In a radical move for director Tim Burton, the score for his latest film was written by the collaborative team of Mike Higham and Matthew Margeson, both skilled in composing, orchestrating, and arranging for a diversity of projects (including several Hans Zimmer productions). 

I’ve divided the podcast on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children into separate halves, starting with Matthew Margeson in Part 1, and Mike Higham in Part 2. Additionally, coming soon is a separate and more detailed Q&A with Higham on his other specialized skill, an ace music editor.

Visit KQEK.com for more info and a review of La-La Land Records’ Miss Peregrine soundtrack CD.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and read the Editor's Blog by Mark R. Hasan for additional info and related links.

In my latest conversation with Iranian-American composer Nima Fakhrara, we touch upon some of the organic experimentation that gives his recent horror score The Girl in the Photographs its eerie tenor, and the fusion of Persian and vintage electronic sounds for 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (of which both soundtrack albums are available digitally and on CD from Lakeshore Records).

This interview is also available as a visual podcast. Visit KQEK.com for more info and related CD reviews.

Additional info on the making of the visual podcast is available at my filmmaking site, Big Head Amusements.

My interview with Fakhrara on the sci-fi puzzle film The Signal (2014) is also available on iTunes, Libsyn, and YouTube.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and read the Editor's Blog by Mark R. Hasan for additional info and related links.

This partial Editor's Blog features edited excerpts from the pre-screening intros of Julian Roffman's The Mask (1961), Canada's first feature-length 3D and horror film, screened in 2012 and 2015 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

The 2012 extract focuses on the fragile state of a rare 35mm  print and the 3D process, while the 2015 extract covers both the book launch of The Canadian Horror Film: Terror of the Soul, with editors Gina Freitag and Andre Loiselle providing contextual background info on Canadian film history and The Mask's uniqueness.

Read the full Editor's Blog at KQEK.com.

Read a detailed review of KINO's 3D Blu-ray and DVD editions of The Mask.

Additional info on The Canadian Horror Film is also available.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and read the Editor's Blog by Mark R. Hasan for additional info and related links.

Also available: HD extracts from visual podast version at Big Head Amusements.com.

Author & journalist Tom Roston (PBS's POV) discusses I Lost It at the Video Store: A Filmmaker’s Oral History of a Vanished Era (The Critical Press), his brisk and engaging chronicle of the disappearing bricks & mortar video rental shop that used to be the main home movie resource for film fans and emerging filmmakers.

A review of Tom Roston's I Lost It at the Video Store is available at KQEK.com.

Coming soon: a follow-up podcast featuring edited excerpts from the lengthy discussion & audience Q&A with author Roston and NOW Magazine's Senior Film Writer Norman Wilner, recorded live at Bay Street Video on Monday May 2, 2016.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and read the Editor's Blog by Mark R. Hasan for additional info and related links.

As part of Reel Canada's National Canadian

Topics include Scanners’ 35 years of cult

Following this slightly edited version of the half-hour Q&A

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews,

Also available: HD extracts from visual podast version at

I'm back with the first of several podcasts, after taking an extended break to finish up a new experimental doc, BSV 1172.

2016 starts with an interview with the esteemed Brian Reitzell on scoring NBC’s Hannibal, of which music from Season 3 was recently released digitally and on CD from Lakeshore Records and on LP via Invada Records.

Reitzell also discusses musique concrete, working with David Slade, Tangerine Dream, and using vintage analogue synthesizers.

This interview is also available as a visual podcast. Visit KQEK.com for more info.

Additional info on the making of the visual podcast (which involved a vintage video synthesizer) is available at my filmmaking site, Big Head Amusements.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and read the Editor's Blog by Mark R. Hasan for additional info and related links.

Back in 1973, veteran TV and feature film director Ted Post helmed The Baby, a film written by playwright and occasional film & TV writer Abe Polsky.

The Baby tells the story of a social worker assigned to check in on a most unusual case: a grown man living in a crib with the emotional and intellectual capacity of an infant.

