Movie Review: Jason Goes to Hell

May 11, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Adam Marcus, Billy Green Bush, Erin Gray, Jason Goes to Hell, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, John D. LeMay, Kane Hodder, Kari Keegan, Leslie Jordan, Richard Gant, Steven Williams | Leave a comment

Directed by Adam Marcus
Starring John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Steven Williams, Steven Culp, Richard Gant, Erin Gray, Rusty Schwimmer, Leslie Jordan, Billy Green Bush, Kane Hodder

This film is a strange one, that is for sure. Not just in the storyline in the film itself, but as a picture as a whole, such as the background behind it. Coming off from Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, which is one that most fans dread even thinking about and had the worst box office returns in the series, it would make total sense for the creators to try and do something different. Which is exactly what they did with Jason Goes to Hell. And while it did better than the last entry, it didn’t get the results the producer was hoping for.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Terror in the Fog: The Wallace Krimi At CCC

May 9, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Alice Brauner, Artur Brauner, Barry Forshaw, Bryan Edgar Wallace, Central Cinema Company, Diabolik DVD, DiabolikDVD, Edgar Wallace, Edwin Zbonek, Eureka Entertainment, Franz Josef Gottlieb, Hansjorg Felmy, Harald Reinl, Italian Giallo, Jonathan Rigby, Karin Dor, Kevin Lyons, Kim Newman, Krimi, Maria Perschy, Rialto Films, Stephen Jones, Terror in the Fog: The Wallace Krimi at CCC, The Curse of the Yellow Snake, The Mad Executioners, The Monster of London City, The Phantom of Soho, The Racetrack Murders, The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, Tim Lucus, Video Watchdog | 2 Comments

I thought I knew what a “krimi film” was and had seen a couple of them over the years. Turns out, in fact, I knew very little about them. I thought they were just a little off shoot to the Italian giallo films but made in Germany, which they kind of were, but so different. Kind of like saying all pasta is the same as spaghetti! The term krimi is slang for Kriminalfilme, or Crime Film, that was shortened to just krimi. This moniker was created after a series of films based on the works of British author Edgar Wallace and his son Bryan Edgar Wallace, mainly starting by the films made by the West Germany company Rialto Films between 1959 and 1972, but also a series of films by Artur Brauner with the Central Cinema Company (CCC), that he founded in 1946. Brauner was also the one to bring back the criminal mastermind, Dr. Mabuse, back to the screen with a series of films. But that’s for another review!

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Monster from the Ocean Floor

March 15, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Anne Kimbell, Bob Baker, Film Masters, Floyd Crosby, Jonathan Haze, Justin Humphreys, Monster from the Ocean Floor, Roger Corman, Stuart Wade, Tom Weaver, Wyott Ordung | Leave a comment

(1954)
Directed by Wyott Ordung
Starring Anne Kimbell, Stuart Wade, Dick Pinner, Wyott Ordung, Inez Palange,
Jonathan Haze, David Garcia, Roger Corman

While this isn’t directed by Roger Corman, it is his first film as sole producer, and it was really a sign of things to come. While a lot of Corman’s earlier work might have involved cheesy monsters here and there, they were still entertaining. Watching them now, it gives me that nostalgic feeling of watching these as a kid, catching them on TV some Saturday afternoon. But watching them now, as an adult and a life-long student of movies, while I still get that same feeling as a kid, it also makes me appreciate the people involved a lot more. And Monster is a perfect example of that.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Peony Lantern aka The Bride from Hades

March 9, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Botan-dôrô, Daiei Films, Daiei Gothic, Gamera, Kô Nishimura, Kôjirô Hongô, Miyoko Akaza, Peony Lantern, Satsuo Yamamoto, Takashi Shimura, The Bride of Hades | Leave a comment

(1968)
Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto
Starring Kôjirô Hongô, Miyoko Akaza, Kô Nishimura, Mayumi Ogawa, Takashi Shimura, Michiko Ôtsuka

One of the earliest Japanese ghost story films was Botan-dôrô (1910), which was based on one of the oldest and most commonly used themes over the years in rakugo, then kabuki, before moving into the film world. The story actually came from a book of Chinese ghost stories called Jiandeng Xinhua by Qu You, first published in 1378. It was later adapted by Japanese author Asai Ryoi in his book Otogi Boko, giving it a Japanese setting and calling it Botan-dôrô. While there are many variations on the story, it basically deals with doomed lovers. In 1968, it was adapted for the screen by Yoshikata Yoda and directed by Satuso Yamamoto, called Peony Lantern, or The Bride from Hades.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Dinner with Leatherface

February 18, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Allen Danziger, Barbara Crampton, Bob Elmore, Bruce Campbell, Danial Pearl, Danielle Harris, Debbie Rochon, Del Howison, Dinner with Leatherface, Edwin Neal, Gary Jones, Gunnar Hansen, Jeff Burr, John Dugan, Kane Hodder, Kim Kenkel, Leatherface, Michael Felsher, Michael Kallio, R.A. Mihailoff, Texas Chainsaw Massacre | Leave a comment

Dinner with Leatherface (2024)
Directed by Michael Kallio
Featuring Gunnar Hansen, Jeff Burr, Bruce Campbell, Barbara Crampton, Kane Hodder, John Dugan, Allen Danziger, Bob Elmore, Michael Felsher, Danielle Harris, Kim Henkel, Del Howison, Gary Jones, R.A. Mihailoff, Edwin Neal, Daniel Pearl, Debbie Rochon, and so many more

