Regan W. H. Macaulay
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  • Home
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    • Peter Little Wing
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    • Dog Band
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    • Beverlee Beaz the Brown Burmese New Edition!
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A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

7/29/2020

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At long last, I have found a publisher for my middle-grade chapter book series Peter Little Wing!!!

I have signed a contract with
Pandamonium Publishing House in Hamilton, Ontario for Book 1, with the next six books to be submitted for approval/right of first refusal over the next couple of years or so...

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Here's a rough blurb for the first two books, without giving too much away:

Peter, a captive Southern Fiordland Tokoeka Kiwi, and his friends from the National Aquarium (Onion, a Little Blue Penguin with an inner ear imbalance; Tim, a Tuatara with Generalized Anxiety Disorder; and Rangi, a Kea Parrot with clipped wings) embark on a quest through the unfamiliar wilderness of New Zealand in search of three ingredients needed to create an elixir to cure Peter’s ailing grandfather. Together, they traverse the length of the South Island of NZ, all the way across the Cook Strait and back home to the North Island. They learn what they are all capable of in the wild of the wop wops, and what the world beyond the "Wall of Shadows" of Peter’s habitat is all about.

Sample interior black & white artwork (see above) by Gordon Bagshaw, who will be providing interior illustrations and the cover art for the Peter Little Wing series.

You may recognize the name Gordon Bagshaw because he is also the illustrator of my picture book, Libby the Lobivia Jajoiana (co-written with Kevin Risk, my husband) to be published by Mirror World Publishing THIS OCTOBER 1st!

Be sure to subscribe to my email list to keep up to date on all my writing and events, as well as related content, but most especially for the latest on the "Peter Little Wing" series! Receive a free flash fiction story just for subscribing!

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Puppet Killer is terrorific fun!

7/28/2020

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Indie Canadian Horror-Comedy film Puppet Killer has on the festival circuit a little while now (earning 65 awards and nominations in 4 months -- WOW!) and will be available on VOD and DVD soon.
 
The Blurb:
While celebrating Christmas at a cabin in the woods, a group of high school students are stalked by a psychotic killer obsessed with horror movie icons.

You'll want to read my review and check out my interview with the writer and director last November during the Blood in the Snow Festival...

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READ MORE -- AND CHECK OUT THE TRAILER...

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B-movie Mayhem...The Comedy of Terrors, my suggested honourable mention for the Corman-Poe cycle

7/27/2020

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The Comedy of Terrors is my own suggestion for honourable mention in the Corman-Poe cycle, though the only thing it has to do with the Corman-Poe cycle it was filmed around the same time as The Raven (1963), with a similar cast shared with The Raven and Tales of Terror, shot the year before, both of which are Poe-cycle films. 

From Wikipedia: The Comedy of Terrors is an American International Pictures horror comedy film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, and (in a cameo) Joe E. Brown in his final film appearance. It is a blend of comedy and horror which features several cast members from Tales of Terror, made by AIP the year before.[2]
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Silly, detailed synopsis (spoilers!) from Wikipedia:

