International Horror Film Festival in Columbus

June 19, 2025 by Jon Kitley in Movie Events and tagged Alain Robak, Baby's Blood, Black Sunday, Claire Denis, Cristobal Leon, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Hour of the Wolf, Ingmar Bergman, International Horror Film Festival, J.A. Bayona, Jack Clayton, Joaquin Cocina, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Mario Bava, Ohio State University, Pulse, Roy Ward Baker, The Bloody Lady, The Innocents, The Orphanage, The Wolf House, Trouble Every Day, Viktor Kubal, Wexner Center for the Arts | Leave a comment

Next month, at the Wexner Center for the Arts, at the Ohio State University, will be holding an International Horror Film Festival showcasing films from around the world, from Italy to Japan to France and more. It’s one of those times when I wished to be retired and wealthy, only to be able to travel around attending these different festivals! They have a great lineup here with some truly amazing examples of the horror genre, but also incredible pieces of cinema as well. The festival runs from July 10th through Aug. 14th. Most of them are single screenings, but there are a couple of nights where there is a double feature. Below is the list of films playing:

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Hammer Karnstein Scrapbook Now Available

July 4, 2023 by Jon Kitley in Book News and tagged Carmilla, Hammer Films, Hammer Studios, Ingrid Pitt, Le Fanu, Lust for a Vampire, Peveril Publishing, Roy Ward Baker, The Hammer Karnstein Scrapbook, Tudor Gates, Twins of Evil, Vampire Lovers | Leave a comment

Continuing their releases covering the different series of films Hammer did, Peveril Publishing has released their latest volume in this long series, The Hammer’s Karnstein’s Scrapbook and is now available to order!

By the time the ’70s came around, Hammer was upping the amount of gore and nudity in their films, trying to keep hold of their dwindling audiences. Since films like Rosemary’s Baby and Night of the Living Dead, both released1968, had modern settings and monsters, fans were growing tired of the gothic period pieces. Plus, in 1970, The British Board of Film Censors raised the X-Certificate from 16 to 18 in hopes of fighting off this new trend of sexploitation films that were coming out. Hammer took that and amped up their gore and nudity to meet that new standard with their adaptation of Le Fanu’s 1872 novella Carmilla, with what would become The Vampire Lovers (1970), starring the alluring Ingrid Pitt.

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Double Dipping with The Vampire Lovers

November 6, 2021 by Jon Kitley in Misc. Ramblings and tagged Constantine Nasr, Hammer Films, Ingrid Pitt, Jonathon Rigby, Madeline Smith, Marcus Hearn, Mark Maddox, Mick Garris, Roy Ward Baker, Shout Factory, Steve Haberman, The Vampire Lovers, Trailers from Hell | 1 Comment

Trust me, folks, I am probably not the happiest person when it comes to having to double dip on newer versions of the movies we love that keep coming out. New features, new 4K scan, and the rest of that stuff that tries to squeeze a little money from our wallets. Some titles are advertised with a bunch of new features but then you find out one of those “features” is a 4-minute interview. And don’t even get me started on this whole fascination with slip covers. Seriously … since when did a silly cardboard cover become more valuable than the actual movie?

With all that aside, when Shout Factory announced their new updated version of The Vampire Lovers, I quickly ordered it. I know. Pretty sad. But it all came down to that amazing 18×24 poster by Mark Maddox that was offered in the special deal. I have several prints from Maddox and just love his work, and with The Vampire Lovers being one of my favorites, I wasn’t going to pass up adding that poster to my collection. I believe I have all the posters that he did for Shout Factory that were offered. You have to figure that those prints are $25-$40 if you were to buy them at a show, so technically you’re getting the Blu-ray for free!

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Peveril To Unleash the Seven Golden Vampires!

September 27, 2020 by Jon Kitley in Book News and tagged Hammer Films, Hammer Studios, Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Peter Cushing, Peveril Publishing, Roy Ward Baker, Shaw Brothers, Shaw Brothers Studios | Leave a comment

Coming in November of this year, Peveril Publishing will release their next book in their always amazing volumes on Hammer Films. This one tackles the 1973 film The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (amongst many other titles!), that was a co-production between Hammer and Hong Kong’s famous Shaw Brothers Studios. While this might not be a favorite of most Hammer fans (myself included), the history of this film is just as important because it is the last appearance of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing for the studio! But even besides that, no matter what the title, keeping the history alive and available to fans is always important, because the more you know about the actual production, both positive and negative, it will help you appreciate the film much more.

Peveril has always published beautiful looking books, and this one looks to be no different. It includes both Cushing’s and director Roy Ward Baker’s annotated scripts, showing all the notes they wrote down during the production. Just seeing all the notes that Cushing made, even for this lesser production, still shows how much of a perfectionist he was when creating a character, or even returning to one. The book even shows the water color paintings of suggestions for his character’s costume. Continue reading →

Movie Review: And Now the Screaming Starts

March 15, 2020 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Amicus, And Now the Screaming Starts, Guy Rolfe, Herbert Lom, Ian Oglivy, Patrick Magee, Peter Cushing, Roy Ward Baker, Stephanie Beacham | Leave a comment

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Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Starring Ian Oglivy, Stephanie Beacham, Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Guy Rolfe

This was kind of a different film for Amicus, first off, not being an anthology film. But it was a period piece as well. Amicus’ films usually were set in modern day, except maybe I, Monster (1971). So this was something new for them. But once again, when you have a great story, a first-rate director, and an exceptional all-star cast, it’s really hard to go wrong. Continue reading →

Horror History: Roy Ward Baker

April 21, 2017 by Jon Kitley in Horror History and tagged Amicus, Hammer Films, Roy Ward Baker | Leave a comment

Roy Ward Baker
Born Dec. 19th, 1916 – Died Oct. 5th, 2010

Fans of British horror films of the ’70s will probably know this man, since between working with Hammer and Amicus, he was cranking out some entertaining films in a very short time. Starting his career at the bottom and working his way up, even as an assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938), he eventually became a director. He hit some critical fame with A Night to Remember (1958), a film about the Titanic, which is still regarded as one of the best films on that subject. His first film for Hammer was the 3rd of their Quatermass series, Quatermass and the Pit (1967). Then in 1970, he made a huge hit with horror fans with The Vampire Lovers (1970), starring the lovely Ingrid Pitt. After that, he continued working with both Hammer and Amicus turning out great films, like Scars of Dracula (1970), Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971), Asylum (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), And Now the Screaming Starts (1973), and even The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974).

Baker’s films were simple. They had all the elements to make a great movie, which is what he continually turned out. He has quite a few films in his filmography that some critics might consider cheesy or even bad, but I think horror fans might just call classics, or at the very least, pretty damn entertaining. And after all, isn’t that what it’s all about?