2019 Year End Review: Part 4 – Best of the Decade, 2010-2019

January 5, 2020 by Jon Kitley in Misc. Ramblings, Year End Reviews and tagged Blacksmith and the Devil, Bone Tomahawk, Coherence, Dream Home, Errementari, Evil Dead, Shrew's Nest, Sleep Tight, The Ritual, The Taking of Deborah Logan, The Void | 4 Comments

Best of the Decade

Since we have completed yet another decade (which I must admit I am surprised we have survived with the current state of affairs) and I have been recently pondering this whole concept of Top Ten lists (thanks Gregg!), I thought it might be interesting challenge to look back over these last ten years and pick my favorite ten horror films… IF… I could narrow it down to just ten film. My initial picks were just under thirty titles. So after some seriously contemplations, I have it narrowed down to a final ten. The funny thing is that the final “ten” has changed twice since I started this process! If this exercise has done anything for me, it has made be bust out a few of these and re-watch them. Not really to remind myself of how much I liked them, but because it had been a while. And going down that journey again gave me almost the same thrills and feelings I had the first time. Continue reading →

Soundtrack Review: The Void

December 14, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Soundtrack and tagged Blitz//Berlin, Joseph Murray, Lakeshore Records, Lodewijk Vos, Menalon Music, The Void | Leave a comment

The Void (2016)
Released by Lakeshore Records
32 Tracks with a Total Running time of 64 min.
Music by Blitz//Berlin, Joseph Murray, Menalon Music, & Lodewijk Vos

If you’re looking for a score that is more ambient sounds than an actual musical score, one that just might bring the Old Ones, or any forgotten deity back from the netherworld, this just might be the one. You’ll get no melodies, no quiet and soft piano keys here, but instead a vibration of sound coming through your speakers. In fact, there are times it almost seems like something is trying to escape from your speakers! It does an excellent job creating this mood with its buzzing, pounding, and other strange noises. A stellar job.

For example, track # 21 Sacrifices has a humming in the foreground while we hear some sort of distant chanting going on that creates an incredible amount atmosphere. I think this is where the beauty of this score lies, in its otherworldliness, with strange sounds and noises. When played loud enough… who knows what might happen!

I’m sorry it took me this long to track down this score. It was one of my favorite moves a couple of years ago and this score is one of the reasons why.

2017 Year End Review Part 5: Best and Worst of

January 4, 2018 by Jon Kitley in Year End Reviews and tagged A Dark Song, Alien: Covenant, Hellraiser: Revelations, Housewife, Tales of Halloween, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Canal, The Eyes of My Mother, The Mummy, The Shape of Water, The Void, Winterbeast | 2 Comments

Just to get this out there right away, my Best / Worse lists always consists of films that I watched for the first time in 2017, not necessarily that they came out. Most of the films I watch are from DVD or Blu-Ray and I don’t make it to the theater too often to see them when they first come out. Or they might be an older film that I’m seeing for the first time. So no matter when it actually came out, it still is a new movie to me.

I got through 209 films this year, 77 of them were first-time viewings for me. That is a little lower than normal for us, but I’ve been spending a lot of time working on a side project that will hopefully see the light of day this year. Then I can get back to watching more movies!

So here are the top five that I watched in 2017 that made the most impact on me this year.

Continue reading →