Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Movie Review: The Vampire Doll (1970)

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vampire doll 4

The Vampire Doll (1970)
Director Michio Yamamoto
Starring Kayo Matsuo, Akira Nakao, Atsuo Nakamura, Yukiko Kobayashi, Yôko Minakaze

In 1970, director Michio Yamamoto released the first film in what is now called the Blood Thirsty Trilogy, which has recently been released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video. They all have somewhat of a vampire theme to them, using the feeling of traditional gothic horror and the usual vampire trappings that was being made famous by Hammer studios in the UK, as well as in America. But these are kept in a modern day Japan setting and still putting their own little touches in there.

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Soundtrack Review: Let the Right One In

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Let the Right One In Soundtrack

Let the Right One In
Release by Moviescore Media
21 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 46 min.
Music composed by Johan Soderqvist

Seeing this movie the first time, the music blended in so well, that I didn’t even realize how effective it was until I had gotten the score and listened to it by itself. Wow.

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Horror History: Bernard Robinson

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Bernard RobinsonBernard Robinson
Born July 28th, 1912 – Died Mar. 2nd, 1970

If you are a fan of Hammer Films, then you are a fan of Robinson’s work, even if you don’t realize it. Robinson was the art director and later production designer that worked on good number of their films, from Quatermass 2 (1957) to Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969). The first actual film that he worked on was as an art director on The Case of the Frightened Lady (1938). Over those early years, he became good friends with Tony Keys, who would later invite Robinson to come work for Hammer.

Robinson could not only create unbelievable sets out of very little money, he also designed sets that could be used over and over again but moving things around and a little re-dressing. In fact, he was a master of his. Director Terence Fisher had stated that with one of Robinson’s sets, he could point the camera anywhere and he knew it would look fantastic.

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Mystery Photo 5-21

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I think we might have set a new record this time out. Granted, I don’t keep track of the highest number of correct answers sent it, but I don’t remember the last time we got 15 of them! Well done people! The photo was from the 1974 film Sugar Hill, which I have to say has some of the best looking voodoo zombies around. Congrats to the following who sent in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Wendy Bodine, Jamie Chimino, Rob Floyd, Dave Front, Troy Howarth, Toni Keen, Doug Lamoreux, Martin Meeks, Phil Meenan, Charles Miller, Gary Miller, Michael Shields, Mike Tutino, Will Wilson, and Greg Wojick.

So let us see how well we do on this week’s photo. Let’s see if we can top that record! Take a look below and see what comes to mind. Might be easy, might not. Of course, we always want to remind you not to post your answers here in the comment section, so others can have a chance at guessing. Just send your guess to us in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Turkey Day in May 2018

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slime people

It’s strange how things turn out in life. In case you didn’t know, these Turkey Day marathons that I’ve been doing since 2003, were started in tribute to Mystery Science Theater 3000 back when they were on Comedy Central, and used to show 24-hours of their shows non-stop the day after Thanksgiving, which they would call their Turkey Day Marathons. I loved that show and had most of them on VHS at one point. I loved that they brought a new audience to some of the films that I loved as a kid. But then a few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Frank Conniff’s (TV’s Frank) book on his years on MST3K, called Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films that Changed my Life in No Way Whatsoever. It’s a little book, barely 100 pages, but as I paged through it, reading his thoughts on some of the titles were my favorites, it was almost like my childhood crashing down.
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Drive-In Madness at the Mahoning!

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While I’m patiently waiting for the Skyline Drive-In in Shelbyville, IN to post their lineup for this years Super Monster Movie Fest, there are a couple of other great movie fests coming up at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Pennsylvania. While it’s a mere 12-hour drive for me, I’ve done crazier things in my life. But here’s what they have their docket.

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Cinepocalypse 2018 Approaches

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Cinepocalypse 2018 graphic

I was so excited when first heard that the Music Box Theatre was going to move up their Cinepocalypse Film Festival to early in the year. Last year’s was in November and it made it tough for me to make most of the films. But as it turns out, I’ll be out of town at the Monster Bash convention that week, so I will be missing what looks to be another amazing lineup of features.

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Cinevent Next Weekend

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Cinevent-2018

Next weekend, we’ll be heading to Columbus, Ohio for our next stop in the 2018 Kryptic World Tour. We’ve been going to this show for the last couple of years and have a lot of fun. Granted, this isn’t like your normal movie convention since this one isn’t really about guests or celebrities, but about movie memorabilia. And lots of it. You’ll find tables with stacks and stacks of posters, lobby cards, and stills, just waiting for you to go through each stack, one by one! And when they are usually priced at a buck a piece, it makes you want to sit down and start!

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The Plague of Academia

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DePaul Pop Culture Conference

I really debated on writing anything about this event I recently attended, but while this is just my opinion, I felt it still needed to be said. I know the title of this post seems a bit harsh but let me explain why I feel this way. When someone is a teacher, professor, or someone in a position of authority, I’ve always figured that they would know what they are talking about. Maybe that’s a silly assumption but I still think that is should be true. So when I come across someone who is in that position, but doesn’t know as much as I feel they should, then I start to get a little uneasy. Yes, maybe I set the bar too high, but if someone is giving a speech or lecture on a certain subject, I just expect them to know that subject, especially if you are in the academia area.

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Terror in the Desert

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Terror in the DesertBecause I am forever waving the flag that print is NOT dead, when I see a book coming out or already released that is something that I would be interested in reading, I want to make sure others know about it as well. And of course, one of those subjects is on horror films.

McFarland has announced a new title called Terror in the Desert: Dark Cinema of the American Southwest, by Brad Sykes. Now offhand, one might not realize the films that take place in the desert. Sure, we immediately think of Hills Have Eyes, but what about titles like The Hitcher, Tremors, or even the more recent Bone Tomahawk?

Sykes looks back at this sub-genre of films to give them a critical and analysis that haven’t been done before. With rare stills, promotional materials, filmographies and more, not only does this sound like an interesting read, I have a feeling its going to make me add quite a few more titles to my “Need to Re-Watch” list!

You can find out more information by heading to McFarland’s website HERE.