Author Archives: Jon Kitley

DtH Episode 116 – Corman / Price / Poe

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House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

In the beginning of his career as a producer / director Roger Corman was known for cranking out cheap and fast black and white pictures that always made money. He worked in all genres, but it was mainly the horror and sci-fi pictures in the mid to late ’60s he was known for. All that changed in 1960, when he convinced AIP to let him adapt a story from Edgar Allan Poe, but in color, with a bigger budget, and longer shooting schedule. That started a new phase of Corman’s career, which also made an even bigger star of Vincent Price.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into three of these Poe adaptations, and not necessarily looking in the faithfulness of them, but in their production, the incredible casts, the look, the style, as well as the feel of them. They really do get better each and every time you watch them. Hopefully after listening to this episode, you’ll decide to either venture down this dark path for the first time or take a revisit to admire the doom and gloom they all have.

Films mentioned in this episode:

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Mystery Photo 2-16

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Our photo from last week must have been a little too new for most out there, since we only got one correct answer, which was from Kevin Hart. Well done, Sir! The shot was from the 2021 film The Deep House, directed by Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury. They are the ones that gave us 2007 film Inside, as well as some other good titles since then. The Deep House is the first haunted house film I’ve seen where the house is completely underwater. Worth your time.

But let’s get on to this week’s photo. Going with a classic but not a pic that you might recognize. But isn’t that the whole point? Take a look and see what you come up with. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

Book Review: The Ghastly One

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The Ghastly One: The 42nd Street Netherworld of Director Andy Milligan
Revised Edition Published by FAB Press, 2022. 256 pages.
By Jimmy McDonough

This has been one long journey. I started reading this revised edition back in 2023, but for some reason, I kept putting it down for a variety of reasons. There were other projects that got in the way, books I needed to get to that were sent to me to review, and life in general. But first and foremost, it was probably just because it is such a depressing story!

I knew of Milligan from seeing a few of his movie titles on VHS back in the day, namely The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! (1972) but never watched too many of them. In 2021, when Severin Films released their box set, The Dungeon of Andy Milligan, that featured 14 of his films, I knew I would pick it up. By that time, I had really become interested in a lot of these different low budget filmmakers, such as Steckler, Adamson, Buchanan, and knew that Milligan was one that I really wanted to learn more about. And I wasn’t let down by what I saw.

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Mystery Photo 2-9

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Hopefully the weather is breaking a little for everyone out there. We almost got to the 40s this week. Damn near shorts weather for us in the Midwest! But let’s get down to business. Our photo from last week was from the very first movie from Jerry Warren, Man Beast from 1956. This was before Jerry learned he could save money by using footage stock footage and sequences from other films! This one also starred Rock Madison, who isn’t a real person, but Warren figured that name would have some box office draw! Gotta love the old days of film PR. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Dave Fronto, Kevin Hart, Charles Miller, and Mike Shields. Well done!

Now on to this week’s photo, which is a little more current. Take a look and see if you can recognize what movie it is from. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskyrpt.com. Good Luck!

Columbus Moving Picture Show

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While this isn’t a new show for us, last year the Columbus Moving Picture Show moved from downtown Columbus to the northside of the city, which I have to say was a huge improvement, if just on the cost alone! Downtown was really nice but just a bit too pricy. I do miss our regular visits to Dirty Franks, but we’ve found a new great place. But more on that in a bit!

The main reason for this post is to remind some movie collectors about this show. It is old-fashioned memorabilia show, with tons of posters, lobby cards, half-sheets, 8×10 stills, and so much more. What it doesn’t have is a ton of celebrities with overpriced photo-ops and autographs. That is what sets this apart from most conventions these days and is one of the reasons why we love setting up there. And even though it’s not just horror, there is still a lot of cool stuff to find, though you may have to do some searching. Then again, that is part of the fun.

