Author Archives: Jon Kitley

The Bride of Kitley!

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I usually try to keep personal stuff from this site since the internet is already overflowing with personal issues and BS. But I felt the need this time because one of the reasons that you are able to visit this site day after day, is partially due to a certain person. As horror fans, we have all had issues with being accepted for who we are. Usually the more hardcore you are, the more you stand out and are apart from the “normal” crowd. I had dealt with that for many years in my early teens. The one thing that Frankenstein’s creature wanted more than anything was a mate that wouldn’t look upon him like everyone else did, and accept him for who and what he was. I found that back in November of 1983, when I started to date Dawn Rausch. And within five years later, we were married on May 14th, 1988, and she officially became the Bride of Kitley.

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Mystery Photo 5-14

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Welcome to Monday, once again. Starting the week off very early, so better get this posted now. Our last photo was from the infamous José Mojica Marins, or better known as Coffin Joe. The film was the second film in his Coffin Joe Trilogy, Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver (1967), or as most of us know it, This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse. There is nothing quite like a Coffin Joe movie, as fans of his movies know quite well. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Cate Cameron, Kuba Haczek, Martin Meeks, and Kristin Wicks. We’re also give a little a shout out to Greg Wojick, since while he did guess the wrong Coffin Joe movie, at least he was damn close!

Now on to this week’s photo, which we’re going back to color! This was a rare title for a long time back in “the old days” and I’ve always loved the look of these… monsters. Take a good look and if you can’t recognize what movie they are from. Remember, as always, please do not post your answers here, but instead send them to me in an email, address to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Soundtrack Review: Ghost Stories

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Ghost Stories Soundtrack

Ghost Stories
Released by Varèse Sarabande, 2018
40 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 60 min.
Music by Frank Ilfman

With a title like Ghost Stories, you can pretty much tell, or at least hope, that the score will be filled with creepiness to chill your spine. Unfortunately this score is not like that, at least in the traditional sense. There is nothing where it seems like the composer said, “okay, here comes the creepy part!”. But instead, he fills out this long release with some very somber and quiet pieces, a lot with piano, that still is able to build a nice sense of atmosphere. It might not be overtly creepy, but it still has its fingers in there.

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Little Shoppe of Horrors #40 Out This Month

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LSoH40

The latest issue of this best magazine devoted to Hammer Films, Little Shoppe of Horrors, will be releasing issue # 40 this month. The main theme for the issue is Quatermass and the Pit (1967) which will have a 26 page making of by Bruce G. Hallenbeck, one of the best Hammer authorities and writers around! There will also be an unpublished interview from the early ’70s with Rudolph Cartier, who was the man behind the original BBC Quatermass series, by Chris Knight. You will even get to hear from John Carpenter talk about the importance of Hammer, as well as Prof. Quatermass.

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Horror History: Yvette Vickers

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Yvette Vickers1Yvette Vickers
Born Aug. 26th, 1928 – Died 2010

As movie fans, especially when you are fans of the older black and white classics, we know that time catches up with the stars of these titles a lot sooner than we expect. A lot of the talent from those films in the ’50s and ’60s have long gone the way of becoming ghosts of Hollywood. But we know fans like us keep them alive in spirt, as well as in film. But there are some deaths that are so tragic, that it is just terrible. Yvette Vickers is one of them.

She started her career in the famous 1950’s film Sunset Boulevard, as “giggling girl on phone at party”. She would in little bit parts here and there, such as Reform School Girls (1957) and Short Cut to Hell (1957), which was James Cagney’s only film as a director. But her career never took off big, even after appearing in Playboy as a Playmate in 1959. Director Russ Meyer was actually the photographer for that layout. Her real claim to movie fame is for appearing in two horror classics, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959).

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Mystery Photo 5-7

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Another Monday here, so that must mean a new photo, right? Been a little busy at the Krypt in the last week or so, but at least I have been able to manage to get a new photo up each Monday. Got to look at the positives, right? Speaking of which, here are the ones that sent in the correct answer for last week’s photo: Hoby Abernathy, Troy Howarth, and Michael Shields. And what was the shot from? None other than Pete Walker’s 1976 film The Confessional (aka House of Mortal Sin). Want to see a real twisted priest, then check out this little British gem!

