Category Archives: Conventions

The 20-Year Anniversary Kryptic World Tour Kicks Off Friday!

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The waiting is almost over. This coming Friday will see the first stop in our 20-Year Anniversary Kryptic World Tour! That’s right, as I’ve may have mentioned once or twice before, this year marks my 20th year running the Krypt, so we hope to celebrate that even more at each and every show on this year’s tour. We have new T-shirts and even a couple of those enamel pins that everyone seems to be going crazy over, to help celebrate this milestone. And if you’re in the market for a new horror reference book, our inventory is bursting at the shelves, as we’ve been stockpiling over the winter and have some amazing titles for you to add to your own horror library! Some of the titles are in limited quantities (usually just one!) so make sure you hurry over to our table so you don’t lose out.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone’s support over the last two decades, both here online as well as at the conventions. I know there are some of you that have been following my little ramblings for quite some time, so thank you!

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Kryptic 20-Year-Old Anniversary Tour

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meNext October, Kitley’s Krypt will officially be 20 years old. That’s right…that means come October, I’ll have been ranting and raving on my little world wide web soapbox for two whole decades. While I’m not 100% positive, I’m pretty sure the Krypt is the longest running site out here on this inter-web thingy, at least here in the States. That is a lot of ramblings over those years, and hopefully inciting a little spark or two in some of you to look and learn more about the horror genre, and to really Discover the Horror. That is a moniker that I still truly stand by and belief in.

Trust me, it’s hard sometimes for me to believe that I’m still at this and haven’t given up on it. There’s been a few times I thought about it, but always continued on. And sure, the Krypt isn’t one of the big boys on the block, but honestly, if that would mean being owned by a studio and having to give up some journalistic integrity, then I guess I’m pretty happy right where I’m at. But when it all comes down to it, I do this because this is what I love doing….talking about horror movies. It really is my life’s passion and one that I don’t see myself ever stopping. All I need to know is that I’ve given a fan a little push in the right direction, having them decide to look a little deeper into the genre, then I know I’ve done right by the genre.

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Suspiria Screening at Flashback Weekend

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Suspiria

Okay Argento fans, now is your chance to see Suspiria on the big screen like you’ve never seen it before. On Friday night, Aug. 4th, at 10:30pm at the AMC Rosemont 18 (formally Muvico), they will be screening the new 4K restoration of this Argento classic on the big screen, thanks to Synapse Films. We all know the incredible work that Synapse has done on their previous releases, so you know that this version, “beautifully restored from an original fully uncut and uncensored 35mm Italian camera negative, presented with the original 4.0 discrete sound mix not heard since the original theatrical release in 1977”, it is going to be just jaw-dropping amazing to witness.

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Freddy Mania at Flashback Weekend

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If you are a fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, then the Flashback Weekend convention happening in about a month, is one that you are not going to want to miss. Not only will Freddy himself, Robert Englund be there, but there will be a total of 18 guests there that has appeared in one or more of the series, from the very first, all the way to Freddy vs Jason. Here’s all the Nightmare guests that they have announced:

Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Ronee Blakley, Joann Willette, Lisa Wilcox, Brooke Bundy, Tuesday Knight, Danny Hassell, Brooke Theiss, Toy Newkirk, Andras Jones, Kelly Jo Minter, Ricky Dean Logan, Ken Kirzinger, Katharine Isabelle, Jesse Hutch, and Paula Shaw!

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Monster Bash 2017 Report: Part 2 – Blaisdell, Blood Freak, and Books!

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While wandering through the dealer room on Saturday before the show opened, I came upon an art print that blew me away. It was a collage of all the different creatures/monsters that were created by low budget monster maker Paul Blaisdell, which even included a couple of images of Blaisdell himself. If you’re not familiar with highly underrated talent then you have some homework to do! He created a bunch of different creatures for the low budget AIP features back in the ’50s, with very little time and money. But he always came up with some interesting monsters and aliens, like we’ve never seen before. He worked on titles like It Conquered the World, Invasion of the Saucer Men, The She-Creature, and a few more. So to see him and his work highlighted in this beautiful piece of art made my heart swell. I can now proudly say that it is now framed and hanging in my office. The artist is Scott Jackson and has been doing this kind of work for quite some time. He had some other great prints for sale, including a stunning one from The Picture of Dorian Gray, with him standing in front of is decayed portrait. Definitely will be picking that one up from him in the future. You can check out his work at his site HERE.

