Mystery Photo 1-4

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Welcome to the New Year and our first Mystery Photo of 2021. Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. But let’s get on with business, shall we? Our photo from last week was from Master of Horror (1965), a film with two tales of terror from Edgar Allan Poe. The shot I used was from “The Cask of Amontillado”, which is one of my favorites from Poe. Congrats to Michael Shield and Alan Tromp for sending in the correct answer. Well done and way to start off the new year!

Now today’s photo is another film that might not be too well known, but I think represents our love of horror. So give it a look and see what you think. Remember, do not post your answers here so others can have a guess. Just send your guess to us at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

2020 Year End Review: Part 3 – Best Viewings!

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Because all the shows being cancelled, like many of us, I’ve spend more time sitting at home than I usually do. Take away not only the shows, but heading into Chicago for movie screenings, or just gathering with friends, it meant much more time in the Krypt. But what that means is that I’ve set a personal record for the number of movies that I’ve watched this year. I think previously my records were in the high 200s. I don’t think I’ve ever broken even 300. Well, this year, I’ve watched a total of 422 titles. So yeah, I took advantage of all of that extra time. Plus, while I usually tend to watch a lot of movies that I’ve seen before, 259 of that total were new movies, or at least new to me. That is one of the many things I love about cinema, that there will never be a time when there won’t be new titles to discover. Whether they were made last month, or a century ago, if you keep looking, you’ll find some amazing pieces of cinema out there. Continue reading →

2020 Year End Review: Part 2 – Those We Have Lost… But Not Forgotten

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Each year, we lose more and more of our movie heroes, and this year was brutal. We lost directors, actors, composers, journalists, and so many more people that were responsible for creating amazing memories for us, and those that wrote about them, hoping to inspire people to seek them out. But as I always say each year, it is because of our love of the genre that these names and the work they have given us will never die. We will continue to keep their memory and their work alive for years to come, even introducing their work to more people. So from us at the Krypt, we thank you and you can rest knowing you will never be forgotten. Continue reading →

2020 Year End Review: Part 1 – Happy New Year!

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Boy… 2020. What a freaking year, huh? When is the last time you could describe a whole year as a dumpster fire? Honestly though, all joking aside, even with the pandemic still raging on, with all the negativity around, idiots running about making the human race an even more embarrassment to the aliens watching us on their favorite reality show (“Did you see what they did on Earth Live last night???”), believe it or not, there is still a lot to be grateful and thankful for, as well as some people out there still working hard to put forth good in the world. Sometimes you have to look a little harder, but it is there. Continue reading →

Kryptic Army Mission – January 2021: LET IT SNOW!

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Welcome to 2021, Soldiers! Hopefully if you’re seeing this, you have survived New Year’s Eve and are at least capable enough to still read! Obviously, we have decided to continue our tour of duty for another year, to hopefully inspire you out there to continue to seek out and watch some films that you haven’t see yet, maybe ones that have been on your “Need to See” list for a while, but just haven’t gotten around to them. Maybe this will give you that chance. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Prince of Darkness

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(1987)
Director John Carpenter
Starring Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Annie Marie Howard, Ann Yen, Ken Wright, Peter Jason, Alice Cooper, Thom Bray, Robert Grasmere, Ken Wright

This is another one of those examples where you have an opinion of a film from the first time you view it, but then at some point in your life, you revisit it to find yourself seeing something more than that first time. I was there opening weekend for this new Carpenter flick and don’t remember if I actually knew anything about the story before hand, but would never miss out on seeing his latest. My first thoughts were that even though I loved the music, I didn’t feel the same way about the film. I felt it was too slow and honestly the idea of a liquid evil or monster was just damn silly. I was also a little confused at who they were trying to bring from the other side, Satan or Satan’s father? Just a little too disjointed for me. At least, at that time. While my love of the score Carpenter did never wavered, eventually scoring a copy from a Japanese CD release (at a pretty penny), I never thought to go back to the film. I mean, if you don’t like something, why go back? But when one of Shout Factory’s Blu-rays came out, I picked it up during a sale and I figured I better give it another shot, trying to be a little more open-minded this time. Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 12-28

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Welcome to our very last Mystery Photo for 2020. Been a long year, that is for sure. I know I’m not alone is saying that I sure hope 2021 is a far better one then this year. I still feel its going to be a bit rough for the first half, but hopefully we start to see that change, at least once mid January hits. I know we haven’t had a lot of updates these last couple of weeks but the holidays have been taking their toll, so we’re hoping things will get back on track shortly.

