More Hammer Books from Peveril

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I know there are a lot of books on Hammer Films out there. Trust me, I know. With 2 shelves of just book on the famous studio, I probably have most of them! So why do we need more? Well, for a collector, not sure I can give a real answer other than . . . just because. But the thing about the Hammer titles from Peveril, and this isn’t a knock on any of the other wonderful books out there, but Peveril’s titles are like the archival material you’d go to a library to find. You know, those huge, old books you have to wear gloves to page through and aren’t allowed to check out, but go to special room to view them? The kind that scholars that are investigating some sort of mystery, go to these places to look for some undiscovered clue. Okay . . . maybe that’s taking a bit far.

In all seriousness, these books are archival in that they are filled with so much information, both in text and photos, that these will be the ones that future scholars will want to go back to, time and time again. I know I do each and every time I work on a piece about Hammer, or those involved. With their latest series, The House that Hammer Built, going through the decades and detailing what the studio was doing, is just amazing and filled with so much information. Vol. 2, going through from 1950 to 1954 is off to the printers so should be available soon.

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Chain Saw Confidential 2nd Printing

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Back in February of 2015, I posted my review of Gunnar Hansen’s book Chain Saw Confidential: How We Made the World’s Most Notorious Horror Movie, which you can read my review HERE. As much as I already knew about the film and the making of it, from the countless commentaries and documentaries I’d see up until that point, I really didn’t think I was going to learn anything new. Boy was I wrong.

No matter how much you know, or think you know, hearing the stories from the people that were there, giving firsthand accounts will definitely make you think, feel, and see the movie differently. To say this book is a must read is about as understating as I could get.

The first edition hardcover quickly sold out and now goes for big bucks on the secondary market. Now you can get the newly published 2nd edition from Dark Ink Publishers, only $23.99 for the hardcover edition and $17.99 for the softcover edition. Order your copy NOW by clicking HERE.

World Tour 2024!

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In two weeks, we’ll be heading to Cincinnati for the HorrorHound Weekend, our first convention of 2024! From the look of the guest list they have posted, this should be one of epic proportions! Plus, the fact that we haven’t had a show since last fall, we’re chomping at the bit to get back at it. We have quite a few book titles in our inventory since last year, so you’ll have plenty to choose from to keep working on Discovering the Horror!

And speaking of which, we have a new supply of Discover the Horror T-Shirts that we’ll have available at the show as well. And Damien will be set up at the show, at the Living Dead Dolls booth. As a matter of fact, Damien will be at the Monster Mania show this very weekend!

Then in two weeks, all the unholy three of us, Damien, Aaron, and myself, will be attending Cinema Wasteland in Strongsville, OH! While we won’t have a table there, we will have T-shirts on us for purchase. If you want to get one, you can always email me ahead of time and we’ll make sure we have it set aside for you. I’ll also have copies of my book as well! 

Feel free to stop by one of our tables at Monster Mania or HorrorHound if you want to talk about horror movies! Or we’ll all be wandering around the halls of Wasteland the whole weekend, and we definitely love shooting the shit about movies there!

Soundtrack Review: The Power

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The Power (2021)
Released by Invada Records, 2021
21 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 43 min.
Music Composed, Arranged and Performed by Gazelle Twin & Max de Wardener

The film is about a nurse having to work the night shift during the planned blackouts in the U.K. She’s young, new, and realizes quickly there is something strange going on at the hospital. And this music fits perfectly. There isn’t a typical orchestrated score, but with some melodies, but mainly strange sounds that are sometimes incorporated into a theme. But mainly it is filled with sounds. Sometimes a rumbling, sometimes some whispers, or voices that are distorted and louder. But all used to build an atmosphere for the ears.

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DtH – Episode 65: Universal Monster Rallies

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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), and House of Dracula (1945).

Some say that the monster rally films marked the end of the Universal creature features, which could partially be true, but we feel it is for different reasons than the actual films themselves, and they still have a lot of merit to them. While the studio heads might not have cared too much about getting them made, those involved did their best with what they had. One of the biggest highlights of these titles is the cast of actors in them, some making their last appearances. You get to see Karloff, Chaney Jr., Carradine, J. Carrol Naish, George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, Dwight Frye, and so many other regular faces that will bring a smile to your face when they pop up onscreen.

While maybe running a little thin on ideas and decided to start combining monsters to hopefully bring back bigger box office returns, they still made films that we all still feel are entertaining and we feel are more than worth your time.

