From Staff Reports

Long-time Mountain Xpress film critic Ken Hanke died late June 28 at the age of 61.

His popular movie review column was named “Cranky Hanke” — and, as a result, some who did not know him well called him “Cranky,” but his friends just him “Ken.”

Hanke  had suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (better known as “COPD”) for the last few years.

Despite having had a rough week, the lifelong film afficianado reportedly continued to post movie news and commentary until the night of his death. Confirming Hanke’s death were his wife Shonsa Hanke and fellow movie critic and friend Edwin Arnaudin.

Since 2000, he had reviewed movies for the Mountain Xpress (an alternative weekly newspaper) and had built a strong local following. He created opinionated lists of the week’s openings and reviews. He was known for giving fair and critical reviews.

Hanke was a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association. As a critic, he had posted 4,724 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

He had written four books on film, including “Ken Russell’s Films,” published in 1984; “Charlie Chan at the Movies” (1989), “A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series” (1991) and “Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker” (1999).

He was a founder of the Asheville Film Society, which views movies every Tuesday night at The Grail Moviehouse in downtown Asheville. Prior to the recent opening of The Grail, the AFS held its screenings for several years at The Carolina Theater on Hendersonville Road in South Asheville.

Also, he co-hosted a horror film screening every Thursday night at The Grail. Hanke particularly had an affinity for horror films.

Regarding Hanke, Arnaudin told the Asheville Citizen-Times, “He had a memory like an elephant, when it comes to film. When you’re passionate about a topic, you can’t help but catalog information about it. Everybody’s got a passion and his was film.”

Hanke, who grew up in Florida, is survived by his wife Shonsa and his daughter, Elizabeth Hanke Hoffman.