Dan Curtis Lives!

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I would like to hope that Dan Curtis was very aware of the impact he had on young fans of the horror genre. From when he took a chance on a failing daytime soap opera, adding a vampire to see what happened, he never looked back. As a kid growing up in the late ’60s & early ’70s, I was flooded by countless characters, monsters, and other ghastly sites, all thanks to Mr. Curtis. While there as not been a constant stream of his work being released on varying formats over the decades, from VHS, to DVD, and now Blu-Ray, there still have been some that we have yet to see. But thanks to Kino Lober, now only do we get two of the three of his retelling of three classic monsters on Blu-Ray the first time, we also get four films he made for the Late-Night Mysteries series, which all aired in 1974. And if you order them now, they are damn near half price! Both are priced at $39.95 (which is a great deal already with what you’re getting), but now you can get each of them for $26.57! Just head over to Kino Lober by clicking HERE.

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New Jack Hill Book

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Fans of exploitation films, especially in blacksploitation sub-genre definitely know the work of Jack Hill. The man has worked in many sub-genres, from the above mentioned, to horror, gothic, racing, sexploitation, and so many more. In the early days of his career, he was often called in to “fix” or “finish” a film that had issues, such as The Terror (1963) or Blood Bath (1966). He also worked with Karloff on his last four films, or at least the parts with aged actor that were filmed in the states. Afterwards, the rest of the film was finished in Mexico.

The shame is that unless you’re a real fan of the genre, most people don’t realize the impact Hill had on the films we love. Thanks to editor Anthony Taylor, Headpress Books, and a great selection of authors, they are putting together a collection of essays on the works of this unheralded master of cinema.

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Mystery Photo 8-11

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Welcome back to life! That goes mainly for me rather than you. Last week I contracted an infection of some sort that laid me out on my ass. With temps hitting 102.7 at one point while feeling like I’d been run over by a bus… twice, there is nothing more than going to the doctor, running a bunch of tests (some twice because they came back negative), from strep, to Covid, to even Mono (!?!?), but all coming back negative. So, of course, must be just some sort of infection. Here’s some drugs and on your way. Lucky for me, within a couple of days, I started to feel a lot better. Still not 100% but so much better than last Wednesday. But enough about me! You came to find out about last week’s pictorial puzzle! Then let’s get to it. It was from the amazingly terrifying film Terrified (2017), from director Demián Rugna. His latest film was When Evil Lurks (2023), which is just as scary. Both films will leave you absolutely on edge. Creepy and truly scary. Rugna is definitely a director to keep an eye out for. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, Kevin Hart, Steve Kennedy, Erik Martin, and Tim Palace. Well done!

Now for this week’s photo, might have to do a little digging in the dungeon, since it may look like a dozen different films right off the bat. So, think hard about it and see what you can come up with. Just remember to send me your guess in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

Mad Ron Roccia – Rest in Peace

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Back in the early days of VHS, there weren’t too many tapes out there of just trailers. Especially ones that just were about horror films, especially some obscure ones. But if you were lucky enough to stumble across Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell (1987), then you were in hog-horror-heaven! For young horror fans, this tape because a checklist of movies you had to find. Showing us bits from classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), but also more obscure ones such as Three on a Meathook (1972), Night of the Bloody Apes (1969), Deranged (1974), The Ghost Galleon aka The Horror of the Zombies (1974), and so many more.

Sadly, we heard that Mad Ron himself, Ron Roccia had passed away earlier this week. Ron was just part of the crew that gave us that wonderful tape, but it was sad news to hear of his passing. His work on that tape helped me want to seek these films out, and I know there were thousands of other fans that did the exact same thing. So, us horror fans salute you, Mad Ron, and thank you for opening those doors to us all those years ago.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this difficult time. Rest in Peace, Mad Ron. You will always be fondly remembered. Your legacy lives on.