In the New England town of New Gilead during the late 19th century, an unscrupulous drunkard named Waldo Trumbull (Vincent Price) runs the funeral parlor he acquired from his former business partner Amos Hinchley (Boris Karloff) after marrying his daughter Amaryllis (Joyce Jameson). Trumbull enlists the assistance of a fugitive picklock named Felix Gillie (Peter Lorre) in conducting his business cheaply by reusing the firm's only coffin to unceremoniously dump the deceased while arranging the occasional murder of wealthy clients. Trumbull, being emotionally abusive to Amaryllis while attempting to poison the now-senile Hinchley under the guise of giving him medicine, ultimately wastes his money on alcohol as clientele is dwindling.
Trumbull decides to profit from gentleman shipping merchant Mr. Phipps after being threatened with eviction by his landlord John F. Black (Rathbone) if he does not produce the long-overdue rent. Trumbull forces Gillie to get him into the Phipps estate, smothering the old man in his sleep and then making a fortuitous return the following morning to get the job of burying him. But Trumbull is livid to learn on the day of the funeral that Phipps's attractive young wife had left town with her husband's fortune without even paying for the funerary expenses. Trumbull decides to murder Black after receiving a final warning for rent, having Gillie enter through the upstairs window of Black's estate. Gillie ends up in Black's bedroom as the man was reading from Shakespeare's Macbeth and forced to run out when spotted, causing Black to suffer a heart attack with the physician pronouncing him dead.
But Trumbull and Gillie, after taking him to the funeral parlor, are unaware that Black suffers from catalepsy as he awakens in the cellar due to his cat allergy and recognizes Gillie. After attempting to keep Black from running off as he collapses from another heart attack, Trumbull and Gillie place him in the coffin with the former knocking out Black when he came to and struggles to get out of it. Following a successive funeral, the supposedly deceased Black is placed in his family crypt with Trumbull celebrating his ill gotten fortune. At that time, having feelings for Amaryllis and tired of being bossed around, Gillie convinces her that they should leave Trumbull so she can live her dream of becoming an opera singer. But Black regains consciousness at that time and returns to the funeral parlor while quoting random Macbeth lines, grabbing an axe and causing Amaryllis to faint. Black then chases Trumbull and Gillie around the house with the latter knocked unconscious after falling down a flight of stairs before Black is seemingly killed by Trumbull, Black giving a lengthy monologue before finally dying.
Amaryllis comes down and assumes Trumbull to have murdered Gillie before being strangled by him when she threatens of reporting him to the authorities. Gillie awakens soon after and vengefully attacks Trumbull in a comical swordfight before being knocked out again with a poker. Mr. Black's servant arrives to report Black's sighting in the town before seeing the dead bodies and runs off for the police. A depressed Trumbull collapses in a semi-conscious heap on the floor by the stairs, failing to realize Amaryllis is still alive as she wakes Gillie and the two proceed to elope. Hinchley, who had slept through everything, comes down stairs and gives Trumbull the vial of "medicine" to sober him up. Trumbull sobers up once realizing he drank his own poison, dramatically dropping dead as an oblivious Hinchley returns to bed while regretting not getting a slip of his "medicine". It would be after Trumbull's death that the family cat Cleopatra walks over to Black, confirming him to still be alive when his allergy acts up.

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B-movie Mayhem...The Terror, Corman-Poe cycle honourable mention...

7/20/2020

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First, here is the truly wacky synopsis (with spoilers) from Wikipedia: In 1806, Andre Duvalier, a French soldier lost in the Confederation of the Rhine, is saved by Helene, a young woman who bears a resemblance to Ilsa von Leppe, the wife of Baron von Leppe who died 20 years before. Andre sets out to investigate Helene's true identity and, in doing so, learns the Baron's darkest secret: after he found Ilsa with another man, the Baron killed his wife while his servant killed her lover.
Over the last two years, the Baron has been tormented by Ilsa's ghost, who has beseeched him to kill himself so that they can be together forever. After much hesitation, the Baron decides to do so and atone for his crimes. Unbeknownst to him, Ilsa's ghost is being commanded to haunt him by a peasant witch named Katrina.
After preventing the Baron from killing himself, Andre and Stefan, the Baron's major domo, capture Katrina and force her into compliance. Katrina then reveals herself to be the mother of a man named Eric, whom she believes that the Baron killed 20 years before and hopes to avenge his death by damning his soul to Hell. In a stunning revelation, Stefan reveals that Eric was Ilsa's lover, that it was the Baron who had died 20 years ago, not Eric, and that Eric felt so guilty about it that he took the Baron's place, pretending to be him (thus explaining why the Baron had never left the castle in the past 20 years). Over the years, Eric has convinced himself that he is the true Baron von Leppe.
Realizing her error too late, Katrina goes with Andre and Stefan to stop Eric from flooding the castle crypt. Katrina's pact with the devil, however, makes her unable to walk on consecrated ground and she ends up burning to death after being struck by lightning.
At the von Leppe castle, Eric floods the crypt as Ilsa's ghost attempts to kill him and Stefan struggles to stop her. By the time Andre gains access to the crypt, it is already starting to cave in and he is only able to save Helene. The two share a moment outside the castle before Helene turns into a rotting corpse.
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  • Boris Karloff as Baron von Leppe/Eric, a corrupt aristocratic man who murdered the baron and his wife and poses as the baron of an abandoned castle.
  • Jack Nicholson as Andre Duvalier, a soldier of Napoleon's army who finds himself lost after fleeing his men during battle.
  • Dick Miller as Stefan, the Baron's son and trustful servant who serves the impostor.
  • Sandra Knight as Helene/Ilsa, the shapeshifting demon of the witch who poses as the baron's deceased wife.
  • Dorothy Neumann as Katrina the witch, a peasant woman and the mother of Eric who was driven out of the village for heresy and witchcraft.
  • Jonathan Haze as Gustaf, a lost village man who became the mentally ill servant of the witch.