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Monster Bash 2017 Report: Part 1 – The Journey Begins

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This year’s Monster Bash, held once again in Mars, PA, was their 20th Anniversary show. I can’t express how sad I am that I had only started coming to this show a few years ago. For years, I put some serious thought into setting up as a vendor there, but I always talked myself out of it because of the distance being too far and if it would really be worth it. Now, with this show becoming one of my favorite stops on our Kryptic World Tour, I realize just how I wrong I was.

This time out, I would be making the 500 mile journey to the show on my own, since my wife Dawn is taking care of her father. It sucks having to do the show alone, but there are certain things in life that are way more important, and family is one of them. It’s only a couple of hours past where we go for Wasteland, so it should be that bad. Though, looking at the weather in the area for that Friday, it was calling for rain…all…day…long! I’ve never had to unload for a show in the rain and was not looking forward to it. I decided to leave after work on Thursday, drive to Cleveland area and then stop for a few hours of sleep, then drive the last couple of hours the next morning to be there by 8am for set up.

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Monster Bash Approaches

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In three weeks, we will be heading out to Mars, PA for the annual Monster Bash Conference, and needless to say, we’re pretty excited. This show is the farthest distance that we travel which is why it took us so long before we decided to finally take the plunge. Now I only regret not starting going sooner.

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Cinevent Part 3: Writers, Writers, Everywhere!

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At one point during the first day of the show, a gentleman walked up to my table and we started chatting…the usual stuff, movies, posters, and such. We were talking about the classic Universal monster films and some of the posters for them. I mentioned that I would be scared to death to own something like one of those, just because of the value, I’d be terrified that something would happen to it. He mentioned that some time ago, he had purchased an original one-sheet for The Invisible Man, but had to get rid of it for that same reason. Then he mentions that he put out a book some time ago called Children of the Night, which was a book on movie posters. Of course, I have that book in my library, which I quickly told him, which made him smile even more! His name is James Gresham and is a super nice guy and such a pleasure to chat with. Children came out in 2007 and is a comprehensive guide to classic horror posters, lobby cards, and other items. For someone like me that will never be able to afford these kind of items, it is a great way to at least be able to see some of them and the beautiful artwork. He followed up this book in 2010 with They’re Here Already, which is the same kind of book, but covers the science fiction films of the 1950s. Again, so much fun to look through. These are both beautiful hardcover edition books that are a bit pricey but well worth the money if you are a fan of this kind of poster art.James Gresham Continue reading →

Cinevent: Part 2 – The Dealer’s Room & Fantastic Finds

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Now, before you get all excited and run out to this show, let’s cover a few things first. The prices on some of the items you’ll find run the spectrum. Some dealers will have a table full of one-sheets or stills with a big sign stating “$1 EACH”. Of course, you have to go through each and every stack because you never know if you’re going to come across a real gem in there! You just never know. I have to say from experience, after that first stack, your back is killing you and you start to wonder if it is even worth it! But $1 posters is hard to pass up.

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On the other end of that, you have some dealers with items on the slightly high side. You have to remember that these are original pieces of film memorabilia, which can go for big bucks. Such as an insert for the 1951 film Them!, which had a price tag of $1000. Or even a lobby card for the 1957 film Curse of the Demon that was going for $650…just for the single card! There are posters and even the bigger 3-sheet kind of stuff, but those are so high that I don’t even ask. I’m not saying that these are overpriced, but those are the going rates. You need to be a dealer/collector with some serious cash to be playing in that field, one that I know I never will.

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Cinevent Classic Film Convention – Part 1

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Cinevent logoOut of all the cons that we set up each year, there is none that we do  that is quite like Cinevent. By that statement, I don’t mean that it is better or worse than the rest of them, just completely different. This show is like stepping back in time, to an era when conventions where just about memorabilia. A place where movie fans would go hoping to find some new pieces for their collections. Or spend time in the movie room where there is a constant stream of movies being screened on 16mm. The only thing that you paid for was to get into the show and then whatever you were buying from the dealers. There were posters, pressbooks, stills, lobby cards, soundtracks, books, and of course, movies, but in many different formats from 8mm, 16mm, to VHS. Today at this show, it is still the same. Cinevent has been around longer than any con that I know of, with next year being their 50th anniversary. So the fact that they have been going for 5 decades is pretty damn impressive. You won’t see the huge crowds here like at the bigger shows. But with the several hundred people that do come through the door, it is definitely worth it for us to come back each year.

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