I am so in love with Henry Selick’s animated 3D masterpiece Coraline that I will see it a hundred times more, and if so allowed, many times thereafter. Such a luscious and ample world it creates. From the very launch of the film, a tiny whiff of shadowy wonder swiftly frees my inner child, taking him by the hand, touching the oh-so-curious nature of his heart, to place him delicately at the foot of magnificent awe and splendor.

Based on Neil Gaiman’s superlative book, Coraline achieves a classic ambience, a look and feel that has and will continue to weave itself into the very fabric of our culture. Fantastic characters, visual parades of pomp and circumstance, Gothic flights of fancy all wrapped within a musical score by the stirred maestro Bruno Coulais, and this Coraline is easily and without question this generation’s Wizard of Oz.

I have heard the whispers of caution to the kiddies. Ignore them all I tell you. For flying monkeys grabbing little girls and puppy dogs in the land of Oz certainly had me running for the covers when I was just a child, and the very reason I went back for more each and every year. Life IS scary after all, and unpredictable, and wondrous too. That’s why Coraline fits the bill so scrumptiously.

I will not waste your precious time on regurgitated storylines or detailed moments that spoil the surprise, but rather encourage you to go out and buy your ticket straight away at once without delay. For when I sat in the theatre full of adults and wee ones chattering and guffawing about nothing much, the moment Coraline parted the curtains, there was a hush that lingered throughout the entire film. Only the collective waves of revelations, yelps, and opulent ovations remained until the final credits rolled. A wondrously fabulous thing indeed!

In e†ernity,

Brazillia R. Kreep

CORALINE’S PLIGHT
So ignored cute Coraline
From her lips began to whine
On this n’ that and other things
O’ How her mind performed handsprings
Into shadows here n’ there
Places where y’go nowhere
Up n’ down n’ all around
In n’ out n’ quite housebound
Coraline would soon begin
A journey everywhere within
Through a tiny modest door
Supernatural decor
T’find such splendid things
Upside down round rumblings
Pings n’ pangs n’ bings n’ bongs
Dings n’ dangs n’ dips n’ dongs
Coraline exhausted all
Soon t’sleep before nightfall
Then t’wake back home n’ then
Open up the door again
Pops n’ pows n’ booms n’ bangs
Fits n’ fizzes n’ Tweets n’ twangs
All of it was grandiose
Words of it were quite verbose
Yet a price She’d have t’pay
As the darkness came t’stay
Deeper darker days appeared
Wild this was so awfully weird
How she wished it in reverse
Creepy creatures t’disburse
But too late our sweetie be
How she’d pay so dearly
Coraline knew but did ignore
Be careful, kids, what you wish for

> Kreep’s Korner

What if Cupid watched the slasher flick My Bloody Valentine 3D?

Cupid is right outside a suburban window. An old angel with dirty wings, he stands there peek-a-booing through the frosty glass of someone’s living room. He takes a withered hand and wipes away the chill, wonders why the roses and the paper hearts aren’t hung around the living room akin to the holly and blinking lights that the Christmas angels all adore. He thinks his lovely celebration is dwindling. Cupid deems our hearts are growing bitter. So our wee-sized cherub with a duffle bag filled with dusty arrows and a bow shakes his head, walks away bewildered.

Cupid passes a movie theatre where the marquee flickers the latest show: My Bloody Valentine, now in dazzling 3D. He buys a voucher as the ticket taker rips it with a smile full of metal. The young boy behind the ropes doesn’t even notice the seraph, not at all. Which is a trick that Cupid mastered long ago. If you saw him, he would simply appear as someone you once loved.

Now Cupid hasn’t taken-in a picture show for ages. Of course he knows that this is a really creepy one, but he’s watched a few before. He remembers Alfred Hitchcock’sPsycho and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and figures incorrectly that the valentine in the title suggested something easygoing; at least it was “theme appropriate” to his cause.

It wasn’t long before the first 3D gore hit the big screen with a splatter. He ducked, stopped eating his popcorn too. More than anything, Cupid loved to munch on buttered popcorn. After today, he would never eat another kernel. He spit the rest back into the greasy cardboard bowl and slid it under his seat. He was glad no one noticed that he did that. They were all too busy screaming.

