Mystery Photo 1-12

Look at that! We made it through that first full week of the new year. Though personally, I’ve been battling a simple cold virus that has had me trying to cough up my lungs, but besides that, things are going just swell! It seems January is not a good month for me, since last year around this time I had Covid. I guess a bad cold is an improvement, right? Always got to look at the positives! Our photo from last week was from Eugenio Martín’s A Candle for the Devil aka It Happened at Nightmare Inn (1973). I have to say the recently released 4K disc of this from Vinegar Syndrome looks just amazing and has some great extras on it as well. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Steve Archacki, Dave Fronto, and Kevin Hart. Well done!

For this week’s photo, going a little further back. So, take a look and see if you can correctly identify what film this shot is taken from. Remember to send your guess to me in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Johnny Legend – Rest in Peace

January 11, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace and tagged Bride of Re-Animator, Johnny Legend, Man on the Moon, Severed Ties, Spider Baby | Leave a comment

Johnny Legend is a name that quite a few people might not know, and that’s okay. But if you ever had the chance to meet him, you’d never forget. He was an actor, director, wrestling manager and promoter, rockabilly singer, but most of all, he was a true lover of cult films and their filmmakers. I had the chance to meet him a couple of times over the years, and you never forget that. That man just exploded with passion with every work he said whether he was talking about Jack Hill’s Spider Baby or come other underground cult movie. He appeared in Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Severed Ties (1992) and even the Andy Kaufman biopic Man of the Moon (1999). On the laserdisc release of Spider Baby, there was a little piece outside of a midnight screening of the film, where some of the cast was there along with Jack Hill, including Sid Haig. They were all being interviewed by Legend, who praised the film so much. And this was a few years before Haig would be a big star because of House of 1000 Corpses.

This Legend passed away on January 2nd, and with that, the cult world lost one of its biggest supporters and mouthpiece. Truly a one-of-a-kind person. Rest in peace and know that because of the passion you passed on to others, they will now continue to pass on the love of the weird and the strange. Thank you, Mr. Legend!

DtH Episode 113 – 2025 Wrap Up

January 7, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Discover the Horror Podcast and tagged 2025 Wrap Up, 5150 Elm's Way, Alien: Earth, Born of Fire, Bring Her Back, Frankenstein, Marshmallow, Rule of Jenny Pen, Sinners, Vicious, Weapons | Leave a comment

Another year in the books, which means it is time for our annual Wrap Up, where we not only go through our personal favorites of the year, but also some other standout films, as well as some others that came out in the last 12 months. For the second year in a row, it is astounding at some of the high-quality pictures that have been getting released. From some going straight to streaming services, to other wide release pictures, there have been plenty of fantastic titles out there. It really is a great time to be a horror fan.

It’s a long episode, so make sure you have a pad and pen, because we cover a LOT here!

Titles mentioned in this episode.

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Mystery Photo 1-5

January 5, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Mystery Photo and tagged Mystery Photo | Leave a comment

A new year, a new Monday, which means a new Mystery Photo! Unfortunately, it seems nobody recognized our photo from last week. It was from Ghost of Kasane Swamp (1970), a staple in Japanese ghost stories, which has been filmed a few times. It has recently been released in the 2nd volume of Daiei Gothic from Radiance. Highly recommend both sets!

So on to this week’s photo. See if anybody can recognize where this shot came from. Take a good look and then send me an email with you guess, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Year End Review Part 3 – Never to Forget

January 3, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Anthony Dileo, Bob Burns, Clive Revill, Damien Thomas, David Johansen, David Lynch, Drew Struzan, Gene Hackman, George Wendt, Greg Cannom, Horst Jansen, Jay Warren, Jean Marsh, Jeannot Szwarc, Jimmy Hunt, Joe Don Baker, John McCarty, Lalo Schifrin, Lar Park Lincoln, Lawrence P. Raffel, Mad Ron Roccia, Mara Corday, Michael Madsen, Peter Jason, Richard Chamberlain, Rob Reiner, Rosanna Norton, Sam Sherman, Samantha Eggar, Scott Spiegel, Sergio Salvati, Terence Stamp, Tony Isbert, Udo Keir, Wings Hauser | Leave a comment

It’s strange that as I grow older, turning 60 this year, it seems more and more people that I grew up watching on the screen are leaving. Obvious, I know. But it hits harder now than before. There are some true icons listed here with some connection to the horror genre, as slight as it might be, as well as those that worked hard to help to promote the genre. And for each and every single one of them, I thank you for what you have given us fans of cinema. Your work will live on and never be forgotten.

