Synopsis: Francis Barnard travels to Spain to investigate the death of his sister, Elizabeth. Her husband, Nicholas Medina, the son of a member of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis doesn’t buy it. With the help of the Medina family friend, Doctor Charles Leon and the support of Nicholas’ sister, Catherine, Francis discovers that it was extreme fear that supposedly killed his sister and that she may have been buried alive. But all is not as it seems in this tale of haunted childhood memories, torture, adultery past and present and betrayal! We dive deep into the mind and memories of Nicholas AND his father, Sebastian Medina, leading only to madness…in the pit…

Originally, Roger Corman had wanted to film Masque of the Red Death as the 2nd film in his Poe film cycle, but some of the story and stylistic choices in Masque were so influenced by Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), Corman felt the timing would be poor, looking as though he were ripping off certain elements, so he decided to hold off on Masque and went ahead with The Pit and the Pendulum instead.

From Wikipedia: "...However Samuel Z. Arkoff said it was his and James H. Nicholson's decision to make Pit as the second Poe film "because it was a lot more graphic and in the second place, Masque of the Red Death would have needed a dancing troupe that would have been quite expensive. In all those early Poe pictures we had relatively few actors, so when we did finally make Masque of the Red Death we went to the UK where it would be less expensive to do it."[11]

The Pit and the Pendulum stars Vincent Price as both Nicholas and Sebastian Medina, John Kerr as Francis Barnard, B-movie/horror icon Barbara Steele as Elizabeth Barnard Medina, Luana Anders as Catherine Medina, Antony Carbone as Dr. Charles Leon, and Patrick Westwood as Maximillian. Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay again, taking a short story and fleshing out new details to make it feature length.

The Fall of the House of Usher, also known as House of Usher, was the first of the Corman-Poe cycle of the 1960s…that is, the first of a series of films based (usually very loosely) on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, where produced by American International Pictures and directed by the King of B-movies himself, Roger Corman.

According to Wikipedia, "The original idea, usually credited to Corman and Lou Rusoff, was to take Poe's story The Fall of the House of Usher, which had both a high name-recognition value and the merit of being in the public domain, and thus royalty-free, and expand it into a feature film. Corman convinced the studio to give him a larger budget than the typical AIP film so he could film the movie in widescreen and color, and use it to create lavish sets as well.[10] The success of House of Usher led AIP to finance further films based on Poe's stories. The sets and special effects were often reused in subsequent movies (for example, the burning roof of the Usher mansion reappears in most of the other films as stock footage), making the series quite cost-effective.”

The Fall of the House of Usher starred Vincent Price, as did almost all of the other films of the Corman-Poe cycle, even the “honourable mentions” (which are considered by some to be a part of the cycle, but aren’t necessarily based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and are therefore not “official”). The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson, American genre novel and screenwriter, who also wrote episodes of the Twilight Zone TV series, and whose many titles you will recognize either as films you’ve seen or books you’ve read, including: The Shrinking Man, Hell House, I Am Legend (short story), A Stir of Echoes, What Dreams May Come, Steel (Real Steel), Somewhere in Time, and many more.

The rest of the cast includes Mark Damon as Philip Winthrop, Myrna Fahey as Madeline Usher, and the butler, Bristol played by Harry Ellerbe.

“Libby the Lobivia Jajoiana” by Regan W. H. Macaulay & Kevin Risk

To be published in Autumn 2020 by Mirror World Publishing. Illustrations by Gordon Bagshaw.
Libby is a cactus plant with self-esteem issues. After Violet moves in next to her on the windowsill, Libby learns that perceived flaws, which make her feel different, also makes her special.

