In 1985, I worked in a movie theater, that was lucky enough to have Re-Animator playing at it. That was my introduction to Stuart Gordon. It would be another 17 years before I actually meet the man, but by that time, I had seen all of his feature films and more than a few of them, seeing them multiple times. Seeing Re-Animator back then was amazing because I had never seen anything like it before. The gore, the nudity, the humor, was all so over the top, but still effective all the way around. This film was definitely a fluke either, because Gordon continued to create more and more pictures that were just as entertaining and effective, each and every time.

But as we all know already, we have lost this great talent, when he passed away yesterday, at the age of 72. The first time I got to meet him, it was at the Gateway Theater in Chicago for a small movie convention/film fest. They were screening Gordon’s latest film Dagon (2001) on the big screen. In his introduction, he was so happy and thankful for this screening because he used to come to this very same theater as a kid and watch movies, so to be able to see his own film on the same screen just thrilled the hell out of him. But he was so friendly, talkative, and just a nice guy, not the kind you’d think would be responsible for the horrors that he directed on screen! I had met him a few times over the years, and he was always just as kind and approachable. He definitely is a talent that is going to be missed. But thankfully, we can all bust our From Beyond (1986), or Dagon, the wacky Space Truckers (1996) or even Stuck (2007) and see the wonderful art he has left for us to continue to enjoy.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.

Okay, this one is going to be a fun one, and one that I think is going to have a lot of you thinking. Obviously from the photo above, this might give you a little hint in just what I’m thinking of when I say a “W-T-F Creature” category. We all know our traditional monsters: vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein’s Creature, zombies, etc. What I’m looking for here is something original and completely off the grid when it comes to the Monster Family Tree. But it has to be a Monster! Something that is killing off people and needs to be destroyed by the end of the film. I’m looking for something creative and making you bust our the “Never Seen THAT Before” checklist. Make sense?

Now, because we know Carpenter’s The Thing is probably going to be on a lot of people’s list, let’s take that one off the board and see what else you can come up with that is a favorite of yours.

Let’s here those thoughts?

For our first Favorite Question, we’re going to go with something easy.

What is your favorite ghost story or haunted house movie? The reason I combined them because sometimes a ghost story doesn’t necessarily take place in one location. Or sometimes a haunted house doesn’t even involved a ghost. But I think you get the idea.

So feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Let’s get this conversation going!!!

Greetings followers of the Krypt. I hope everyone out there is keeping safe, limiting contact with the outside world so we can cut this contagion down to zero and get back to our lives. But until then, we have to think about ourselves and others. It’s been a crazy week, and it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. So please, stay safe.

In the “really real world”, I work in the corrugated box business, so I still will be going to work, at least for now. Sure, I’d love to be home too, but people need boxes to ship stuff, from medical supplies, food products, or all the other stuff being ordered from Amazon. So box makers are an important part of the world’s supply chain. Never thought I would consider what I do that important, being just “some schmoe at a box plant”, but it’s funny how and when we can learn those life lessons.

For those that are at home, there is plenty of time to watch those movies, read those books, work on projects that we just didn’t have time for.

To help keep our minds off of the real world and give you a little distraction, I’m going to post a daily question starting tomorrow asking about a favorite movie of yours. Yes, I have a little hidden agenda with this, but as it helps me, it will also give this community the opportunity have some of those conversations we would normally might have at a convention! As much negativity social media gets (which I’ll admit it usually deserves), this is the chance we can use it for a positive reason.

So starting tomorrow, I’m going to post a sub-genre and ask a simple question. What is your favorite in that sub-genre? All I really need is the title. But if you feel adventurous, and have the time, then you can explain why? What is it about this particular film that makes you consider it your favorite. Be as short or long as you want. Sound fun?

I know there’s going to be a lot of the obvious answers on some of these, but I’m hoping to get two things out of these. The first is for those that might be new to the genre, they might be able to get a few titles that now they will want to seek out so they hit the “classics”. And secondly, maybe even for us more experienced viewers, we’ll learn of a title or two that we haven’t seen yet. And that, my friends, is always a good thing.

So get ready. The quest(ions) starts tomorrow.

With all these conventions being cancelled, postponed, or rescheduled, while it sucks that we don’t get to attend them and hang out and have fun, there are a lot of those vendors where doing shows like that are their livelihood! Missing a show can have an impact on their income, making it difficult do simple things like pay rent and buy food. Yesterday, I saw a posting from Del from the Dark Delicacies reminding people of this fact, and that a lot of them have online stores to purchase items from them that you would have picked up from them at the show. I think this is a brilliant (and a damn thoughtful) idea and wanted to pass that on here. Continue reading →