Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Book Review: Horror Films FAQ

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horrorfilmsfaq

Horror Films FAQ
By John Kenneth Muir
Published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2013. 383 pages.

With this title, we weren’t really sure what this book was actually about. The text on the front of the book says “All that’s left to know about slashers, vampires, zombies, aliens, and more”. Is it just a collection of questions answered that the FAQ in the title would imply? Actually no. But what it does give the reader is both a very interesting and entertaining read, as well as giving some great insight to some of our favorite movies.

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Horror History: Tom Conway

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tomconwayTom Conway
Born Sept. 15th, 1904 – Died April 22nd, 1967

Older brother of actor George Sanders, Tom had to change his name after he lost a bet with his brother on who would change their name for show business.  Born in a wealthy Russian family that were forced to leave and move to England for some reason, political or otherwise.  While Conway appeared in quite a few films in his career, he never really hit the big time.  Even starring in 3 films for Val Lewton in the early ’40s, such as The Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), and The Seventh Victim (1943), his career just never took off or lasted that long.  Due to his failing eyesight and problems with alcoholism, worked started to get fewer and fewer.  He did appear in two films for Edward L. Cahn, The She-Creature (1956) and Voodoo Woman (1957).

The later part of his life was spend with very little money and even less fame.  At the end, he was found dead in his girlfriend’s bed, at the age of 62.  It is a shame that a somewhat talented actor who was doing pretty good at one point in his life, but possibly due to the alcoholism, it effected his career too much for him to stay working.  But at least we can still remember him and his work, even after all years later.

Movie Review: Creepshow

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Creepshow (1982)
Directed by George Romero
Starring Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E.G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Ed Harris, Ted Danson, Stephen King, Warner Shook, Robert Harper, Elizabeth Regan, Gaylen Ross, Tom Atkins

One question that horror fans get asked a lot is “what’s your favorite horror movie?” I know a lot of fans do have a particular one that is their favorite. For me though, it really would be impossible for me to narrow it down to even 20, let alone a single one. But I do know that if such a list was ever conceived in my brain, somewhere near the top would be George Romero’s Creepshow. In fact, it is my favorite of all of Romero’s work, even above Night of the Living Dead. Maybe it was because I saw this in the theater at the time my obsession with the horror genre really started to explode. Maybe it was the great mixture of horror and humor. Or the way it blended the world of horror comic books that I read as a child into the movie world in such a beautiful way. Whatever reason it might be, or all of them, I have loved this film since I first witnessed it in the theater back in 1982, and I still love it just as much today.

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Turkey Day Approaches…

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In a mere two days, while most of society will be getting up early to battle the crowds of crazed shoppers out to save a few bucks, sometimes fighting to the death (or so I’m told), there will be a smaller gathering here at the Krypt to celebrate another type of holiday….Turkey Day! Followers of the Krypt probably know exactly what I’m talking about, but if you’re knew here, let me explain. On the Black Friday ever since 2003, I have chosen to spend that day in front of the TV, watching some of the finest in cinematic shipwrecks known to man. Now on our 13th year, having watched over 80 features in that time, with the number of participates growing like Lt. Col. Glenn Manning in The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), we will sit down to view another seven features that will test our strength, endurance, and good will towards mankind. But have no fear…we’re professionals here.

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Book Review: Growing Up with Manos

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Growing up with ManosGrowing Up with Manos: The Hands of Fate
By Jackey Neyman Jones with Laura Mazzuca Toops
Published by BearManor Media, 2016. 138 pages

Any serious fan of horror, cult and exploitation films, not to mention Mystery Science Theater 3000, knows of the film Manos: The Hands of Fate. Known to the world as the worst movie ever made, even beating out anything that Ed Wood Jr. ever created is a tough race to win, but it has. A film made by a bunch of locals in the small town of El Paso, Texas, all with dreams of stardom in their eyes, created a film that still lives on to this day, something that has gone farther than any of the ones involved ever thought possible. Maybe not in the way they all hoped, but none the less it has.

Jackey Neyman Jones appeared in the film as little Debbie, but also had a greater connection besides her little part. Her father not only appears in the film as the infamous The Master, but also did the makeup, was the set designer, and quite a bit more. Her mother also worked on the movie, making quite a few of the costumes in the film. There were promises of payment and percentages, but we all know those how those go, even the movie making state of California. But instead of payment, what Tom Neyman and his daughter got was immortality because of their connection and appearances in Manos. Sometimes it makes you wonder what is better.

