For our Friday Favorites this week, the first Friday in October, I thought it might be a fun idea to hear if there is a film out there that you bust out every Halloween season. One that is a staple in your household that at some point during the season, you know you’ll be watching it. And if you do, is it one from your childhood that brings back fond memories of the holiday? Or is it simple a favorite that just makes you feel nice and scary!
So let’s here your Favorite Halloween title and why?
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
That is the opening paragraph of one of the greatest haunted house novels ever written, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. It can still pack a punch as much today as it did when it was first released in 1959. Continue reading
When you think that there would be some movies that would never get a Blu-ray release, such as Rawhead Rex (1986). Then we find out that Kino Lorber decides that it not only needs a Blu-ray release, but a steelbook version as well! But then the soundtrack???
Silva Screen has announced they will be releasing Colin Towns’ score for Rawhead Rex on CD! The price is only $15.95 and has 15 tracks, but no idea how long the actual running time is. Granted, no matter how little I feel about this film, I will be adding the soundtrack to my collection. I mean, how could you not?
I couldn’t find any information on Silva Screen’s website about this release, but pre-orders are being taken by Screen Archives Entertainment, and is set to be released at the end of October. Click HERE to get to their page. They always have a great selection of soundtracks, and a lot of them at very good prices.
Coming in November, issue #45 of Little Shoppe of Horrors will be unleashed to the world! This time, their cover story is all about the making of The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Hammer’s sequel to the film that helped put them in the big league, written by Bruce G. Hallenbeck. Hallenbeck’s work is always so informative and entertaining so I can’t wait to dig into it!
There will also be coverage on the making of Amicus’ The Creeping Flesh (1973) in an article by John Hamilton entitled The Creature Walks On the Earth, as well as David Gee’s Dracula and the Modern Age, which is about Don Houghton, who wrote the screenplays for some of the later Dracula films that took place in a modern setting, such as Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973).
Then there is more of the usual great stuff in there, such as more Hammer Diaries of Christopher Wicking, more History of Horror Film Fanzines, book reviews, and so much more, with a stunning front cover by William Stout.
You can order your copy by visiting their official site HERE. They don’t have it up on their site just yet, but keep checking back. And if you don’t have all of the back issues, then why not order a couple of those as well! These are essential reading for your Hammer (and other British horror films) history lessons!
Richard Denning
Born March 27th, 1914, Died October 11th, 1998
Richard Denning (born as Richard Denninger, but was told to change it by the studio because it sounded too much like Dillinger!), never started out to be an actor, going to school for business, and even graduating cum laude with a master’s degree in business administration. But once he got the acting bug, there was no stopping him. After winning a radio contest called “Do You Want to Be an Actor?”, he got a screen test with Warner Bros. They passed on him, but he did sign with Paramount. While he didn’t make a ton of pictures in the horror genre, he made a few, including The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). He also appeared in Roger Corman’s The Day the World Ended (1955) or Edward Cahn’s Creature with the Atomic Brain (1955), or appearing with Mara Corday in The Black Scorpion (1957).
He would have a pretty successful career in non-genre films and a lot of television, but always left a mark with me in the genre pictures he did appear in, even when he was not the nicest character like in Creature from the Black Lagoon!
Denning had married one of the genre’s early scream queens, Evelyn Ankers, who starred in films like The Wolf Man (1941) and Son of Dracula (1943).
One more Monday closer to October. In fact, this will be our last photo for this month, so we are almost there! No excuses to be busting out even more horror titles to watch over the next 31 days then we already normally do. To try and spark that urge, here’s a photo to get you started. But first, let’s go over last week’s photo. It was from Luigi Cozzi’s 1989 film The Black Cat. Also known as Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat and even Demons 6, this was actually supposed to be an unofficial sequel to Dario Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy (Suspiria and Inferno). To say this didn’t hit upon the same level of genius as the previous Argento titles is bit of an understatement. This was a title that was very hard to find a copy decent enough to watch for many years. But now thanks to Severin Films, it will soon to be out on Blu-ray! Congrats to Tim Palace and William Wilson for sending in (and actually knowing the film) the correct answer. There might have been one more of you but I think I lost that message. If so, I apologize!
