Year End Review Part 3 – Never to Forget

January 3, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Anthony Dileo, Bob Burns, Clive Revill, Damien Thomas, David Johansen, David Lynch, Drew Struzan, Gene Hackman, George Wendt, Greg Cannom, Horst Jansen, Jay Warren, Jean Marsh, Jeannot Szwarc, Jimmy Hunt, Joe Don Baker, John McCarty, Lalo Schifrin, Lar Park Lincoln, Lawrence P. Raffel, Mad Ron Roccia, Mara Corday, Michael Madsen, Peter Jason, Richard Chamberlain, Rob Reiner, Rosanna Norton, Sam Sherman, Samantha Eggar, Scott Spiegel, Sergio Salvati, Terence Stamp, Tony Isbert, Udo Keir, Wings Hauser | Leave a comment

It’s strange that as I grow older, turning 60 this year, it seems more and more people that I grew up watching on the screen are leaving. Obvious, I know. But it hits harder now than before. There are some true icons listed here with some connection to the horror genre, as slight as it might be, as well as those that worked hard to help to promote the genre. And for each and every single one of them, I thank you for what you have given us fans of cinema. Your work will live on and never be forgotten.

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2025 Year End Review Part 2 – Best Viewings

January 2, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Bride from Hades, Bring Her Back, Bryan Bertino, Dakota Fanning, Daniel DelPurgatorio, Danny Philippou, Dark and the Wicked, Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, Heart Eyes, John Lithgow, Kathryn Hunter, Marshmallow, Michael Philippou, Monster Island, Peony Lantern, Rule of Jenny Pen, Ryan Coogler, Satsuo Yamamoto, Sinners, Strange Darlings, Talk to Me, The Long Walk, The Monster of London City, The Red House, The Ugly Stepsister, Together, Trouble Every Day, Vicious, Weapons, Wolfkin, Zach Cregger | Leave a comment

And who says there are no good movies coming out these days? For the last couple of years, my Best Viewings of the year have mainly been recent releases, most from that current year. And 2025 was no different. There are 2 from the ’60s, 1 from 2023, 1 from 2024, and the rest from 2025. That tells me a couple of things. That either in past years, I was busy playing catch up with a lot of older great titles that I had never seen before, or that there are some still people out there busting their ass to make some original and entertaining horror films.

I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I set a new personal record for me, barely, but still did it. I manage to knock out 447 films this year, with 209 being new viewings. It sometimes amazes me how many I actually get through each year, but honestly, there are some nights when I can get through 3 movies with no problem. It really has to do with the love of cinema.

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2025 Year End Review – Part 1

January 1, 2026 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Cinema Wasteland, David Hastings, Discover the Horror, Discover the Horror Podcast, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror, German Popular Cinema and the Rialto Krimi Phenomenon, Hammer Films, It's Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited, Janine Pipe, Matthew C. Depee, Music Box of Horrors, Music Box Theatre, Neil Marshall, Nicholas G. Schlegel, Paul Downey, Paul Naschy, Sausages: The Making of Dog Soldiers, The Making of The Descent, We're Here for the Krites | Leave a comment

This has been one hell of a year. On my write up for 2024, I made a point to remind us of all that with all the crap going on in the world, we need to look for the positives out there, because they are there and we need not lose sight of that. But I have to say, it wasn’t the easiest to do that in 2025. When I first started to review the past year from the posts here in the Krypt, I couldn’t find much that I thought were highlights. At least not more than a couple of things. But then I went back a couple of weeks later, with a more thorough set of eyes, and low and behold, there were plenty. Once again, it just shows that sometimes the positives are hard to see and remember. They might even seem pretty trivial, but they are there. So, amidst all the chaos and tragedy that is going on, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to make us sit back and think “yeah…that was pretty cool.” They might not be huge events or something, but that made you glad you were there and part of it. And we need to be focused on and remembering those moments, now more than ever, to help us get through this dark time we’re going through.

