Mystery Photo 6-19

Greetings, my fellow film fanatics! Here we are back for another photo puzzle on this film Monday morning. But, as always, before we get to this week’s photo, let’s recap what we posted last week. In honor of his birthday on Saturday, I thought it would nice to give him a little nod in our Mystery Photo. I’m talking about Lucio Fulci, of course. And the picture is from his 1990 film Demonia. How can one go wrong with demonic Italian nuns? Kudos to Hoby Abernathy, Doug Lamoreux and Will Wilson for sending in the correct answer.

Now, let’s get to this week’s photo. Another black and white one, but still one of my favorites. Gaze into the eye and see if the terror therein tells you the name of the picture. Worth a shot….never know.

As always, please remember not to post your answer here, but send them to us in an email to jon@kitleyskrypt.com. Good Luck!

Movie Review: Evil Ed

Evil Ed (1995)
Directed by Anders Jacobson
Starring Johan Rudebeck, Per Löfberg, Olof Rhodin, Camela Leierth, Gert Fylking, Cecilia Ljung, Michael Kallaanvaara, Hans Wilhelmsson

Back in the ’90s, when the video market was still in full swing, every gorehound was always on the prowl for a film to give them the bloody goods within the 90 minutes or so of the particular movie title. Evil Ed delivered it to those that happened upon the video box, which showed a man with his head being split open with an axe. I mean, with a box like that, how could you go wrong? Granted, it was a cheesy graphic image and not something from the actual movie, but it did get the attention of the aforementioned horror fan. It also shows what could be allowed on box art back then, something that could be seen by any youngster that might be walking down the horror aisle. Ah yes…those were the days.

Nigel Kneale Biography Revised!

“A pioneer in science fiction.” – John Carpenter

If you’re the slightest fan of Hammer, then you’ll probably know who writer Nigel Kneale was, since he was the man responsible for sending Hammer down their path of success with the Quatermass movies, based on his original tele-plays, as well as other Hammer titles like The Abominable Snowman (1957) and The Witches (1966). He also gave us The Stone Tape (1972), a chilling made-for-TV film that needs to be seen, as well as the series Beasts that he wrote. And of course, lets not forget that Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) came from him (though it was highly re-written). John Carpenter was highly influenced by Kneale, even using the pseudonym Martin Quatermass for his film Prince of Darkness. 

Now, thanks to the wonderful people at Headpress, you can read all about this fantastic and imaginative writer in their fully revised biography Into the Unknown, which comes out next month. Written by Andy Murray, the book covers Kneale’s career from his childhood to his work at the BBC and beyond, which left us with countless hours of imaginative and fantastic entertainment.

This is one volume that is a must for my library, and should be for yours as well. You can either order it from Amazon, which is only the paperback version. If you want a hardcover version, you have to order that directly from Headpress themselves.

Movie Review: Brain Damage

Brain Damage (1988)
Directed by Frank Henenlotter
Starring Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry, Theo Barnes, Lucille Saint-Peter, Vicki Darnell

I’m sure everyone reading this is familiar with this strange and twisted Faustian tale, that could only come from the mind of the man who gave us Basket Case (1982), writer/director Frank Henenlotter. If you haven’t, then I’m not sure what cave you’ve been living in for the last 30 years, but you need to pick it up now and watch it. It will change your life. Okay..maybe not change it, but definitely put a lot more entertainment in it. And there is even a message in there too! I mean, how can you have a tale about a parasitic creature, that looks like a cross between a turd and a deformed penis, that gets you hooked on a hallucinogenic drug that it emits, if only to keep you in control. Sure, there is a huge drug/addiction parable here, as well as the old fable of selling soul to a devil, but as crazy as it sounds, Henenlotter actually created a very well thought out story and it works quite well. The characters feel like real people, giving the dark and funny story more of an edge than most would probably take it as, about a much too common plague that still exists today. Sure, maybe not played out like it is here, but then it wouldn’t be as fun to watch, would it?

Mystery Photo 6-12

Monday once again. And now that summer has really kicked in, it makes the day even more enjoyable…not! Counting the days until fall starts. Anyway, before we get to this week’s photo, let us go over last week’s. It was from the 1957 flick Zombies of Mora Tau, starring the lovely Allison Hayes! While not the zombies we know these days, they did manage to create a few chilling moments in this fun little monster movie. Kudos to Hoby Abernathy and Doug Lamoreux. Nicely done.

Okay, our photo for this week’s brain teaser might be an easy one. Or it might be one that is just on the tip of your…brain, but you just can’t seem to reach it. But give it a good college try!

And remember, please do not post your answers here in the comments so everyone can have a chance. Just send them in an email to jon@kitleyskrypt.com

Turkey Day in May 2017 – The “Best Of”

For our third year of doing our newer T-Day event in May, I decided to do something a little different. Since there have been quite a few movies screened over the last fourteen years, I know there were more than a few that some of the other participates had missed. So we decided to do a Best Of this time out. I sent out the list of all the movies that had been screen previously, and had everyone pick three titles they’d like to see in the lineup.  There were six films that got more than one vote, so we went with those. I know we usually try to get through seven titles, but this year was a little different and a little more relaxed.

Book Review: Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff

Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration By Gregory William Mank Published by McFarland, 2009. 701 pages

If you don’t want to read our whole review, then to put it as simply as we can get: Buy this book.

Originally published in 1990, under the title Karloff and Lugosi: The Story of a Haunting Collaboration, it was almost ten years later when Mank released a massively updated and revised version in 2009. So much time had passed since its first publication, where he had interviewed so many more people, giving him even more information and stories about Lugosi and Karloff, that he felt the need to update this book. And I’m so glad he did, since it was one of the most enjoyable, enlightening, and entertaining books that I’ve read in a long time. Really an essential volume for any monster kid.

I have to give Mank credit for not just updating this book because of new interviews and information, but to correct a few things, namely stories about Hope Lugosi, the last true “Bride of Dracula”, who in the past was not treated well by the media and journalists, including himself. But after interviewing her and getting to know her, he wanted to make sure that her side of the story was out there. So for that, I give him a lot of credit for wanting to make sure it was heard.