Charles Cyphers – Rest in Peace

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I read the news today that we have lost another great character actor, one that made his mark as an actor, but definitely in the horror genre, usually working with director John Carpenter. Charles Cyphers passed away on Sunday, Aug. 4th, at the age of 85. He’s best known for playing Sheriff Brackett in Halloween (1978), reprising the role in its sequel, Halloween II (1981). But he had worked with Carpenter before that in Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), as well as in Carpenter’s TV movie Someone’s Watching Me! (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and even reprising his role in 2021’s Halloween Kills, which was his last screen appearance.

He did a ton of television work, both as one-episode appearances to a regular cast, and he was always entertaining to watch. One of my favorite non-horror roles he did was in Major League (1989).

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family in this difficult time. Gone, but his memory will live on, especially around Halloween time.

Soundtrack Review: Psycho II

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Psycho II
Released by Intrada, 2021
31 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 1:14:30 Min.
Composed and Conducted by Jerry Goldsmith

I can’t imagine being asked to take on the task of creating a sequel to the Alfred Hitchcock classic, which director Richard Franklin and screenwriter Tom Holland did, and, I feel, really knocked it out of the park. Same goes with Jerry Goldsmith, having to come up with a score to follow up Bernard Herrmann. Couldn’t have been easy to even think of doing. But Goldsmith made this score his own, and it really works.

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Mystery Photo 8-5

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Welcome to August! So much closer to Halloween, and those god-forsaken high temps will be gone! We survived Flashback Weekend, which was just incredible. A TON of people there and a lot of fun to be had. But let’s get to business, shall we? Our photo from last week was from was from the Euro-Horror classic The Devil’s Wedding Night (1973). That’s Mark Damon doing a little studying before he meets up with the forever lovely Rosalba Neri! Congrats to Steve Archacki, Dave Fronto, Bob Hartman, Mike Shields, Todd Warren for sending in the correct answer! Nice job!

This week’s photo is newer film. Or is it? Either way, take a peek and see if you can figure out if it is old or new, and what title it’s from! Just remember to send your answer to me in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Flashback Weekend Approaches!!!

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In just a few days, we’ll be heading into Rosemont, IL for this year’s Flashback Weekend. Out of all the conventions we attend each year, Flashback in the only one in our backyard. We’ve been at every single one since they started in August of 2002, and they have remained the best horror convention in the Chicagoland area. And this year is going to be even bigger with a massive guest list they have lined up.

With reunions for 3 different films (Cabin Fever, The Thing, and The Warriors), plus more than a few people connected with the Halloween series, and so many more, this is going to be epic. Plus, you also have directors like Sam Raimi, Eli Roth, Charles Band, and especially Don Coscarelli from the Phantasm series. Then there is Michael Gross from the Tremors series, Quinn Lord from Trick ‘r Treat, and many, many more.

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Soundtrack Review: Splinter

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Splinter
Released by BSK Records, 2008
17 Tracks, with a Total Running Time of 37:11 min.
Music by Elia Cmiral

When I first reviewed this soundtrack, it was before I had actually seen the film. I had originally written that it didn’t really give much in the way of scares when it came to being a horror soundtrack, leaning more towards an industrial or mechanical action-based score.

But now that I have seen the film, more than a few times as of this writing, I have to say that it works perfectly within the picture itself. It does have a very percussion-based sound to it, but what that does is build up the tension. Yes, this is a monster flick, but instead of going for that slow and moody atmospheric sounds, like the creature in the film, it is out for blood, moving fast and furious. And the soundtrack enhances that to a T.

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Mystery Photo 7-29

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Our photo from last week was from the remake of Maniac (2012), one that I was happily proved wrong when I said there was no way this remake was going to be good. They did a great job with it, being quite different from the original, but yet still retaining the feel of it. Kudos to Christopher Dyer and Michael Shields for sending in the correct answer. Well done!

For this week’s photo, a little tribute to books. If you don’t recognize this right away, maybe pull out some of those volumes of forgotten lore (aka horror movie reference books) and see if you can’t come up with the movie it is from. Just remember to send me your answer in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. And most of all, Good Luck!