All around him couples were clinging to one another, shrieking n’ shivering from the horrors director Patrick Lussier (Scream I, II & III) persistently threw in all their faces. And they loved it. Every last adolescent one of them was in cheesy splatter heaven. Holding onto one another as if they were dropping off the face of a way too complicated world, My Bloody Valentine – 3D delivered such gratuitous ultra-violence to make their little hearts explode.

Later, Cupid finds himself peeking through the same suburban window. Two teenagers are sitting uncomfortably on the sofa. He knows that they are the next to fall in love. Without a thought, he summons a most severe malevolent demon from beneath the floorboards that’s more than willing to oblige. The creature pushes his face right into the couple’s. It scares the b’jesus outta ‘em as they scream like little girls. The demon disappears as quickly as he manifested. There was silence for a while. A little bit of steam from where the creature vanished hovered in the air. Then, as Cupid had predicted, they fell lovingly into one another’s arms.

In E†ernity,

Brazillia R. Kreep

CUPID’S FLIGHT

Uncertainty made him shudder
That old Cupid was quiet baffled
Tucked away his bow and arrow
In a faded ancient duffle bag
Shook his head in wonder
‘Cause he simply didn’t know
Why the arrow was deflected
Left stuck in barren soil
For he knew what he was aiming at
Seldom ever misses
While a tear falls down his cheek as he recalls
Buttons-up his color
Heading toward a highway
Of another lonely friendless concrete town
Looking in the mirror
Reflecting neon from his motel
Cupid does not need to shave his face at all
Although he’s older than the sunrise
Given wings by God almighty
For two lovers born in a garden long ago
But he doubts himself, you see
For the world truly keeps evolving
It seems love is playing awful hide n’ seek
So before he leaves forever
He visits one last time
Looks at them to touch their hearts to show
If it is him or something other
Hidden beneath the silence
Which is the sorrow come between them he can tell
Cupid searches for the answers
But swears it is so confusing
As he notices for the first time that his tiny hands are swollen
Much older than before
As the solace finds him
Holds him for several seconds
He decides to leave his duffle bag behind
Standing on the shoulder of an interstate leading nowhere
Cupid bids the world a sad farewell
Vanishing into thunder
Like when he first arrived there
While suddenly God’s tears begin to pour
Headlights cut the shimmer
As a couple stop their car
Pick up this drenched angelic wonder just to see
Written on the side
In crying magic marker
Love just wasn’t welcome anymore

> 100 Percent of Nothing Blog

source: R. Productions

Gothic poet and illustrator The Kreep (a.k.a R. O’Donnell) has received an entirely handmade box of treasures collected specifically for him by the CORALINE team at Laika films. Inside the box, numbered 46/50, are highly decorated secret compartments that contain relics from the film including a bat/dog model, a bat body mold, authentic skeleton key with secret password, and a wing skeleton prototype #3. An old envelop with a wax seal with inlaid black button (as used for the eyes of the witch) and a hand-typed note explained the curious gift:

DEAR R.,

INSIDE THIS OLD BOX IS A ONE-OF-A-KIND COLLECTION WE’VE AMASSED AND CATALOGUED WITH YOU AND YOU ALONE IN MIND…THE PLAIN TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS, WE ARE PRETTY OBSESSED WITH DARK STORIES. LIKE YOU. WE ADMIRE YOUR DEDICATION TO THE KREEP. PLEASE KEEP UP THE SUPER WORK. WE’LL BE READING.

SINCERELY,

THE CORALINE TEAM

For the last three years, 351 of the world’s oddest and most talented animators, artisans, and puppet fabricators have been hand-making CORALINE. Led by Henry Selick, the director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, this team has created the first stop-motion feature shot entirely in 3D. Based on the beloved best-selling children’s classic by Neil Gaiman, CORALINE is a fairy-tale nightmare steeped in classic storytelling, craftsmanship, and the old-fashioned art of moviemaking magic. CORALINE hits theatres February 2009.

Still NO. 93. BAT/DOGS

Wing Relic † Skeleton Prototype (3)

Bat Body Mold (Unfiled)

Skeleton key with password: armpithair

NO. 46/50

Letter with Wax Button seal

The Kreep is produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Networx on 100% of Nothing, an art and culture ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes.

