From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Abomination (1986)

Posted on June 23, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to yet another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. This one will be a truly blood splattered one as we will be talking about the 1986 Super 8 shoot beastly creature feature The Abomination and the 12-page comic adaptation that came inside the Blu-Ray release of the film done by Visual Vengeance! This is one that I have wanted to cover since it was released in 2023 but waited as it is a perfect fit for our themed year! I am also hoping that this update will not only make fans of the film happy but will also introduce more horror fans to it, as we all know that many of you readers love the horror flicks of the 1980’s and this is one that is often over looked. So if you are ready, let’s dive into the blood splattered world of The Abomination and see what gore awaits us.

Let’s start off by taking a look at The Abomination itself! The Abomination is a parasitic demon that grows in a person’s body as a tumor and once vomited out it grows into a massive creature that wants to destroy all of mankind. As the tumor it smells horrible, pumps like a heart and can slide to move to enter a person’s body once more. Once grown The Abomination is red in color with a big mouth filled with razor sharp pointed teeth…and its appearance is truly horrific and can frighten a person into hysterics or even death. The Abomination will control its host to commit murder as it feeds on human meat, flesh and blood and will drive the person crazy as well as into fits of rage making them act out towards their family and friends. The Abomination also reproduces inside its human host causing it to have offspring that will grow to be just as vile as it, and that will also want to consume human flesh and with this offspring it becomes even more deadly for anyone that is in its path. The Abomination also has its human host that is willing to kill for it as well as feed it whenever it gets hungry, making a poor soul its mind controlled murderous minion. It also has tentacle arms that it can use to pull victims into its mouth making them food to try and stop its hunger. And that is the thing about The Abomination and its offspring, it seems to have no weakness as when it starts growing, reproducing and feeding it looks as if it cannot be stopped! It’s a safe thing to say that The Abomination could be one of the most dangerous and deadliest demonic parasite creatures we have ever covered here on Rotten Ink. That is if you think this creature is real, and not just in the mind of Cody who is being investigated for murder.

Now that we have taken a look at The Abomination and its way of killing and eating humans, I think that we should now take a look at the film he is from and that of course is also called The Abomination and was released in 1986 to the home video market. Like always, I will be getting the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s see what terror awaits us.

The Abomination (1986)

“An old woman coughs up what she believes to be a tumor. While asleep, the thing crawls inside of her son and reproduces inside him, then causes him to go on a killing spree to feed it.”

In the 1980’s the video rental business was booming and many directors were making horror films to get onto the shelves and into the hands of viewers as horror was a big part of the boom and fans were always looking for the next big scare to watch over the weekend with friends and family. Enter Bret McCormick, a young director and producer. He had a vision and a dream, and that was the film Abomination that was released on video in 1986, McCormick was a longtime horror fan who even made his own films as a child using a Super 8 camera. The film was shot in Texas and his father was the one who put up most of the film’s budget, as McCormick was told that distributors wanted gory horror films and he being a fan of that genre he wanted to make it and get the VHS out into the rental stores. Also during this time McCormick had a filmmaking partner in Matt Devlen who was developing a movie called “Ozone: The Attack Of The Redneck Mutants” that also has budget money provided by McCormick’s father. When casting the film actors like Scott Davis, Blue Thompson, Jude Johnson, Rex Morton, Suzy Meyer and Brad McCormick were brought in to be apart of the main cast. The film was shot in a short amount of time and spent lots of time in the editing processes before being finished and then struggling to find a distributor, and later would finally find a small distribution company to release it and it would gain a cult following thanks to being found in rental stores. Over the years, this splatter flick would become a very underground cult film with copies of the VHS selling for hundreds of dollars and being talked about in many cult magazines. The film in 1986 was released with such other horror films as Chopping Mall, Zombie Nightmare, RawHead Rex, Night Of The Creeps, Spookies, Deadtime Stories, Slaughter High, Class Of Nuke’em High, Street Trash, Neon Maniacs, Sorority House Massacre, King Kong Lives, Blood Hook, Demons 2, Psycho III, Friday The 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives, Troll, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, Little Shop Of Horrors, Gothic and From Beyond, to name a few. And for those wondering, Bret McCormick would go on to make other horror films as Highway To Hell, Children Of Dracula, Bio-Tech Warrior and Repligator.

