While I will admit that this movie is really only viewing during a Turkey Day marathon, I still have a certain fondness for it. Directed by Luigi Cozzi and c0-written (and starring in) Daria Nicolodi, this movie definitely freezes that point in time with cheesy rock music videos. A band is shootting a muisc video with the ghost of composer Paganini shows up to kill them with a bladed violin. Yeah…gotta love it.
One of the things that I always promoted and was very proud of at the Krypt was there wasn’t going to be any ads on the site. I wanted your visit here to be free of anything trying to sell you something. Plus, I refused to jump on the bandwagon like so many other sites and have it filled with more ad banners than actual content.
But coming over to WordPress, I hadn’t realized that with the free version, that ads would be showing up. I apologize for not realizing that earlier, but that has changed. And as of a today, the Krypt is ad-free once again. Just a little reminder that when you come here, the only thing we want to entice you with is to Discover the Horror!
Actually, it has. Last February is when we moved the Krypt to this new location, saying goodbye to the Front Page based website to the Word Press blog format. There are times when I miss the old way, but I have to admit this new format is much easier to work with. I know there is still a ton of stuff I still need to import from the old site, like reviews, interviews, etc., which I’ve slowly been doing. It is a long process, but I’m working through it.
But I guess the real question is up to you, the readers and followers of the Krypt. After this last year of the new layout and format, what are your thoughts? Better? Worse? Easier to navigate and find stuff? Or harder? I would love to hear any and all feedback, be it good or bad.
So please drop me a line when you can (email: jon@kitleyskrypt.com) and let me know your thoughts.
Here’s to another year!
While José Ramón Larraz is most known for his 1974 blood thirsty picture Vampyres, he also made another film that same year (actually a few in 1974) that starred the daughter of the immortal Donald Pleasence, Angela, who gives us a very creepy performance here. I don’t believe this film has never gotten an actual video release here in the states other than in the bootleg market, but it is one that should be seen, if only because of Pleasence’s performance. The film has such a strange and eerie look and quality to it, with a good and slow burn, but worth seeing.
And now, thanks to Mondo Macabro, you will have that chance. They will be releasing this film this spring that will have plenty of extras, besides the film being fully restored from the original negative. The extras include a documentary on Larraz by Celia Novis called On Vampyres and Other Symptoms, the 1999 entry from the show Eurotika series that was on Larraz, a new interview with actresses Angela Pleasence and Lorna Heilbron, and editor Brian Smedley-Aston. Continue reading
Fans of monster movies have been enjoying the work of these hard working artists pretty much since the beginning of cinema. They are the ones that are creating all the different creatures, monsters, and beasties throughout our cinematic history. They made us believe that King Kong really was the 8th Wonder of the World; that Frankenstein really did bring a creature that he made to life; they made us believe that Jason was sword fighting with skeleton warriors, and bringing thousands of other monsters to life, from werewolves, martians, zombies, dinosaurs, and everything else in between. No matter what the genre, this talented brood continuing to astound our eyes as we see their mad creations come to life on the screen for our entertainment. The sad part is that most of them never get the credit they so richly deserve. But now, thanks to the makers of this new documentary, maybe a few of them will get a little bit of that attention.
The ’80s were a wonderful time for horror fans. Roaming through the video stores looking for an interesting box that looked like it could be fun, it was always an exciting challenge to find some new gem. But when you come across a box that has several bodies hanging on the wall, with large hook in the foreground, with the title The Mutilator across teh bottom, with blood dripping from it! And best of all, the tagline on the box says “By Sword, By Pick, By Axe, Bye Bye!” How could you not want to rent that immediately! And once you got it home, it really did blow you away, especially the over-the-top gore! Okay, sure the movie itself wasn’t the best as far as quality, but back then, we weren’t looking for Citizen Kane.
Now, thanks to the wonderfully people at Arrow Films, a newly restored unrated version of the film, from original vault material, will be coming your way to blu-ray and DVD in a special 2-disc release. And even better, a region free release! But if the movie along isn’t going to make you want to add this to your collection, wait until you see the extras it comes with!
Sometimes I am just amazed at not only some of the titles that get released on blu-ray, but in the huge special editions that they come out with. Case in point, a title that Arrow Video just announced. At the end of May, they will be releasing a special edition of the 1966 film Blood Bath. But this isn’t just any ordinary film that was made under the Roger Corman umbrella. In fact, it started as a film being made in Yugoslavia by someone named Rados Novakovic and called Operation Titan. But it didn’t really fit Corman’s approval, so he hired Jack Hill to take the film and see if he could make something out of it, which he did, and would be later called Blood Bath. But for various reasons, such as the film stock from the original footage and what Hill shot didn’t match up that too well. So because Hill went on to make Spider Baby, the film was set aside. Then Corman came back to the picture and hired Stephanie Rothman to see what she could do with it. She changed the title to Track of the Vampire and made it more of a vampire film! According to Hill, about 80 % of the film is what he shot, but I have to say that it is kind of a mess of a picture, even though it has one of the best posters from that era!
Are you a fan of the Italian giallo films, in particular the ones of the ’60s and ’70s? I don’t know anybody more obsessed with this genre than my good friend Bryan Martinez. Last year, he gave us a great short film inspired by this sub-genre, called Gelato Giallo which you can still see on YouTube, or just take a look below.
With all the recent talk about Hollywood and the Oscars not being fair to minorities, I’d like to get on my soapbox for a minute and point out another group of people that have been excluded for the most part since cinema began. And they are actors and actresses that have appeared in horror films. No matter how high of an achievement in acting they do, it is very rare that they are recognized or even noticed by the Academy. But these people have given some amazing and incredible performances over the years, but most of them are sweeped under the red carpet without even a first glance.
I recently came across these wonderful busts of different Spanish Horror Icons and knew I had to show them here. Being a huge fan of Spanish Horror, especially of Paul Naschy, anytime I see something this, I need to help spread the word. Honestly, I just love the fact that there are other people out there spreading the love of this much underrated genre of fantastic cinema, as Naschy used to refer to it.
According to the website, these will be around 8″ tall, but no word on the pricing. I’ve reached out to them to hopefully get some more info, as well as when they are going to be released. But in the meantime, you can check out the ones they have photos of so far. For me, the Blind Dead really need to have their facial hair…just doesn’t look right otherwise. But the two Naschy figures, I would love to add to my collection. Hopefully they won’t be too pricey! Of course, if anybody would like to pick these up as a gift for me, I’d be enternally grateful. Just throwing it out there….
You can check out their website HERE, though warning, it is not in English. But with the help of Google translator, you should be able to manage your way around.
Paul Naschy’s Waldemar Daninsky
Paul Naschy’s Amenhotep from La venganza de la momia (The Mummy’s Revenge)
Pánico en el Transiberiano (Horror Express)
Count Dracula from La saga de los Drácula (The Dracula Saga)
The Blind Dead
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