> More Kreep

> Official Coraline Website

source: R. Productions

photo:  Eric Hoffhines

The Kreep, a Gothic poet and illustrator who celebrated his one-year publishing anniversary this past Halloween, celebrates Christmas by offering an event Kreep Kalendar with a poem each day until the 25^th.  Collecting all until Christmas on art and cultural Ezine 100% of Nothing, you can assemble the Kreep’s poem entitled “Scrooged Again” in its entirety.

The Kreep is produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Networx as a syndicated feature on 100% of Nothing  linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes.  Coming soon, The Kreep offers a poem on the box office smash Twilight,  the action-packed, modern day love story between a vampire and a human starring Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan.

Day one:

T’hear chains clinking

cash registers count the coin

ghosts whale in dreams 

Kreep Gift idea:

Not sure what to stuff the stocking with, well here’s my pitch to buy forth-with;

Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

On Disney Blu-Ray Collector’s Edition DVD

> More Kreep       

source: R. Productions     

SAW V in theaters now

Gothic poet The Kreep has penned one of his very special poems entitled Jigsaw to honor SAW V the latest offering in the popular SAW horror film franchise, to be posted on popular eZine 100percentofnothing.com on Halloween. 

The Kreep, produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100percentofnothing.com, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes.  Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu. And throughout the month of October, The Kreep is one of the Voices Of Halloween on the 8th annual Neverendingwonder.com Halloween Radio.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast. Last week The Kreep payed tribute to one of the greatest horror films of all time,  William Petter Blatty’s The Exorcist, in stores now on DVD.

Take a slice of Edward Gorey,  a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Gomez Addams, and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s romantically macabre sensibility.

External Kreepy Links

100PERCENTOFNOTHING.COM

KREEPY KRUMBS – VOL. I – BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

I first saw William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, directed by Academy® Award-winner William Friedkin (The French Connection) in a small suburban movie theatre nestled in the heart of Media, Pennsylvania–just West of Philadelphia. Afterwards, I slept with the lights on… for weeks.  Literarily. The idea that the devil could just sweep into my body, and make me spew all over a priest had me absolutely terrified.  I was an altar boy after all.  I even knew where the Holy Water and the wine were stashed for goodness sake.  I also hung around the priests, some old enough to remind me of the exorcist himself.  While others had tales of actual exorcisms they had attended over the years.  It was such a creepy existence after experiencing that horror show.

Produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, The Kreep is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100% OF NOTHING, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes.  Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu. And throughout the month of October, The Kreep is one of the Voices Of Halloween on the 8th annual Neverendingwonder.com Halloween Radio.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast. Last week The Kreep payed tribute to one of the greatest slasher films of all time,  John Carpenter’s Halloween, also on a deluxe DVD in stores now.

Take a slice of Edward Gorey,  a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

External Kreepy Links

Available on iTunes as a free downloadable podcast on 100% OF NOTHING

KREEPY KRUMBS – VOL. I – BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES † 

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

THE KREEP’S LATEST ODE TO CARPENTER’S HALLOWEEN

The Kreep, a gothic poet haunting Ezines, social sites and podcasts all across the internet, is one of the Voices Of Halloween on the 8th annual Neverendingwonder.com Halloween Radio.

In addition to broadcasting the widest variety of Halloween themed music & comedy on three award winning Halloween Radio stations every October, The NeverEndingWonder Halloween Radio Empire includes The Voices of Halloween! This audio series will present Halloween greetings, memories and station IDs from some of the most infamous names to horror fans including The Kreep, penned and voiced by R. O’Donnell. You’ll also hear the renowned Forrest J. Ackerman himself, as well as David Hedison (star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the original version of The Fly), David Chomiak (writer of Fido), Sean Keller (writer of Dario Argento’s upcoming film Gaillo), as well as other horror writers, horror film actors, makeup and effects artists, horror hosts, musicians and more.

The Kreep, produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100percentofnothing.com, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu. A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast.

This week The Kreep pays poetic homage to John Capenter’s classic horror tale Halloween. Take a slice of Edward Gorey, a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

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