Do you have a favorite horror and suspense comic? Is there a series you followed or collected? Or is there an individual issue you recommend? Did you like the monsters turned "heroes" or did you prefer the weird anthologies?
Do you have a favorite horror or suspense movie, franchise, or series? Do you prefer the classic Universal or Hammer films? Or are the modern monsters like Jason, Freddy, and Michael Meyers more your style? Do you like horror films or do you tend to avoid the macabre movies? What are your recommendations?
Who do you think are the best creators for the horror genre in comic books? My favorites are Bernie Wrightson and Mike Ploog...who are your preferred creature creators? Writers? Artists?
Is horror a genre you seek out or seek to avoid? Did you geek out over Halloween? What are your favorite Halloween memories whether scary or benign?
13 comments:
G'Day all!
Horror never was my thing and I'm leery of folks who enjoy it.
Monsters, a la Marvel 1950 - 1970 (e.g., Fin Fang Foom), I did enjoy and would occasionally buy.
I did buy Adventure's Spectre, though primarily b/c it was Aparo's art, there was some (very little) plot to it, and well, I had this nostalgia for Golden Age heroes.
Dracula I did enjoy via the 400-page, very popular book "The Historian," written about 10 years ago. In part, though, it was due to it being set in Hungary and France. However, I would not call that a horror novel by any means.
Anyhow, I have to go get some candy for the kids on Halloween!
Is Halloween that a UK thing too?
Scared-est I've ever been in a movie theater: 1st HALLOWEEN film during its original theatrical run. I know I've shared anecdotes about that experience here somewheres in the past. One of the few times I remember thinking (during the first viewing) that it shouldn't be this possible to be this scared, and still be alive. And it's the ONLY time the second viewing was almost worse because you KNEW what was just about to happen-- and I specifically remember thinking, "I don't know if I can live through this again". BUT--- that experience didn't translate at all from big-screen (old-school, small-town movie theater with an enormous screen, in fact) to the small-screen of a television set. That movie loses easily 80% of its effectiveness in the transition.
Only movie I've ever screamed involuntarily at: The end of the first FRIDAY THE 13TH.
Favorite Horror series: Well, I'd say TWILIGHT ZONE, even though it's a bit broader than that. Definitely BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER in modern decades--- although it's less scarey-boo than it is macabre-adventure, y'know? Childhood? We had the good fortune of being able to periodically keep up with DARK SHADOWS during its brief lifespan. In spite of its hilariously (and obviously) low budget, its often-leaden pace, and the jaw-dropping line-gaffes that were caught in its one-take-on-tape production process-- it still managed to be extremely creepy, and quite often terrifying. (Oh man, when a ravenous Barnabas FINALLY said the heck with it, and feasted upon his perpetually self-serving assistant, Julia--- hoo! Kudos to the actress for committing to her terrified screams in that one take!)
HB
Oh! Of the multitudes of Scary Comics out there, the best by FAR (to me) were Marvel's offerings late in the Silver Age, of course-- TOWER OF SHADOWS; CHAMBER OF DARKNESS; etc-- the ones that featured original stories by A-list artists and writers, as well as some fantastic covers. I think I only have TOWER OF SHADOWS #1 anymore-- but it gets my vote for scariest cover ever (John Romita, I'll bet--). I remember getting up to turn it face-down one night, 'cause the moonlight happened to be falling right on it through my window, and it utterly creeped my out. . .
Many of those stories were re-tellings of Poe tales, campfire stories, common short stories, etc-- but they have stayed in my mind my entire life. Tell-Tale Heart; Masque of the Red Death (Gene Colan?); the old scared-out-of-the-doomed-elevator story (John Buscema?); the touching old-couple-finds-eternal-youth story (John Romita?); that cover story from TOWER OF SHADOWS #1 (Jim Steranko)-- there were so many little masterpieces in that brief foray before it devolved into reprints, lesser-talents, and/or morphed into more super-hero-ish books entirely. . .
