also means (hopefully) just one more month of higher temps outside. We survived Flashback Weekend, which is my excuse for not having this posted earlier today. But the sun is still up, so it still counts! But first, let us review last week. While I had a few emails with their guess with basically stating “One of those Rollin films!”, and I do mean a few, it is actually from his 1975 film Lèvres de sang aka Lips of Blood. I have to say, if you’re like me, and watched some of his films decades ago and weren’t that impressed with them, I urge you to go back and check some of them out. You might find yourself changing your mind, again, like myself. Anyway, kudos to the following: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Aubuchon, Aaron Christensen, Dada Debaser, Chris Dyer, Dave Fronto, Ken Johnson, Erik Martin, and Tim Palace.

Now on to this week’s photo. Take a peek and see what you think! Just remember to send me an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

Young Brain vs Old Brain

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I’ve written many times about the “new eyes” concept, where you can’t see the same film twice with the same eyes. In fact, I wrote a whole chapter on it in my book, Discover the Horror back in 2019. But I got to thinking recently about something a little different about that concept. Yes, I still believe in that theory about your eyes while viewing a film, but I started to realize it goes deeper than just that. Sometimes, it is our brain that is “seeing”, or rather “thinking” about something differently or realizing how we’re taking in the story is much different than we thought the first time, or times, around.

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Mystery Photo 7-28

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That’s right, our last photo for July. Only one more month of this brutal heat (hopefully) before we can really get settled in for the fall season, and of course, Halloween. Granted, we all know that every day is Halloween for most of us. But at least we won’t be sweating as much! Our last photo was from the “The Shadmock” segment from the 1981 film The Monster Club. Usually thought of as an Amicus production, it’s technically not, even though Milton Subotsky was the producer. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Dada Debaser, Dave Fronto, Kevin Hart, Ken Johnson, Erik Martin, Robert Nemeth, Mike Pniewski, Bryan Senn, Mike Shields, William Wilson, and Greg Wojick. Well done!

On to this week’s photo. Might be a little tougher with this one but take a look really good and see if you can recognize what movie this amazing shot is from. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

It Came from the 1950s to Niles Library

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This Wednesday, Aaron Christensen and I will be heading to the Niles-Maine District Library to present a lecture on the Sci-Fi / Horror films of the 1950s. It will take place from 7pm to 8pm, in Studio B, and address is 6960 Oakton St., Niles, IL 60714. We would love to have anybody come out and join our celebration of all those atomic monsters and alien creatures that the movie-going audiences had to deal with back then!

For all the information about the event, just click HERE!

Flashback Weekend Coming!

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In just 6 days, we’ll be heading into Rosemont for this year’s Flashback Weekend! As usual, they have an incredible guest list. There is a Re-Animator reunion with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Bruce Abbott, which is celebrating its 40-year anniversary! Along with a reunion for The Howling (1981), with director Joe Dante, and stars Dee Wallace and Belinda Belaski. Of course, Robert Englund is also appearing! Then there is a Terrifier reunion with 11 guests from the film series. But also, names like Devon Sawa, Charles Band, Kane Hodder, Danielle Harris, Adam Green, Ken Kirzinger, Amanda Wyss, Tuesday Knight, Andras Jones, and more.

Of course, there is also the HUGE dealer room filled with plenty of goodies to tempt money from your wallets. And as always, we will be vending there as well, with our usual array of horror reference books, while my wife will have her selection of Horror Slave custom pillows, tote bags, and more.

For all the info, head over to their website HERE, and we hope to see you there!