Movie Review: Hellbender

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(2021)
Directed by John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
Starring Toby Poser, Zelda Adams, Lulu Adams, John Adams, Judy Rosen, Rob Figueroa, Rinzin Thonden

Back in 2019, I stumbled upon a film on Prime called The Deeper You Dig (2019) and decided to take a chance on it. It was a very simple story about a young girl who is killed by a hit and run driver, that to hide his crime, hides the body. What he didn’t expect would be the dead girl haunting him. A simple tale but one that had such a small cast, pretty much three actors, really delivered. But when I found out that not only were the three main actors were a husband-wife-daughter team, but they also co-directed the film, co-wrote it, and did just about every other job on the production, I was even more impressed. So, I kept them on my radar. Two years later, they released Hellbender, which not only had all three of them returning, but also their other daughter, Lulu Adams.

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Dusk to Dawn Horrorfest at the Midway Drive-In

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The final lineup has been announced for this year’s Dusk to Dawn Horrorfest at the Midway Drive-in, taking place on Sept. 20th. And what a lineup!

Re-Animator (1985)
Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

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Harker Press Unleashes a Nightmare Book

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Harker Press has announced their latest book, Nightmare Autopsis: A Return to Elm Street by author Lowell Greenblatt, with introduction by Nathan Thomas Milliner. The book contains story analyses, production info and behind-the-scenes stories, and much more. Here what you’ll get:

  • A foreword by Nathan Thomas Milliner
  • A franchise-spanning photo gallery
  • New insights from three Nightmare directors
  • Extensive looks at unused sequel scripts
  • Deep dives on each film’s story origins
  • Long-overdue appreciations for the sequels
  • A history of Freddy’s evolving iconography
  • A look at how each entry influenced the next

This is obviously a must for any fans of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, but I would just throw it out there that I have read and reviewed plenty of titles from Harker Press, some on a subject that I really had little interest in, such as the Halloween sequels, but still found them very fascinating and a lot of information I didn’t know. If you’re a horror fan, don’t just walk away because it’s a book on those “Freddy movies”. Trust me.

The other great thing about Harker Press’ releases is the price. You get a decent size book at a very reasonable price. This one will be available in hardcover at $32.99, softcover at $24.99, and is 423 pages. Plenty for any Freddy fans to dig into. For more info, head over to Harker Press by clicking HERE. Or you can order your copy through Amazon by clicking HERE.

Mystery Photo 8-25

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It’s Monday, and we have internet, so I guess it’s time for a new Mystery Photo!!! Even though I gave everyone an extra week, it looks like we still only got two correct answers sent in. They were from Hoby Abernathy and Erik Martin. Congrats lads! And the film was the 1963 Mario Bava film The Whip and the Body. I remember the first time I got to see this, on a shabby looking bootleg VHS, but it still creeped me out. It also has an amazing score from Carlo Rustichelli.

Okay, let us get on with this week’s photo. Going to an old classic, one that got me into a whole other sub-genre and still remains one of my favorites. Take a look and hopefully if you’re by a mirror, you won’t see that in the reflection! Just remember to send me your guesses in an email to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And Good Luck!

Movie Review: Creepshow 2

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(1987)
Directed by Michael Gornick
Starring George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Lois Chiles, Tom Savini, Holt McCallany, David Holbrook, Frank Salsedo, Daniel Beer, Page Hannah, Tom Wright, and Joel Silver

One of the things that I really love about revisiting films, especially ones from decades ago that I’ve always considered “just okay” then realizing that I am seeing them much differently this time around. It might have something to do with age, becoming more of a seasoned lover of cinema, or just having more of an understanding of what goes into making a movie. I’m not trying to sound like I know everything or am some intellectual film scholar, but I do know that I see and understand film a lot more than I did 38 years ago when this film came out.

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Curse of Frankenstein on 4K

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This is something Hammer fans have been waiting a long, long time since the new owners of the studio started releasing some amazing 4K editions. They have finally has announced the next title getting their all-star treatment is none other than The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), the film that really put them in the big league. While they started to get attention with their two Quatermass films, once Curse hit the theaters, including the US, it just exploded. And now, the wait is over. Sort of.

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DtH – Episode 103: Late Night Snack with Horror Artist Don England

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If you’ve been to a few horror conventions over the years, you’ll notice there are a few different artists set up there. Do you stop by and look at their work, browsing through what they have on display? These artists are bringing their visions of different horror ideas and concepts, in an illustrated way, hoping to catch the eye of a fan wandering by. One of these artists that has been setting up at shows for the last couple of decades is Don England. Doing the old-style pen & ink style of illustrations, his is very unique and very good.

We’ve known Don for many, many years, and know he’s as big of a horror fan as we are, so we invited him onto the show to not only talk horror, but also his art, where he gets his inspirations, and giving fans that might now know this side of the horror shows, a little insight into what it takes to be an artist. As well as his latest project, a little chapter size book called Late Night Snack, that covers a variety of subjects, filled with Don’s artwork, as well as essays on movies, short fiction, a comic, and much more. For more info about Don’s work, just click HERE.

Films mentioned in this episode:

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No Internet = It Sucks!

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Sorry for no new Mystery Photo this week, but we got hit with a big storm this last Saturday that knocked out our power for about 8 hours. When it came back on, no internet. Of course, it took 3 days for them to come out and fix it. So, in the meantime, while I could get to my email from my phone, couldn’t do much else. But hopefully we’ll be back to our regular rantings and ramblings from this point on!

Thanks for your understanding!

Music Box of Horrors – October Lineup!

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Not to be satisfied with just having their annual 24-hour marathon, for the last few years, Chicago’s own Music Box Theatre has lined the entire month of October with a wide variety of horror offerings, some with special guests, others with just some rare opportunities to see some very unique films. And this October is no different.

If you are in the area of the Music Box, I can’t recommend enough coming out and supporting the theater during this month of programming, for a few reasons. First and foremost, it shows the theater that these kind of events are worth it, meaning they will continue to program events like this in the future. For a guy that used to drive out the this theater in the 90s for a midnight screening of some cult title, only to have 5 other people in the theater, its a wonder they continued at all! So when you can, make sure you show your support by attending one or more of these incredible screenings.

Second of all, you are getting the chance to see some truly great and interesting titles in this lineup. For us classic horror fans, getting to see Charles Laughton as the mad Dr. Moreau in Island of Lost Souls, a film that has themes of bestiality in 1932, not to mention some incredible makeup effects. And then there is having the chance to see Lon Chaney Sr. in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), the original love obsessed stalker! Even though its a silent film, you will be amazed at Chaney’s performance. And that is just the start!

And there so many more listed here. Mark your calendar and make those plans! Just click HERE to go to the Music Box event page.

Oct. 1st – 9:15pm
In My Skin (2002)
Theatre 2 DCP

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The (Latest) Definitive Guide to Horror Films

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Being a collector of horror reference books, which includes several different film guides from throughout the past 30 years, I can’t help but add new ones to the collection. But as serious collectors know, you have to be a little careful before immediately picking up a new release, because you might already have an older version of the book, and sometimes the new version isn’t that much newer. Thankfully, it seems this version at least some more content added than just a few pages. But again, the rest of the book seems to be exactly the same as the last edition.

This title started back in 2006, under the title Horror: The Definitive Guide to Cinema of Fear. Then it was released again in 2010 under the title Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death, with a few pages of added content. Then three years later, it was released again as Horror! The Definitive Companion to the Most Terrifying Movies Ever Made, again with a few more papers of content added. Then five years later, and another 8 pages added, it was released again under the title The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies: 365 Films to Scare You to Death. And now, it is being released once again, with seemingly a bit more content, more than 30 pages added, under the same Definitive title, now with Ghostface from the Scream series on the cover.

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