Jorge Grau – Rest in Peace

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Jorge Grau - RIP

There are those directors that may have only worked in the horror genre a couple of times, but still have made quite a big impact. Jorge Grau was one of them. News came out today that he has passed away at the age of 88. 

Grau only directed two genre films, Ceremonia sangrienta (1970), released over here as The Legend of Blood Castle, and his most famous one, No profanar el sueño de los Muertos (1974), most commonly known in the states as Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, though it has quite a few other monikers it was released under.

Watching Corpses for the first time in my youth made me aware of a few things. This was one of the first color zombie films that featured a lot of gore. I mean a LOT of gore, courtesy of Giannetto De Rossi who would later work with Lucio Fulci on many of his famous gore/living dead films. But Grau also showed audiences the European way of not following the traditional aspect of the genre. He didn’t follow the normal conventions of the zombies, putting his own spin on them, still making them very effective.

Grau directed over 30 features over in his career that spanned almost 5 decades. For him to only direct two horror films, one of which is considered a classic in the zombie sub-genre, ranking it right up there with Romero’s best, shows that he had a strong voice and vision. One that it is still seen and heard over four decades later, as much as it will be for generations to come.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Book Review: Scored to Death

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Scored to DeathScored to Death: Conversations with some of Horror’s Greatest Composers
Published by Silman-James Press, 2016. 356 pages.
By J. Blake Fichera

There is something to be said about film scores, something that I think most don’t know, don’t recognize, or even worse, don’t even think about. And that is the effect they have on the viewer. Sometimes a very powerful effect. The first time I can remember a film score having an effect on me was John Williams’ score for Jaws (1975), which I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. While it did bring up the tension and scare factor, I don’t think I made the full connection between the music and emotion it caused. That changed when Star Wars (1977) came out. Then it hit me how powerful of an impact a score can make. Star Wars was the first soundtrack I every purchased and I listened to it over and over. Each time, I could visualize the different parts of the film in my head and it would give me the same emotional reaction as if I was watching the film. It was at that point, I started to become more aware of a film score.

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A Very Scary Christmas from the Krypt!

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chthulusanta
We haven’t had an update in a while with the holidays and trying to get ready for our 2018 Year Review, but we’ll be back with our regular updates starting tomorrow.

I hope everyone out there got a bunch of goodies, like Blu-rays and horror reference books, left under the tree by Cthulhu-Claws. But also that you made those connections with your friends and family, because those relations are more important and can last longer than anything bought at a store.

So from everyone here at the Krypt, we wish you a Very Scary Christmas!

Book Review: Horror in Space

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Horror in SpaceHorror in Space
Published by McFarland, 2018. 248 pages.
Edited by Michele Brittany

The book’s subtitle is “Critical Essays on a Film Subgenre” and boy howdy, it sure is. If you’re looking for an easy read, one that might bring up some easy but not-too-deep thinking ideas about these movies that we love, then you might want to look for another book. When you have the words “Critical Essays” in the book’s title, that is a big hint at the kind of writing that you’ll find within those pages. The collection of authors that have been gathered here for this volume are all very intelligent scholars, from sociology teachers, doctoral candidates, to professors, so they know their stuff. So please don’t let my comments about their opinions and theories seem like I’m trying to say they are uneducated. That is not the point I’m trying to make.

Like a lot of these theory essay books, I’d make a guess that some of these are from a collage thesis or part of a future book. But I still stand by my own theory that sometimes a duck is just a duck. I know there are some films where the creators are weaving different subtext within the story, such as any version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But I feel a lot of these scholars take a subject matter and form into something that then fits a particular movie or sub-genre.

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Mystery Photo 12-17

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Almost didn’t get this posted today. With a busy weekend, we just didn’t get around to it until now. So hopefully this will make up for such a great start to the week, right? Before we get to the new photo, our one from last week was from The Return of Dracula (1958), starring Francis Lederer in the title role. Congrats to the following for sending in their correct answer: Hoby Abernathy, Dave Fronto, and Troy Howarth. Well done.

Okay, so because it is winter time and some of us have snow on the ground, or it is at least a little chillier than normal, I thought it would be a nice idea to go with something that was close to that. Yeah, as tempting as it was to go with a holiday one…too easy. So here it is. Take a peek and see what you come up with. As always, please remember not to post your answers here so others can have a chance. Just email them to me at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Cinepocalypse 2019

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Cinepocalypse 2019 banner

The Music Box Theatre in Chicago has already announced the dates for next year’s Cinepocalypse, which was recently named a top genre festival by MovieMaker Magazine. They had over 50 films playing at this year’s festival, with 9 world premieres, not to mention all the special guests that attended the event. While they haven’t announced any features just yet, with the path they’ve been on the last two years, 2019 should be just as epic. It will take place June 13th-20th. Mark your calendar.