So let’s get to this week’s photo and see if we get any more takers. Remember, just send us an email (to jon@kitleyskrypt.com) with your answer. Good Luck.
Coming in November of this year, Peveril Publishing will release their next book in their always amazing volumes on Hammer Films. This one tackles the 1973 film The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (amongst many other titles!), that was a co-production between Hammer and Hong Kong’s famous Shaw Brothers Studios. While this might not be a favorite of most Hammer fans (myself included), the history of this film is just as important because it is the last appearance of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing for the studio! But even besides that, no matter what the title, keeping the history alive and available to fans is always important, because the more you know about the actual production, both positive and negative, it will help you appreciate the film much more.
Peveril has always published beautiful looking books, and this one looks to be no different. It includes both Cushing’s and director Roy Ward Baker’s annotated scripts, showing all the notes they wrote down during the production. Just seeing all the notes that Cushing made, even for this lesser production, still shows how much of a perfectionist he was when creating a character, or even returning to one. The book even shows the water color paintings of suggestions for his character’s costume. Continue reading
Bradford Dillman
Born Apr. 14th, 1930 – Died January 16th, 2019
Dillman is one of those actors that if you grew up watching made-for-TV movies and feature films throughout the 70s, then while you might not know the name, you’ll know his face. From appearing on TV in one of my favorite Night Gallery episodes (Pickman’s Model) to movies like Fear No Evil (1969), Moon of the Wolf (1972), and The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978), to feature films like Joe Dante’s Piranha (1978), Irwin Allen’s The Swarm (1978), to the best movie ever to feature flaming cockroaches, William Castle’s Bug (1975), Dillman was always interesting to watch. Whether he was playing the villain or the hero, he always delivered. He was one of those faces from my childhood fandom that I’ve always remembered fondly.
Yes, after a month sabbatical, Friday Favorites is back! I’ll do my best to keep this up on a regular basis, but one of the things that helps keep this alive is the participating from you, the reader. The last few Friday Favorites post only had a few responses. The whole reason for this idea to get start the conversation. Until the whole plague happened, during the after-hours at conventions, we would have these long conversations about a variety of subjects, but mainly movies and those that worked in the business. That is what I’m trying to replicate here, a place for fans to give their two cents worth and maybe start a little bit of dialogue. So if you have time, please take a few minutes to post a thought or two, or make a comment on someone else’s comment. With social gatherings being few and far between, let’s make one thing in social media a good thing and talk about the horror genre! Continue reading
Author Troy Howarth, in his free time between all the amazing and informative audio commentaries he’s been cranking out, has finished his newest book, this time focusing on the one and only John Carpenter. Few directors these days can have more than a few titles in their filmography that are considered classics, not to mention damn good films, but Carpenter is definitely one of them.
This book “charts Carpenter’s trajectory from screenwriter-for-hire to director of low-budget oddities like Dark Star (1974) to his meteoric rise and fall within the very system he came to distrust. All of Carpenter’s films are analyzed in detail, including his forays into made-for-TV fare, and his various sideline projects as a writer, a composer, and a producer are also examined.”
It also contains brand new interview’s with actor/director Keith Gordon, Carpenter’s wife Sandy King-Carpenter, as well and Carpenter himself. It also features guess essays by Matty Budrewicz & Dave Wain, Lee Gambin, John Harrison, Randall D. Larson, Robert Russell LaVigne, Francesco Massaccesi, Paul Poet, and Nick Smith.
The book is now available on Amazon in the color edition, but soon will be available in a black and white version as well. I can’t really see how this could not be a welcome edition to any film fan’s library. I know it will soon be in mine!
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