I'm late to the party on this one, but frankly, I have to catch up with the new releases and cover reveals for all of my publishers...so, at last, here is the cover for the new Nikki Landry Swamp Legends novel for middle-grade readers -- The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge, by Rita Monette, published by Mirror World Publishing:

From the Mirror World Publishing blog:

“I never believed in ghosts… then I met Oggie.”
Nikki Landry and her friends discover strange white smudges in photos Patti’s grandmother had snapped at an old gravesite. No one can explain what they are.
Did Nikki’s little brother mark them up with a piece of chalk? Did a low-lying fog move in just as she snapped the photos? Could it be just a smear on the camera lens?
Spikes insists it’s a ghost.
Then Mrs. LeBlanc remembers a legend her grandfather told her of a spirit that haunts the small family cemetery located near an old Civil War battle site. 
Will Nikki and her legend busting gang discover it’s just an old tale, or does the ghost really exist? If so, why is he there? What does he want?
Join Nikki and her friends as they go searching for the answers…and the truth behind the Haunting near Battlefield Ridge.

READ MORE ON MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING'S BLOG

Hello, John and welcome to my blog! Please introduce yourself.

Hello, everyone! My name is John Migliore and I'm an actor and a director. My production company is called Survival Zombie Films. I got my start as a zombie in a number of horror movies like Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Land of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead. Eventually, I moved into acting in independent films. You'll see me in a wide range of movies including Raiders of the Lost Shark, Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1, Murder in High Heels, Bloody Ballet, and Jesse James: Lawman to name a few. I've written and directed Poltergeist Encounters, Exorcism of the Dead, and Creature from Cannibal Creek. I'm currently promoting the release of my sixth feature, Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet...

Now, please tell me what you can about Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet!

Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet is an amalgamation of two films I made back in the nineties. The quality of the first was too rough to release on its own, and the second was a little short to be considered a feature film. I also shot new footage on VHS that ties the two stories together. It's really retro, and cheesy as can be! I would call the movie cheap, goofy, and a whole lot of fun.

The story focuses on a former children's television host who turns into a serial killer. He's manipulated by his own celebrity puppet, who may or may not be possessed. Eventually, Dave commits suicide, but that isn't the end of the story. He's soon resurrected by a mad scientist known as Dr. Scissors, who's looking for help with his evil experiments.

Where can people see Curse of the Voodoo Sock Puppet in future (and right now!)?

The movie is available now through Vimeo On Demand. I plan to also have a DVD release down the road. It would also be fun to release the movie on VHS! Still looking into that one...

I've made a number of my school visit activities available for download (FOR FREE) on this website! Check out my new Free Activities Page, or the bottom of each of my picture book pages (each title is under Children's Literature in the menu) for colouring and drawing pages, plus word searches based on each of my picture books!

Have fun, make the most of this extra time together...and most of all, stay safe.

Frogs, 1972, USA

“A shocker reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds” (Variety raved back in the day), this amphibious horror flick teeming with thousands of nasty-tempered creatures that are hopping mad — and murderous. Jumping with action, suspense, revenge and Southern Gothic charm, Frogs’ stars Ray Milland, Sam Elliot and Joan Van Ark are constantly a lily pad away from croaking!

So begins the back of my DVD description of Frogs, continuing with: Jason Crockett (Milland) is an aging, physically disabled millionaire who invites his family to  his island estate for his birthday party. The old man is more than crotchety…he’s crazy! Hating nature, Crockett poisons anything that crawls on his property. But on the night of his shindig, it’s nature’s payback time, as thousands of frogs whip up every bug and slimy thing into a toxic frenzy until the entire environment goes environ-mental.

See what they did, there?

Also on the DVD back cover, some fun facts, which are worth noting:

- Many of the 500 Florida frogs and 100 giant South American toads (read Cane/Marine toads)purchased for use in the film escaped during production. Okay, so this movie crew may be partly responsible for spreading a plague of Marine toads, an invasive species, into the FLA area. Cool.

- In Andy Warhol’s Interview, writer/satirist Fran Lebowitz called Frogs “the best bad movie I have ever seen in my life.” Totally valid. This is a truly fun B-movie. Leaps from the frogs and toads, and in its logic, but it’s still highly watchable.

