A few years ago, Aaron Christensen and I started hosting these little lectures at the Sultzer Region Library in Chicago that we called Terror Tuesdays. The 1-night lecture then turned into a 4-week series, which we’ve been doing for a few years now. While it is a bit of prep work ahead of time, it’s a lot of fun and we’ve built up a good audience over those years.
My first official day of vacation was on Friday, Oct. 25th, and I headed down to St. Louis to witness something truly special, that probably has never happened before. And that was to watch some Jess Franco films in a theater . . . that once was an actual church! How could one pass that up!?!? Just thinking what Franco might have thought about these screenings and where, makes me smile.
My friend and Discover the Horror podcast co-host, Aaron AuBuchon, and Webster University, along with Severin Films, and Oscarbate Film Collective (John Dickson & Will Morris), hosted a 3-day event called Francomania: Vampyros Francos at the Webster University Film Series, where they would screen three different films from Spanish director Jess Franco, all dealing with the subject of vampires: Count Dracula (1970), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), and Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972). There was another screening of Franco’s Mucuba Sexual at this cool little place called The Arkadin, which looks like they screen all sorts of cool titles there.
Continue readingMy vacation days tend to be used for conventions, usually just taking Friday or maybe Friday/Monday off, then back to the real world. But this year, I had some vacation time to kill so I had planned on taking the last week of October off, with the goal of just using it to spend time enjoying the last of the Holiday season. Sure, I’d like to spend the whole month doing that, but there is a bunch of stuff going on throughout the month, such as conventions, 24-hour marathons, and plenty of other stuff that tends to keep me pretty busy. Which is why I was originally looking forward to this break from the busyness that October is. But as it happens, those days were quickly filled with all sorts of things to do, all of which I planned out myself. Meaning, no one to blame but me!
For those big fans of filmmaker Jess Franco, we have a few T-Shirts left over from the Francomania: Vampyros Francos event that took place a couple of weeks ago in St. Louis. The art was created by the uber-talented Don England. He really knocked it out of the park with the design idea that we came up with.
If you’re interested, they are $20 each, with $5 for shipping. Just email me (jon@kitleyskrypt.com) the size you’re looking for and I’ll let you know if we still have any of them and we’ll go from there.
Supply is limited so if you’re interested, email me sooner than later!
As we make our way to the Monster Bash Conference, where we, along with all the other attendees, will be celebrating Hammer Films with four lovely ladies that appeared in some of their films. Names like Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick, Victoria Vetri, and Pauline Peart, along with a few other interesting guests. You can get all the details by clicking HERE.
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That’s right folks, issue # 51 from one of the longest running horror magazines out there, Little Shoppe of Horrors, is now taking orders for their new issue, which features a stunning cover of Nosferatu (1922). Sure, it’s not a Hammer film, but since there is Robert Eggers’ new version coming out in December, LSoH is taking this opportunity to have their usual in-depth “making of” on the very first adaptation of Stoker’s novel, with the article “The Plague of Nosferatu: The Making of a Vampire” by Rolf Giesen, who has written a couple of books on the subject, The Nosferatu Story (read our review of it HERE) and Golem, Caligari, Nosferatu.
Also, to tie into this, there will be an article entitled “Victims of his Imaginations” – Bram Stoker and an unmade Hammer title.
Then there is a couple of features on the sci-fi/horror film The Damned, as well as a piece on Hammer’s first horror title with “The Making of the Mystery of the Mary Celeste”.
Plus, all the usual goodies that LSoH pages are filled with. You can order your copy now by going to their website HERE.
As a collector in general, it can be pretty tough (and expensive) to keep up with some of the amazing things coming out that you want to add to your collection. Horror soundtracks is one thing that I’m a sucker for. Ever since seeing Jaws and realizing then just how much a great score can have an effect on the viewer, soundtracks have been on my brain. They can take you on a musical journey that transport your brain to the film playing in your head, as well as triggering the memories and feelings you had during certain sequences.
