Author Archives: Jon Kitley

DtH – Episode 103: Late Night Snack with Horror Artist Don England

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If you’ve been to a few horror conventions over the years, you’ll notice there are a few different artists set up there. Do you stop by and look at their work, browsing through what they have on display? These artists are bringing their visions of different horror ideas and concepts, in an illustrated way, hoping to catch the eye of a fan wandering by. One of these artists that has been setting up at shows for the last couple of decades is Don England. Doing the old-style pen & ink style of illustrations, his is very unique and very good.

We’ve known Don for many, many years, and know he’s as big of a horror fan as we are, so we invited him onto the show to not only talk horror, but also his art, where he gets his inspirations, and giving fans that might now know this side of the horror shows, a little insight into what it takes to be an artist. As well as his latest project, a little chapter size book called Late Night Snack, that covers a variety of subjects, filled with Don’s artwork, as well as essays on movies, short fiction, a comic, and much more. For more info about Don’s work, just click HERE.

Films mentioned in this episode:

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No Internet = It Sucks!

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Sorry for no new Mystery Photo this week, but we got hit with a big storm this last Saturday that knocked out our power for about 8 hours. When it came back on, no internet. Of course, it took 3 days for them to come out and fix it. So, in the meantime, while I could get to my email from my phone, couldn’t do much else. But hopefully we’ll be back to our regular rantings and ramblings from this point on!

Thanks for your understanding!

Music Box of Horrors – October Lineup!

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Not to be satisfied with just having their annual 24-hour marathon, for the last few years, Chicago’s own Music Box Theatre has lined the entire month of October with a wide variety of horror offerings, some with special guests, others with just some rare opportunities to see some very unique films. And this October is no different.

If you are in the area of the Music Box, I can’t recommend enough coming out and supporting the theater during this month of programming, for a few reasons. First and foremost, it shows the theater that these kind of events are worth it, meaning they will continue to program events like this in the future. For a guy that used to drive out the this theater in the 90s for a midnight screening of some cult title, only to have 5 other people in the theater, its a wonder they continued at all! So when you can, make sure you show your support by attending one or more of these incredible screenings.

Second of all, you are getting the chance to see some truly great and interesting titles in this lineup. For us classic horror fans, getting to see Charles Laughton as the mad Dr. Moreau in Island of Lost Souls, a film that has themes of bestiality in 1932, not to mention some incredible makeup effects. And then there is having the chance to see Lon Chaney Sr. in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), the original love obsessed stalker! Even though its a silent film, you will be amazed at Chaney’s performance. And that is just the start!

And there so many more listed here. Mark your calendar and make those plans! Just click HERE to go to the Music Box event page.

Oct. 1st – 9:15pm
In My Skin (2002)
Theatre 2 DCP

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The (Latest) Definitive Guide to Horror Films

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Being a collector of horror reference books, which includes several different film guides from throughout the past 30 years, I can’t help but add new ones to the collection. But as serious collectors know, you have to be a little careful before immediately picking up a new release, because you might already have an older version of the book, and sometimes the new version isn’t that much newer. Thankfully, it seems this version at least some more content added than just a few pages. But again, the rest of the book seems to be exactly the same as the last edition.

This title started back in 2006, under the title Horror: The Definitive Guide to Cinema of Fear. Then it was released again in 2010 under the title Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death, with a few pages of added content. Then three years later, it was released again as Horror! The Definitive Companion to the Most Terrifying Movies Ever Made, again with a few more papers of content added. Then five years later, and another 8 pages added, it was released again under the title The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies: 365 Films to Scare You to Death. And now, it is being released once again, with seemingly a bit more content, more than 30 pages added, under the same Definitive title, now with Ghostface from the Scream series on the cover.

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Dan Curtis Lives!

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I would like to hope that Dan Curtis was very aware of the impact he had on young fans of the horror genre. From when he took a chance on a failing daytime soap opera, adding a vampire to see what happened, he never looked back. As a kid growing up in the late ’60s & early ’70s, I was flooded by countless characters, monsters, and other ghastly sites, all thanks to Mr. Curtis. While there as not been a constant stream of his work being released on varying formats over the decades, from VHS, to DVD, and now Blu-Ray, there still have been some that we have yet to see. But thanks to Kino Lober, now only do we get two of the three of his retelling of three classic monsters on Blu-Ray the first time, we also get four films he made for the Late-Night Mysteries series, which all aired in 1974. And if you order them now, they are damn near half price! Both are priced at $39.95 (which is a great deal already with what you’re getting), but now you can get each of them for $26.57! Just head over to Kino Lober by clicking HERE.

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New Jack Hill Book

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Fans of exploitation films, especially in blacksploitation sub-genre definitely know the work of Jack Hill. The man has worked in many sub-genres, from the above mentioned, to horror, gothic, racing, sexploitation, and so many more. In the early days of his career, he was often called in to “fix” or “finish” a film that had issues, such as The Terror (1963) or Blood Bath (1966). He also worked with Karloff on his last four films, or at least the parts with aged actor that were filmed in the states. Afterwards, the rest of the film was finished in Mexico.

The shame is that unless you’re a real fan of the genre, most people don’t realize the impact Hill had on the films we love. Thanks to editor Anthony Taylor, Headpress Books, and a great selection of authors, they are putting together a collection of essays on the works of this unheralded master of cinema.

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Mystery Photo 8-11

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Welcome back to life! That goes mainly for me rather than you. Last week I contracted an infection of some sort that laid me out on my ass. With temps hitting 102.7 at one point while feeling like I’d been run over by a bus… twice, there is nothing more than going to the doctor, running a bunch of tests (some twice because they came back negative), from strep, to Covid, to even Mono (!?!?), but all coming back negative. So, of course, must be just some sort of infection. Here’s some drugs and on your way. Lucky for me, within a couple of days, I started to feel a lot better. Still not 100% but so much better than last Wednesday. But enough about me! You came to find out about last week’s pictorial puzzle! Then let’s get to it. It was from the amazingly terrifying film Terrified (2017), from director Demián Rugna. His latest film was When Evil Lurks (2023), which is just as scary. Both films will leave you absolutely on edge. Creepy and truly scary. Rugna is definitely a director to keep an eye out for. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, Kevin Hart, Steve Kennedy, Erik Martin, and Tim Palace. Well done!

Now for this week’s photo, might have to do a little digging in the dungeon, since it may look like a dozen different films right off the bat. So, think hard about it and see what you can come up with. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

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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