Kitley's Krypt MYSTERY PHOTO #80

Another week, another MYSTERY PHOTO!

Jon Kitley, pillar of the Chicago Horror Community and head honcho over at KITLEY'S KRYPT, wants to challenge your horror knowledge. Week in, week out, he posts a Mystery Photo - sometimes from an obscure horror title, sometimes just an unusual shot from a well-known classic. We figured our faithful Claw readers would enjoy the challenge!

Our last photo was of a kneeling Ralph Bates before the lovely if talent-challenged Yutte Stensgaard in Hammer's second (and least beloved) installment in their Karnstein series, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971). As Carmilla Karnstein (sound familiar, anyone?), Stensgaard wanders blankly from scene to scene, head-butting fair maidens' necks right and left. Bates stepped in at the last second to replace Peter Cushing, who was still reeling from his wife's death (and truthfully, the understudy does a fine enough job with what he has to work with), but without the presence of actors such as Ingrid Pitt or Christopher Lee, the whole thing feels a little stale. And that's not even getting into "Strange Love," one of the most bizarre musical interludes in horror history.



Let's see how you fare with this week's selection:



Send your guesses, with the subject line "MYSTERY PHOTO", to jon@kitleyskrypt.com

If you provide the correct answer, your name will be announced next week on the Kitley's Krypt website (http://www.kitleyskrypt.com), along with a new photo. Even if you don't know the answer, we welcome any sorta-kinda educated guess! So, send in your emails today and good luck!

Snowpocalypse coming! What do I do? Grand Moff Russell Mashup!

Watch winter horror films!  I have two suggestions for you...

The Thing...my all time favorite winter horror movie.  Actually it's one of my favorite horror movies period.  Plus it has Kurt Russell.  And Wilford Brimley.  Like peanut butter in my chocolate.

You can let me out now....

My second suggestion is old school and slightly frivolous.  When in doubt, always go Tarkin...Grand Moff Tarkin that is.  Never has there been a bad movie not made better by a dash of Peter Cushing. Exhibit A: The Abomidable Snowman

RIP, Peter Cushing (1913-1994)

Sixteen years ago today, the cinematic world lost one of its most distinguished actors when Peter Cushing lost his battle with prostate cancer. Not only was he the most recognizable face in many Hammer horror productions, he also played the great Doctor in two Doctor Who films, as well as making a memorable appearance in Star Wars (1977) as Grand Moff Tarkin and in Shock Waves as an aging Nazi commander.

One of Cushing's roles that has resonated with audiences over the years isn't a role in the horror genre, but rather a mystery, that of Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. However, there are many ties to horror within the film: it was produced by Hammer, co-starred Christopher Lee, and Baskerville Hall is widely recognizable as Dracula's castle from the 1958 Hammer version of Dracula (a.k.a. Horror of Dracula). Here below is the trailer for that film, also starring Lee as the titular vampire and Cushing in one of his most famous and beloved roles as Van Helsing.



Personally, I will be honoring Cushing today by watching a film that doesn't seem to have as many fans as many of the other Hammer Dracula pictures, Dracula A.D. 1972, which features Cushing as an aging descendant of Van Helsing. It isn't the greatest Drac film, but it's entertaining and definitely a product of its time, and as always Cushing absolutely lights up the screen any time he is on it.

RIP, Peter. In a time when horror seems to be focused more on the gross-out and the shock factor than real scares, your touch of gentlemanly class is sorely missed, now more than ever.

Happy Birthday Peter Cushing!

Peter Cushing O.B.E. - one of the finest screen actors of all time -  was born in 1913, and passed away in 1994.

And, in this Daemon's humble opinion, the best Sherlock Holmes on screen and TV.

Unrealized Films, Kickass Poster Art

Our fellow fiend and blood brother Will Wilson sent us a couple sweet posters (back when you could get a movie greenlighted on the strength and "hook" of a poster's artwork) of films that took out ads in Variety, but that was as far as they got.

THE COMING was a Robert Fuest project written by Michael Winder that was to have also featured, in addition to Cushing and Bach, Burgess Meredith and Anthony Franciosa. Vincent Price mentioned this in a Fangoria interview, indicating his PHIBES director had sent him the script (Price described it as a "mishmash") and that he'd passed on the project.



From May, 1985 (this ad also ran in Fangoria around the same time). You gotta love that tagline, "He emerged from the depths of Lake Erie...and ate everything in sight."


Never any arguing the appeal of a giant snake (or alligator or gila monster...) And one based on a novel by the fella who wrote THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, no less.

Happy Birthday PETER CUSHING, CHRISTOPHER LEE and VINCENT PRICE!!!

Three of the most beloved horror icons in film history celebrate birthdays yesterday and today - sadly, only one of them is still among us to blow out his candles. But being that this is the world of horror and fantasy, who knows?

VINCENT PRICE (May 27, 1911 - October, 25 1993)


















CHRISTOPHER LEE (May 27 1922 - )


















PETER CUSHING (May 26, 1913 - August 11, 1994)

RIP Hazel Court, the Horror Queen of Scream…

Hazel Court, the redheaded, green-eyed beauty, one of England’s top film actresses in the 1950’s, passed away Tuesday, April 14. Ms. Court died in Lake Tahoe, California, of a heart attack.


The talented Ms. Court, renowned for her ample cleavage and horrified scream, was the only actress to have worked with all of horror films' leading men - Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.

The former pinup girl was best known for her performances in movies such as “Devil Girl from Mars” (1954), “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957), “Dr. Blood's Coffin” (1961), Roger Corman’s treatments of three works by Edgar Allan Poe: “The Masque of the Red Death ” (1962), “The Comedy of Terrors/The Raven” (1963), “The Premature Burial” (1964) and “Omen 3: The Final Conflict” (1981). She also had a long and varied career in American television, appearing in such series as General Electric Theatre, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Gidget, The Wild Wild West, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mannix, Mission Impossible and McMillan and Wife.



After her career in film, television and stage, she took up a successful second career as a sculptor in the 1970’s, and also wrote an autobiography, "Hazel Court - Horror Queen: An Autobiography", to be published this month by Tomahawk Press.

“Just in case I should pop off to Heaven in the night, I always remember to wash up, punch up the cushions, and straighten up after a dinner party,” she wrote. “I wouldn’t want everyone to come in and find it a mess. It’s very English of me.”

Hazel Court is survived by two daughters, two stepdaughters and a son.