Movies mentioned in this episode:

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Super Monster Movie Fest Lineup!

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The Skyline Drive-in, in Shelbyville, IN, has announced their lineup for this year’s Super Monster Movie Fest and it’s one hell of a collection of Metal Monsters coming to invade! There is free camping and the one and only Sammy Terry live on stage each night! We’ve been making this an annual trip for us, staying the whole weekend and just having a great time. Whether you’re camping out at the drive-in, or crashing at one of the local hotels, there is plenty to do to keep you busy. There is plenty of tasty treats at the snack bar to keep that belly full and they usually have a bunch of vendors set up there as well, so bring some extra spending money.

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Mystery Photo 3-4

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Welcome to our first March Mystery Photo! Pretty exciting stuff, huh? Yeah, I thought so too! Our photo from last week was from the 1982 film Deadly Eyes, which features small dogs covered in rat fur and hand puppets for the closeups for large rats in the film. But either way, I’ve always felt this was a very effective movie and creates some pretty scary moments. We had this in the theater when I worked there, so I got to see a lot of this over and over again, so that might be one of the reasons. Kudos to the following for sending in the correct answer: Kevin Hart, James Schmeichel, Mike Shields, and William Wilson.

On to this week’s photo. Give it a good look and see if you can recognize where it is from. Just remember, please send your answer to me in an email, to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Music Box Theatre in 3D!!!

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My favorite theater in Chicago is the Music Box, one that I have been going to for over 30 years and love the fact that something like this still exists in my world. I am truly honored every time I attend a screening there. If you have a theater like this in your neck of the woods, please make sure you support it to keep these places alive and well.

The Music Box has recently announced a 3D film series that starts in April. These are all in digital 3D so you don’t have the old-fashioned red & blue glasses. Nothing against the old way, but these new digital ones are pretty effective. While only a few of the titles announced are really in the horror genre, I think it is still an awesome idea! Especially because the film that starts the series is Jack Arnold’s 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon, which was originally filmed and presented in 3D. I cannot overstate just how amazing this film is when you see it in 3D. Granted, it is a classic in a regular format, but in 3D . . . just wow! So, if you haven’t had the opportunity to see this film in this format, PLEASE make plans to do so.

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It’s Rondo Time!

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That’s right, folks, it’s that time of year again. The official ballot has been cast for the annual Rondo Awards celebrating 2023. I have been fortunate enough to have been nominated in 3 different categories this year, a personal best, I believe!

But before I get to all that gloating, I wish to congratulate everyone who has been nominated, and a special shoutout to my personal friends that were as well. They are Rod Barnett, Eric McNaughton, Darrell Buxton & the We Below Dead family, Christopher Wayne Curry, Anthony Taylor, John Bowen, Ron Adams, Richard J. Schellbach, Derek Koch, and my HorrorHound family: Aaron Crowell, Nathan Hanneman, Ernie Rockelman, Jessica Dwyer, and Jason Edmiston.

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In Search of Darkness: The Authors!

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Back in June of last year, I posted about this upcoming title from AM Ink Publishing, the book version, so-to-speak of the popular series, In Search of Darkness: A Journey Into Iconic ’80s Horror. This is based on the 3-part documentary of the same name that was written, directed, and produced by David A. Weiner that had part one come out in 2019, part 2 in 2020, and the final part 3 in 2022. These are epic is scope, giving fans a ton of insight from those that worked in the films themselves, from names like Robert England, Doug Bradley, John Carpenter, Mick Garris, Jeffrey Combs, Joe Dante, and so many more.

Now this huge coffee-table size book that is the literary overview of those documentaries, packed from cover to cover with information and trivia about these films we love is due out very soon. To help give a little insight to not only the book, but also to the two authors that took on this massive undertaking to create a book version of this popular 3-title series, we reached out to Heather Wixson and Patrick Bromley to pose a few questions for them.

Kitley’s Krypt: What was it about the horror genre that made you have the desire to “spread the gospel”?

Heather Wixson: I think it’s because I grew up with everyone thinking I was the “weird one” because I loved horror so much, so I wanted to find a way to celebrate everything I love about it in any way that I could. That led to me embarking on a writing career that was centered around the horror genre (after spending a few years writing about local news and being bored out of my mind). I just wanted to use my writing abilities in any way that I could to highlight why horror is so awesome, and also put the spotlight on those who helped shape the landscape of the genre over the years and made me fall in love with it in the first place.

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