The Abomination is one of those films that I can remember seeing in the pages of the horror magazines and fanzines that my brother would buy and it always being talked about for its gross nature and special effects…but of course with the VHS being rare, it would be a very long time before I got to finally watch it. It would be via the gray market that I would finally get to see this film as my friend and film mentor Andy Copp hand it via his Nightcrew Video label, and it was a very fun watch and helped fuel my fire in making indie films with my friends via Independent B Movie. The film, for its small budget level, had great special gore effects and one great looking creature, and really the gore in this film is that of a Herschell Gordon Lewis film. Plus for this level, the acting is also not that bad and I have to say that actress Blue Thompson should have been in way more horror films through the 80s and early 90s as she truly had a great look to her suited for the genre. And while I enjoyed this film back then and even now, I will say that it is not for everyone as it has a weird pacing, some scenes go on for way to long and at times it kind of makes no sense…so I think that horror fans that don’t like the more backyard and DIY style productions might not enjoy it as much. This is a film that I am shocked never got a sequel after it gained its cult following as it is one that could have easily became a franchise. In fact when watching the film in 2023 working on this update, it came to me that the film would really go well showing alongside films like Basket Case, Street Trash, Slime City, Deadly Spawn, C.H.U.D. and Video Violence at a horror movie marathon. If you have not seen this film, make sure to get yourself a copy of the Visual Vengeance Blu-Ray as they packed it with extras and it’s the best this film has looked in decades. And spoiler, I was not that down with the idea that The Abomination was only in the head of Cody who is the true killer of all the victims as he is just insane.

Well I think now that we have talked about the film The Abomination as well as the parasite meat-eating creature from it, we should now review the mini promo comic that came with this great Blu-Ray release of the film. And I have to say that while I really do dig the idea of mini promo comics inside DVDs and Blu-Ray cases based on the film it is an extra for, but I do wish that this would have been a full sized comic as it would have been great to see Visual Vengeance/Wild Eye Releasing just open up a comic publishing branch as so many of the films they release would make for great adaptation comics. I would like to thank Diabolik DVD for having this Blu-Ray with Promo Comic in stock and making this update possible. And while I did slightly help on the making of this comic as I helped with some of the dialogue, I would like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head out to Texas and see what The Abomination has on the menu to eat.

The Abomination # 1 ***
Released in 2023 Cover Price $0.00 Visual Vengeance # 1 of 1

Cody’s mother is sick with a tumor and she is obsessed with an evangelist named Brother Fogg who is on TV preaching and trying to get his followers to send him money. And as Cody goes on a date with his girlfriend Kelly, his mother ends up puking up the tumor that she gives credit to Brother Fogg and his healing words. That night as Cody gets home and falls asleep he thinks he has a nightmare as the tumor crawls into his mouth and makes him wake up scared, shaken and before breakfast, he coughs it out and places the tumor under his bed and heads to eat breakfast. Later that day Cody feels off and drives around only to end up at his friends house where he kills her with a camping knife and then takes her corpse home and as well hides it under his bed, and learns that the tumor is growing into a Abomination (a creature with a big mouth filled with sharp teeth) and ate the flesh and meat of his dead friend. His mother goes to Brother Fogg for help as her son is acting so weird and she thinks he might need an exorcism. He agrees to it, and they make an appointment. But Cody is angered by this and feeds his mother to The Abomination and also gets Brother Fogg at his office and then kills a few more people to feed this carnivorous creature. But Cody meets his maker when his girlfriend Kelly shows up and uses a pitchfork to end his life, but she soon is grabbed by The Abomination and becomes more meat for the beast.

