Category Archives: Misc. Ramblings

Interview: John Amplas

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This interview was conducted back in October of 2008, at the Cinema Wasteland show.

Kitley’s Krypt:  How did you get into acting?

martinposterJohn Amplas:  Oh, that was a long time ago. I was ten years old and my uncle used to do community theater and they needed a kid in a play. So I did a lot of community theater when I was kid and I just kind of got the bug early on from there. In 1963, when I was a teenager, I attended the Playhouse School in Pittsburgh and did that for about 3 years. I spent 3 years in the Army after I graduated from high school, then I studied theater at the same university, then college, to become an actor. In fact, the interesting thing about that, the last production in my senior year is when George Romero came to see it, which is how I got the job to play Martin two or three months later – we started shooting in the fall of 1976. Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 11-16

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I have to say, I’m pretty surprised and proud to see even this many people that had sent in the correct answer, since this was another tough one. Especially with the shot that I gave you. It was from the film Curse of the Fly. Not as well known or popular as the first two in the series, and is even quite different from them. But one that I feel is still worth watching. But kudos to the following for knowing it: Hoby Abernathy, Ken Johnson, Doug Lamoreux, Gavin Schmitt, and Alan Tromp. Well done, gentlemen!

Now on to this week’s. Yes, I’m sticking with the black and white theme. No reason, other than these just happen to be the ones I’m coming up with. But take a good look and see if you can place this memorable little film. Good luck. As always, just send me an email at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Please don’t post your answer here, so everyone has a chance.

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Turkey Day Approaches

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Turkeyday2015Now that Halloween is over, there is something even scarier lurking on the horizon. Something so horrible, that it is rumored to rip the will to live right from your soul. No, I’m not talking about the Christmas shopping season, but Turkey Day! For the last 12 years, on the day after Thanksgiving, while many are out there fighting one another for to save a few $$ for the upcoming commercial holiday, a few of us brave souls take on something even more terrifying…the Cinematic Turkey! But this is one feast where gluttony is not only approved, but mandatory!

Each year now, we have traversed through an array of cinematic shipwrecks, usually getting through seven features, that most would shake their hand at and not waste their time. But for us, we revel in these miss-fires of film making, at least for the day. Continue reading →

Support the Cause!

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hammer horror warner bros yearsI know that it seems these days everyone is asking for money for some project they are working on. I’m sure there are more than a few that are just either just schemes to get your money, or by people that might be better off looking into another line of work. But I also would like to think that there are a few that are honest endeavors, just need a little extra cash to help them get it going. So why should we give money to some of these people, when we are working our own butts off in the real world? Why don’t they do the same? Well, maybe because some of these people ARE working their butts off in the real world, but are working EVEN MORE to try and get a passion project created. And not only created, but for other people to enjoy them.

Over the last month, I think I have contributed to four different causes. Which in the last year, I think that would bring the total number for the year to about…four. But why these? The answer is simple and is really the main reason why any of us should support these, or any kind of these projects….because I BELIEVE in them. And showing support by giving a few $$ is not only a way to help these people get their project going, but also showing them that they are a creative force worth investing in, maybe even validating their decisions for what they are doing and why. Having people believe you and your talent is the best fuel and motivation any artist (of any type) could hope for (at least for me it is). And a little financial boost to a project shows that you believe in that person(s) talent for a particular project, or in general.

Continue reading →

Happy Halloween from the Krypt

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Today is the day. The last day of the year when all of us horror nerds actually don’t stand out in normal society like we do every other time of the year. Not that any of us really cares to fit in, since we’ve long since gotten used to following our own dark and twisted path. But this is the day to celebrate our love and passion for this unbelievable entertaining genre of films that have kept people like us entertained since the birth of cinema.

But tomorrow, when the rest of the world starts to get prepared for that big commercial holiday and give praise to the fat man in the red suit, we know that we will just continue on with us celebrating our love for horror movies. Okay, maybe taking a little break for a while because of all the movies that we’ve watched in the last 31 days, but you know what I mean!

So from Kitley’s Krypt, we wish everyone out there a safe and Happy Halloween! I know we’ll be trying to get a few movies under our belt today since it has been a pretty light month for me viewing wise. But I hope to make up for some of that today.

