This is a little short notice, but it was recently announced that Dario Argento’s immortal Suspiria (1977) will be screening at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre this weekend and next week. If you haven’t seen this film in the theater, then you haven’t really seen it. Seriously. This will be screened from a DCP format, which I’m guessing is the print from the Synapse recent Blu-Ray, so it is simply amazing.
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It’s always sad to hear of the passing of someone from the horror genre, especially when they are incredibly talented, but even sadder when they are so young. Makeup artists (and so much more) Robert Hall passed away on Monday at the age of 47. No details beyond that on his death, but he leaves a massive filmography of work from a ton of films, not just as a effects artists, but as a director as well. The somewhat biographical Lightning Bug (2004) to his pair of slasher flicks Laid to Rest and Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, showed his range in the industry. But just looking at the number of films the he did special makeup effects on, from low budget pictures to big Hollywood ones, is just staggering. Which makes this news such a damn tragedy.
We got to meet Hall at the HorrorHound convention in March of 2011 and really enjoyed his Q&A, giving the audience a insight to what he does. Such a nice guy and such a lost. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.
DAMN STRAIGHT!
It doesn’t matter if I already have over 40 titles in my library that are on the famous Studio that Dripped Blood. If a new one comes out, it will be added! And with the news that it will be coming from the publishers of We Belong Dead, I know it will be another beautiful edition like all their previous titles, such as 70’s Monster Memories or A Century of Horror.
This new one, entitled A Pictorial History of Hammer Horror, will be published in July, in both hard and soft cover editions. It will be over 400 pages, in full color, with an foreward by Richard Klemensen, and afterword by Veronica Carlson, and color art by Mark Maddox. The artwork shown here is the back cover, which was done by Brux. The book will also have a 34 page art gallery from some of the best artists around the world.
For all the latest information, as far as when it will be available to order, keep checking webelongdead.co.uk. Can’t wait to get my bloody hands on this one and start digging into it faster than a drunken graverobber!
A little late, but still posted today, so it counts! But let’s not delay any longer. Last week’s photo was from Mr. B.I.G. himself, Bert I. Gordon with his 1972 film Necromancy, also known as The Witching, starring the lovely Pamela Franklin and Orson Welles! While not one that I would consider one of his best, it is still entertaining and needs to be seen, even if just for the cast, and being a Mr. B.I.G. completist. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Brian Doering, and Kevin Hart. Well done!
Now on to this week’s photo, yet another photo of a corpse. A theme, perhaps? Or just coincidence? You don’t want to know how this brain works. Trust me. But take a peak below and see if you can recognize what film it is from. Just send us an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com) with your guess. Just remember not to post your guesses here so that others can have a guess. Good Luck.
(2010)
Directed Olaf Ittenback
Stars Irene Holzfurtner, Mathias Engel, Alexander Gamnitzer, Andreas Pape, Annika Strauss, Ralph Willmann, and Timothy Balme
Being a young gorehound back in the VHS bootleg days, you were always looking for the next Evil Dead type of film, with over-the-top gore, showing you the blood and guts action you’d never see before. When you hear of a German film moving through the great market, even though it wasn’t available in English or subtitled, it was extremely gory, you know you had to see it. That is when I first became aware of German filmmaker Olaf Ittenback and his 1989 film Black Past. On this SOV film, Ittenback was the writer, director, producer, special effects, visual effects, and one of the actors! He followed that up with The Burning Moon in 1992, another gore-filled low budget epic. For some reason though, I never followed his career after those initial titles. Maybe because the availability of other films, and then with laserdiscs and DVDs, I had my hands full.
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(1964)
Directed by Kaneto Shindo
Starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Sato, Taiji Tonoyama
Back in the days before the internet, horror reference books are where we learned about older movies. For me, Phil Hardy’s Encyclopedia of Horror (the title of the first version of the book I had) was very key into helping me discover a wide variety of titles from around the world. There was a shot from this movie in there, of a woman wearing a demon mask, with grinning mouth and wide eyes, that immediately made me want to know more about it. Eventually I would track down a copy and then understood why it was praised so much. When you are talking about classic Japanese horror cinema, this must be in the conversation.
Continue readingI can still remember opening up the pages of Fangoria and seeing photos from this new gore-filled horror/comedy from some wacko from New Zealand. Who would have known then he would go on to win an Oscar and create some of the finest moments in cinematic history, such as with Meet the Feebles (1989) and some series about a ring or something. Of course, I’m talking about Peter Jackson, and our photo is from his directorial feature debut, Bad Taste (1987), that took over 5 years of weekend shootings to finally get it finished. But even bad then, you could see the talent within that mad genius. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Todd Barwick, Aaron Christensen, Craig Clark, and Dustin Moravick. Well done!
This week’s photo is another classic from a director that, while never won any Oscars, definitely made some big features. Take a look below and see what you can come up with. Just send us an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com) with your guess. Good Luck!
I know it’s only 2 weeks notice, but we will be having our bi-annual Turkey Day Marathon this month, taking place on Saturday, May 29th, at approx. 10am. We’re still working on the final lineup but we are planning on 4-5 features. And like last time, this will still be an online event that everyone reading this is more than welcome to join the fun. Not exactly the format yet either but hope to have that figured out shortly.
Stay tuned for more details.
It looks like we will be returning to the convention circuit (if all still goes according to plan) at the end of July, for the Flashback Weekend, taking place in Rosemont, IL, from July 30th to August 1st. It’s been a long time coming, so we are very excited about it.
As usual, Flashback Weekend has come up with a wide variety of guests that should make all horror fans happy! They have Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith from the Saw series appearing, Mark Rolston and Jenette Goldstein from Aliens (among many other roles), a Friday the 13th: A New Beginning reunion with Melanie Kinnaman, Deborah Voorhees, Dick Wieand, Ron Sloan, and Carol Locatell. Also on hand will be Kane Hodder and Nick Castle.
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Two days ago would have been Jess Franco’s 91st birthday. He would had to have lived another 109 + years to be as old as how many films he directed! There were some years he averaged more than one film a month! Love him or hate him, there is no denying the man loved to make films. In fact, there is below quote from him that I think not only explains him and his work, but also a work ethic that I think many of us share in.
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