When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre hit theaters in 1974, nobody had expected to witness the birth of a new horror icon. Four years before Michael Myers made kids scared on Halloween and a full decade before Freddy made people afraid to go to sleep, there was this giant, crazed, mountain of a man hiding behind a bloody apron and a facemask of human skin . . . someone else’s skin. And his name was Leatherface. And he was played by 27-year-old Gunnar Hansen.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Alice, Sweet Alice

February 4, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Alfred Sole, Alice Sweet Alice, Arrow Video, Black Christmas, Brooke Shields, Deep Sleep, Halloween, Linda Miller, Paula E. Sheppard, Rudolph Willrich, Stephen Lawrence | 2 Comments

(1976)
Directed by Alfred Sole
Starring Paula E. Sheppard, Linda Miller, Rudolph Willrich, Brooke Shields, Mildred Clinton, Niles McMaster, Alphonso DeNoble, Jane Lowry

This film is one that everyone seems to know or remember, especially seeing the VHS tape, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to come up in a lot of conversations, especially when you are discussing the slasher genre. Keep in mind, this film came out two years after Bob Clark’s Black Christmas, but two years before John Carpenter’s Halloween. And yet, when talking about the slasher genre, and this film most certainly is a slasher film, it seems not to come up in those discussions. You have a mysterious, masked killer on the loose, dispatching their victims in a variety of ways, from stabbing, choking, to even throwing them out a window! And the blood flow is pretty excessive in some of these crimes.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Night of the Blood Beast

November 17, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Attack of the Giant Leeches, Bernard L. Kowalski, Ed Nelson, Gene Corman, Night of the Blood Beast, Roger Corman | Leave a comment

Once again, Film Masters has given fans a great little package in their latest Blu-Ray release. Being a huge fan of the sci-fi/horror films of the ’50s, I never get tired of watching films of that era. Here we have two great ones, both directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. One of my favorite things about these early films is that everyone is playing it completely straight. No winking at the camera and never giving it less than 100%. Sure, a lot of them were struggling actors that were trying to get their foot in the door, but they still gave their best and sometimes giving us some very memorable characters. It really shows in the final product, no matter how silly that product might be. As a fan of these movies, I give them a lot of respect and gratitude for doing just that.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Kinski Double Feature

October 18, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Anthony Franciosa, Antonio Margheriti, Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, Barbara Steele, Castle of Blood, Creature with the Blue Hand, Edgar Wallace, Film Masters, Klaus Kinski, Krimis, Web of the Spider | Leave a comment

Once again, I’m discovering more and more some films that I might have seen back in my 20s or 30s, that I never really paid much attention to. I must have watched them and then forgot about them because they left no real memory with me. It might be because of the shabby releases of them that always seemed to be around, where the quality was pretty rough, so you figured the film itself had to be cheap as well and not worth your time. Thankfully, as we grow older, we really do become a little more serious in our movie viewing and pay more attention to what we are watching. At least, I know I do. A prime example is this new release from Film Masters, a Kinski double feature, of Creature with the Blue Hand (1967) and Web of the Spider (1971). And when the films are presented like they are here, it really is worth your time.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Common Law Wife & Jennie Wife/Child

June 23, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Annabelle Weenick, Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, Beverly Lunsford, C. Courtney Joyner, Common Law Wife, Eric Sayers, Film Masters, George Edgley, Jack Lester, James Landis, Jennie: Wife/Child, Jim Reader, Lacey Kelley, Larry Buchanan, Libby Hall, Robert Carl Cohen, Swamp Rose, Tender Grass | Leave a comment

Common Law Wife (1961)
Directed by Larry Buchanan & Eric Sayers
Starring Annabelle Weenick, George Edgley, Max W. Anderson, Lacey Kelley, Bert Masters, Libby Hall

Jennie: Wife/Child (1968)
Directed by Robert Carl Cohen & James Landis
Starring Jack Lester, Beverly Lunsford, Jim Reader, Virginia Wood, Richard Cowl

When I read about the announcement of the latest release from Film Masters, a Hicksploitation double feature, I was going to pass, since it’s not really in the horror genre. Then I realized that one of the titles, Common Law Wife, was partially directed by Larry Buchanan, a favorite cult director of mine! So, I figured I had to take on the assignment of reviewing them anyway because I just couldn’t pass up anything that Buchanan was involved with. I am so glad I did.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Mute Witness

June 4, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Alec Guiness, Anthony Waller, Arrow Films, Evan Richards, Igor Volkov, Marina Zudina, Mute Witness, Oleg Yankovskiy, Ray Ripley | Leave a comment

Director Anthony Waller
Starring Marina Zudina, Fay Ripley, Evan Richards, Oleg Yankovskiy, Igor Volkov, Alec Guinness

Not sure why, but I never got around to watching this when it first came out, close to 30 years ago. But now, with the new 4K release coming out, I have fixed that and I’m glad I did.

Mute Witness was director Waller’s first film, which I know would have made me pay attention to his career. Unfortunately, his next feature was American Werewolf in Paris (1997), which probably would have made me stop paying attention! But none the less, we are here to talk about his debut feature, which is about a young woman, named Billy Hughes, who is a special makeup effects artist working on a slasher film in Russia. She also happens to be mute. She can hear, just can’t speak. Her sister is on the crew, as well as dating the director, who helps her with any language barriers or difficulties with the crew or actors.

Continue reading →