See you on the other side…

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Hammer Horror Documentary Needs Your Help

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hammer horror warner bros yearsFollowers of this site know my love for Hammer Horror. So when I heard the news that there was a new feature length documentary in process about the work Hammer did with Warner Bros, I immediately got excited. But they need a little help getting the funds to get this made. As of this writing, they are almost half way to their goal and have around 20 days left to meet it. So read on and hopefully you can show your support. Every little bit helps.

Authors and Hammer scholars Marcus Hearn and Jonathon Rigby are the two behind this project, so we know the end result is going to be well worth it. They wanted to explore the work that Hammer did when they had a working relationship with Warner Bros Studios in the late 60s / early 70s, on features like Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and Taste the Blood of Dracula. They have plenty of great rewards to those that contribute, from copies of the documentary to some incredible newly commissioned artwork designs by Mark Spears. These look amazing. This one here is just one that they have available. Check out the Kickstarter page to see the rest of them, as well as checking out all the different rewards. Again, every little bit helps. If this would be a documentary that  you would buy anyway, then this is just like pre-ordering it!

For all the details, just click HERE. Hopefully we can see this come to life. You can see some of the updates on their Facebook page HERE, such as that they’ve announced they will have interviews with Hammer actress Madeline Smith and actor John Carson. Stay tuned for more details, but please contribute if you can.

Support the Empire!

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CELLULOIDWIZARDSEXTRAILFEATNo, this doesn’t have anything to do with the new Star Wars movies. But it is about another Empire. Empire Pictures, a low budget studio back in the 80s that delivered the goods when it came to low budget and damn entertaining films. Many of these were enjoyed by people my age, when video stores were all over the place. Empire Pictures was a name that you could trust to give you something you probably haven’t seen before, with some wild imagination, crazy special effects, and so much more. Titles like Trancers, Re-Animator, Crawlspace, From Beyond, Trolls, Ghoulies, and so man more.

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Come Discover the Horror

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During the last week of this month, Dr. Ac (aka Aaron Christensen) and myself, will be hosting a couple of events of horror lectures/discussions, and if you’re in the Chicagoland area, we’d love to have you come out for it.

The first one is on Monday, October 26th, at the new Santori Branch of the Aurora Public Library (101 S. River St.), starting at 6:30pm and goes to 8pm, or until they kick us out! You can get more information by clicking HERE.

Then the following Wednesday, the 28th, we’ll be heading into Chicago to the Sulzer Regional branch of the Chicago Public Library, located at 4455 N. Lincoln Avenue. For more information about this event, just click HERE.

At each event, we’ll give a little historical trip through the years, talking about what each of the decades offered up to horror fans, really showing the scope and size of the genre.

So if you are a fan (which you most likely are if you’re reading this) and are in the area on those nights, stop by and join in on the fun!

Making a Horror Fan Proud

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NotLD signAs a life-long horror fan, we all know that Halloween is one of the few times when we seem like normal people. Or maybe it is because the ‘normal’ society is celebrating something that we do every day. But when I heard about this recent event that happened in a small town in Pennsylvania, it brought a smile to my face and a little tear to my eye. Evans City, Pennsylvania is the little place where the movie Night of the Living Dead was filmed, almost 50 years ago. Many horror fans have made the trip out to their, especially the cemetery where the famous opening sequence was filmed, myself included.

Now, most of society, at least in my experience, would want to shy away from the exposure their town might have because of some horror movie that was made there. God forbid that it would draw those crazy fans that would loiter around, and destroy and vandalize the area. But it seems that not only does Evans City not have that attitude, they actually embrace the fact their little town is known for this historical film.

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Monster Squad Soundtrack

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monstersquadcdThe fine folks over at La-La Land Records, who have putting out some amazing soundtracks for over 10 years, now have another title that really has ‘nards! That’s right, they have released the score to Fred Dekker’s Monster Squad on CD. This release not only has been remastered from a recently discovered 1/4″ master tape, which not only has the film version of the score, but a ton of extras. Such as additional tracks, alternate cues, source music, as well as the two songs from the film, “Rock Until You Drop” and “Monster Squad Rap”, being released on this edition for the first time.

This also comes with liner notes written by Daniel Schweiger and art designed by Dan Goldwasswer. There is only 3000 units of this release that has a total running time of 78 minutes, for only $19.98.

Head on over to La-La Land Records by clicking HERE to order your copy now.