Have you seen Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977), Beyond the Darkness (1979) Anthropophagus (1980), or Absurd (1981)? These are the four films from the one and only Aristide Massaccesi, better known as Joe D’Amato! Joining us in the fun discussion is HorrorHound’s Managing Editor, Aaron Crowell! D’Amato’s films were known to be outrageous, filled with some unbelievable gore as well as sleaze and pure craziness. I mean, when is the last time you saw a guy feasting on his own guts?!?!?
Sorry for the late posting, but I’m still trying to recover from HorrorHound Weekend. What an amazing time. But more on that a little later. Let’s get down to business. Our photo from last week was from Bruno Mattei’s Hell of the Living Dead, or Night of the Zombies, or Virus, or a half a dozen other titles. Yes, this isn’t definitely in the same league as Romero or Fulci, but it is a fun little flick. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Kevin Hart, Troy Howarth, Jennifer Stotler, and William Wilson. Well done!
Okay, our photo for today is NOT Italian, so hopefully that should make it much easier. Well, maybe. Give a peek and see what you think. Just remember to send us your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!
For fans of the horror movie genre, as well as science fiction, fantasy, action, crime, dramas, and every single other genre out there, makeup effects have been around since the beginning of the art form. Turning actors into someone different, whether it be into someone older, a different gender, or something that doesn’t exist in our reality, it was the job of the makeup artist to make that transformation happen. In the beginning, sometimes it was the actor themselves that did it, especially ones like Lon Chaney who constantly turned himself into different characters. Eventually, the craft was taken on by individuals that not only carried on the art form, but created techniques and the makeup products themselves, advancing the artform even more. They allowed writers and directors to show filmgoers something they’ve never seen before onscreen. And a century later, these talented people are still doing it. Now, thanks to authors Howard Berger and Marshall Julius, you’ll be able to learn even more about them!
Continue readingIn just a few days, we’ll be heading to Cincinnati for our first convention of the year and looking forward so much to getting back into the swing of things. It’s been five months since our last show and we’re chomping at the bit to see all our horror family this weekend! We’ll be set up there with our usual array of horror reference books which is a great place to continue your journey to Discover the Horror! And because this is our first show of the year, we’re going to have several great titles on sale! So, make sure you stop by our table to see what we have in store for you!
Plus, we’ll have some other goodies like some soundtracks, DVDs and Blu-rays, and maybe even some magazines we’re getting rid of from our own collection.
Back to the grindstone, as they say. But at least I’m hoping these little mystery photos are giving you some sort of enjoyment about your Monday! One can hope. The photo from last week was from the Italian film Panic (1982), starring David Warbeck and Janet Agren. Not the greatest film but a fun watch. The VHS box art was always one to draw in a potential viewer, which means it totally did its job! Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Troy Howarth, Simon Jakobsen, Tim Palace, Michael Shields, William Wilson, and Greg Wojick. Great job! Always nice to see when obscure titles like this one get a little recognition.
But on to this week’s photo! This is another favorite of mine, mainly because we had it at the theater when I worked there, if that gives anybody a little hint on the time frame! But I think a lot of you are going to know this little tike in the photo! Remember, send me your answer in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!
(2004)
Directed by Chip Selby
Starring John Carpenter, Jack Davis, Digby Diehl, Al Feldstein, William M. Gaines, George Romero, Bernie Wrightson
I grew up in the late 60’s / early 70’s, so the horror comics that I remembered reading in my youth were titles like Creepy and Eerie. The moniker Tales from The Crypt was from a movie as far as I knew. Once I started really getting into horror, I kept coming across references to these comic books from the ‘50s. Eventually, I would learn a little more about what EC comics had done a good 10 years before I was born. Then when the reprints started to come out, I was able to see and enjoy these wonderfully created images and stories that caused such a roar back in the mid 50’s.
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(1971)
Directed by Bruce Kessler
Starring Andrew Prine, Brenda Scott, George Paulsin, Norman Burton, Gerald York, Ultra Violet
Back in the early days of VHS, finding a copy of this film was pretty damn tough. It had been released on VHS but was a very rare title if you happened upon it. Plus, the print was so dark and grainy that in many of the scenes you had no idea what was going on because it was pretty much black. But it was one of those cult titles that us film geeks had to seek out. Plus, because it starred Andrew Prine, that made it even more of a treasure to find. Thankfully, when Dark Sky Films released it on DVD, the print was a HUGE improvement where you could actually watch the entire film!
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In case anybody out there is wondering what to get me for my birthday, look no further! While I just might have a few books around the old Kryptic Office so bookends are always something in need. But just look at these bad boys! Brought to us by Dark Horse Director, these two book ends feature three of the main hosts from those E.C. Comics that gave us images of terror and horror, wrapped inside a gruesome tale! One of them features the Crypt Keeper, which is 8 1/2″ tall by 6 3/8″ side, while the other one features the Old Witch and the Vault Keeper, which is 9″ tall and 6 1/4″ wide, both highly detailed and painted. These were sculpted by Chris Dahlberg.
Continue readingOkay, so they might not necessarily be “epic”, or even zombies depending on who you ask, but Quartet Records has given fans of some of the lower quality (but still damn entertaining) zombie or plague flicks from 1980!
Quartet Records, in collaboration with Cinevox Records has released the score for Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso’s 1980 film Virus, also known as Virus Apocalipsis Canibal, and probably best known as Hell of the Living Dead or Night of the Zombies. Now, anybody that has seen this film probably noticed that there are some parts of the score that sounds a little like Goblin’s score for Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), and you would be correct. In fact, there is also music lifted from the score Goblin did for Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination (1980), and even a bit from Fernando Di Leo’s crime drama Diamanti Sporchi di Sangue (1978), done by Luis Bacalov. But it did actually have some original music in it, from Gianni Dell’Orso.
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(2006)
Directed by James Gunn
Starring Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, Tania Saulnier, Don Thompson, Brenda James
Back before James Gunn was a huge player in Hollywood, not too long after his days of working for Lloyd Kaufmann and Troma, and shortly after he had written the remake for Dawn of the Dead (2004), he wanted to make a good old fashioned monster movie, like the ones he grew up on in the ‘80s. And he did just that. I went to see Slither in the theater when it came out and just loved it. Unfortunately, not too many other people did go see it and it bombed at the theater, telling Hollywood that nobody wants to see these kinds of films. How wrong they were. The real shame is that just because it didn’t draw in the crowds, it stopped producers taking chances on similar type films.
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