Our photo from last week was from a made-for-TV movie from 1977, called The Possessed, that had an all-star cast including James Farentino, Diana Scarwid, Joan Hackett, Dinah Manoff, P.J. Soles, and some guy named Harrison Ford.

So to end the year, we’re going to go out with another obscure one, but not too rare. Especially since thanks to a recent Blu-ray label, this has now become readily available.  So give it a peak and see if you can’t end the year on a good note by sending in the correct answer! As always, please don’t post your answers here so that others can have a guess. Just send us an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com with your guess. Good Luck and see you on the other side.

Movie Review: Spider Baby

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(1968)
Directed by Jack Hill
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Carol Ohmart, Quinn K. Redeker, Beverly Washburn, Jill Banner, Sid Haig, Mary Mitchel, Karl Schanzer, Mantan Moreland

The first time I saw this film was on a shitty VHS bootleg that was barely watchable. This was still years away before it would released on laserdisc and VHS, and eventually DVD and Blu-ray. But even watching the grainy print on video, you could see something special in this strange movie. Thankfully we don’t need to worry about bootlegs anymore since there have been a couple of different special edition Blu-ray releases by now. How great to be a movie fan these days. Continue reading →

Happy Horror-Days and Merry Axe-Mass!

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I know there were some of us wondering if we’d ever make it to the end of 2020. Only another week to go, but looks like we have survived. Or at least most of us. While this pandemic still rages on, we can only hope things will look much brighter going forward, as long as we all play it smart, and take those precautions to keep yourself safe, as well as others.

That “others” part really is the key here, folks. Too many times we care about ourselves and not those “others”. This needs to change and can so easily do so with the simplest of actions.

I know this time of year, everyone puts on their holiday face and tries to be cheery and spread joy to others. But let us see if we can’t continue that once the holiday is over. Give someone a smile. Tell a worker at whatever store you are at that you appreciate what they are doing. If you are being served, in a bar or restaurant and get good service, maybe tip them more than you normally would, with a positive word or two. Maybe they’ve been having a bad day and are really struggling with life. You have the power to maybe change that person’s life at that very moment. Or maybe you just make their day with a nice tip, showing them that not all customers are jerks. And then continue that throughout the year.

Without any conventions for us this year, we have deeply missed our extended family, our friends from our horror community. But like real families, we know we’ll be seeing them again, hopefully sooner than later. We can only hope they are doing well and making sure we try to keep in contact with them as well, even if just to say hello and Happy Holidays. Friendship is one of the best presents one can get and receive, today more than ever. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Okay… enough of that sentimental crap. Wishing everyone out there a Very Scary Christmas to everyone out there from us at the Krypt. Try to get a couple of horror movies in while you’re (hopefully) off for the holiday! And if all goes well, maybe we’ll see you on the road again next year. Until then, be good to yourself, and others, and Keep Discovering the Horror!

Mystery Photo 12-21

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As I expected, our last photo was indeed a tough one. Honestly, I didn’t expect anybody to get it, although we had quite a few really good tries. But in the end, we did get one with the correct answer, and that was from Gary McGuire, who correctly guessed the Yugoslavian film, Leptirica, aka The She-Butterfly, from 1973. Well done, Gary!

Our photo for today is a little more closer to home. In fact, right from your living room. Hint, hint. But give a look and see if you can come up with the correct answer. PLEASE remember not to post your answers in the comment sections so everyone can have a chance at guessing. Just send your guess to me at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!