Movie Review: Creature (2011)

creaturebanner

Creature (2011)
Directed by Fred Andrews
Starring Mehcad Brooks, Serinda Swan, Dillon Casey, Lauren Schneider, Aaron Hill, Amanda Fuller, Wayne Pére, David Jensen, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Daniel Bernhardt, Sid Haig

There was a huge media hype when this movie came out, with ads and hype all over the internet. This little independent horror movie was getting a wide theatrical release and everyone was taking notice. Until it came out. The bad reviews started pouring in and it set a record at the box office as the worst opening in history, and was then quietly pulled from the theaters. Now I try not to get too excited about or buy into all this hype, especially when it comes from the internet since with a lot of these bigger sites, it’s in their best interests to promote something before they know what it is. Helps keeps those positive connections with the studios, you know? Remember all that pre-hype about the Friday the 13th remake? There you go. Continue reading

Fangtastic Weekend at the Skyline Drive-In

Skyline Fangtastic Weekend

If you’re looking for two nights of fangs and blood, then head down next weekend to Shelbyville, IN to the Skyline Drive-In for their two nights of vampire flicks! Each night, they will be screening 3 different vampire flicks, including Hammer’s Dracula Has Risen from the Grave!

For more information, just click HERE to get to their Facebook events page.

1000 Women in Horror

1000 Women in HorrorBack in Feb. of 2018, we posted a mention about this upcoming book. Well, now it is officially out and can be ordered! In this 600 page book, the author gives us a “love letter to both the stars and often-invisible women who have made the genre what it is today. From Classical Hollywood to alt-Nollywood, mumblegore to J-horror, this book offers a tiny global snapshot of the vast number of women who have worked in the creation of dark and spooky movies for well over a century, both behind and in front of the camera, and in films both widely known and comparatively obscure.”

The book covers over 700 feature films that were either directed by or co-directed by women, and also interviews with a ton of women who have been contributing to the genre over the years. In other words, this is a must for all horror fans because part of the learning about the genre is learning about those within it and the struggles and challenges they have. 

This is available in both paperback and hardcover editions, which I would recommend going through Amazon since you can save on the shipping charges that way. The book might seem a bit pricey, $44 for paperback and $54 for hardcover, but at 600 pages, I think that is more than a fair price. So order your copy now!

Mystery Photo 7-20

Welcome to another Monday, but one more closer to Halloween season. Yeah, I know that it might be difficult to have the same celebration as we normally we do, but at least at that point, maybe some people won’t be complaining about having to wear a mask! There’s a positive, right?

Okay, let us get to the business at hand. Our photo from last week was from the 1943 film, Return of the Vampire, starring the truly immortal Bela Lugosi. Got to give the filmmakers credit for creating some pretty atmospheric shots like this one. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answers: Hoby Abernathy, Brian Doering, Dave Fronto, Bob Hartman, Troy Howarth, Neil Kloster, Doug Lamoreux, and William Wilson. Well done, folks.

Okay, so this week’s photo might be pretty easy… for some. The actress might be easily recognized, but do you know which film it is from??? Just take a peek, then send your guess to us in an email to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

mp072020

Movie Review: Blood & Flesh – The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson

Blood & Flesh banner 1

Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson (2019)
Directed by David Gregory
Starring Al Adamson, Stevee Ashlock, John Bloom, Bud Cardos, Robert Dix, Tim Ferrante, Marilyn Joi, Gary Kent, Fred Olen Ray, Sam Sherman, Russ Tamblyn, Vilmos Zsigmond

Al Adamson’s films are really the epitome of what I consider a Turkey. It might not be well made, but it is usually entertaining. At the end of the day, that is all you can hope for in a movie. The more I had read and learned about Adamson, the more of his titles that I saw, like a few other low budget filmmakers, like Larry Buchanan, I discovered that I admired them more than their movies. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the wacky titles they would put out, but knowing a little history behind the production and the people that made it, it made me appreciate it for what it was, and not what it wasn’t. That is one of the reasons that I think this new documentary is just fantastic. It gives newer fans a better perspective of this man and his work, showing a method to the madness, as the saying goes. And even for older fans that maybe wrote Adamson and his work off, it will give them a little more insight that might change the way they see them now. Continue reading

Horror History: Hazel Court

hazelcourtHazel Court
Born Feb. 10th, 1926 – Died April 15th, 2008

While the gorgeous Hazel Court really got horror fan’s attention when she starred opposite of Peter Cushing in Hammer’s Curse of Frankenstein (1957), she had already appeared in couple of horror titles, such as Ghost Ship (1952) and Devil Girl from Mars (1954).  But it was Curse that made her known as an early Scream Queen. 

