For any long-time followers to the Krypt know about my bi-annual Turkey Day Marathons, a celebration of some of the finer titles in cinematic history, the Turkey. No, not the “so-bad-their-good” films because as we all know, the only bad movie is a boring one. So says Stephen Thrower, and I’m a full believer in that statement. No matter what the budget is, how inept the acting might be, the incredible poor written script, if you’re entertained, then it can’t be a bad movie.
Mark your calendars for two nights of Bill Moseley at the Music Box with screenings of two different features, Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) and Rob Zombie’s House of a 1000 Corpses (2003), with Moseley appearing both nights for a Meet & Greet and a Q&A after each film, brought to you by Chicago’s own Music Box and The Horror House!
Texas 2 will be screening on Feb. 4th, at 7pm in DCP format, while House will be screening on Feb. 5th at 7pm, from a 35mm print. Moseley will be there at 6pm to meet with fans. If you never had the chance to see these cult films on the big screen, now is your chance!
For fans of the first two Blade films, Stephen Norrington’s Blade (1998) and Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II (2002), they are both getting a deluxe edition of their original soundtracks, both being released by Varèse Sarabande.
To end our very busy “vacation” and our last report on it, we headed to PA for our last convention of the year. While Monster Bash didn’t start until Friday, Nov. 1st, since it is about an 8-hour drive for us, if we can, we try to leave Thursday and just take our time. It doesn’t take away from the long-ass drive, but at least we are not tired as hell come Friday night. It gives us time to unload and set up our booth a bit and just take our time. Honestly wasn’t too thrilled about driving 8 hours on Halloween day, but such is the con-life, you know?
Continue readingI think it was around my 45th birthday when I had finally made the decision to get a tattoo. I’d been wanting to for a while, but first couldn’t decide what I wanted, but then I was always worried about any possible issues at work, since I did work in an office. Years ago, that would have been highly frowned upon but that dramatically lessened over the years. Plus, at that point in my life, I just didn’t care anymore. So, I got my first one, I think around 2010. Then for the next 9 years, I would go to a friend’s house for a tattoo party and add another one. From simple stitches around my wrist, to Italian horror, Hammer, and of course, Paul Naschy! But then I stopped, for a variety of reasons. But the itch to get more was always there.
Okay, so I may have picked an easy one, since Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957) is one of the greatest Turkeys ever made. And while most critics will just shake their head at this film, I still think there is a little bit of genius here, even having more than a couple really creepy sequences. Even still, for recognizing just a newspaper headline, that is still pretty impressive, so definitely kudos to all of those that sent in the correct answer. And that was a lot of you. In fact, I’m not sure I remember having this many correct answers sent in! So, a big round applause to the following: Vero A, Gregory Avery, Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, Chris Dyer, Dave Fronto, Kevin Hart, Bob Hartman, Steven Kennedy, Doug Lamoreux, Erik Martin, Lee Marohn, Lee Nattrass, Michael Pniewski, Lisa Rothman, Todd Warren, and William Wilson!
Now for this week’s photo. Take a sec to look below and see if you recognize what films this shot is from. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!
Once again, Film Masters has given fans a great little package in their latest Blu-Ray release. Being a huge fan of the sci-fi/horror films of the ’50s, I never get tired of watching films of that era. Here we have two great ones, both directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. One of my favorite things about these early films is that everyone is playing it completely straight. No winking at the camera and never giving it less than 100%. Sure, a lot of them were struggling actors that were trying to get their foot in the door, but they still gave their best and sometimes giving us some very memorable characters. It really shows in the final product, no matter how silly that product might be. As a fan of these movies, I give them a lot of respect and gratitude for doing just that.
Continue readingA few years ago, Aaron Christensen and I started hosting these little lectures at the Sultzer Region Library in Chicago that we called Terror Tuesdays. The 1-night lecture then turned into a 4-week series, which we’ve been doing for a few years now. While it is a bit of prep work ahead of time, it’s a lot of fun and we’ve built up a good audience over those years.
My first official day of vacation was on Friday, Oct. 25th, and I headed down to St. Louis to witness something truly special, that probably has never happened before. And that was to watch some Jess Franco films in a theater . . . that once was an actual church! How could one pass that up!?!? Just thinking what Franco might have thought about these screenings and where, makes me smile.
My friend and Discover the Horror podcast co-host, Aaron AuBuchon, and Webster University, along with Severin Films, and Oscarbate Film Collective (John Dickson & Will Morris), hosted a 3-day event called Francomania: Vampyros Francos at the Webster University Film Series, where they would screen three different films from Spanish director Jess Franco, all dealing with the subject of vampires: Count Dracula (1970), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), and Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972). There was another screening of Franco’s Mucuba Sexual at this cool little place called The Arkadin, which looks like they screen all sorts of cool titles there.
Continue readingMy vacation days tend to be used for conventions, usually just taking Friday or maybe Friday/Monday off, then back to the real world. But this year, I had some vacation time to kill so I had planned on taking the last week of October off, with the goal of just using it to spend time enjoying the last of the Holiday season. Sure, I’d like to spend the whole month doing that, but there is a bunch of stuff going on throughout the month, such as conventions, 24-hour marathons, and plenty of other stuff that tends to keep me pretty busy. Which is why I was originally looking forward to this break from the busyness that October is. But as it happens, those days were quickly filled with all sorts of things to do, all of which I planned out myself. Meaning, no one to blame but me!
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