Star Wars was the first soundtrack I ever bought, but more followed. Every time I am working at my computer or reading, I have a soundtrack playing in the background. There are scores that I buy because I remember the score being effective. Then there are others that I simply buy because I can’t believe someone is actually releasing it on CD! I think “who else is going to buy this release besides me?!?!”
Here are some of the titles that have been recently announced for release, most of which I have already pre-ordered!
The Golden Age of Horror Vol. 1
Released from Dragon’s Domain Records, this CD contains scores from Hammer’s 1963 film Paranoiac, and Amicus’ Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors and The Skull, both from 1965. All were composed by Elisabeth Lutyens, who was Britain’s first female feature film composer, so it’s great to see a little attention being given to her!
Retail price is only $17.95, with a total running time of 75:31. If this is anything like their Golden Age of Science Fiction releases, this will not only be a great addition to any collection, but since this is Vol. 1, one can only dream of what might be coming next!
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I know, you’re probably amazed that it has taken me this long to post something about this amazing news. But it’s here at last. Over the weekend, Kino Lober had announced that they would be releasing Paul Naschy’s debut Waldemar Daninsky film, Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror (1968) not only a 4K scan of the 35mm composite internegative, but there apparently it will be in 3D! Now there is no details on if there will be 2 separate versions on the release or what, but I would guess that is what they will do.
For those that don’t know the whole story, this film was originally made and released in 1968, under the title La marca del Hombre Lobo, and it was filmed in 3D. Here in the states, producer Sam Sherman needed a Frankenstein picture to fulfill a contract he had, so he acquired this Naschy film, created an animated prologue that told the story of a Wolf-Stein, and called it Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror. Therefore, it could fit in with a Frankenstein release that he had promised. Even though it had 2 vampires, and 2 werewolves, but not 1 Frankenstein creature! But no matter what, it did bring Naschy here to the states. And while Sherman wanted to release it in the 3D format, it was just too costly to try and make it work, so they pulled the 3D print after a few screenings and just distributed the “flat” version.
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Since I’m on the verge of hitting the big 60 next year and have been a horror film fan most of my life, watching as many different films as possible over those 6 decades, one would think that I’d be close to seeing everything, right! WRONG! Therein lies the beauty of the horror genre, or really cinema in general. If they stopped making movies today, we would still not be able to see all the films out there that we haven’t seen yet. And to prove this, is the latest stunning box set announced by Severin Films today, All Haunts be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Vol. 2.
The first set was amazing enough, especially with the deep diving documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, that opened up the doors to so many films. And now, Severin has done it again with volume 2, that features 13 discs, with 24 international folk horror classics! As I mentioned, I’ve been in the game a long time and there were many of these titles that I was not familiar with at all. That is why I never get tired of the horror genre. There is always more to discover.
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Yet another reason why we are so lucky right now. Last year, Indicator released their Mexico Macabre box set which featured 4 incredible titles from the Mexican horror output from the late ’50s and early ’60s, which was a much-needed release for fans who had missed out on the old Casa Nega DVDs. But there were 2 titles missing from that collection that were a must for any fan of this sub-genre. But have no fear because Indicator has announced this amazing double feature that will contain the film that started it all, El Vampiro aka The Vampire (1957), and it’s sequel, El ataúd del vampire aka The Vampire’s Coffin (1958), both starring Germán Robles in the title role, and Abel Salazar as the stand-in for Van Helsing! Both are filled with so much atmosphere you can cut it with a knife. Two perfect examples of the amazing work they were creating back then.
This set will include audio commentaries by star Germán Robles from 2007, as well as interviews with Claudia & Rosa Salazar Arenas about their father, actor and producer Abel Salazar, as well as other interviews with people involved in film fests, horror scholars, and film historians on the Spanish horror genre. The set also comes with a limited edition exclusive 80-page book with new essays Jesús Palacios and David Wilt, archival essays by Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro and Carmen A Serrano, cast interviews, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
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