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2024 Year Review: Never to Forget

January 5, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace, Year End Reviews and tagged Brett Baish, Charles Cyphers, David Emge, David J. Skal, Donald Sutherland, Jonathan Haze, Kristin Wicks, M. Emmet Walsh, Mark Damon, Olivia Hussey, Paul Morrissey, Roger Corman, Shelley Duvall, Silvia Tortosa, Susan Blacklinie, Tisa Farrow, Tony Todd | Leave a comment

2024 was a particularly rough year for me on a personal level with the losses we suffered. We have listed the celebrities that we have lost over the last 12 months, that had some connection to the horror genre, like we always do. Thankfully their work always makes it easier to keep them alive for future generations. But there were a couple of people in my personal life that left us that really left a hole in my dark and twisted heart. I posted about them when they first passed, so there is no need to go into any major detail now. But I just wanted to say that for those that aren’t left immortalized in film, it is up to us, their friends and families, to keep their memories alive. I know every time I go to a convention, Halloween Party, or even just a movie night, I’ll remember the excitement of my cousin Brett Baish going to shows with me, and all the support and great conversations with my dear friend Kristin Wicks. They left us way too soon.

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2024 Year End Reviews: Best Viewings

January 4, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Another Man's Poison, Apostle, Baghead, Exhuma, Fear Street Trilogy, Heretic, Humane, Immaculate, Like Me, Oddity, Sea Fever, Starve Acre, Stopmotion, Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic, The Substance, Things Will Be Different, Valley of the Zombies | Leave a comment

I set a record this year with the number of movies I watched in 2024 hitting 442, 216 of them being first time viewings. I’m sure a big part of that was being sick a couple of times, especially getting Covid at the very end of it. I mean, it’s good when I average a movie a day during a month, but in December I hit 75 films! So, I guess there was one positive of having Covid . . . though I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, that is for sure.

As I always state, if you’re watching a movie for the first time, I consider that a new movie. It doesn’t matter what year it came out, it’s new to you. So, when I compile my Best Viewings for the year, it’s always taking that into consideration. Usually in any year, a good number of my titles in my Top Ten are not from that current year, most of them actually usually are from decades before. This year was quite different. Eight of my Top Ten were from 2024, with one being from 2023, and the last being from 2017. That tells me that not only did I watch a lot of new releases this year, but there were a lot of great ones released this year.

As usual, these are in alphabetical order, since I’m lucky to get them down to ten films. Although there is one that is my absolute favorite for the year, but you’ll have to read on to find out which one it is!

Best Viewings for 2024

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2024 Year in Review: The Highlights Part 3

January 3, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Aaron AuBuchon, Alternative Images, Beast of Blood, Damien Glonek, Discover the Horror Podcast, Funko Pop, Scott Kelley, The Substance, The Thing | Leave a comment

Continuing to Discover the Horror

Back in October of 2021, the first episode of Discover the Horror Podcast was released. Now, over three years later, and with 86 episodes published, Damien Glonek, Aaron AuBuchon, and I have continued our pursuit in helping other like-minded fans to dig a little deeper into the genre or maybe take another look at a film that they’ve seen before but maybe seeing them a little differently. This last year, we’ve covered subjects like infectious body horror, Japanese vampire films, slashers, women directors, German Expressionism, horror comics, and even Bigfoot! We also covered directors like Wes Craven, Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, Al Adamson, and Norman J. Warren. We’ve also had some incredible guests on the show, like Zandor Vorkov, Will Morris, Oscar Becher from Vinegar Syndrome, and Severin’s David Gregory!

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2024 Year End Review: The Highlights Part 2

January 2, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Alice Guy-Blaché, Eloyce Gist, Elvira Notari, Georges Melies, Lois Weber, Louise Kolm-Fleck, Sulzer Regional Library, Terror Tuesdays | Leave a comment

Discovering the Women in Horror

One of the things I’ve been doing over the last few years, along with my partner-in-crime Aaron Christensen, is our little library lectures, known as Terror Tuesdays, at the Sulzer Region Library in Chicago. Each year, we have a different theme or subject that we break up into a 4-week lecture series. This year, after some suggestions from those attending, we decided to focus on women in the genre, from actresses, writers, and directors. What I didn’t expect is how much I would actually learn while doing our research.

I’ve been studying different aspect of the genre for quite some time. I know a lot, but I also know there is much more to be learned. That really hit me this time when I started to do a little research on the input from the female side in the industry. While I knew over the last two decades, women have started to make quite the impact, showing audiences some incredible stories, and some truly terrifying ones, there is still more history that needs to be common knowledge.