- The Florida Holiday Inn, used by the production crew, would not allow the deadly snakes, poisonous spiders and black scorpions into the hotel. Go figure. I wonder if they allowed non-venomous pets?

This is eco-horror shlock at its finest.  And this is a pretty amazing cast :  Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke and the ever irascible Ray Milland — he is at his grouchiest here (personally I find him grouchy in every one of his roles).  If you love toads as much as I do (the bulk of the amphibians "swamping" the people of this little island are actually toads — Cane toads, maybe some Rococo and perhaps some smaller species, too), you will love watching them cover the isle in a plague of themselves!  Loads of other reptiles to ogle, too, as they get their sweet, sweet revenge on humanity.  

Hallo to all of you who visit this site!

I think that most of you are likely very supportive of independent authors, artists, publishers and entrepreneurs and small businesses in general. Besides buying any of my books and/or Space Zombies DVD, there is another way you can support me as a writer and blogger on this website...

If you click on any of the Amazon links, or buttons, on this site, in any of my blogs, and you end up purchasing an item on Amazon after clicking on one of my links--ANY item at all, not necessarily the one at the link--I get a referral fee. This is part of the Amazon Associate program of which I'm a part, which creates another revenue stream for me (it isn't just Amazon adding creepy ads to my site).

So, if you feel like shopping on Amazon.ca at any time, for anything, consider using my gateway links. It helps defray the costs involved in keeping up with this website and the blogging/author life and so forth. And it's super appreciated by this independent author!

Thank you! An example of one of these gateway links is directly below, for the sake of clarity (and you can totally use it, too!)...

Three young seminary students, whose behaviour could be compared to a mild version of the Three Stooges, lose their way in the woods on the way home from vacation. They spot a farmhouse as night falls, and the old woman there agrees to let them spend the night, but they must sleep in different areas. Khoma, whose monk-like haircut harkens to Moe of the Stooges, sleeps in the barn and is isolated by the old woman, who attempts to seduce him, but succeeds in riding him like a horse…or maybe I should say a Pegasus, as they are shortly airborne. Khoma realizes she’s a witch, demands they return to land where he promptly beats her so hard she turns into a beautiful, but now dying, young girl! 

When he returns to the seminary, he is ordered by the Rector to go to a rich merchant’s home, whose daughter is on her deathbed. She has specifically requested for Khoma (by name) to come to her bedside and pray for her. Upon arriving, Khoma discovers this is the same farm where he met the witch, and the merchant’s daughter has passed away, moments before his arrival. Her father promises Khoma 1000 gold pieces if he stands vigil with his daughter’s corpse in the chapel and prays for her soul every night for three nights. This is where things go all Evil Dead.

Viy was directed by Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov based on the screenplay co-written by Aleksandr Ptushko, which was further based on the story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. Leonid Kuravlev and Natalya Varley star.

This was apparently the first horror film released in the USSR (which meant some of the scenes where Viy appears had to be toned down due to restrictions on Soviet film production). A modern version was released in 2012 starring Jason Flemyng, and a Serbian version of the film screened at the Fantasia Festival in 2010. (moviesandmania.com)

It’s worth wading through the very slow and silly (read, drunken and even immature characterizations) first half to get to the three nights where Khoma stands vigil—particularly the second and third nights, where the inventive camera movements (so much spinning) and visuals including demons and hands creep out from the walls. Then, of course, there’s Viy at the very end—and whether you love practical effect/prop demons and monsters for their horrific visages or their pure camp, you’ve gotta love Viy…and also his many demon minions that come piling in before the witch finally summons him. Any monster that needs help opening his eyelids is unique and noteworthy in my opinion. Love it!

Viy and his cohort, as well as the wild camera movements and the creepy chapel set where my very favourite aspects of this film. However, like many a horror movie, it lacked a real (or good) ending. Fans of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series ought to appreciate this one...find a copy on Amazon below: