Scored to Death 2!

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Regulars to the Krypt know my love of soundtracks, especially in the horror genre. Back in 2016, J. Blake Fichera put out a book of interviews with different composers that had worked in horror genre, entitled Scored to Death. This was an amazing read because we got to hear from the people behind these incredible scores that we’ve enjoyed while watching the films, sometimes not even aware of the effect it was having on us! Composers tend not to get the attention that actors, directors, or even special effects people get, but Fichera wanted to change that and he did.

And now, he continues to do it with Scored to Death 2.

With this new volume, Fichera has interviews with 16 more renowned composers such as Richard Band, Charlie Clouser, Brad Fiedel, John Harrison, Bear McCreary, Robert Colbert, Disasterpeace, and many more, covering movies like Martin, Creepshow, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Terminator, Burnt Offerings, just to name a few.

Published by Silman-James Press, this new 492 page volume will be priced at $24.95, and is set to be released on Dec. 1st, just in time to order your copy to make a great gift for the holiday!

Movie Review: The Brides of Dracula

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(1960)
Director Terence Fisher
Starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Monlaur, David Peel, Martita Hunt, Freda Jackson, Miles Malleson, Andree Melly, Marie Devereux, Michael Ripper

While most “normal” critics would look down on a horror film, yes… even ones from Hammer Studios, this is a perfect example of how well made these pictures really were, from the acting, the production design, to the look and lighting of the entire running time. If you ever doubted that, just watch this 2K scan of The Brides of Dracula recently released by Shout Factory on Blu-Ray. Continue reading →

Halftone Horrors: The History of Horror Movie Comic Books

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Are you fans of horror movies that were adapted into comic books? Then I think this is going to be a book you’re going to want to pick up! The first in a series of collector-based hardbound books, Halftone Horrors is a 240-page, full-color tome giving you the history of officially licensed comic book adaptations of horror movies, from the cult and obscure to the more popular titles. It will be a visual guide to this particular medium, giving readers a history lesson, as well as being a guide for every issue published, even including variants, one-shots, promotional comics, and more.

According to the press release, “This guide covers everything from Nosferatu, Frankenstein, and Night of the Living Dead to A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, and Army of Darkness.” Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Friday the 13th

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Seems only appropriate, on this actual Friday the 13th, that we take a day to reflect on this long running series, to get your thoughts. While some might not be a fan of Jason and his exploits, most fans growing up in the ’80s could help but be a fan of these movies. Right or wrong, some of them are pretty fun, even today. 

So… to celebrate today, what is your favorite entry in the Friday the 13th film series? Doesn’t have to have Jason in there, meaning it could be the original or even part 5, but one that you like the best.

Movie Review: The Untold Story

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The Untold Story (1993)
Directed by Danny Lee & Herman Yau
Starring Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Danny Lee, Emily Kwan, Siu-Ming Lau, Fui-On Shing, Eric Kei

Back in the early ’90s when I was really into the Honk Kong film genre, especially the horror titles, we were always on the lookout for any of the Category III films that were going to blow us away. For Hong Kong titles, Category III meant adult content, that could be sex and nudity, or gore and violence. Or both. While they never could top the gore coming from American films, Hong Kong would have some subjects that never would have made it past the MPPA, such as the murdering of small children. So when I came across The Untold Story, the violence was so over the top and grim, I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. Now, revisiting the film after many years to check out the new Blu-ray from Unearthed Films, I wondered if it was going to have the same impact. Continue reading →

Soundtrack Review: Lovecraft Country

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Lovecraft Country
Released by WaterTower Music
62 Tracks with a Running time of over 2 1/2 hours!
Music by Laura Karpman and Raphael Saadiq

Wow. Talk about a soundtrack that encompasses just about everything!

The first 11 tracks are musical numbers from the show’s cast, that gives us the feel of the era of when the series takes place. After that, for the next 51 tracks, we get a mixture of music and emotions as we go down this long and winding road into a very strange story. Now, I have not seen any of the show, so this review is just going by the music alone. But I am more than interested in seeing it because of what the music is “showing” me. Continue reading →

Turkey Day Marathon 2020

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Once Halloween is over, here at the Krypt there is one thing on our mind: Turkey Day! Our bi-annual celebration of the finest in cinematic shipwrecks! I started doing these Turkey Day Marathons back in 2003, and it has slowly grown into something insane. Crazy enough that in 2015 we started Turkey Day in May, holding another onslaught of some of these gems!

But then Covid hit and in May, we couldn’t really have the usual get together. So we held our first Turkey Day online, which I think was somewhat successful. It wasn’t the same, but at least we were still able to enjoy the event. We were hoping that by November things would have calmed down, but alas, we find ourselves still in the thick of it, as they say.

Which brings us to our big announcement today. Since we’re going to have to hold our Turkey Day Marathon online once again, we have decided to open it up to the world! Now, some of you might not fully understand exactly what is our Turkey Day Marathon, so let me give you a brief summary. Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 11-9

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Sorry about missing last week’s photo. Guess with Halloween and all, I just got a little too busy. I know, no excuse. But I will say I was pretty impressed that anybody sent in the correct answer for our last photo because it was pretty obscure. It was from the 1976 film Sisters of Death.  So well done to Doug Lamoreux, Michael Shields, and Nick Wilson for recognizing this little title.

So today’s photo might be a little easier… if you like underwater monster movies! Take a peek and see what you can come up with. Remember, don’t post your answers here so that others can have a guess. Just send us your answer to us via email, at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Phantom of the Movies – Rest In Peace

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Writer and columnist Joe Kane, more known under his long time pseudonym The Phantom of the Movies, passed away on November 1st, at the age of 73. Being a lifelong movie fan, he was one of those that strived to inform other movie fans of all the wonderful titles out there waiting to be discovered. One of his favorite quotes was “Keep Watching the Screens!”

He was an editor for The Monster Times in the early to mid ’70s, before working as a columnist for The New York Daily Times, under the moniker The Phantom of the Movies, where he wrote about the strange and cult films that he loved, amongst other film titles. In 1993, he started a fanzine/newsletter called The Phantom of the Movies’ Videoscope, which later evolved into an actual magazine. In 2000, he published a massive volume of reviews in a book under the same name as the magazine. Continue reading →

Horror History: Pamela Franklin

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Pamela Franklin
Born February 3rd, 1950

The first movie I rented after buying my first VCR was The Legend of Hell House (1973) and it has remained one of my all-time favorites to this day. One of the reasons for that is because of one of the stars of that film, Pamela Franklin. I would learn and discover more of her work in the genre, especially the one she made her screen debut in, as little Flora in Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961), where she was only 11 years old at the time. But she also appeared in other titles such as Hammer’s The Nanny (1965), Necromancy (1972) and Food of the Gods (1976) both for Bert I. Gordon, and the original versions of both And Soon the Darkness (1970) and Satan’s School for Girls (1973).

Franklin always seemed to play the woman in peril, probably because of her beautiful innocent eyes and face. But no matter what she was in, we have always found her very memorable and entertaining, and still remains one of our favorite actresses from that period. Shame she left the business in the early ’80s. We highly recommend seeking out some of her films if you haven’t seen them already. And go watch The Innocents again. If only because it really is THAT good!