Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Soundtrack Review: Final Exam

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finalexamFinal Exam
Released by American Entertainment Industries
13 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 36 min.
Composed by Gary S. Scott

I picked up a CD-R of this soundtrack at a convention, since it had never been released before on CD and I’m a sucker for soundtracks. I hope that it gets an official release at some point because I really enjoyed it! It is very simple, with seemingly done with a keyboard, but it is still effective. Scott comes up with some nice spooking sounding cues, others doing a nice job building some suspense, and a love theme in there. Yes, there is a track that it sounds like he’s making fart noises with this hands, but there is also a fun little song called The Executioner’s Song, with a great line about a guillotine “dripping with the memories of the people it had seen.” Awesome!

This was Scott’s first soundtrack before working on a lot of TV scores, including some work on Freddy’s Nightmares. While this might not be a classic score, for what it is, I found it pretty entertaining.

The movie, however, is not, and I would not recommend watching it. Oof!

Mystery Photo 5-18

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Another month half over. Time just flying by, huh? Well, to make it a little easier, let’s have another Mystery Photo, shall we? This one might be a little easy. But first, let’s take care of last week. It was from the 1962 film La strage dei vampiric, better known here in the states as Slaughter of the Vampire, a nice little black and white gothic traditional vampire story with lots of great atmosphere. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Dave Fronto, Bob Hartman, Michael Shields, Vincent Simonelli, and Kristin Wicks. Well done!

Now on to this week’s photo. Might be easy, might not be. Take a look and see what you think. Just send us an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com) with your guess. Good Luck!

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Movie Review: The Reptile (1966)

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The Reptile (1966)
Directed by John Gilling
Starring Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Jacqueline Pearce, Ray Barrett, Michael Ripper

As a young horror fan, when you page through enough of the classic horror reference books, you’re bound to come across a shot of the title terror from this movie. I know I had seen it many, many times before I got to see the actual film. Each time I saw the image, my mind raced to imagine what kind of movie this could be with a monster like this, with large fangs and even larger bulging eyes! It is also one of the movies that would never live up to those high expectations that your mind had set, waiting to see this snake creature slithering about throughout the whole movie. Sadly, it doesn’t, only get to see it a few times, in short quick shots. None the less though, once you get over that and really watch the film for what it is, you’ll find a very strange story. And like most Hammer pictures, a highly enjoyable one as well as memorable. Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

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The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
Directed by Val Guest
Starring Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Richard Wordsworth, Margia Dean, Thora Hird, Lionel Jeffries

“There’s no room for personal feelings in science.”
– Professor Bernard Quatermass –

That quote is one of the reason why I enjoy the Quatermass movies so much. What attracted me the most was the blind dedication that Quatermass has, much like one of his fore-fathers… Victor Frankenstein. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt when you have an alien monster on loose either. Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 5-11

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And here we’ve made it to another Monday. Right. Our photo from last week was from the Paul Naschy giallo from 1975 called A Dragonfly for Each Corpse. Great title, huh? Congrats to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Craig Clark, Kuba Haczek, Bryan Martinez, and Tim Palace. Well done, lads!

For this week’s photo, we’re going back to black and white. See if you can recognize this little pic! Just remember to email your answer to me at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Soundtrack Review: Fear No Evil

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fearnoevilcdFear No Evil
Released by Percepto Records, 2005
16 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 37 min.
Music by Frank Laloggia and David Spear

With a movie being about the rise of the Anti-Christ, you’d think you’ve have a score that would be more reminiscent of something like The Omen, but what you get here is a beautiful piece of music. Okay, there are a few darker elements going on here, but it is more subtle than blaring in your face.

This was the first film by Frank LaLoggia, who also did the score for this, with David Spear. It really shows LaLoggia’s talent as a musician because he comes up with a truly haunting score, that blends perfectly into the film. With a combination of some electronic music with some beautiful strings, some slow and somber guitar, the score gives a sound much bigger than what you’d expect from a low budget feature. There are a few tracks here and there that have a more sinister tone to them, but he doesn’t go the easy route with them, instead making even those sound more like church music with a darker feel.

 

Movie Review: The Psychic (1977)

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Sette Note in Nero (aka The Psychic, 1977)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Jennifer O’Neil, Gabriele Ferzetti, Marc Porel, Gianni Garko, Ida Galli, Jenny Tamburi, Fabrizio Jovine, Riccardo Parisio

This film is a perfect example of how one’s own opinion can change over the years, and you as a film fan develops a more of a… shall we say… refined taste? As saying goes that you can’t watch a movie with the same eyes twice, and this title is a perfect example of that. The first time I watched this was when I had just started to get into Lucio Fulci, mainly watching his gore flicks, such as Zombie (1979) and The Beyond (1981), just to name a couple. So when there was very little gore to this one, other than the opening (which I have to say now is one of the worst parts of the film), I found the rest to be a little boring and never gave it a second thought. When an updated release of the film came out on DVD, it had been well over a decade, so I thought it was about time I give it a second viewing to see if anything had changed. And it did. Or should I say, I did. Continue reading →

Little Shoppe of Horrors #44

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LSoH44The latest issue of THE best Hammer magazine out there, Little Shoppe of Horrors, is taking orders for issue # 44, which is covering The Hound of the Baskervilles, as well as The Stranglers of Bombay and The Terror of the Tongs.

As with all issues of LSoH, there is plenty of great material here,  written by some of the best Hammer scholars, such as Denis Meikle and Bruce G. Hallenbeck.

David J. Miller has an article on Hammer’s DP Jack Asher, called He Painted with Light, as well as coverage on the new Dracula BBC series.

With another stunning cover by Mark Maddox, as well as other amazing art and illustrations inside, it doesn’t take long to realize why this magazine has been going for close to 50 years. Every issues is always a real treat.

You can order your copy now by going to their site HERE. Especially during these strange times, the creators of magazines like this need your support! 

Soundtrack Review: Twins of Evil

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twins of evilTwins of Evil
Released by GDI Records, 2000
22 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 44 min.
Music by Harry Robertson (listed as Harry Robinson)

One of the many things that made Hammer Films so memorable was the music. With booming sounding themes, they always made an impact. And Robertson’s score for Twins of Evil is no different. The opening theme immediately puts the images in your head of the Brotherhood riding their horses through the forest, searching out the wicked! One little cue was used in the trailer (as well as many parts of the movie) that has always stuck in my brain, probably from watching the trailer and movie more than a few times. But it is the march-type theme of the Brotherhood that is most familiar. 

The use of strings seems to be the most prominent instrument here, though we do hear from the wind instruments, such as in the Karnstein’s Guest track. This is a perfect example how a rousing score just adds to what we’re seeing on screen, and Hammer did that so well. Being one of my favorites of Hammer’s, this score is right up there as well.

Movie Review: The Prowler (1981)

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The Prowler (1981)
Directed by Joseph Zito
Starring Farley Granger, Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Cindy Weintraub, Lawrence Tierney

While overseas during World War II, a soldier receives a “Dear John” letter from his girlfriend. Once he returns home, he gets revenge during the local graduation dance by stabbing a pitchfork through her and her new boyfriend. We now move ahead to present day (or 1980, for that matter), where the town is planning on its first graduation dance since those unsolved murders back at the end of the war. The sheriff is on his way out for his yearly fishing trip, and leaves the town in the hands of his young deputy. When the news of a fugitive on the loose in a nearby town, the deputy and his girlfriend start to get nervous. More importantly, who is this guy sneaking around in the army gear, armed with a bayonet and pitchfork? Continue reading →