2017 Year End Review Part 5: Best and Worst of

by in Year End Reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2017 viewed banner

Just to get this out there right away, my Best / Worse lists always consists of films that I watched for the first time in 2017, not necessarily that they came out. Most of the films I watch are from DVD or Blu-Ray and I don’t make it to the theater too often to see them when they first come out. Or they might be an older film that I’m seeing for the first time. So no matter when it actually came out, it still is a new movie to me.

I got through 209 films this year, 77 of them were first-time viewings for me. That is a little lower than normal for us, but I’ve been spending a lot of time working on a side project that will hopefully see the light of day this year. Then I can get back to watching more movies!

So here are the top five that I watched in 2017 that made the most impact on me this year.

Continue reading →

2017 Year End Review Part 4: The Year of Naschy

by in Year End Reviews | Leave a comment

I’m not sure when or where the “Year of Naschy” term came up, but it really did describe 2017. We had not one, but TWO Naschy Collections released on Blu-ray this year, giving fans TEN titles on Blu-ray, with some of these titles hitting a digital format here in the US for the first time. I can’t tell you how freaking amazing it was to finally see Night of the Howling Beast (1975), or Werewolf and the Yeti as being the title this print was under, in a print that you can actually see! The old VHS Super Video print was so dark that there were many of the night sequences (even though they were shot in daylight) that you couldn’t see what was going on! So that title alone was just a treat for fans. And since it is one of my favorites of the Daninsky series, I watched it the very night I got that collection in the mail.

Continue reading →

2017 Year End Review Part 3: BOOKS!

by in Reviews: Horror Reference Book, Year End Reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

gromit-reading

With as many titles that I add to my library each and every year, if I don’t force myself some rules, I’ll never get through some of these. Back in 2015, I’ve set myself a goal to get through at least one book per month. That year I almost made it, getting through eleven. Then last year, I devoured fourteen titles! Then this year I did even one better and made it to fifteen titles. Trust me, I wish I had the time to double that number since when you have over a thousand titles in your library, and are constantly adding new ones, it is a never ending quest. But one I that I just love. Just like my Best Of movie lists, these are not titles that came out this last year, but ones that I finally got around to. Out of those fifteen, here are the top five that I would recommend the most:

Continue reading →

2017 Year End Review Part 2: In Remembrance

by in Rest in Peace, Year End Reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As horror fans, we lost some huge icons this last year. Some were older and some went way too soon. But because of their work in cinema, they will never entirely be gone from us. We can always pop in a DVD or Blu-ray and they will be just as alive as we remembered, giving us even more entertainment than before.

Being a fan of cinema for any length of time, you would think one could get used to losing some of their movie heroes and idols, but it still hurts when you ponder “what if they were to make just one more film?” Being a fan of cinema also helps keep their memory of what they did make alive and well. And by continuing to sing their praises, we can introduce them to the next generation of cinema lovers, so they can experience the same joy that we did, and still do, each and every time we bust out one of their movies.

Continue reading →

2017 Year End Review – Part 1

by in Year End Reviews and tagged , , | Leave a comment

This last year has definitely been an interesting one, and a very busy one here at the Krypt. But then I guess that keeps me out of trouble, right? In our travels in 2017, we attended another seven conventions plus more than a couple other fun events like movie marathons, drive-ins, and such, and had a blast. What a great way to celebrate cinema!

Convention tables

Continue reading →

Mystery Photo 1-1

by in Mystery Photo and tagged | Leave a comment

Happy New Year! All set for another year of pictorial puzzles to ponder? I know it has been a while since we’ve had one of these, but figured with the holidays, we all had things to keep us busy. But it’s a new year and we’re back with our first photo. But before we get to it, let’s go over our last one. It was from the 2012 film Grabbers, which I have to say is a perfect film to have watched on New Year’s Eve. I mean when you have a plot that involves monsters that won’t eat you if your drunk, what better night to watch then last night, right? But kudos to Scott Bradley and William Wilson for sending in the correct answer.

Now on to our first photo of the year. Might be an easy one, or maybe it might have you scratching your head. Just remember not to post your answers here, but send them to me in an email to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

mp10118

Soundtrack Review: Saw Anthology

by in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Saw Anthology
Released by Lakeshore Records, 2017
2-Discs with 66 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 1 hr. & 20 min.
Music by Charlie Clouser

It’s kind of amazing that the Saw series has continued for this long and pretty much kept the same plot line throughout them. Whether you like them or not, that is a pretty impressive. Same with composer Charlie Clouser, who has worked on each of the films. He has created a very unique sound and feeling for this series and that theme flows through them all, with a very industrial-sounding feel to them. Which, considering all the mechanical traps and abandoned warehouses the films take place in, it fits perfectly, especially with the main theme popping up in different parts of each movie, usually during the big ending.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Interviews Too Shocking to Print!

by in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

interviewstooshockingInterviews Too Shocking to Print!
Published by BearManor Media, 2014. 332 pages.
By Justin Humphreys

Right off the bat, let me say that if you’re expecting a but of unedited and sorid tales of Hollywood that couldn’t be printed before, you will be disappointed. The title of the book refers to the old fashion ballyhoo that B-movies used to use in hopes to draw a crowd. That being said, I think this book should draw the crowd because it is simply a must read for anybody interested in the horror and sci-fi genre and the people behind them.

I have quite a few “interview” books in my library and at least half of them cover the usual suspects in the movie industry. Not saying that is a bad thing, but we tend to read the same stories, as well as the people being covered are ones that we are usually very familiar with. But what Humphreys does with this book is put the spotlight on more than a few names that have made huge strides in the industry, but are names that you don’t typically hear being brought up, which is a damn shame. Thankfully, with this book, hopefully that can change.

Humphreys started interviewing some of these talents at the early age of 15 years of age, so right away it shows his diehard passion for these kind of films. Throughout his career, he befriended a lot of these people in the industry and is now trying to give them the credit they most assuredly deserves. And even if quite a few of them that are covered here have already passed away, learning about them and their work is the best way to keep them alive. And Humphreys has done a wonderful job doing just that.

Continue reading →

Seasons Readings!

by in Misc. Ramblings | Leave a comment

Seasons Readings1

Every holiday season, I’m still amazed at the amount of books that had been released this year, and all the ones that are still yet to come. I always make the joke about print being dead, but that is about as far from the truth as you can get. Each month, new and interesting titles are being announced or released. I know it’s making it harder for me to find room in the Kryptic Library these days. But I’ll never complain!

Here’s to another year of diving into more great titles!

Soundtrack Review: The Shining (1997)

by in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

the shining 1997

The Shining (1997)
Released by Varèse Sarabande Records, 2017
3 Discs – 64 Tracks with a Total Running time of 2 hr. 29 min.
Music by Nicholas Pike

Being released for the first time, Varèse Sarabande has unleashed Nicholas Pike’s epic score for the 1997 mini-series version of Stephen King’s The Shining. It’s common knowledge that King wasn’t particularly fond of the movie version of his novel, so with him writing the screenplay and directed by long time King collaborator, director Mick Garris, they made a version that he would be happy with. Pike was in charge of bringing the sense of dread in musical form for the mini-series. And he does a fine job with it too.

Continue reading →