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Winners of the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards - Mixter and Myrrh!

7/14/2020

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Mixter Twizzle's Breakfast and Merry Myrrh, the Christmas Bat are both Honourable Mention winners in this year's Purple Dragonfly Book Awards!

Mixter Twizzle won in the Children's Picture Books 5 & Under and Merry Myrrh won in the Holiday category.

Don't forget, both books are on sale when you buy from my website.

First version editions of Merry Myrrh, the Christmas Bat are $10 CAD (shipping and handling included).

Mixter Twizzle's Breakfast is on sale for $15 CAD (shipping and handling included) during the COVID-19 "crisis"...

And the colouring pages and activities for each of my books are still available to download for FREE...you will find them at the bottom of each book's page or HERE.
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B-movie Mayhem...The Tomb of Ligeia, eighth of the Corman-Poe cycle

7/13/2020

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The Tomb of Ligeia is a 1964 British horror film directed by Roger Corman. Starring Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd, it tells of a man haunted by the spirit of his dead wife and her effect on his second marriage. The screenplay by Robert Towne was based upon the short story "Ligeia" by American author Edgar Allan Poe and was the last in his series of films loosely based on the works of Poe. Tomb of Ligeia was filmed at Castle Acre Priory and other locations with a mostly English cast. (Wikipedia)
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Synopsis from Wikipedia: Verden Fell (Vincent Price) is both mournful about and feels threatened by the death of his first wife, Ligeia. He sensed her reluctance to die and was concerned about her near-blasphemous statements about God (she was an atheist). Alone and troubled by an eye condition that requires him to wear dark glasses, Fell shuns the world.

Against his better judgement, he marries a headstrong young woman, Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd), he meets by accident, who pursues him, even though she is apparently bethrothed to an old friend, Christopher Gough (John Westbrook). Ligeia's spirit seems to haunt their mansion, previously a medieval abbey, and nocturnal visions and the sinister presence of a cat (which may be inhabited by the spirit of Ligeia) distress Rowena. The cat, who first appears at Ligeia's burial, wounds and appears to attempt to kill Rowena several times and Fell unsuccessfully orders its destruction. Ultimately he must face the spirit of Ligeia and resist her or perish.

The climax of the film takes place when Fell has a showdown with Ligeia, now in the form of a cat. Fell is blinded by Ligeia, but gets the upper hand and strangles the cat, while the tomb around him burns down, due to an accident. Fell and Ligeia perish and Gough and Rowena start a new life together.

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Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet

7/7/2020

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(From the Press Release): Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet, a film by John Migliore

Watch it now on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/puppet?fbclid=IwAR2vYAvQw20zA3PbyLsZ4ZfrTSdJkmBYJc9W7kCy_dJJuBRgZDdKRtwtRQc
Restored, updated, and three decades in the making! Here's the trailer for Survival Zombie Films' upcoming feature, CURSE OF THE BLOODY VOODOO SOCKPUPPET: 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION...
Dave is a former children's television host turned serial killer, who receives guidance from a puppet named Snuffy. The tormented killer eventually commits suicide, but fate has other plans for Dave! An evil scientist revives the maniac to help with his macabre work...
In 1990, THE BLOODY VOODOO SOCKPUPPET was released on VHS. Few copies exist to this day. Shortly thereafter, the movie was followed by a sequel, which also had a limited VHS release. Now, John Migliore and Survival Zombie Films have restored and merged the original films, while also adding all-new scenes shot on video to preserve the look and feel of the previous movies.
This is for real. This is not a modern film made to appear like it was made in the nineties. It was actually made in 1990, including addition footage shot in 1992 and 2019. It's an oddball gem in the realm of horror/comedy that's waited a long time to be seen!
CURSE OF THE BLOODY VOODOO SOCKPUPPET will finally be released on the unsuspecting public later this year! The movie will have a one-time showing at TERRIBLE TWO DAY FEST TORONTO 3 on March 14th. It will then be release on VIMEO ON DEMAND and eventually on DVD. We're even considering a limited VHS release of the film!
The new footage serves as a framing sequence and connects this film to Migliore's last feature, CREATURE FROM CANNIBAL CREEK. That movie is also expected to be released on DVD and VOD later this same year. Deborah Jayne Reilly Smith returns as Harriet, and Mike Trebilcock has created a brand new score for the film.
It came from the nineties... are you ready for it?
Trailer Link:
https://vimeo.com/384070310
IMDb Page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11584478/
Survival Zombie Films on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/survivalzombie/ Survival Zombie Films: https://vimeo.com/channels/szf 

