Once again, I’m discovering more and more some films that I might have seen back in my 20s or 30s, that I never really paid much attention to. I must have watched them and then forgot about them because they left no real memory with me. It might be because of the shabby releases of them that always seemed to be around, where the quality was pretty rough, so you figured the film itself had to be cheap as well and not worth your time. Thankfully, as we grow older, we really do become a little more serious in our movie viewing and pay more attention to what we are watching. At least, I know I do. A prime example is this new release from Film Masters, a Kinski double feature, of Creature with the Blue Hand (1967) and Web of the Spider (1971). And when the films are presented like they are here, it really is worth your time.
Continue readingTag Archives: Ballyhoo Motion Pictures
Movie Review: Common Law Wife & Jennie Wife/Child
Common Law Wife (1961)
Directed by Larry Buchanan & Eric Sayers
Starring Annabelle Weenick, George Edgley, Max W. Anderson, Lacey Kelley, Bert Masters, Libby Hall
Jennie: Wife/Child (1968)
Directed by Robert Carl Cohen & James Landis
Starring Jack Lester, Beverly Lunsford, Jim Reader, Virginia Wood, Richard Cowl
When I read about the announcement of the latest release from Film Masters, a Hicksploitation double feature, I was going to pass, since it’s not really in the horror genre. Then I realized that one of the titles, Common Law Wife, was partially directed by Larry Buchanan, a favorite cult director of mine! So, I figured I had to take on the assignment of reviewing them anyway because I just couldn’t pass up anything that Buchanan was involved with. I am so glad I did.
Continue readingMovie Review: Tormented
(1960)
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Starring Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Juli Reding, Joe Turkel
Director Bert I. Gordon, or known to most fans as Mr. BIG, got that moniker because of the unusual sizes of the subjects of his films, from giant grasshoppers, dinosaurs, spiders, and angry men. So, it was a quite the change of pace when he came up with this simple story about a ghostly revenge on a seemingly innocent man. While there is nothing giant here, Gordon still was able to pull off some of his unusual and interesting camera tricks, including a talking head sitting on an end table.
Continue readingDiscover the Horror…on Blu-ray!
Obviously one of the things I preach here at the Krypt is Discover the Horror. By that, I mean to explore and seek out new things in the genre, both old and new…but mainly old. One of the things that makes this a little easier these days are these Blu-ray companies who are putting out some amazing titles, some that were on the verge of being lost in the vast wasteland of obscurity. But thanks to companies like Synapse, Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow Video, Shout Factory, Code Red, Severin, Dark Sky, Mondo Macabro, just to name a few, they are not only keeping these films alive and available, but giving some titles a treatment that they probably never had before, even when they were first released.
Movie Review: They Came From The Swamp

They Came From The Swamp: The Films of William Grefé
Directed by Daniel Griffith
If there is one thing that I’m always on my soapbox about, it is learning about the horror genre, from the very beginnings to modern day. The reason is simply because we need to recognize what came before us and remember what they gave us. It helps us appreciate where we are now. So when I heard about a documentary that was being made about this lesser known Florida based filmmaker, William Grefé, needless to say, I was excited.
Support the Empire!
No, this doesn’t have anything to do with the new Star Wars movies. But it is about another Empire. Empire Pictures, a low budget studio back in the 80s that delivered the goods when it came to low budget and damn entertaining films. Many of these were enjoyed by people my age, when video stores were all over the place. Empire Pictures was a name that you could trust to give you something you probably haven’t seen before, with some wild imagination, crazy special effects, and so much more. Titles like Trancers, Re-Animator, Crawlspace, From Beyond, Trolls, Ghoulies, and so man more.