Hong Kong Horror

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Back in the early ’90s, I saw an episode of the British TV show, The Incredibly Strange Film Show, with host Jonathan Ross, which features some of the best of cult directors, from Ted V. Mikels to George Romero. In one of the episodes, it featured Stuart Gordon in one part, and then Hong Kong producer/director Tsui Hark on the other part. One of the films they showed clips from blew me away, showing me creatures and monsters that I had never imagined before. From a long-tongued tree-demon, to stop-animated undead, to flying heads, and so much more. It was from the film A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). I knew I had to find this movie and immediately started my search. My first copy was a shabby looking bootleg on VHS, with no English sub-titles. And I just loved it. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorites.

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Book Review: Making of The Descent

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The Making of The Descent
Published by Telos Publishing, 2025. 184 pages.
By Janine Pipe and Neil Marshall

Back in 2005, I didn’t think I was claustrophobic. Then I watched Neil Marshall’s The Descent and quickly realized just how much tight spaces affected me. Just the first half of the film, I was on pins and needles, as these women crawled their way through incredibly tight passages, under water, and even getting stuck at one point. Oh yeah, and then the monsters show up!

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DtH Episode 102 – Bob Clark

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Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972), Deathdream (1974), Black Christmas (1974)

Director Bob Clark will probably always be remembered for his now classic holiday film, A Christmas Story (1983), released the same year as his previous film, Porky’s, which is one of the raunchiest sex comedies of that era! But he started off making horror films, 3 of them in particular, before he moved on to making films in just about every other sub-genre. But it is these 3 horror films that we are going to discuss on this episode. One of these set many of the standards of what would be known as a slasher film, while the others have two very different take on zombies. All made low to moderate budgets, but still are still so well made, it’s a shame that Clark didn’t continue on in the horror genre. Maybe that’s why he’s not remembered as much as names like Carpenter, Cronenberg, or Craven. And that’s why we’re discussing it now!

Films mentioned in this episode:

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Cinema Scares at the Skyline Drive-in

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Figures. The same weekend that we’ll be at Monster Bash, the Skyline Drive-in announces their incredible lineup for their Cinema Scares 2-day event. And to make it even worse (for me), they are screening a Paul Naschy film!!! If I could only clone myself…

None the less, if you are free the weekend of Oct. 10th and 11th, and can make it out Shelbyville, IN, then I would strongly suggest planning a weekend at the Skyline. Not only do they have an amazing lineup of films but have 4 special guests that will be attending on both days. Here’s the list of features and guests:

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Mystery Photo 8-4

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Welcome to August! Just 2 months away from our favorite month! Well, at least mine, but I’m sure there are a few others out there. Of course, that also means (hopefully) just one more month of higher temps outside. We survived Flashback Weekend, which is my excuse for not having this posted earlier today. But the sun is still up, so it still counts! But first, let us review last week. While I had a few emails with their guess with basically stating “One of those Rollin films!”, and I do mean a few, it is actually from his 1975 film Lèvres de sang aka Lips of Blood. I have to say, if you’re like me, and watched some of his films decades ago and weren’t that impressed with them, I urge you to go back and check some of them out. You might find yourself changing your mind, again, like myself. Anyway, kudos to the following: Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Aubuchon, Aaron Christensen, Dada Debaser, Chris Dyer, Dave Fronto, Ken Johnson, Erik Martin, and Tim Palace.

Now on to this week’s photo. Take a peek and see what you think! Just remember to send me an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

Young Brain vs Old Brain

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I’ve written many times about the “new eyes” concept, where you can’t see the same film twice with the same eyes. In fact, I wrote a whole chapter on it in my book, Discover the Horror back in 2019. But I got to thinking recently about something a little different about that concept. Yes, I still believe in that theory about your eyes while viewing a film, but I started to realize it goes deeper than just that. Sometimes, it is our brain that is “seeing”, or rather “thinking” about something differently or realizing how we’re taking in the story is much different than we thought the first time, or times, around.

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