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Mystery Photo 11-21

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I always love it when I get such fond comments when I used a picture from a classic film, such as I did with our last one, from the 1957 film Curse of the Demon (or Night, depending your location!). This is one of my favorites and just gets better with each viewing. Such great performances and a wonderfully dark story, it never ceases to entertain. So a big kudos out the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, Bill Harrison, Ken Johnson, Jennifer Kilzer, Doug Lamoreux, David Schmidt, and Alan Tromp. And if you’re are one of the few out there that still hasn’t seent his film, I can’t urge you enough to change that immediately. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Okay…on to this week’s photo. I’m sure that there are some out there…okay, maybe a few….or one…that might think our next pic is from a film on the same caliber. Okay…probably not. But let that not deter you from giving it the old college try, right?

Please remember not to post your answers here, but send them in an email to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Horror History: John P. Fulton

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johnpfulton1John P. Fulton
Born Nov. 4th, 1902 – Died July 5th, 1966

Fulton got into the film industry, even with strong disapproval from his father.  Starting out as an assistant cameraman, which basically meant carrying around the camera and equipment, it wasn’t too long before he moved up to cameraman.  But it wasn’t long before he worked more on the special effects and trick photography than actual cinematography.  He worked on many of the Universal classic monster films, such as both Dracula and Frankenstein and a lot of their sequels/spinoffs.  But one of his best known works was making Claude Rains invisible in the James Whale’s The Invisible Man (1933), which he continued on  many of the films in this series, which would get him 3 different Oscar nominations.  He would eventually take home 2 Oscars for Wonder Man (1945) and The Ten Commandments (1956).

The film industry wouldn’t be where it is at now  had it not been for some of the techniques that Fulton developed back in the early ’30s.  He was definitely an innovator and changed movie history.

Hammer’s One Million Years B.C. Uncut!

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While this might technically not be a horror movie, even though you do have dinosaurs running (and flying) around trying to eat people, since it is a Hammer Film, I figured it needs mentioning. Next year, on Feb. 14th, Kino Lorber will be releasing a movie that stop-animation fans have been waiting for…in the version they wanted!

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When One Million Years B.C. (1966) was released on DVD several years ago, it made a lot of fans very upset, since it was the American version, which as serious fans know, was cut. Even more surprising since it the laserdisc version released was the international cut, which is longer. If you’re a die-hard Ray Harryhausen fan, that was a big deal. But now, thanks to Kino Lorber, they will be releasing it on Blu-ray that has both the International Cut along with the U.S. Cut, both having a 4K restoration, so you’ll be able to see all amazing Harryhausen work, as well as Raquel Welch and Mattine Beswick in all their glory!

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New Horrors from McFarland

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McFarland is a leading publisher that seems to be intent on making me go broke. While their editions tend to be on the pricy side, they still crank out some great volumes on a plethora of subjects within the horror film genre. We recently came across three upcoming titles that have sparked my interests and I know will be soon added to our library. Yeah, I know…horror reference book…duh? Anyway, read on to see if you might be needing to add these to your own library in the near future.

twisted-visionsThe first book is called Twisted Visions and is a collection of interviews.But not with just anybody in the film business. These directors are from around the world and have left us with films that made a niche in the horror and exploitation genre, that still makes an impact on viewers today.

Author Matthew Edwards has found and interviewed twenty-three directors that fit that bill. Some of the names are a little familiar, such as Jack Sholder (Alone in the Dark, The Hidden), Jörg Buttgereit (creator of the Nekromatik films), and Alfred Sole (Alice, Sweet, Alice), to a few names that don’t seem to be mentioned that often, such as David Paulsen (Savage Weekend, Schizoid), Romano Scavolini (Nightmares in a Damaged Brain), as well as a personal favorite of mine, Mariano Baino and his highly underrated film Dark Waters, plus many more.

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Movie Review: Found

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Found (2012)
Directed by Scott Schrimer
Starring Gavin Brown, Ethan Philbeck, Phyllis Munro, Louie Lawless, Alex Kogin, Andy Alphonse, Adrian Cox-Thurmond

This movie recently won Best Feature Film in the Elivra’s Horror Hunt Film Festival 2012, sponsored by HorrorHound magazine. The director and some of the cast were at the recent HorrorHound Weekend and were right across the aisle from us where we were set up. So we got to watch the trailer throughout the whole weekend. It looked pretty interesting but had heard that it was pretty dark. Even though I am not the biggest fan of low budget filmmaking, after hearing so much praise for it, I figured I would give it a watch.

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