She would appear in Hammer’s The Man Who Could Cheat Death in 1959, in the underrated film Doctor Blood’s Coffin in 1961, before hitting it big with Roger Corman fans in three of his Poe films, Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964), where she got to work with other horror icons like Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre.

Not only very appealing to the eyes, Court was a fine actress that could play the villainess just as easily as the heroine. In 2008, she released her autobiography entitled Hazel Court: Horror Queen.

Friday Favorites: VHS Memories

VHS Memories

Okay, so the title is a little misleading. I’m not looking for your VERY FAVORITE VHS memory, but a good one. Let me explain a bit.

For those of us that grew up in the video age, going to the video store was a wonderful and magical time. Most of the time, at least for me, I wasn’t going for a particular title but just to wander the aisles to see what might jump out at me. There were those times when we took a complete chance on a tape just because of the box art, which was pretty easy with some of those Wizard Video or Super Video titles. Sure, sometimes they could be a real dud, but other times, the film would just blow you away. Maybe it was seeing a title on the rack that you’d been hearing/reading about forever but never had come across a copy before, where the excitement to finally get to see this movie, hoping it lives up to your expectations! Then again, sometimes it was all about how cool the box art looked.

That is what I’m looking for. Now is the time for us old timers to sit in our lawn chairs, and in between yelling at the kids to get off our lawns, let’s reminisce about the good old days of video stores!

 What was one of your favorite VHS memories?

Movie Review: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

notldbanner

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Directed by George A. Romero
Starring Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne, Russ Streiner, Bill Hinzman, Kyra Schon

When talking about an important title in any film genre, the word “classic” is probably used more times that it really deserves. I’m probably just as guilty as the next guy on that. But this is definitely not one of those times. When you’re talking about a film that gave birth to a whole new sub-genre of horror films, or one that makes an impact on viewers now just as it did over five decades before, then it really does deserve the moniker of a “classic”. Continue reading

Halloween Favorites

Fright FavoritesHorror scholar David J. Skal has a new book coming out this fall, just in time for Halloween, entitled Fright Favorites: 31 Movies to Haunt Your Halloween and Beyond. Presented by Turner Classic Movies, Skal takes on 31 films ranging from the silent era, hitting a few titles from each decade through the ’80s, and a few beyond that. Most of these everyone will agree are classics, with a few comedies listed in the later day titles. The description in Amazon says they are “family-friendly” but not sure The Exorcist (1973) and The Thing (1982) are ones I would be screening for 8-year old Timmy! Continue reading

Horror Fans Rejoice at the Midway Drive-In

banner

We normally do 8 or 9 conventions, or some other event like a 24-hour marathon, throughout the year. Of course, with all the current events, those have all been cancelled or rescheduled to next year, or at least they have so far. We’ll see how the rest of the year plays out, but I’m honestly not expecting much. So when the Midway Drive-In announced they were going to have a 2-day event, with Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell appearing both days, screening the Evil Dead trilogy, along with two other features, as well as having some vendors there, we knew we had to be part of that. Friday, July 10th, they would be screening Evil Dead 2 (1987) and then Army of Darkness (1993). On Saturday the 11th, they would be screening Evil Dead (1981) with a 4K restoration with new sound mix and score by original composer Joseph LoDuca, The Beyond (1981), and finally I Drink Your Blood (1970). Not only would there be horror vendors and raffles, but Mr. Campbell would doing a Q&A before the features. It would also be a chance for fans to have some sort of a convention or event to head out to and have fun. And that is exactly what happened. Continue reading