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2024 Year in Review: The Highlights Part 1

January 1, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Accademia Giallo, Euro Horror, Godzilla at the Music Box, HorrorHound magazine, January Giallo, Midnight Magazine, Music Box Theatre, Paul Naschy, Sergio Martino, The Blood is the Life, Unsung Horrors Has Risen from the Grave, We Belong Dead | Leave a comment

This is going to be a tough year to review when, as I’m starting to write this, I’m still dealing with Covid!*** Or maybe this is the perfect time because in the midst of being miserable, it does show me all the positive things that happened this year. That is one thing I’ve definitely learned in my old age, especially in the last few years, that there are great things going on all the time that need to be acknowledged, just as much, if not more, as any negative or problems that arise. Honestly, even just the “good” things need to be acknowledged. Because yes, they are all there. It just depends on what and how much time you want to focus on one and not the other. It might just be the cough medicine talking, but I do think if we all started to focus on the good, as well as spreading that around to others, I do think we can make a difference. I’m not saying ignore the bad things, because they will continue. But don’t forget to realize that is not all that is out there.

Don’t get me wrong, these next few years are going to be tough. But if we give into the negativity, we all lose. Doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing, but if we are polite and kind to others, even giving a little bit of praise to those that are working hard, little things like could have a huge impact on someone who might be struggling at the moment. And it really doesn’t take much of an effort, does it? Okay, enough preaching.

This year was once again filled with some incredible adventures and plenty of memories. These are the things that make me realize how great it is to be a film fan. 2024 was an incredible year for the horror genre, with a ton of releases coming out, some of them being just amazing.

***Also, as I am now ready to post this, I am thankfully covid free and feeling a hell of a lot better than when I started this!

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2023 Year End Review – Part 3: Never to Forget

January 1, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace, Year End Reviews and tagged Alan Frank, Andre Braugher, Bert I. Gordon, Betta St. John, Burt Young, David McCallum, Eugenio Martín, Gary Kent, Gayle Hunnicutt, George Wilbur, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Jeff Burr, Julian Sands, Lara Parker, Lisa Loring, Paul Reubens, Piper Laurie, Raquel Welch, Ray Stevenson, Richard Moll, Ricou Browning, William Friedkin | Leave a comment

As we start off 2024, always with the intent of making things better, doing more, and enjoying life more, it should always be a time of remembrance, especially of those that have affected your life in some sort of way. These people involved in the movie industry are a huge part of that for me. This is always the sad part of my recap of the year, because I’m reminded of the great talent that we’ve lost over the last 12 months. But then, I do think about them, and that is what is important, isn’t it? Not to just remember them, but the incredible work that they have left us, to forever enjoy, re-watching it over and over again. As film fans, I do feel it is our job to keep their memories alive by honoring them and their work. So, while we are sad that they are no longer with us here in the physical world, their legacy is and as long as we keep watching those films, reading their work, then they are still here.

To those that made a mark on the horror genre, no matter how big or small, Rest in Peace, and know that you will never be forgotten!

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2023 Year End Review – Part 2: Best Viewings!

December 31, 2023 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged Against the Grain, Alfred Hitchcock, Blood Flower, Cobweb, Demien Rugna, Don't Listen, Eloy de la Iglesia, Eskil Vogt, I See You, Joseph Stefano, La Abuela, Martin Landau, Mike Vraney, No One Heard the Scream, Paco Plaza, Psycho, Something Weird Video, Terrified, The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre, The Grandmother, The Innocents, Vinegar Syndrome, Voces, When Evil Lurks | 3 Comments

As always, it was a struggle getting my list down to ten films. It was even stranger because when I first started going through my list of movies I watched this year, at first, I thought I was going to have trouble even coming up with five titles. But the more I looked into them, the more I realized that not only did I have more than ten, but almost like last year, most of the films I have listed here came out in the last few years. I’ve only got two “old” ones and the rest from 2020 to 2023. I would like to say that it gives me hope for modern films, but really mainly if you look outside the country! Six of my films are from foreign countries, which does give me a LOT of hope of the horror genre as a whole.

Let’s get started, shall we? These are listed in alphabetical order to make it a little easier for me, since narrowing it down to ten was hard enough!

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