Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Horror History: Erika Blanc

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erikablancEricka Blanc
Born July 23rd, 1942

Born as Enrica Bianchi Colombatto, she changed her name to Ericka Blanc when she got into movies. Fans of Euro horror may recognize her face, since she has worked on some great films with some great talent, from the giallo to westerns to horror. Blanc was the first woman to play the famous character Emmanuelle in the 1969 film Lo, Emmanuelle, which would later be played by several other actresses over the years.

For for us horror fans, it was her work in films like Mario Bava’s Kill Baby, Kill (1966), the rarely talked about The Vengeance of Lady Morgan (1965), The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971), working alongside Paul Naschy in A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975), and one of our personal favorites, Jean Brismée’s The Devil’s Nightmare (1971). So don’t be surprised if you’re watching a classic Euro horror films from the ’60s or ’70s and see this lovely lady’s face appear on the screen. If it does, the film just got a little better.

July Kryptic Army Mission: Go Ask Alice!

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alice in wonderlandOn July 4th, 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took the three daughters of his good friend, Henry Liddell, on a little rowing excursion. During the journey, the young girls pressed him for a story. It was on this trip that the beginning of the now famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland started to form. It would be published in 1864, under his penname Lewis Carroll.

Carroll’s story is a perfect example of the Literary Nonsense sub-genre, where it “balances elements that make sense with some that do not, with the effect of subverting language conventions or logical reasoning.” Make sense, right? I honestly just love the fact that there is an actual sub-genre called Literary Nonsense! But let’s get back to our mission. Continue reading →

Philip Latham & Dan Hicks – Rest in Peace

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The great thing about the horror genre and the fans is that you don’t have to be a huge iconic star to be remembered. Today, I’ve heard the news that we’ve lost two actors that might not have made a ton of films or starred in them, but they made such an impact, even if only in one film, that fans remembered them for decades to come. Both of these actors were like that.

Continue reading →

Bruce Campbell at the Midway Drive-In

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Bruce at the Midway

Are you anxious to get out of the house and see some classic horror films in the theater? Wait? Indoor theaters not open yet? No worries. Now is your chance to still go to the theater and see some classic horror films on the big screen, all from the comfort of your own car!

Oh yeah… Did I mention that Bruce Campbell will be there as well.

On July 10th & 11th, the Midway Drive-In in Dixon, IL, will be hosting the one and only Bruce Campbell for two nights of fright films that we all love. Now this isn’t the usual event at the Midway, so you’ll need to head over to the Flashback Weekend site (just click HERE) for all the ticket information, as well as the latest information about the event.

Also, because of Covid-19, there are new rules that MUST be followed. Click HERE for those rules and policies. Remember folks, this is about keeping everyone safe, from you and your family, to everyone else coming out to enjoy the evening. So please make sure you read and follow the rules and we can all still have a safe and fun night at the drive-in.

Here is the events planned for each night: Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 6-29

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Our last photo for June. This means that summer is 1/3 over! Some might not be happy about that, but I definitely am. Anyway, our photo from last week was from the film Deranged (1974), one of the the best adaptations of the story of real like nutter Ed Gein. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Peggy Christie, Kuba Haczek, Martin Meeks, Gary Miller, Michael Shields, and Greg Wojick. Well done!

On to this week’s photo. Give it a close look because it things might not be as they seem at first glance. Just remember, just send us an email with your guess, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

mp062920

Soundtrack Review: Prince of Darkness

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Prince of Darkness soundtrack (1)Prince of Darkness
Released by Alan Howarth Incorporated, 2008
28 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 134:50 min.
Music Composed by John Carpenter, in association with Alan Howarth

Back in 1988 when this movie first came out, I saw it opening weekend. I mean, it was a new John Carpenter movie after all. But upon that first viewing, I actually didn’t care for it that much. I did love the music, though, right from the opening queue. So while I didn’t care for the movie itself, I immediately started looking for the soundtrack, only to find it impossible to find. Supposedly, Varèse Sarabande released it in 1987, but I could not find it. Years later, I was able to finally score a copy of it from a German release. And after all those years, the score still kicked ass. I also finally came around to really liking the film. I still have a few issues with it, but it is still a damn good movie. Continue reading →

Horror History: Stelvio Cipriani

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stelviociprianiStelvio Cipriani
Born Aug. 20th, 1937 – Died Oct. 1st, 2018

For some reason this name might not be that familiar (which is a shame), but if you’re a fan of Italian movies, then you’ve most likely heard his work. Cipriani is a composer that has written music for over 200 films. Working in many different genres, he created his share of horror film scores. He worked with Mario Bava on quite a few films, such as A Bay of Blood (1971), Baron Blood (1972) and would later score Rabid Dogs (1974). He also did the music for Riccardo Freda’s Tragic Ceremony (1972), Luciano Ercoli’s Death Walks on High Heels (1971), as well as films like Tentacles (1977), The Great Alligator (1979), Nightmare City (1980), Piranha 2 (1981), and a few more.

When he scored Tentacles , he re-used the main theme from one of his earlier movies, La Polizia sta a Guardare (1973), which apparently a young filmmaker named Taratino liked the film so much that he used it in this film Death Proof (2007).

With all the great Italian films out there, the music is usually very effective as well as important to the whole feel of the movie experience. That is why these hard working composers, like Cipriani need to be noticed and remembered.

Friday Favorites: Dick Smith Remembered

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Dicksmith 1 (1)

For this Friday Favorites, we’re going to do something a little different. On this day in 1922, Richard Emerson Smith was born, in Larchmont, New York, and would grow up to become one of the greatest makeup artist of all time. When it comes to the horror genre, while he did work on a few, it was nowhere near as many as some of his contemporaries or the next generation of artists, such as Rick Baker, Stan Winston, or Tom Savini. But the ones he did work on, literally changed movie history. For the longest time, I thought 44-year old Max Von Sydow was a much older man because of the old age makeup Smith did on him for The Exorcist (1973). Not only did he do the character makeup for Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972), but also the realistic bullet hits as well. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Magic (1978)

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magicbanner

Magic (1978)
Directed by Richard Attenborough
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Ed Lauter

While most of American learned who Anthony Hopkins was from his Oscar winning performance in Silence of the Lambs (1991), it was with this film that I became of aware of not only the actor, but just how talented he was. In fact, when this movie came out, the first night the trailer showed up on television, the networks had a ton of complaints from people that were terrified by it. As the poster states, this is a “terrifying love story”, and this just what it is, but brought to life by talented actors. Continue reading →

The Making of Aliens Book

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Making of AliensJust when you think there couldn’t be another book released about the Alien series, this Sept. we will have another one to add to the library! Following up with his The Making of Alien book from last year, this year we get The Making of Aliens, once again from Titan Books.

Priced at $60 and 300 pages, this volume tells “the complete story of how Cameron and Hurd, together with their immensely talented cast and crew, brought heroine Ellen Ripley back to the big screen—and upped the stakes by introducing a whole army of aliens for her to face.”

It will features interviews with the cast and crew, filled with tons of photos, illustrations, and concept art, and so much more. There is a reason this film is still loved and worshiped today, so this will be a nice look back at one of our favorites.