Turkey Day in May 2025

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Another T-Day in May is in the books, with our usual 7 features devoured, along with about 22 pizzas! Truth be told, this last month or so has been a struggle for me, dealing with some health issues, new medication, work stress, and all the other fun things that go into life. Nothing serious, but just those things that can try to take any of the positives and put them in the shadows making it a little harder to see. But getting together with about a dozen like-minded film nerds, sitting and watching 7 features that probably would never make anybody’s Best-Of lists, and having a damn fun time doing it, really did wonders for me. It was the closest that I’ve felt back to my normal self in a long time. So, for those of you that came out, thank you!

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Want to Buy a Drive-In?

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That’s right . . . not only are there close to 300 drive-in theaters still up and running, but there are ones where the current owners have already retired or are going to be soon and are looking to sell it. It’s a lot of work, but when you love something as much as movies and keeping something this nostalgic alive, you never know.

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Monster Bash Approaches

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In a little less than 3 weeks, we’ll be heading off to one of our favorite shows, the Monster Bash Conference, taking place from June 20th to the 22nd, in Cranberry Township, PA. While it might be a little smaller than some of the usual shows we attend, there is so much to do and see here, that it is always a great time. They have film screenings from Thursday night all the way through Sunday, going into the wee hours of the night! You’ll get the chance to see some classic horror films, usually screened from16mm prints, including titles like The Vampire’s Ghost (1945), Weird Woman (1943), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), the not-to-be-missed Mexican horror/sci-fi spectacular The Ship of Monsters (1960), Lon Chaney’s The Penalty (1920), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Man Made Monster (1941), Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), and Zombies on Broadway (1945)! These are the kind of titles that makes me wish I wasn’t vending, just so I can sit and watch movies all weekend!

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Hitchcock and Herrmann Book

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Composer Bernard Herrmann worked with Alfred Hitchcock on some of his most well-known scores, such as Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and of course, Psycho (1960). They would work on 8 films together, creating some of the finest in cinematic history. Now, author Steven C. Smith gives us a book that delves into that relationship in his new book Hitchcock and Herrmann: The Friendship and Film Scores that Changed Cinema, due out this fall. Smith spent over four decades doing research, from unpublished documents, new interviews, giving us readers a look inside the collaboration between Hitchcock and Herrmann.

When you have to strong-willed characters like these two, you know there are going to clashes. But they still were able to work together for some time and helped create some amazing films and film scores. This 312-page hardcover book is being published by Oxford University Press and can be pre-ordered now, with a cost of $39.99.

Mystery Photo 6-2

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Welcome to June!!! While some of you are excited about the incoming summer months, I am, of course, counting the days to fall, when the temps drop and we get closer to the Halloween season! Then again, we all know that every day is Halloween, right? I know it is here in the Krypt. Anyway, enough rambling. Let’s get down to business. Last month’s photo was somewhat of an easy one, because of Peter Cushing in the photo. The photo was from the 1976 film The Devil’s Men aka Land of the Minotaur, starring not only Cushing, but Donald Pleasence as well. While not a great movie, with those two in the credits, it’s at least worth a watch. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct guess: Hoby Abernathy, Steve Archacki, Todd Barwick, Dada Debaser, Dave Fronto, Kevin Hart, Bob Hartman, Erik Martin, Lee Nattrass, Jeff Owens, and Todd Warren. Well done!

With our next photo, we’re going back to black and white, because we all know there are plenty of amazing titles out there in this wonderful monochrome presentation, right? And this one here is one of them. So, take a peek 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!

Music Box Theatre Expanding

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I know I’ve mentioned Chicago’s Music Box Theatre many, many times here on the Krypt. The main reason is because it has given audiences some amazing experiences over the years and is a theater that I’ve been attending for about 30 years. From some incredible midnight screenings, film festivals, premieres with special guests, to their 24-hour marathons that they’ve been presenting for 20 years, they continue to give audiences truly great cinematic experiences. And now, they will be able to add even more to that.

For as long as I can remember, they have always had the two screens, the larger 700-seat theater and the much smaller 70-seat theater. But coming next year, they will have a third theater auditorium with 115 seats. Now, that may not seem like a big expansion but understand that it allows the theater to help screen and promote more of what they have been doing over the last decade or so. They obviously screen some first run titles, sometimes even in 35mm, like they did last year with Robert Eggers Nosferatu, but they also run a lot of independent and unique films that might not have the chance to screen at most cineplexes and national chains. With all the different film series they have, giving cinephiles a chance to see films they missed decades ago, like the recent Gene Hackman series, or newer titles that might not ever had the chance to hit the regular larger cineplexes.