The eccentric plot, bizarre characters, twist ending, and classic seventies kitsch motivated writer / director Dan Spurgeon to adapt Polsky’s script into a play with a little more camp value and grindhouse qualities.

Spurgeon’s bawdy play, which remains very faithful to the characters and Polsky’s plotting, debuted in Los Angeles in 2013 with actor Frank Blocker playing the venomous matriarch Mama.

Currently running at Toronto’s Storefront Theatre until November 1st, The Baby retains several members from the original L.A. production, and in this month’s podcast I spoke with writer / director Dan Spurgeon and star Frank Blocker about the impressionable film, the play’s genesis and creation, Blocker’s clever interpretation of Mama, bad seventies music, and slight differences in L.A. and Toronto audiences.

Also available: reviews of the 2015 Toronto production + the Severin Films Blu-ray of the original 1973 feature film.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and read the Editor's Blog by Mark R. Hasan for additional info and related links.

All podcast editing, mixing, and audio restoration produced in-house. For inquiries and demo reels, please visit Mondomark.com.

Interview with Italian film composer Fabio Frizzi, conducted prior to his follow-up concert Frizzi 2 Fulci at London’s famous Barbican in the fall of 2014.

In addition to discussing the thrill of performing his music live in London, Frizzi discusses his early film work – Oscar Brazzi’s “sexy” film Giro girotondo... con il sesso è bello il mondo (1975) and Lucio Fulci’s Il cav. Costante Nicosia demoniaco, ovvero: Dracula in Brianza (1975) – plus working with Fulci on Zombi (1979), The Beyond (1981), and scoring severe eye trauma.

Frizzi also talks about the restoration of his Contraband (1980) score, which makes its premiere release via Beat Records, who’ve also released a 2-CD set of Frizzi’s 2013 London concert.

Please note: this interview was edited just prior to Frizzi's announcenent in mid-July of Frizzi 2 Fulci's North American tour, including a performance at The Opera House in Toronto on Thursday October 8th.

A two-part podcast interview with Frizzi regarding his 2013 concert at London's Union Chapel is also available (Part One + Part Two).

Read the Editor's Blog at KQEK.com for related reviews.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and incisive Editor's Blogs by Mark R. Hasan.

All podcast editing, mixing, and audio restoration produced in-house. For inquiries and demo reels, please visit Mondomark.com.

Interview with film composer Claudio Simonetti regarding the expanded, remastered release of Demons (1985) on LP and CD from Rustblade Records. Topics include crafting the score, the remixes, the great sound engineering typical of Italian soundtracks of the 70s and 80s, vinyl releases, an upcoming recording of Goblin's Profondo Rosso / Deep Red score by his new band Claudio Simonetti's Goblin set for release later this year by Rustblade, and the possibility of releasing Simonetti's music for the 1922 classic silent film Nosferatu.

Also available: a print Q&A with Rustblade's owner Stefano Rossello on the nuances of releasing vinyl albums.

Read the Editor's Blog at KQEK.com for related film reviews.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and incisive Editor's Blogs by Mark R. Hasan.

All podcast editing, mixing, and audio restoration produced in-house. For inquiries and demo reels, please visit Mondomark.com.

Interview with film composer Craig Safan regarding the expanded, remastered releases of The Last Starfighter (1984) on CD from Intrada Records, and Warning Sign (1985) on CD and LP from Invada Records. Topics include electronic / orchestral scoring, 'baking' master tapes, and discussing Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985), Son of the Morning Star (1991), and his upcoming album Rough Magic from Perseverance Records, inspired by ancient cave paintings in Europe.

Read the Editor's Blog at KQEK.com for related film score reviews.

Visit Craig Safan's website at www.craigsafan.com.

If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews, soundtrack reviews, interviews, and incisive Editor's Blogs by Mark R. Hasan.

All podcast editing, mixing, and audio restoration produced in-house. For inquiries and demo reels, please visit Mondomark.com.