HB
To answer one of the last questions first, I tended to avoid horror when I was a kid, so I generally didn't read horror comics or horror books or like horror movies. Although I did get an appreciation for it as I got older, it's still among my least favorite genres. That said, I usually didn't/don't mind when horror elements are used in other types of stories, i.e., in superhero comics, or in fantasy, SF, detective/thriller fiction or Westerns or whatnot.
And horror isn't one of my favorite genres in movies or TV, either, but there are a number of things I've liked. First, I agree with HB about the Twilight Zone - a lot of individual episodes certainly fall into the horror category, and they're quite good (one of the creepiest ones is that episode in which a guy is duped into freeing Satan from imprisonment in a monastery somewhere in central Europe). A lot of the Outer Limits falls into the SF/horror category as well and I really love that show, too.
As for movies, I think my favorites are those that have a humorous element, even if it's really black, like An American Werewolf in London, or Evil Dead II, and really anything featuring Bruce Campbell - I forgot who it was at the BAB who alerted me to the excellent Bubba Ho-Tep, but that's another excellent horror/comedy in which he's simply brilliant. And even though it's not a horror movie, I think one of my favorite vampire movies is Love at First Bite, with George Hamilton.
As for comics, I got to the horror stuff later in life, and I think I'd count the Fleischer and Aparo's Spectre, Swamp Thing (by Wein and Wrightson and later by Alan Moore) and Man Thing (Steve Gerber's run, naturally) among my favorites.
As with movies though, I tend to like it when horror tropes are used to tell whimsical stories, so for example I really like Vampire Loves, the Little Vampire books and the Professor's Daughter (a mummy tale) by French artist Joann Sfar.
In my younger days horror was pretty low on my list. In later years, though, I've come to appreciate it.
In comics, I'm with HB- enjoy those anthology books like Tower of Shadows. Also really like late Silver to Bronze Age House of Mystery and House of Secrets from DC. Again, lots of great artwork therein. And of course Gerber's Man-thing was a must read, even as a kid.
TV- seconding the love for Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. Not specifically horror, but I also loved Kolchak: the Night Stalker, and much later Twin Peaks.
Film- have a fondness for the old Universal classics. That said, there are also modern treatments I like- especially the "Mummy" series with Brendan Frasier.
Oh, forgot to mention:
Simpson's "Tree House of Horror"!
The annual tv episodes are always great, among the year's highlights. Still waiting for a DVD collection of all of them.
And the comic version, also published annually, is also excellent. Macabrey humorous (or should that be humorously macabre?). A shame that Bongo Comics is closing down...
Hope Karen weighs in on this one!
Hi Charlie, yes Hallowe’en is big in the UK, we also have Bonfire Night on the Nov 5th, so the party keeps rolling (Bonfire Night commemorates Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up Parliament, more successfully commemorated in V for Vendetta).
Hi Human belly, you’re absolutely right about seeing scary movies in the cinema. Paradoxically, sci fi, fantasy & superhero movies have the biggest budgets, horror movies are generally cheap, so theoretically you get the least value for money, but in reality, you get the best value due to the shared audience experience.
Thus, my best scary moment in a cinema was Dead Again – when he called her Margaret, the entire audience jumped further than Emma Thompson did. Later watched that with a girlfriend and knew she was going to jump. Fun to wait for.
I hate the snobbery that says Japanese horror films are cool and the American remakes are invariably inferior copies. It’s sometimes true, but Gore Verbinski’s ‘the Ring’ is massively superior to Ringu, IMO.
I like horror movies that are all atmosphere like It Follows, The Babadook, Let the Right One In or Get Out, but a bit of well-placed, brutally horrible gore never decreased the tension.
I thought the original Saw was absolutely fiendish in both senses of the word.
Can I also put in a vote for more modern TV horror? American Horror Story, Penny Dreadful, iZombie, Z Nation, The Walking Dead, Santa Clarita Diet, Stranger Things….what a time to be alive! Or not.
