Katzman Honored on Blu-Ray

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Since The Giant Claw is one of my all-time favorites from the ‘50s, the announcement of this being on released on Blu-ray had my attention. Then to find out it would be in a special edition box set celebrating the works of low budget producer Sam Katzman. This guy was a producer that spanned just shy of 40 years that produced 239 pictures. In the decade of the ‘50s, he produced 105 titles, averaging out to almost 1 a month! He made everything from horror and sci-fi films to westerns, musicals, rock and roll, and just about every other exploitation genre out there.

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Charles Band Tells It All

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Whether or not you’re a fan of his movies, you can’t be unimpressed with his legacy, from the movies he produced back in the Empire Pictures to his Full Moon empire, he definitely had his hand in the creation of direct-to-video film production. From titles like From Beyond (1986) to the Subspecies and Puppet Master series, he has continued to put his stamp in the world of low budget film production.

Now, coming this November from Harper Collins, you will be able to read how it all started, and what Band went through, all the ups and downs, to get where he is today. Priced at $27.99 for the hardcover edition, Confessions of a Puppet Master will be released on Nov. 16th and gives us all the juicy bits from Band and co-author Adam Felber, through his 40-year career in the business, working with a wide variety of talented directors, actors, and movie magic creators, learning of all the wins and losses that he has taken over those four decades, all covered within the 320 pages.

For all the details, just click HERE.

Movie Review: Boys from County Hell (2020)

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Directed by Chris Baugh
Starring Jack Rowan, Nigel O’Neill, Louisa Harland, Michael Hough, John Lynch, Fra Fee, Morgan C. Jones, Robert Nairne, Lalor Roddy

Creating a vampire movie these days is extremely difficult without treading on the footsteps of the countless titles already in this done-to-death sub-genre. When a filmmaker not only does that, but creates a very entertaining, humorous and still an effective picture, he, along with the cast and crew, need to be applauded. Because of that, I felt I needed to post a review, hoping to draw more people to it.

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Accademia Giallo

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I’m not sure why I haven’t posted about these earlier (Sorry Ian!), but over the last several months, I have been honored to be invited to participate in this podcast done by Ian Simmons, from Kicking the Seat, in which Ian is learning about the Italian giallo, but picking a new movie each month and discussing afterwards. Now before we go further, let me back up a bit. Mr. Simmons has been running his Kicking the Seat podcast since 2012, after starting his blog in 2009. You can quickly tell how much of a passionate film fan he is, and is always entertaining to listen to. You might not agree with him all the time, but that is the whole point to being a movie fan, discussing our different thoughts on the motion picture industry.

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Mystery Photo 6-21

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We’ve had a few more recent photos so with this week’s pic, I thought I’d go a little old school. But before we get to it, let’s go over last week’s photo. It was from Tobe Hooper’s 1995 film The Mangler, based on the Stephen King short story. While the movie itself isn’t stellar, it is fun to watch Robert Englund. Plus, working around machines most of my life, seeing scenes like in the photo can be a little unnerving for me. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answers: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron AuBuchon, Scott Bradley, Aaron Christensen, Peggie Christie, Craig J. Clark, Karl Hanks, Kevin Hart, Erik Martin, Gary McGuire, Charles Miller, Jason Siegel, Alan Tromp, Nick Wilson. Quite a few this time out, so well done to the lot of you!

Okay, lets get to this week’s photo. It’s a classic and obviously in black and white. Just send your answers by click HERE or to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Creepy Bitches: Essays on Horror from Women in Horror

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Now if that title doesn’t tell you exactly what this book is about …

While we haven’t read this one (yet), I know we will be adding it to our library. One of the most important things one can do as a fan of this genre is listen to other voices. Not everyone thinks the same way you do so even if someone has a difference of opinion, you still should listen to them. Might not change your own feelings but maybe it will open your eyes a bit so at least you can see and understand another point of view. Women in horror is one voice that has been struggling to be heard for years, namely because most won’t listen. So let’s fix that. One step would to simply buy this book and read some essays on the genre by female writers, from the film industry, fandom, growing up in a video store even more in depth like exploring the gender roles in The Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy. It also covers the “therapeutic benefits of watching horror” that I know a lot of us have been preaching for years!

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Chattanooga Film Festival

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Starting next Thursday the 24th, and running through Tuesday the 29th is the Chattanooga Film Festival, which will be held online once again due to the pandemic. But that shouldn’t stop you from having the chance to see some interesting and intriguing films! Just browsing through the film listing, it looks like quite a few titles that I know I will be catching, including a Conversation with Gary Sherman, Chicago’s own director who gave us films like Death Line (aka Raw Meat) and Dead & Buried, as well as the documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror by Kier-La Janisse.

For all the information, such as the films scheduled to play, admission fee, and everything else you want to know, just click HERE.

Friday Favorites: John Carradine

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Here’s a name that is one of the icons of acting, not to mention in the horror genre. Sure, most remember him from all the cheesy and low-budget titles that he appeared in, especially in his later years, but he was always delivering a fine performance. I mean, think about that for a minute. He appeared in Ted V. Mikels Astro Zombies, which I happen to love, and learned all this technical dialogue for his role of the mad doctor, and gave the performance if he was doing Shakespeare.

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Happy Birthday, Lucio!

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I guess I can’t let the day go without wishing my favorite Italian director a birthday wish. It’s been 25 years since we lost this great talent, but it thrills me to know that not only do his films live on (which then keeps him alive) but that his fan base seems to keep growing with each year. Of course that means that every new year, we have more movie fans dedicating more of their time to the horror genre, wanting to learn about history of the genre, and the masters of horror that have already left us. As an older fan, that gives me such hope for the future of the genre when the younger ones embrace the past.

Buon compleanno, Lucio! You may be gone, but never forgotten!

Visiting the Dead … with Friends

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This last weekend, we drove over 500 miles to go to a drive-in to see movies that we have already seen.

Why?

Well, first of all, the question should be why not? But it really comes down to because of doing something out of the ordinary to have fun and spend time with friends and other like-minded monster fans.

Monster Bash usually has their convention in June, but that couldn’t happen because of the pandemic. Instead, they decided to hold Monster Bash: Under the Stars at the Riverside Drive-In, in Vandergrift, PA, where they screened 6 classic films from the ‘50s over two nights. Since we would have normally taken those days off from work, we decided we might as well use that vacation time and go out and have some fun. Especially when we heard that some other friends decided to do the same thing.

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