This is a very cool adaptation promo comic for a very underrated 80s fright flick, and while I wish it would have gotten a full size comic and more than 12 pages to tell its story in…it does do a good job of getting the story in the short page count. The plot is about Cody, a man who ends up having a demonic, human eating tumor creature growing and taking over his mind causing him to kill people in order to feed it. Cody starts off as a normal guy who worries about his mom, dislikes the fake religious figure on TV and enjoys spending his time with his girlfriend Kelly, but once The Abomination enters his body, he becomes a killer driven by the beast to kill as it needs to feed on human meat and flesh. Poor Cody also stops caring about his family and friends and even feeds his own mother to The Abomination! Cody’s Mother and his girlfriend Kelly care about him and want to get him help when is attitude changes, but they both end up finding hell in the belly of the beast. Brother Fogg is a TV Preacher who is truly a fraud and only does his healing and preaching for money, and he as well gets what’s coming to him when he becomes eaten by this tumorous creature when he is sitting on the toilet. The Abomination is a disgusting demon tumor creature that loves to control, infest, kill and eat humans and has the large teeth and massive mouth to do so. With this comic only being 12 pages some of the films plot, kills and oddness had to be cut, but the creators behind it do a good job of trying to make it all fit and feel like the film on the pages. The comic is packed with lots of blood as well as gory kills and the horror truly is The Abomination as that thing is creepy and brings the scares to the readers. I really do wish that Visual Vengeance/Wild Eye Releasing would think beyond just making 12 page promo comics for Blu-Ray releases, as it would be great to have many full size adaptations of not only this film but many others of their releases…but sadly I don’t think they will do this and it’s a shame. The cover for this mini comic is really cool and eye catching and of course the interior artwork done by my friend Marc Gras is fantastic stuff. I dig the way he draws The Abomination, and he does do a great job of making the characters look like the actors who played them! To sum it up, this is a very cool comic that is a must have for fans of this 1986 film as who would ever think this comic would have been made! Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Marc in this promo comic.

As you can see, The Abomination really is a very underrated 80’s direct to video film as it is packed with so much bizarre moments, a creepy creature, lots of gore and should have way more fanfare than it gets, and I am glad that it got this promo comic as it allowed me to cover it here on Rotten Ink on a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. And do not worry, I will cover the other promo comics that they released as those films as well deserve to be talked about and given The Rotten Ink treatment. Our next update will keep us in the world of horror comics based on horror films, and we will also be celebrating July 4^th as we take a heroic splattastic journey with The Toxic Avenger and his Marvel Comic adventures. So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update as I think The Toxic Avenger is the perfect American hero to cover for this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update marathon.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Farmer Joe (2003)

Posted on June 13, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another spooky “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update that will this time take us to the world of shot-on-video horror and the haunted barn and cursed land of Farmer Joe, a classic cult short film that is from Ohio that was released in 2003 on VHS and entertained and spooked viewers around the state of Ohio. In the late 90’s, a group of friends created a film production group called Independent B Movie and made horror, action and dark comedy films and did so for many years and released many amazing films like Werewolf Of Ohio, Who Keeps Feeding Grandpa, Teen Suicide, One Second To Late and Farmer Joe, to name a few. And with this update we will be talking about Farmer Joe and the Blood Scream Comic based on it, and like always due to my connection with both Blood Scream Comics and Farmer Joe I will not be giving this comic a star rating, as that would just be silly. So if you are ready, let’s make our way to the cursed land and barn of Farmer Joe and see what horrors await us.

Before we head too far into this update we need to take a look at the evil killing spirit of Farmer Joe, a farmer who was sold bad seeds that ruined his crop and poisoned his land and then who slaughtered his own cattle in a fit of rage before mysteriously dying and placing a curse on the land and those who trespass on it. Farmer Joe was a normal man who was sold bad seeds by a dealer that made his land toxic, and this made him snap and kill all his cattle and placed a curse on his farm, barn and land. Once dead, he became an urban legend in his small town and his evil ghostly spirit now wonders his curse land looking to kill, torture and haunt those living people that wonder on his land and scream his name and promise new seeds for him. Farmer Joe’s massive appearance as well as his booming voice puts fear into the hearts of his victims and cause them to panic and leave themselves open for the kill. He also has control of the weather around his land making night time sunny and even creating storms if he chooses. His main means of dealing death is his hoe that he swings into the skulls of his victims causing them a very quick, bloody and painful death. Being a ghost, Farmer Joe does not have many weaknesses as its only rumored that he will break his curse on you if you make a deal and plant seeds that come from the relatives of the dealer who sold him the toxic ones. The one main weakness for Farmer Joe is that he is stuck roaming his land and cannot leave it making it hard for him to rack up a body count as he has to wait for people that are foolish enough to enter his land. Over all while Farmer Joe might not be the deadliest killer ghost spirit we have covered here on a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update, he still is one mean and evil being that loves to kill.

