Tommy Kirk – Rest in Peace

September 30, 2021 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace and tagged Blood of Ghastly Horror, It's Alive, Larry Buchanan, Mars Needs Women, Tommy Kirk | Leave a comment

Sure, while Tommy Kirk is best known for his roles in a plethora of Disney films, such as Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, and many others, you might be wondering why I would be mentioning his passing here on the Krypt. Well, like a lot of stars that “fall from grace”, they sometimes end up in some low-low-low budgeted films, which is exactly what happened with Kirk.

Disney had primed him to be an even bigger star in his youth, but once they found out that Kirk was gay, that was all it took and gave him the boot. At that time, it was hard to recover from that. Having bouts with drug addiction, which was not helping his career. After Disney, he started to work with A.I.P. in films like Pajama Party (1964), as well as working with director Bert I. Gordon in Village of the Giants (1965).

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Larry Cohen – Rest in Peace

March 24, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace and tagged Black Caesar, Fred Williamson, Hell Up in Harlem, It's Alive, King Cohen The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen, Larry Cohen, The Stuff | Leave a comment

Larry Cohen - RIP Two weeks in a row now, the world has lost another talented person from the movie industry. And it’s really starting to suck.

Larry Cohen passed away yesterday at the age of 77. He was a writer, director, producer who made movies his way. It didn’t mean he wasn’t successful. Just the opposite since a lot of his films, whether they were ones he directed or just wrote, did well at the box office. But Cohen was one of the kings of B-Movies, and that is meant as a huge compliment to this very talented craftsmen. Or as writer/director Edgar Wright called him, “an independent freewheeling movie legend.”

The recent documentary King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen (2017) is a perfect example of not only his work, but of Cohen himself. When you have someone as talented as he was, but wanting to work on the outside of Hollywood, you have to give the man credit. “You’ve gotta make the picture your way and no other way, because it can’t be made otherwise.” Because of statements like that, he was a hero to independent filmmakers.

He started writing for mainly episodic television shows before he moved into the film world. In 1972, he wrote, produced, and directed his first feature film, Bone, starring Yaphet Kotto. He then made two blaxploitation movies in 1973, Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem, both starring Fred Williamson. He then moved into the horror genre with the widely successful It’s Alive (1974), which would then spawn two sequels.

Even though we have lost this incredible talent, his movies and attitude will always be there for the next generation of filmmakers to watch and realize that you don’t have to go to Hollywood to make the film you want to.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.

Turkey Day 2014

May 17, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Turkey Day Marathon and tagged Amok Train, Atomic Submarine, Bloodstalkers, It Came From Hollywood, It's Alive, Raw Force, The Brain, Turkey Day Marathon | Leave a comment

For our 12th Annual Turkey Day Marathon, we had a record number of 13 crazy movie fans that came out this year to celebrate this crazy tradition that I started back in 2003. We had both regulars and a few T-day virgins this year, but I’m sure those will even be back next year. We got through another 7 movies this time, which I think is becoming the standard now. Plus, I think this event really showed what Turkey Day is all about. Yes, it is about watching and enjoying movies that your normal movie scholars would turn their nose up in disgust, but it is much more and this year really put the spotlight on those reasons. Besides the movies, it is about community. It is about a group of individuals of all ages, assembled together to watch some enjoyable ‘bad’ movies. The laughing going on throughout the day showed that we all had that same connection when it comes to these kind of movies and knew that it really is about having a good time with them with other like-minded film fans. Hearing the roars of laughter coming from everyone throughout the day reminded me of this each and every time, as well as the looks of “what did I just see?” that make these events so enjoyable.

This year our T-Day regulars that made it were Joe Wallace, Jason Coffman, Neil Calderone, Brian Fukula, Craig Clark, and Aaron Christensen, who was making this his 10th year coming. Putrid himself, Matt Carr made a glorious return after his last appearance back in 2009. Our T-Day Virgins were Sharon Gissy, and my son’s Nick’s friends Austin Robinson, Max Nolan & Charlie Morrison. Nick was there as well, when he wasn’t helping his mother in the kitchen creating one of the 17 pizzas we devoured throughout the day, which included breakfast pizzas, veggie pizzas, crab rangoon pizza, a spaghetti & meatball pizza (affectionately named the Drunken Billy) and a chili dog pizza, which was my favorite of the day. Major kudos as usual going out to my wife Dawn who created all of these (with Nick’s help) and always kept us wondering what was going to be next. It wouldn’t be a T-Day event without her and the glorious food that she creates for us. Okay…lets get to the movies!

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