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Soundtrack Review: Dark Touch

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Dark Touch
Released by Tricatel, 2013
18 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 43 min.
Original Music by Christophe Chassol

It didn’t take but a few minutes into the movie for this score to get my attention. Right from the very beginning, we hear this haunting piano tune, which will always get my attention. But it continues on, drawing the listener in even more. The sound of the piano almost has a slight distortion, or like weird vibration to the notes, which gives it even more of an eerie sound to it. And right at that moment, I knew I had to look for this score after the film was done. Which is exactly what I did, and why we are here now!

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DtH Episode 115: New French Extremity Films

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In My Skin (2002), Inside (2007), and Martyrs (2008)

While the French aren’t known for their horror films, when they do move into that genre, there is something to be said. Perfect example is Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960), with its stark realism and dark themes, it is still a powerful film even today. But in the early 2000’s, a bunch of younger filmmakers pushed the boundaries even farther, making viewers even more uncomfortable as they view these newer entries into the genre. They were often graphic, some over-the-top, and others dealt with darker subjects that were just as disturbing, even though the violence and/or gore wasn’t onscreen. It was the subject and the way it’s shown was what was hard to watch.

In this episode, we decided to take on 3 titles that show the different ranges of that, from the very subversive and uncomfortable subject matter to taking the gore through the roof, but also making you think more than you thought you could, even leaving you in a distressed state for days after the movie ends. That is powerful filmmaking.

Films mentioned in this episode:

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Monsterama in Atlanta

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Ever since I heard about this show, we wanted to attend. But being in Atlanta, which is about a 12-hour drive, is a bit too long for us. Sure, might be easier to fly, but if we were going, we’d want to be vendors there, which means we’d have to drive. So, I would just sit and look at the events, the guests, and all the fun it looked like everyone was having. But not this year!

Because I wanted to try some other shows that were a little different than the huge convention with massive guests lists, to those where fans were coming to have fun and maybe learn something about the genre. Monsterama, which has been running since 2014, is the brainchild of Anthony Taylor, who I’ve known for a few years since we both attend Monster Bash every year. Just hearing about the way the show is put on, with all the different panels they have, plus the steady stream of films being screened from actual film prints, I knew at some point, I was going to have to make it someday. And this is the year.

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Mystery Photo 2-2

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Man, those last 4 weeks sure did seem like it lasted a lot longer than a month. Being that I’m STILL dealing with the remnants of whatever cold/virus that I got at the very beginning of January, I am one that is glad that month is finally over. Hopefully February will be a little better! But on to business. Our last photo was from the wonderfully entertaining and scary 1987 film The Gate. While it may be a PG-13 rating, there are plenty of things in here to get to most viewers. Not only does a very young Stephen Dorff do a great job, but we also have to give a special shout-out to Randall William Cook for his visual special effects work. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct title: Hoby Abernathy, Todd Barwick, Chris Dyer, Kevin Hart, Lee Nattrass, Jeff Owens, Tim Palace, and William Wilson. Congrats, my friends!

This week’s photo is a wee bit older, and while nowhere near as frightening, unless you consider the budget! Take a look and see what you think. Just remember to send your guess to me in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

National Film Registry Adds The Thing

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When you think about a film that has initial reviews that said it was “foolish, depressing” and its actors are “used merely as props to be hacked, slashed, disemboweled and decapitated, finally to be eaten and then regurgitated” and the film overall, “is too phony to be disgusting. It qualifies only as instant junk,” which was from the New York Times Vincent Canby. Or when Roger Ebert called it, “a great barf-bag movie.” But it wasn’t just these types of film critics that hated John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), his adaptation of John W. Campbell’s novella entitled Who Goes There, first published in 1938. Even Alan Spencer, writing for Starlog magazine wrote that the film, “smells, and smells pretty bad. It has no pace, sloppy continuity, zero humor, bland characters on top of being totally devoid of either warmth or humanity.” He went on to write that Carpenter should not be directing films, but instead, would be “suited to direct: traffic accidents, train wrecks and public floggings.”

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