Discover the Horror Book 5-Year Anniversary

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Thanks to Facebook, I was reminded that yesterday was when we had the official book launch for my book, Discover the Horror. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long, especially when it took me about 5 years to get it completed! But I’m still proud of it and what I’ve accomplished with it.

When I set out in the beginning, trying to figure out just what kind of book it was going to be, I realized that the only thing that I knew more about than anybody else was my own experiences with the horror genre. But yet, I did share a lot of experiences with other fans, no matter what year they were born, or when they started down the path of being a horror fan. I’ve said before that being a fan is not a race, but a journey. Sometimes that path takes you off the main road at times, but you can still find some pretty interesting films when you do go wandering off, but always coming back to the main road.

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Larry Fessenden Rules!

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Not sure exactly when I became aware of Fessenden’s work, but it was probably when my friend Aaron Christensen told me about his 1995 film Habit, which is a modern-day vampire tale. Fessenden wrote, directed, edited, and even stars in as the main character. It was a feature length film based on a previous short film he made back in 1982. It’s pretty tough to make modern-day vampire film work because it has been done so many times, but Habit does it perfectly.

From that point on, I was following his career, watching anything he directed. But like Roger Corman, there were a ton of young filmmakers coming out of Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix, such as Ti West and Jim Mickle, who have created some incredible features on their own. Every time I’ve seen an interview with Fessenden, he just seemed so down-to-earth, with no pretentions, but just has this overwhelming passion to make film. When he’s not directing or producing, he’s always popping up with little cameos in a ton of different films, from the independent ones to even big-budgeted ones.

But I’ve never had the chance to actually meet this legend. Until yesterday.

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Indicator Scores Again!

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Yet another reason why we are so lucky right now. Last year, Indicator released their Mexico Macabre box set which featured 4 incredible titles from the Mexican horror output from the late ’50s and early ’60s, which was a much-needed release for fans who had missed out on the old Casa Nega DVDs. But there were 2 titles missing from that collection that were a must for any fan of this sub-genre. But have no fear because Indicator has announced this amazing double feature that will contain the film that started it all, El Vampiro aka The Vampire (1957), and it’s sequel, El ataúd del vampire aka The Vampire’s Coffin (1958), both starring Germán Robles in the title role, and Abel Salazar as the stand-in for Van Helsing! Both are filled with so much atmosphere you can cut it with a knife. Two perfect examples of the amazing work they were creating back then.

This set will include audio commentaries by star Germán Robles from 2007, as well as interviews with Claudia & Rosa Salazar Arenas about their father, actor and producer Abel Salazar, as well as other interviews with people involved in film fests, horror scholars, and film historians on the Spanish horror genre. The set also comes with a limited edition exclusive 80-page book with new essays Jesús Palacios and David Wilt, archival essays by Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro and Carmen A Serrano, cast interviews, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits

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DtH Episode 75 – Special Guest Zandor Vorkov

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In the realm of low budget filmmakers, Al Adamson, along with his partner, producer Sam Sherman, are gods among men. They created a wide variety of pictures, in just about every sub-genre out there, and made with more love than money. But they were entertaining, and always memorable. Perhaps their most memorable (and successful) film was 1971’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein, in no small part thanks to the casting of a young, unknown actor in the iconic role of Dracula. Raphael Engel, rechristened Zandor Vorkov was a whole new kind of creature of the night- longhaired, goateed, and able to shoot fire out of his ring, this was a brand-new Dracula for a brand-new age. Zandor’s Dracula stalked across the screen of virtually every grindhouse and drive-in screen in America in the early 70s and then across every television screen in America for a couple of decades after that. While his Dracula was being elevated to pop culture celebrity, Zandor himself left the movie business and fell out of the public eye for decades. Go to a convention, and bring up Al Adamson, and someone would eventually say “I wonder what ever happened to Zandor Vorkov?”

Like any good vampire, he was just lying in the shadows, waiting to emerge anew!

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