Author Archives: Jon Kitley

Alfred Sole – Rest in Peace

by in Rest in Peace and tagged , , | Leave a comment

This is a trend that I’m not enjoying whatsoever. We heard the news yesterday that Alfred Sole passed away. He is best known for directing the 1976 film Communion aka Alice, Sweet Alice. I had the pleasure to meet him back in 2018 at a film fest in Chicago where they screened Communion, which really still holds up today.

Sole didn’t direct a lot of pictures, mainly because he got fed up with Hollywood. It really is a shame that there are a bunch of talented individuals that are more than willing to create some amazing cinema but just get tired of dealing with the idiots that are calling the shots, not letting them create the art they could. Very sad that Sole wasn’t given the opportunity to continue to show us what he was capable of. We will always have what he has left us to remind us of this loss of talent. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family in this difficult time.

Here is a great quote from Sole that I found on IMDB that sums up his thoughts on Hollywood quite nicely!

“I was not good for Hollywood and Hollywood was not good for me. I didn’t understand the politics. I was just this guy from Jersey who made movies. You go to these meetings with these hotshot executives for hours and nothing gets done! It was just constant frustration. What I really should’ve done is stayed in Paterson and made movies with friends in my hometown, the way I started out, like John Waters or George A. Romero.” – Alfred Sole. Rest in Peace.

Peveril Publishing Releases Vol 4 of Fantastic Films

by in Book News and tagged , , | Leave a comment

If you’re a fan of Peveril Publishing and have already picked up their first 3 volumes in their Fantastic Films of the Decades series, then you probably already know this, but volume 4, which deals with films from 1944 through 1949, has arrived from the printers and will be going on sale very soon on the Peveril site. The titles from Peveril go pretty quickly once they are announced so the best way to know about it when it does become available is to sign up for their newsletter on the site.

I have the first 3 volumes and definitely plan on adding this one to the library. Like all their other books, they are beautifully laid out, tons of great graphics and interesting information. For all the details, head over to their site HERE.

Ivan Reitman – Rest in Peace

by in Rest in Peace and tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Another amazing talent might has left us, but he also left us plenty of amazing memories. Sure, Ghostbusters (1984) isn’t exactly a horror film, but it did have enough horror elements to count, not to mention that it was damn entertaining then, and I still say today. Writer, director, producer, Ivan Reitman passed away on Saturday at the age of 75.

While he is mainly known for comedies, one of his first films that he directed was the 1973 epic Cannibal Girls, where the posters art stated, “These girls do exactly what you think they do!” How could you go wrong there? But he also helped David Cronenberg on a few of his early films, Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977), so he definitely had some street cred when it came to the horror genre.

But no matter what genre he worked in, he created some entertaining films that will definitely last for generations to come. Our thoughts go out to him and his family during this difficult time.

Mystery Photo 2-14

by in Mystery Photo and tagged

Happy Valentine’s Day! You’d like to think I might post a photo from one of the My Bloody Valentine movies, but I wouldn’t want to be that easy to figure out! But today’s photo does have a love element in there . . . sort of. But before we get to today’s photo, let’s cover last week’s pic! It was from Sergio Martino’s famous TORSO! A real staple of the giallo sub-genre. You can almost hear the name from the trailer . . . over and over and over again! Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, Chris Dyer, Troy Howarth, and Bryan Martinez. Have a shot of J&B! You deserve it.

Okay now that we’re up to date, take a peek below and see if you can recognize what title this little mystery moment is from? Just remember to send me your answers in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Soundtrack Review: The Thing (1982)

by in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Thing (Re-Release)
Released in 2011 by BuySoundtrax Records
16 Tracks with a total running time of 61 min.
Music by Ennio Morricone & John Carpenter

I can’t believe I had never reviewed this score here! Next to Carpenter’s score for The Fog, this has been my favorite of his work. Yes, this is a collaboration between him and Ennio Morricone, but since I’m not sure either of them came out and said specifically who did each of the bits of music, I’m going to concentrate this review on the score as a whole. Though, I will say that when I first bought the LB soundtrack to this, listening to it over and over again, I do remember thinking “damn . . . there are some parts in here that sound a LOT like something Carpenter would have done!”

Continue reading →

Soundtrack Review: The Uninvited

by in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Uninvited
Released in 2009 by Lakeshore Records
15 Tracks, with a total running time of 48:44 min.
Music Composed by Christopher Young

We’ve been a fan of Young’s music since our first viewing of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, which remains one of our favorites to this day. We had not seen this particular film before hearing this score, so we were very interested in seeing the musical journey Young was going to take us on and we were not disappointed.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: It!

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

(1967)
Directed by Herbert J. Leder
Starring Roddy McDowall, Jill Haworth, Paul Maxwell, Aubrey Richards, Ernest Clark, Oliver Johnston, Noel Trevarthen, Ian McCulloch.

Another title from my childhood that I first saw on TV one afternoon. I already knew who Roddy McDowall was because of The Planet of the Apes movies and TV series, as well as a few other films and TV shows he was known for. This was a viewing that came early in my years of a horror film fan, but way before I was remembering titles and such. But when I started getting some film books and saw the title creature, I knew I had seen that before, and then set out finding a copy. Funny thing was that this one seemed to take forever before it came out on DVD! I don’t believe it ever got a VHS release, or if it did, I could never find a copy. Instead, I had to do with a TV print that someone had recorded from late night TV. But at that point, I was just thrilled to be able to revisit it. Of course, now it had been put out on DVD, on a double feature disc with The Shuttered Room (1967), another title that took forever to get a release.

Continue reading →

Soundtrack Review: Who Can Kill a Child?

by in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged , , | Leave a comment

Who Could Kill a Child?
Released by Singular Soundtrack, 2010
54 tracks total, with a complete running time of 1:52:13.
Music composed, arranged, and conducted by Waldo de los Rios

While the film starts out with a child humming a little tune, followed by children’s laughter, it is only scary when you know what the rest of the film brings. That is exactly how the soundtrack plays out. There are a lot of tracks that start off like a child’s song, innocent sounding, only to start to be twisted into something with a strange or darker tone to it, such in tracks like The Desert Island, The Game, and Weird Games. There are a few tracks in the beginning that are in more of the romantic elements, like the tracks Night Talk (Love Theme) or To the Island.

Continue reading →

April Ghouls Drive-In Monster Rama

by in Movie Events and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The lineup for this year’s April Ghouls Drive-in Monster Rama has been announced! And if you’re a fan of the ’80s, then you’re going to be in for a real treat. Such a great mixture of titles, from renowned classics to some great titles that you’ll have the chance to see on the big screen.

Tickets are only $10 per person each night, plus there is camping available on both Friday and Saturday. For more information, head over to either www.riversidedrivein.com or dvddrive-in.com.

Movie Review: I Spit on Your Grave

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directed by Meir Zarchi
Starring Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace, Anthony Nichols, Gunter Kleemann

This is one that the title alone is remembered sometimes more than the movie. It is one that activists and critics love to point out as cruel exploitations and the way women are treated in horror films. But obviously, they have never seen the film before they lay down their criticism. Because if they have, they would have realized that this is not shown from the point of view of the rapists, but of the victim and of the heinous crime that rape is. That didn’t stop both Siskel and Ebert from trashing it, not only hated the film but Ebert called it “sick, reprehensible and contemptible.” No kidding, Roger. When you have rape as the subject matter, what do you expect? All fun and games? One would have to do is listen to the audio commentary from Joe Bob Briggs and to hear some of the silly stuff that has been said about this title, as well as making you really see the film for what it is.

Continue reading →