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2025 Year End Review Part 2 – Best Viewings

January 2, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Bride from Hades, Bring Her Back, Bryan Bertino, Dakota Fanning, Daniel DelPurgatorio, Danny Philippou, Dark and the Wicked, Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, Heart Eyes, John Lithgow, Kathryn Hunter, Marshmallow, Michael Philippou, Monster Island, Peony Lantern, Rule of Jenny Pen, Ryan Coogler, Satsuo Yamamoto, Sinners, Strange Darlings, Talk to Me, The Long Walk, The Monster of London City, The Red House, The Ugly Stepsister, Together, Trouble Every Day, Vicious, Weapons, Wolfkin, Zach Cregger | Leave a comment

And who says there are no good movies coming out these days? For the last couple of years, my Best Viewings of the year have mainly been recent releases, most from that current year. And 2025 was no different. There are 2 from the ’60s, 1 from 2023, 1 from 2024, and the rest from 2025. That tells me a couple of things. That either in past years, I was busy playing catch up with a lot of older great titles that I had never seen before, or that there are some still people out there busting their ass to make some original and entertaining horror films.

I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I set a new personal record for me, barely, but still did it. I manage to knock out 447 films this year, with 209 being new viewings. It sometimes amazes me how many I actually get through each year, but honestly, there are some nights when I can get through 3 movies with no problem. It really has to do with the love of cinema.

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2025 Year End Review – Part 1

January 1, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Cinema Wasteland, David Hastings, Discover the Horror, Discover the Horror Podcast, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror, German Popular Cinema and the Rialto Krimi Phenomenon, Hammer Films, It's Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited, Janine Pipe, Matthew C. Depee, Music Box of Horrors, Music Box Theatre, Neil Marshall, Nicholas G. Schlegel, Paul Downey, Paul Naschy, Sausages: The Making of Dog Soldiers, The Making of The Descent, We're Here for the Krites | Leave a comment

This has been one hell of a year. On my write up for 2024, I made a point to remind us of all that with all the crap going on in the world, we need to look for the positives out there, because they are there and we need not lose sight of that. But I have to say, it wasn’t the easiest to do that in 2025. When I first started to review the past year from the posts here in the Krypt, I couldn’t find much that I thought were highlights. At least not more than a couple of things. But then I went back a couple of weeks later, with a more thorough set of eyes, and low and behold, there were plenty. Once again, it just shows that sometimes the positives are hard to see and remember. They might even seem pretty trivial, but they are there. So, amidst all the chaos and tragedy that is going on, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to make us sit back and think “yeah…that was pretty cool.” They might not be huge events or something, but that made you glad you were there and part of it. And we need to be focused on and remembering those moments, now more than ever, to help us get through this dark time we’re going through.

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Movie Review: Evil Dead Rise

December 30, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Alyssa Sutherland, Anna-Maree Thomas, Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead, Evil Dead rise, Gabrielle Echols, Ghost Train, Lee Cronin, Lily Sullivan, Mirabai Pease, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Richard Crouchley, Sam Raimi | Leave a comment

(2013)
Directed by Lee Cronin
Starring Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Mirabai Pease, Richard Crouchley, Anna-Maree Thomas

I did not get to the theater to see this but did it once it hit the streaming services. Not sure if it was just that service or what, but it looked very dark, like someone had cranked the brightness way down. Since there is no power in the apartment building for a good chunk of the story, it made it incredibly difficult to see what the hell was going on. That made the overall impression of the film for me to thinking it was just okay. So, I was very excited to revisit it now in its 4K release from Arrow. Boy, what a difference.

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Mystery Photo 12-29

December 29, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Mystery Photo and tagged Mystery Photo | Leave a comment

Welcome to our very last Mystery Photo of 2025. It would have been nice if these photos were more terrifying than the world right now, but sadly not. But I hope these weekly pictorial puzzles at least have been a slight distraction for some of you. But we’ll continue with them into next year, to continue to keep that gray matter between your ears working a little more. Congrats to Bryan Senn and William Wilson for sending in the correct answer for last week’s photo, which was from the little Australian film Houseboat Horror (1989). Not a great film, but there is fun to be had.

Now on to our last one for the year. Take a good look and see if you can recognize where this shot is from. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

Soundtrack Review: Vicious

December 28, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged Bryan Bertino, Lakeshore Records, The Dark and the Wicked, Tom Schraeder, Vicious | Leave a comment

Vicious
Released by Lakeshore Records
32 Tracks with a Total Running Time: 46 min.
Music by Tom Schraeder

In 2020, I saw Bryan Bertino’s The Dark and the Wicked, where that title really fit the film. Very dark and brooding and doesn’t leave you all warm and fuzzy. The score was from by Tom Schraeder, which helped moved the emotions of the story along, making the visuals even more powerful and impactful. And now with Vicious, both Bertino and Schraeder have done it again.

Once again, Schraeder has created a soundscape that enhances not what we’re seeing on screen but what we’re feeling. There is a difference there. In his score for Dark, it oozes that feeling of dread and of no escape. In Vicious, what we get is sounds that increase the tension and terror that we’re feeling as we watch poor Polly and what she’s going through. Right off the bat with Track 1, Spiral, we have strings going quickly back and forth in a face pace, with a background sound getting louder and building. That really starts us in the direction we’re heading.

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