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B-movie Mayhem...Masque of the Red Death, seventh in the Corman-Poe cycle

7/6/2020

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Synopsis from Wikipedia:
The Masque of the Red Death is a 1964 horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price.[2] The story follows a prince who terrorizes a plague-ridden peasantry while merrymaking in a lonely castle with his jaded courtiers.[2] The screenplay, written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell, was based upon the 1842 short story of the same name by American author Edgar Allan Poe,[2] and incorporates a subplot based on another Poe tale, "Hop-Frog'". Another subplot is drawn from Torture by Hope by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam.

It is the seventh of a series of eight Corman film adaptations largely based on Poe's works made by American International Pictures.
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Odds and ends about Masque of the Red Death from the interview with Roger Corman featured on the MGM Midnite Movies DVD double feature release (which also includes Premature Burial):

Corman feels Masque of the Red Death is one of the better of the Poe films, and indeed of all of his films. Fall of the House of Usher was his choice to go forward with first, but he originally wanted to Masque to be released second…but because he was worried about being accused of stealing stylistic choices from Ingmar Bergman (a big influence on Corman), he waited to produce and release Masque later and released The Pit and the Pendulum next instead.

AIP had doubled Corman’s budget from $100,000 to $200,000 for these new fan- dangled colour Poe pics!

The Hop-Frog short story (Edgar Allan Poe) was combined into the story of Masque of the Red Death in later drafts—the previous drafts came off a little thin, plot-wise.

Corman didn’t have to audition Vincent, of course, but cast the other roles in Masque, having them do some improvisation, too. Hop-Toad’s wife was cast as a child (with a woman's voice dubbed in).  

Masque had the highest production value of all the Poe films.  They also spent 4-5 weeks shooting rather than the usual 3, and shot in England (securing a tax credit), rather than in America, where early Poe films had been shot.

A Man for All Seasons set flats were used for Masque, and Corman's team built the rest of the set around that, giving the film a much “bigger” look.

The Kennedy assassination happened while they were shooting—a big shock for Vincent and Corman, especially. They had a moment of silence at the time of the JFK's funeral.

Corman met Paul McCartney through lead actor Jane (who was his friend…she was from Liverpool, too)—he stopped in for lunch with Jane and Corman on his way to his first major London concert with the Beatles!


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  • Home
    • Blog
    • Free Activities!
  • About Me
    • My Background and Other Projects
  • Children's Literature
    • Peter Little Wing
    • Chloe the Unfeathered Parrot
    • Merry Myrrh the Christmas Bat - new edition!
    • Sloth the Lazy Dragon - new edition!
    • Dog Band
    • Libby the Lobivia Jajoiana
    • Beverlee, la chatte de Birmanie
    • Beverlee Beaz the Brown Burmese New Edition!
    • Merry Myrrh, the Christmas Bat
    • Mixter Twizzle's Breakfast
    • Tamara Turtle's Life So Far
    • Sloth the Lazy Dragon
    • Beverlee Beaz the Brown Burmese First Edition (out of print)
    • Books COMING SOON
    • Stories and Articles
  • Novels
    • Horror at Terror Creek
    • They Suck
    • Space Zombies!
    • The Trilogy of Horrifically Half-Baked Ham
    • Novels COMING SOON
  • Scripts
    • Horror at Terror Creek
    • They Suck
    • The Aquarium
    • Paradise Lust...
    • Space Zombies...
    • Sketches
    • Watching Mr. Body
    • The Scary Bitch Project
    • The Foreign Film
    • Where are the Birds?
    • Scripts COMING SOON
    • Free Downloads!
  • Short Fiction
    • The Kiss
    • Envy
    • Space Zombies and Felines Unite!
    • The Institute
    • Reuben
    • Free Downloads!
  • Merchandise and Shop