Richard
Here's something that you all might be able to help. This particular story has been a bit of a quest for me for find. It was in my dentist's office in the early 70s and it scared the bejeezus out of me, and has stuck with me ever since...
It was a b&w (I think?) short horror comic story, from either Marvel or DC, about a woman who gets turned into a vampire. She has the cape and all, she goes hunting for prey with her master, but she (or both of them?) ends up crashing into police floodlights at the end.
I've looked and looked for it to no avail.
Anyone out there have any remembrance of this story?
Yoyo
Y'know what, Yoyo-- I don't remember the story, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually from an issue of EERIE or CREEPY, given the time period. Probably not VAMPIRELLA, tho, given that it was in your dentist's office. (Don't think those covers'd pass casual Mom-glance muster, y'know?
HB
I've never been a big horror fan; I keep meaning to read Tomb of Dracula (and Moore's Swamp Thing) but just haven't gotten around to it. Horror movies never did much for me either ... I mainly just find them boring.
HB mentioned Buffy, which I do like. I've been watching a syndicated run lately and I just finished watching an episode (Hush) that could fit under the horror banner quite well; freaky monsters stealing people's voices (so they can't scream) and cutting their hearts out.
And then there's Cassandra Peterson (aka El Vira), but the only thing really scary about her is how great she looks ;)
Yoyo, the story as described doesn't ring any bells, especially - as noted - I wasn't a big horror reader back in the days when the b&w mags were being published. However, another possibility, besides Eerie or Creepy as HB suggested, might be Vampire Tales, which was a b&w mag published by Marvel. Since there was only about a dozen issues of that, it might be easier to find lists and/or summaries of the stories at an index site like the Grand Comic Book Database.
I'm a bit shocked we're this close to Halloween, discussing Horror/SciFi/Terror and no one's mentioned "getting excited to get their hands on a Man-Thing"... comic.
Anyhoo, that's not why I called:
The only horror comic that made any impact on young Prowler was Werewolf By Night!!! Issues 32 & 33 to be exact. The two part battle with Moon Knight. Loved it. Have not had the chance to scan and & edit those issues yet but when I do, immediately sharing those!!!
Also, perhaps the two scariest issues of Marvel comics are Avengers 263 and Fantastic Four 286. The two part prologue for X-Factor or as it's otherwise known, The Return Of Jean Grey!!!
Okay, on to media...
Being Human, the UK edition. I cannot recommend this series enough!!! Loved it then, love it now...
There's an old movie that the internet says is called "The Other". One twin carried the dead twin's finger in a tobacco tin. The scene where the finger rolls out stays with me to this day!!!
That other movie that I think we've all seen where the lady brings home the doll and I think she removes it's spear and it comes to life. She tries to put it in the oven and it chases her around with a kitchen knife!!!
Friday the 13th!!! We caught that at the drive inn in our town. There were four of us and we all started out sitting on my sister's hood holding the speaker. One by one, we all filtered into the car. Not only did was all jump at the end but I think my friend tried to crawl in the space under the glove box!!!
Scary!!!
The current season of Riverdale has introduced a danger in the woods that may be of demonic origin. My wife is a big fan and I love my wife... so there's that.
Also, same people who did what they did to Archie and his friends are going to do the same thing to Sabrina The Teenage Witch and her friends. So there's also that...
(n
All the clubs have been closed down
This place, is coming like a ghost town
Bands won't play no more
Too much fighting on the dance floor
Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang, and the music played in the boomtown
This town, is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place, is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town).
Tangential late aside to Richard---
Oh wow, you're referring to The Powder Plot (or The Gunpowder Plot)! By a big coincidence, I'm rehearsing a play (EQUIVOCATION by Bill Cain) right now where the Powder Plot (well, it's consequences) is what drives the action of the story-- in fact, I portray an actor portraying Guy Fawkes in a failed script for about four pages. . .
Plenty of horror available in the common events of society during that time. Geeze, the horrific public executions. . .
HB
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