Now that we have chatted about the sinister Ghost of Farmer Joe, I think it is time we take a look at the shot on video short film he is from! And like always I will be getting the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production and then will also write a little about my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s grab some seeds for Joe the plant and chat about this cult SOV film from Ohio.

Farmer Joe (2003)

“Danny is a young boy who is looking to fit in and the local bullies dare him to go to the haunted farm of Farmer Joe and call on his evil spirit in order to join their gang, but what was suppose to be a prank goes wrong when the spirit of the killer farmer comes back from the grave and is looking for blood and revenge on those who did him wrong and spoke his name. Now Danny’s Dad must find a way to save his son and the bullies from becoming victims to the curse of Farmer Joe.”

Farmer Joe was a short horror film from 2003 that was the brain child of writer Mike Ritchie who wrote a short story about a haunted farm and a murderous farmer after being inspired when reading books like “Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark & “Haunted Ohio” and a short time latter Mike would start developing the story to be made into a film and would do so with Independent B Movie, a small production company based out of Dayton, Ohio under the Dark Soul Productions banner that had released the Werewolf Of Ohio films as well as Wolf Hunter. The film went from being a short story to a script in a very short amount of time and then location scouting started to take place with Beavercreek, Ohio being the main location for the run down barn and haunted field that sat beside a church, and other shots being filmed around the Kettering and Dayton area. When casting the film names like Henrique Couto, Matt Hoffman, Josh Weinberg, Misty Altick and Zac Prater were brought on and John Phaneuf would be hired to play the part of Farmer Joe. The film would take around a month to film as this was the first film Mike ever directed so some issues would come up on set with one actor even leaving the production over Mike’s inexperience. The film would be released on VHS in 2003 and make its debut at the October Cinema Wasteland Convention and would be a good seller for Independent B Movie at the time as Mike Ritchie and Misty Altick were on hand to sign copies. The short film would make it rounds at several conventions over the years both being sold on physical media as well as being shown in screenings. It would later also be released on DVD by both Independent B Movie and later SOV Horror and its mirco-cult statues is still growing to this day. The film would also get a comic book in 2017 and would be hosted by both Baron Von Porkchop and The Creeper on their shows respectively. The short film was meet with mixed reviews from critics and fans with most of the reviews being positive, but the one thing people would say is that they wanted more Farmer Joe and wanted more kills from him. The film in 2003 was released alongside such other films as Bloody Giblets: The Legend Of Lady Vandalay, Mummy Sleepover Massacre, Escape From The Dead, The Bonesetter, Black Sun, Hatchetman, Killer Rats, Beyond Re-Animator and Darkness Falls to name a few.