Okay, so on to this week’s photo. This one might be a little tough, but we’ll see how good you are. Remember, please do not post your answers here so others can have a chance. Just send your guest to us in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Mystery Photo 4-30-18

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Can you believe that April is almost over? We’re a quarter way through 2018 already. Time flies, huh? So I guess there’s no time to waste but then to get to our latest mystery photo. BUT….as always, let’s review last week’s. It was from William Castle’s underrated classic, Strait-Jacket (1964), starring the one and only Joan Crawford. Seriously, if you haven’t seen this one, it is worth checking out. Kudos to the following that sent in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, Dave Fronto, Bill Harrison, Troy Howarth, Toni Keen, Charles Miller, Michael Shields, and William Wilson.

Now on to our latest photo. Might be easy, might be hard, but it is definitely a bloody one! Give it a peek, and see what you can come up with. As always, PLEASE remember not to post your answers here. Instead, just drop us an email at jon@kitleyskrypt.com and let us know your guess. Good Luck!

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Book Review: Grande Dame Guignol Cinema

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GGrande Dame Guignol Cinemarande Dame Guignol Cinema
Published by McFarland, 2009. 340 pages.
By Peter Shelley

Kudos to author Shelley for coming up with a great idea, highlighting some classics in horror cinema that some of them I feel tend to be left behind. Shelley writes in the preface, “for me the sign of good writing about films is that it compels one to see the movie under discussion. I hope my book does this for my readers.” Not only do I completely agree with that statement, but there are more than a few titles discussed in this book are now on my Need-to-Watch-AGAIN list.

Shelley does a great job in his introduction explaining the title of the book, and clearly defining what he means by it. This is a good way to stop people from asking “why did you leave this movie out?” … granted that will still probably happen. But at least going in, we are well aware of his point and what he is trying to accomplish with this book. With each title, he gives us a little background on the actress who is filling the role of the book’s title, and why they fit so well here. Once again, any book that sheds a little light on some horror history, I’m all for, and Shelley does an admirable job here.

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Movie Review: Fangs of the Living Dead

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Fangs of the Living Dead Blu-rayFangs of the Living Dead (1969)
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Starring Anita Ekberg, Gianni Medici, Diana Lorys, Rosanna Yanni, César Benet, Carlos Casaravilla, Adriana Ambesi, Julián Ugarte

There are times when you sit down with a movie and maybe you’re just not in the right mood, or frame of mind to really watch it. As the saying goes, you can never watch the same movie twice with the same eyes, and my experience with this title is a perfect example of this. I had seen this years ago, from a grainy old VHS tape, mainly because it was the same director as the Blind Dead series. But I didn’t remember that much of it at the time. When it came out on DVD, I course added it to the collection. I’m sure I watched it at some point, but just didn’t have a strong memory of it, meaning that if I had thought it was that great, I would have remembered it. Then the recent Blu-ray from Shout Factory came out and I was going upgrade to this new version when realized I remembered not caring for it that much. So I sat down with the DVD to refresh my memory and realized that I think I was okay with just this DVD version. Nothing really jumped out at me, so no reason to upgrade. But then I read that this new Blu-ray is actually the European cut which is a bit longer than the version I had. Then the “collector” part of me kicked in and decided I had to have this version now … I mean, it’s longer which means maybe I’m missing all the good parts! So I had to have it. Once it arrived, I sat down with it again, to see if this version was going to be another boring repeat viewing. Oh, how I was wrong.

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A Triple Dose of Mattei & Fragasso

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Severin

Nothing beats some good old fashion Italian gore flicks from the ’80s. Back when plot, storyline, or even anything remotely coherent didn’t matter as long as we got plenty of gore. Sometimes even topping the gore was the complete insanity of the story themselves! Two names that you could always depend on for delivering the goods in those categories was Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso. And now thanks to Severin, they’ve got a triple terror treat from these two guys.

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