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Making of the Descent Book

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Back in 2002, Neil Marshal did something that not many directors could do. And that was getting a film to premiere on the Sci-Fi Channel that was actually a damn good movie! That film was Dog Soldiers. And then, in 2005, he broke another rule by making a movie about spelunking . . . and making it damn good as well! That film was The Descent, which is about a group of women out on a cave exploring vacation that end up not only getting stuck underground but then come across something else living down there.

In 2022, author Janine Pipe gave us Sausages: The Making of Dog Soldiers, but now she is back giving us another book on Marshall’s second feature film, The Descent, this time with Marshall working alongside Pipe. The title is simply called The Making of The Descent and is the definitive book that contains extensive interviews with the cast and crew, with plenty of photographs and illustrations, Marshall’s notes and memories of the film, and much more.

This 176-page hardcover edition will be available in August, being published by Telos Publishing, priced at £34.99, or about $47. For a film that director Guillermo del Toro calls a “bona fide top-tier horror film”, I’m sure this book with be more than worthy of any film fan’s library.

Music Box of Horrors 2025 – Sold Out!

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The date has been announced for this year’s Music Box of Horrors and tickets went on sale 2 day ago. And in a little over 24 hours, it has SOLD OUT!?!?!? Unbelievable. I meant to post this earlier but had no clue it would sell out that fast. I guess that really shows how big of an event these marathons have been. I’m so happy to see the support for these kinds of events, because that makes sure they continue to keep doing them!

The date is October 18th, starting as usual at 12pm and going to until 12pm on Sunday!

They have already announced 3 titles so far. The first two are Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) and Jason X (2001), both screening from 35mm prints. Now I will say that I feel that Jason X is one of the best entries in the series! If you happen to disagree, we can discuss more during the marathon! Plus, one that I am very excited to see is Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973), screening from a 16mm print! If you haven’t seen this low budget chiller, you will be amazed at how creepy and effective it is, starring a very young Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith.

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Screaming and Conjuring Book

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1984 Publishing, who has given us books like You’ve Got Red on You, A Masterpiece of Disarray, and Blood Saga: Dissecting the Cult Film Repo! The Genetic Opera, now brings us a new title from author Clark Collis called Screaming and Conjuring. From the release of Wes Craven’s 1996 film Scream to James Wan’s The Conjuring in 2013, the horror genre was in on a rise. This new book covers the films that caused this influx of new horror titles between those two huge hits. Collis gives us an in-depth examination of the genre at that time. We get to hear the stories of these productions, the good, the bad, and the ugly, hearing from tales from those involved, such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Cambell, Eli Roth, Sam Raimi, Greg Nicotero, and more. The pages are filled with 200 production stills, film posters, and rare images.

This 500-page book is available for pre-order, and the first 5000 copies has black foil gilded page edge. And all pre-orders through the 1984 Publishing site comes with a hand-signed author bookplate, while supplies last. If you order it through the site, the price is $26, where Amazon has it listed at the normal retail price of $28.99. Head over to their site by clicking HERE to pre-order your copy now.

DtH Episode 97: Chas Balun

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There have been many horror writers that have been important to the genre, but few have had the outsized impact of the one and only Chas. Balun. Whether it was his work in Fangoria, Gorezone, or his own magazine Deep Red, even if you didn’t see his name at the head of the article, you knew it was him within a few sentences, by either by the tone of the writing, or maybe the films he was covering. Chas’ style was humorous and more than a little confrontational, but he was always waving the flag in support of movies that he felt were important and hadn’t received enough attention. Sure, they tended to be on the gory side, but for Chas. it wasn’t just about the gore.

Not entirely, anyway.

While the three of us knew his work and the impact it had on us personally, for this very special episode, we felt we needed to talk with other folks who were just as impacted by him and also knew him personally. In the second half of the show, you’ll hear from John Szpunar, author of Xeroxferox: The Wild World of the Horror Film Fanzine and Blood Sucking Freak: The Life and Films of the Incredible Joel M. Reed; Art Ettinger, editor at Ultra Violent magazine; and finally, Shawn Lewis, creator of Rotten Cotten and Eibon Press. They all share their own stories of Chas, and we all discuss the profound the impact Chas. had on us and on the horror genre in general. Don’t miss this one!

Films mentioned in this episode:

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