Speaking of epic, if you purchase your tickets before January 1st, you can get an All Access Pass for only $100. If you break that down to another 50 features, that’s only $2 a movie. How can you beat that?!?! But you only have a few more weeks, so don’t delay. After the first of the year, they go up to $150 a ticket, so get them now! Or better yet, put it on your Christmas list, or maybe purchase a pass for that fellow horror film fiend. Sure would make an awesome holiday gift!

For all the information about the event, just click HERE.

Peter Jackson – The Naughty Years in 4K!

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Bad Tastse

Over a decade before Peter Jackson would be known across the world of the director that brought Tolkien’s famous books to the big screen, he was very well known to us horror fans for his early films. I can still remember reading about this wacky and gory new film from some chap down in New Zealand who made an alien invasion film called Bad Taste (1987), which not only had Jackson directing, but starring in the film in two main roles, no less! His next feature was Meet the Feebles (1989), which was a twisted take-off of the Muppet Show, but if their world was filled with sex, violence, drugs, and everything else that made the world go round! Then of course, his next feature, Braindead (1992), also known as Dead Alive, became probably the goriest and bloodiest zombie film ever made. And all blood and guts aside, it was also a damn good movie! His fourth feature, Heavenly Creatures (1994) was a huge departure from those first three, but still a film to grab your attention, not by comedy and gore, but by an entrancing tale of murder. I can still remember when Jackson won the Oscar for the last Lord of the Rings feature, and during his acceptance speech, mentions Bad Taste and Feebles. I can only imagine some critic who didn’t know Jackson’s earlier work before the Rings trilogy and would seek them out, only to probably be shocked and appalled at them!

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Book Review: Screaming for Pleasure

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Screaming for PleasureScreaming for Pleasure
Published by Coal Cracker Press, 2018. 290 pages.
By S.A. Bradley

Full disclosure here, folks. I’ve known Mr. Bradley for three years now, ever since he happened upon of few friends doing our usual after-hours get-together at conventions to talk about horror movies. At the Flashback Weekend in Chicago in 2015, a group of friends were gathered in the lobby like we usually do and talk shop. Usually it is about what we’ve seen lately, though we do venture off on other topics. All of a sudden, here comes this guy, wearing a kilt no less, and stops and asks if we’re talking about horror movies and can he join in? No problem! Now, I’ll admit right off the bat that I tend to throw some comments/questions out there to see just how much this newbie might know. Needless to say, I was blown away at not just how much Scott knew about the genre, such as the movies that he’s seen, but even more so the way he could intelligently explain his opinions and thoughts, enough to make the toughest of critics step back and think “Damn…he’s got something there!”. Now three years later, after already creating and amazing podcast, Hellbent for Horror, Scott has taken this same approach and created a must-read book for any and all horror fans.

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Mystery Photo 12-10

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Now usually the films that I post photos of tend to be older ones. The reason for that is because I wanted to bring a little attention to a title that may be getting lost in the shuffle with all these other titles coming at fans each and every day. I picked the film from our last photo for the very same reasons, except this is a film that came out this year and I feel needs to be seen by more people. It is called May the Devil Take You (2018) and was directed by Timo Tjahjanto. Don’t want to give anything away about the film but I found it very entertaining and damn right creepy. Give is a try. Needless to say, nobody sent in the correct answer either. But at least now you have another title to put on your To-Watch list!

Let’s get to this week’s photo. This one is an older one, so maybe this will be a little easier. Take a look and see what you think. As always, please do not post your answers here so others can have a chance. Just email them to us at jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

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Mondo Macabro Gives Us The Devil’s Nightmare!

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ADevil's Nightmareh yes…another fond memory from the old grey market VHS days. Finding an uncut version of Jean Brismée The Devil’s Nightmare (1971) was something you were always on the lookout. Even if you were lucky enough to score the big box VHS of it, under the title The Devil Walks at Midnight, you still were missing footage. Thankfully it was released on DVD in its uncut form, but now, Mondo Macabro is setting out to do that one even better with its HD debut of a brand new restoration from the uncut negative!

On January 24th, they will be taking pre-orders for their new Blu-ray release of this great Euro-horror classic. There will be a limited edition version, with a standard one being available at a later date. Final details on the specs are being worked out still, and there might be different specs between the limited edition and the regular ones, but here is what they have released so far:

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