The fine folks from Super-Horror-Rama have some up with another great two features to celebrate the new year. The theme is New Year, New You! Because of all the silly New Year’s resolutions we all make, most of which we don’t stick to, this is a good example of when those new changes might not be the best change! But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun for us to watch!
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While he might not have appeared in hardly any horror films in throughout his career, he did appear in one of the greatest horror movies ever made, as Nauls in John Carpenter’s The Thing, so that is more than enough to be mentioned here in the Krypt. Actor T.K. Carter passed away on Jan. 9th. Although one could argue his appearance in Southern Comfort the year before might add that title as a horror film, or at least to say it was damn scary in parts!
But at least we all know that he will always be remembered as the cook, listening to Stevie Wonder, thinking that we might be at war with Norway. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time. Rest in Peace. Never to be forgotten.
Look at that! We made it through that first full week of the new year. Though personally, I’ve been battling a simple cold virus that has had me trying to cough up my lungs, but besides that, things are going just swell! It seems January is not a good month for me, since last year around this time I had Covid. I guess a bad cold is an improvement, right? Always got to look at the positives! Our photo from last week was from Eugenio Martín’s A Candle for the Devil aka It Happened at Nightmare Inn (1973). I have to say the recently released 4K disc of this from Vinegar Syndrome looks just amazing and has some great extras on it as well. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Steve Archacki, Dave Fronto, and Kevin Hart. Well done!
For this week’s photo, going a little further back. So, take a look and see if you can correctly identify what film this shot is taken from. Remember to send your guess to me in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!
Johnny Legend is a name that quite a few people might not know, and that’s okay. But if you ever had the chance to meet him, you’d never forget. He was an actor, director, wrestling manager and promoter, rockabilly singer, but most of all, he was a true lover of cult films and their filmmakers. I had the chance to meet him a couple of times over the years, and you never forget that. That man just exploded with passion with every work he said whether he was talking about Jack Hill’s Spider Baby or come other underground cult movie. He appeared in Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Severed Ties (1992) and even the Andy Kaufman biopic Man of the Moon (1999). On the laserdisc release of Spider Baby, there was a little piece outside of a midnight screening of the film, where some of the cast was there along with Jack Hill, including Sid Haig. They were all being interviewed by Legend, who praised the film so much. And this was a few years before Haig would be a big star because of House of 1000 Corpses.
This Legend passed away on January 2nd, and with that, the cult world lost one of its biggest supporters and mouthpiece. Truly a one-of-a-kind person. Rest in peace and know that because of the passion you passed on to others, they will now continue to pass on the love of the weird and the strange. Thank you, Mr. Legend!
Another year in the books, which means it is time for our annual Wrap Up, where we not only go through our personal favorites of the year, but also some other standout films, as well as some others that came out in the last 12 months. For the second year in a row, it is astounding at some of the high-quality pictures that have been getting released. From some going straight to streaming services, to other wide release pictures, there have been plenty of fantastic titles out there. It really is a great time to be a horror fan.
It’s a long episode, so make sure you have a pad and pen, because we cover a LOT here!
Titles mentioned in this episode.
Continue readingA new year, a new Monday, which means a new Mystery Photo! Unfortunately, it seems nobody recognized our photo from last week. It was from Ghost of Kasane Swamp (1970), a staple in Japanese ghost stories, which has been filmed a few times. It has recently been released in the 2nd volume of Daiei Gothic from Radiance. Highly recommend both sets!
So on to this week’s photo. See if anybody can recognize where this shot came from. Take a good look and then send me an email with you guess, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!
It’s strange that as I grow older, turning 60 this year, it seems more and more people that I grew up watching on the screen are leaving. Obvious, I know. But it hits harder now than before. There are some true icons listed here with some connection to the horror genre, as slight as it might be, as well as those that worked hard to help to promote the genre. And for each and every single one of them, I thank you for what you have given us fans of cinema. Your work will live on and never be forgotten.
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And who says there are no good movies coming out these days? For the last couple of years, my Best Viewings of the year have mainly been recent releases, most from that current year. And 2025 was no different. There are 2 from the ’60s, 1 from 2023, 1 from 2024, and the rest from 2025. That tells me a couple of things. That either in past years, I was busy playing catch up with a lot of older great titles that I had never seen before, or that there are some still people out there busting their ass to make some original and entertaining horror films.
I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I set a new personal record for me, barely, but still did it. I manage to knock out 447 films this year, with 209 being new viewings. It sometimes amazes me how many I actually get through each year, but honestly, there are some nights when I can get through 3 movies with no problem. It really has to do with the love of cinema.
Continue readingThis has been one hell of a year. On my write up for 2024, I made a point to remind us of all that with all the crap going on in the world, we need to look for the positives out there, because they are there and we need not lose sight of that. But I have to say, it wasn’t the easiest to do that in 2025. When I first started to review the past year from the posts here in the Krypt, I couldn’t find much that I thought were highlights. At least not more than a couple of things. But then I went back a couple of weeks later, with a more thorough set of eyes, and low and behold, there were plenty. Once again, it just shows that sometimes the positives are hard to see and remember. They might even seem pretty trivial, but they are there. So, amidst all the chaos and tragedy that is going on, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to make us sit back and think “yeah…that was pretty cool.” They might not be huge events or something, but that made you glad you were there and part of it. And we need to be focused on and remembering those moments, now more than ever, to help us get through this dark time we’re going through.
(2013)
Directed by Lee Cronin
Starring Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Mirabai Pease, Richard Crouchley, Anna-Maree Thomas
I did not get to the theater to see this but did it once it hit the streaming services. Not sure if it was just that service or what, but it looked very dark, like someone had cranked the brightness way down. Since there is no power in the apartment building for a good chunk of the story, it made it incredibly difficult to see what the hell was going on. That made the overall impression of the film for me to thinking it was just okay. So, I was very excited to revisit it now in its 4K release from Arrow. Boy, what a difference.
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