Monday, March 2, 2015

KITLEY'S KRYPT: ARE YOU A HORROR FAN?



Something a little different this time around, a review of and recommendation for a web site I thought some of you might be interested in. The site is Kitley’s Krypt and it’s all things horror related. Put together by Jon Kitley, I’ve been aware of the site for some time now. Jon and my son became acquaintances by both attending the Cinema Wasteland horror fan convention years back and through that meeting I learned of his web site. I’ve been going there weekly ever since.

For those who don’t know I’ll say up front that I am indeed a horror fan. I’m not one of those late to the game group out there who knew nothing of horror until the trilogy of Michael Myers/Freddy Kreuger/Leatherface came into being. I started long ago sitting in front of a black and white screen watching late night horror host Ghoulardi on the Cleveland station while growing up in Akron, OH. That morphed into years of watching Big Chuck and Hoolihan. Through those shows and other Cleveland stations I grew up watching the classics and the biggest stars of horror, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. To this day I rarely pass up a chance to watch ABBOT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and even turned on my horror loving great great niece to that film.  From those classic black and white flicks to the full color horrors from Hammer Studios I’ve been a horror fan for many years.

Which brings us to Kitley’s Krypt. There are a huge number of horror movie sites online that you can choose to go to. Many of them are good, some are so so and honestly I’ve not seen too many terrible ones. Some are sponsored by the magazines that focus on horror like Horrorhound of Fangoria. Some have created industries unto themselves. For me those have a polished atmosphere that feels corporate though. While they do provide information I don’t get that feeling that they love the genre so much as they can profit from it. No so with Kitley’s Krypt.

Jon is an avid horror fan. Like me he goes back to the classics as well as the newer items coming out. The web site also has that feel as well, as if it was made for fans of the genre as opposed to someone sitting at a desk in some high rise office telling underlings what he wants next month. Jon does it himself. He does a good job of it. And he’s been doing it enough years that fans have come to trust him when it comes to things horror.

He’s developed enough of a fan base that he now writes a monthly column for the afore mentioned Horrorhound (don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t bad mouthing the magazine, a fave of mine, but talking about the polished look of web sites in general) called “They Came From The Krypt” which won the Rondo Hatton Award for best column in 2014.  He’s been nominated again this year. He wrote part of the book HIDDEN HORROR. Let’s just say he knows his horror.

So there is some background on Jon, what about the site? Well the site is wonderful for fans who like all things horror, not just one item. While the site has been recently revamped it has offered fans things like updates on famous horror connected icons/performers/behind the scenes people who have recently passed. It offers reviews of horror items from books to soundtracks to movies. It has interviews. It has history. It talks about books and toys that are horror related. It passes along news items about everything from coming movies to coming events. I especially love the information passed along about various drive-ins doing special showings of all night horror movie marathons. Hopefully I can attend one of these days…er nights. If gives you history. Each month is a contest to identify a picture that Jon posts. And there is plenty of convention news. Part of that is because you can find Jon at those conventions selling items and partly because he actually loves to attend them. Did I mention that Jon loves horror films?


Jon will also let you know about the Krypt family that happens at various times. Yes this might include his real family (who would think in today’s world you’d find someone with a loving and supportive wife when it comes to your favorite thing!) but his extended family as well. They get together for their own movie nights, at special screenings and for various parties most notably Turkey Day Marathons. One such party they gathered items for the local food pantry. I guess horror fans aren’t all that dangerous after all eh?

In the end the thing about the web site is that it offers a chance for fans to hear about things from a fan’s perspective rather than from a CEO looking to top off that quarter’s sales figures. Jon loves horror and it shows. If you love horror then all I can do is recommend this web site. If nothing else you’ll get a glimpse of some of the horror items being released during the year. My guess is that most local libraries don’t carry all of the books you’ll find being released that Jon mentions. I’ll bet most Toys R Us stores don’t carry all these toys. Redbox doesn’t carry all of the movies discussed. But if you want to learn more about these items and more then check out the site. Who knows, you might end up becoming part of the Kryptic Army.

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