Book Review: Icons of Fright

Icons of Fright: 100 Interviews with Legendary Horror Filmmakers
Published by Harker Press, 2025. 469 pages
By Mike Cucinotta, Rob Galluzzo, Adam Barnick, and Jason Alvino

When you first look through this massive volume of interviews, it’s astonishing the number of people covered within the pages. The subjects range from directors, actors, screenwriters, makeup artists, stuntmen, and just about everyone in between! And the names in those categories ranges from the very well-known to the more up-and-coming ones that have just started in the industry or are just getting some notoriety from their work. But then I quickly noticed that the interviews are old… like decades or older. And I quickly thought, “Who wants to read interviews from 15 years ago?”

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Bill Moseley at the Music Box

November 22, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Movie Events and tagged Bill Moseley, Horror House, House of 1000 Corpses, Music Box Theatre, Rob Zombie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Tobe Hooper | Leave a comment

Mark your calendars for two nights of Bill Moseley at the Music Box with screenings of two different features, Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) and Rob Zombie’s House of a 1000 Corpses (2003), with Moseley appearing both nights for a Meet & Greet and a Q&A after each film, brought to you by Chicago’s own Music Box and The Horror House!

Texas 2 will be screening on Feb. 4th, at 7pm in DCP format, while House will be screening on Feb. 5th at 7pm, from a 35mm print. Moseley will be there at 6pm to meet with fans. If you never had the chance to see these cult films on the big screen, now is your chance!

Book Review: Taking Shape

February 13, 2020 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Debra Hill, Dustin McNeill, Halloween, Halloween 2, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return fo Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Harker Press, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Carpenter, Rob Zombie, Taking Shape, Travis Mullins | Leave a comment

Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream
Published by Harker Press, 2019. 439 pages.
By Dustin McNeill & Travis Mullins

The Halloween series, as a whole, is not one that I would say I’m a huge fan of. I love the original and really like its sequel. This might have something to do with it playing at the theater I worked at upon the sequel’s initial release, where I would get to see parts of it over and over and over again, seeing its effect on the audience time after time. And yes, I was one of those original haters on Season of the Witch, but have since gotten over that and realize the pure genius of that entry. But from then on, there was never a sequel that I got excited over, or was waiting for its release.

Sacrilege, you say? I just felt the sequels got dumber with each entry. When Rob Zombie took his turn, while I thought the first one was better than the last several, I still didn’t care for it. And I still am confused at the reaction to the latest one, when we saw the re-re-re-return of Jamie Lee Curtis, with fans acting like it was her first return since the 1981 film.

Now you might be asking yourself why am I stating how much I really don’t care for the Halloween series as a whole? Because even with all of that being stated, I devoured this book! Continue reading →

Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream

October 22, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Book News and tagged Dustin McNeill, Halloween, John Carpenter, Rob Zombie, Taking Shape, Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream, Travis Mullins | Leave a comment

Taking Shape Do we really need yet another book on the Halloween series? Well, since one of the authors is Dustin McNeill, who gave fans so much more insight into the Phantasm series with his book Phantasm Exhumed, then I would say YES! Not to mention that there is always more to learn about movies, especially a series that has been going on for over 40 years.

Just released and available on Amazon, Taking Shape has escaped from Harker Press and has over 400 pages of information about the Halloween series, including Rob Zombies two films, and the recent return of Laurie Strode in H40.

But what can this book bring you that we haven’t gotten already? How about a comprehensive story analysis of each of the films in the series? Or a rundown of all the deleted scenes, as well as the alternate ones. You’ll also get comparisons of early versions of the scripts to the final product, an in-depth dissection of the official novelizations (which could always be quite different than the films), and so much more.

The book is available now through Amazon and is a perfect title for the season. Priced at only $23.99, it’s a killer deal.

Sid Haig – Rest in Peace

September 24, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace and tagged House of 1000 Corpses, Jack Hill, Jason of Star Command, Rob Zombie, Sid Haig, Spider Baby | 1 Comment

I know as horror fans, we like to throw around the word “icon” when one of our horror heroes passes away, but this time, with this guy, the word icon definitely fits. And I know the internet has been flooded with everyone’s memories of meeting him, but dammit…that is the way it should be!

The strange thing for me is that my first introduction to Mr. Haig wasn’t any of his appearances in the horror or exploitation films, but a Saturday morning kids show in the late ’70s called Jason of Star Command, as the villainous Dragos. Of course, later I would come to know him from the countless appearances he did in a ton of television and films. Even before Jack Hill’s Spider Baby saw a legitimate release, I had a shabby looking bootleg on VHS, watching this classic film, with a young Sid playing the simple minded Ralph, and just loving it. That was the amazing thing about Sid. No matter what role, no matter how big or small, Sid Haig always made an impression with the viewer. With this height, bald head, and those glaring eyes, he could stop you dead in your tracks. Continue reading →