Category Archives: Misc. Ramblings

Mystery Photo 4-7

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Welcome to April! We’re 2 shows into our Convention World Tour, and so far, it’s been a pretty fun time! Let’s hope that continues. Our last photo was from Leprechaun: Origins (2014), which is you can get past the fact that he looks like younger creature from The Descent (2005), it’s really not a bad film. Kudos to Mike Benedict, Kevin Hart, and Erik Martin for sending in the correct answer! Well done.

This week’s photo is a little different, so let’s see if anybody can pick up what movie it is from. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Grindhouse Releasing Goes into The Beyond 4K!

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“Woe be unto him who opens one of the seven gateways to Hell,
because through that gateway, evil will invade the world.”

It looks like Grindhouse Releasing will be opening that gateway once again, with their new special edition of Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (1981). And this looks to be one amazing release that all Fulci fans are going to want to have.

This new “Super-Deluxe” collector’s edition will come with 6 discs: 1 UHD, 3 Blu-Rays, 1 DVD, and 1 CD. The UHD is from a new 4K scan from the original Techniscope camera negative. Besides that, there will be The Beyond: The Composer’s Cut, featuring a new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Surround sound remix and an all-new reimagined score created by original composer Fabio Frizzi, mixed Jussi Tegelman.

This will have 3 different audio commentaries, 1 from cinematographer Sergio Salvati, 1 from makeup artist Giannetto De Rossi, and then 1 from actors David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl. Some of these have already left us, so it is so great to be able to keep their memories of working on the film alive.

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Last Shark Surfaces on Blu-Ray

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One of the greatest shark movies to ever completely rip-off Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film Jaws, and still be one of the most entertaining ones, is finally coming to Blu-ray. Granted not here in the states, but if you have a region-free player (which you should), Treasured Films is putting out a nice new special edition with plenty of extras.

This film did get released here in the states but only for a short time before it was pulled because Universal Pictures sued the producers of The Last Shark stating that it had plagiarized their film, Jaws. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s obvious that a few things might have been “inspired” by the Spielberg film, especially with Vic Morrow’s character and his “floating chainsaw” comment, but it is crazy enough on its own, that I don’t think it would have hurt much of Universal’s business. When I worked at a theater back in the early ’80s, I remember putting up the poster for Great White (what it was going to be called here in the US) in the “Coming Soon” spot, but we never got it.

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Send Reggie Bannister Some Love

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Everyone’s favorite, 4-barrell gun-toting, evil dwarf killing Ice Cream Man needs your love right now! Reggie Bannister, star of the Phantasm series, as well as many other great movies, was diagnosed almost a decade ago, with dementia and Parkinson’s, and has done pretty well in battling those afflictions. But it seems things have not gotten better recently, and our beloved Ice Cream Man is heading home for Hospice Care. He’s still cognitive, which is a great thing, but his physical heath isn’t doing too well. What we Phans can do is show our appreciation of him and his work by sending him some love.

Below is the address for him and his wife Gigi. Take a few minutes, buy a little get-well card, or just send note saying how much his work has meant to you. And if you’ve ever had the opportunity to meet Reggie in person, I’m pretty sure that was one of the highlights of the show you were at, because Reggie always made every Phan coming up to him feel that special. You always walked away feeling like you now have a best new friend. That’s just how Reggie is. So, let’s show him how much he meant to us Phans. Let him know that he’s still remembered and more importantly, still loved by his Phans.

Let’s just flood this PO box with love for Reggie Bannister!

Reggie & Gigi Bannister
P.O. Box 4387
Crestline, CA 92325

Kudos to Demi Moore!

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During her speech after winning Best Actress at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards last Friday, actress Demi Moore gave praise to her director and co-stars, and her fellow nominees, but also commented on what this film really is saying about the industry, that I truly hope will help in the change that is desperately needed.

She commented on something else that I hope is going to change. She said “I am so grateful, not just for my performance but that you have highlighted this film, this genre. Normally horror films are overlooked and not seen for the profundity that they can hold.”

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Never Stop Digging

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I know I may sound like a broken record here, but you never know when something you write hits the right person at the right time. Plus, when it is something you really believe in, you want to keep saying it! Hammer recently announced they will be releasing a 4K release of their 1953 film Four-Sided Triangle, which is a science fiction tale, but has strong shades of the Frankenstein message, of just because we can do this . . . should we? Directed by Terence Fisher, the film is about two scientists develop a machine that can duplicate anything. Including a person. This was released on DVD age ago by Anchor Bay but now will be coming to us with a nice new 4K release.

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What a Time to Be Alive!

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This is pure ridicules to even think that at some point in my lifetime, there would be an action figure from the 1970 exploitation classic Beast of Blood. Directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, this film featured a monster that through most of the movie, has his head disconnected from its body! As a kid, I used to think it was amazing that we had action figures of some superheroes, or even some from the Planet of the Apes films and TV series. But just the thought that there would be actual toys (sorry, collectibles) made of films that were not even big box office hits, like the Star Wars series, but just features mainly playing the drive-in markets. But here we are, 55 years after the film comes out, and we have a little action figure of everyone’s favorite chlorophyll-blooded monster!

You can pre-order it from Amok Toys by clicking HERE. They are priced at $39.99, but I’m sure these will be just as popular as their Humanoids from the Deep figure. Again, what a time to be alive!

The Music of Nosferatu

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With the release of Robert Egger’s remake of Nosferatu, it hit me on the number of different soundtracks for this film title there are. And of course, being a crazy horror film soundtrack collector, I already had quite a few of them! But it amazed me how many different scores there are for this series.

Hans Erdmann (pictured to the right) had composed the music for the original 1922 film. This is when the music was played live during the screenings, which for some theaters, due to their size, made it difficult. Many times, completely different music, often classical pieces, was played on either an organ or a much smaller orchestra, depending on the size of the theater. Unfortunately, much of Erdmann’s original music is now lost so we’re never going to know what that score would have sounded like.

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Wishing You a Very Scary Christmas!

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Just wanted to take a quick second to wish everyone out there the best of holidays, no matter what or how you celebrate, but wishing you good cheer to you and your family. The one thing that everyone can afford, both in giving and receiving, is the gift of kindness. So please try and continue doing that throughout the year, not just during this holiday. It’s that simple.

Hopefully Satan Claws was good to you this year, bringing you plenty of Blu-rays and 4K movies, some new books on horror movies, or maybe even a few toys for the collection.

Happy Holidays!

Covid in the Krypt

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Sorry for the lack of updates or responses as of late, but over last weekend, I started to get sick, which then turned out to be Covid. I’ve had it before, so I wasn’t worried, but as I’ve heard before, not only does it hit everyone differently, it also can hit the same person differently. And this time, it knocked me on my ass. I have never had something that completely drain the will or desire to do anything. I did get out of bed, only because I couldn’t sleep laying down because of the congestion. Then again, I wasn’t sleeping anyway, so I was just sitting in my recliner in front of the TV. I guess one could look at that as one positive, but that’s a stretch.

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