Farmer Joe is one of those short horror films that I was involved in that was a nightmare while filming and acting in as Mike was very new to film and was making many mistakes and causing delay, but once done became one of my favorites as I have lots of great memories of hanging with the cast and crew who were all my friends with one of them even being my fiancé at the time as she played the first victim in the film. And I can remember the world premiere of the film being done at a big meeting that was being held at a friend’s house and we had many friends over to check it out as later the film was slated to play at some conventions. I have always been a fan of this film from the old Independent B Movie days as while it has lots of flaws, it has a spooky charm that takes me back to the old days of telling ghost stories with friends late nights as well as the stories of ghosts, killers and monsters that were spoken about in the small village I am from. What also works for this film is that actor Matt Hoffman was known for playing two types of rolls in these indie films at the time with one being Matt a bullied kid who was beat up all the time and even when trying to fight back still was on the losing end of life and the other was The Wolf Hunter a macho hero who hunted and killed werewolves…so he had the two extremes a weak hero to a macho hero. But Hoffman’s role in Farmer Joe allowed him to be Bart a snarky leader of a gang who used his standing in the small town to push around those he looked at as weaker than him, and I have to say Hoffman really shines in the role. The other standout would be John Phaneuf who played Farmer Joe as his voice was booming and he looked like a crazy man as we filmed his rage scene. Farmer Joe was slated to get a sequel and had many different scripts and started filming twice, but always seemed to get cancelled by Mike Ritchie who had lots of going on in his personal life at the times. The sequels would have seen names like Plexi Starr and Bob Hinton (A. Ghastlee Ghoul) joining the cast with names like Matt Hoffman, Henrique Couto, Zach Prater and Josh Weinberg returning from the original. While Farmer Joe us a very small micro budgeted film that is mostly known for being a cult short film in Ohio it has made it mark on horror Ohio cinema.

I am sure many of you readers have never heard of Farmer Joe, but I do hope that this update has made you want to see it as if you like micro budget backyard style horror films with some actors that went on to star, direct and produce bigger well known films and shows this is one for you. And now we are at the part of the update that we talk about the comic book and like others that we have covered that were released by Blood Scream Comics we will not be doing any kind of star rating do to my connection to that publisher as well as my connection to the film Farmer Joe, so keep that in mind no stars will be given. I would like to thank Blood Scream Comics as well as the creative team of Juliet Fromholt, Jeff Potter and Jason Gilmore who made this comic and update possible. I would like to also thank Mike Ritchie for being the creator, director, writer and actor in the film Farmer Joe that this comic is based off of. So with that, let’s head into the barn of Farmer Joe and see what terrors he has in store for us.

Farmer Joe # 0
Released in 2017 Cover Price $1.99 Blood Scream # 0 of 0

Danny’s Dad is speaking into an old tape recorder as he is driving to a cursed barn alongside two of his sons bullies about the legend of Farmer Joe that had him being sold bad seeds that ruined his crops and drove him mad as he slaughtered all his livestock, plus even in death as his evil spirit haunts his old land and how he was after his son Danny and his bullies Bart, Gunner and Sam after they taunted the spirit of Joe on his own land. He tells of how the bully Bart has been chosen by Farmer Joe to help spread his curse outside his land and sends him to kidnap Danny and his mother, bringing them to Farmer Joe to lure Danny’s Dad to them. And that is why now Danny’s Dad is with Gunner and Sam heading toward the cursed barn in order to get them back. But as they get there and close to the barn Gunner is killed by a ghost bull that gores him with its massive horns and once inside they find the dead and rotted body of Bart as Farmer Joe had no need for him now! Sam is killed next as Farmer Joe uses his hoe to take off his head, and Danny’s Dad soon is shocked when he finds the bodies of his wife and son as they have as well be murdered! And after falling down in fright and shock he himself is killed and Farmer Joe has now got his revenge on them all and yet his evil spirit wants more bloodshed as he drags the body of Danny’s Dad away.

I first have to say that Farmer Joe makes for a very spooky horror comic book and this 12-page comic is able to bring the reader a quick look at the events from the short film and them bring its own twisted tale of supernatural murder and mayhem. The plot has Farmer Joe luring a father to his cursed barn by taking his wife and son hostage, only for the father to find it was a trap all along and that he and his family have been selected to be slaughtered for daring to cross the path of the evil spirit of Farmer Joe and his cursed land. Our hero of the comic is Danny’s Dad, a father who loves his family and who is willing to once more cross into the unknown in order to save the lives of his family and hopeful end the curse once and for all. But while Danny’s Dad is a hero, he also makes big mistakes as he allow his anger and fear to cause himself to rush in and find himself just another number in the body count of Farmer Joe. Danny himself is defenseless in this one as he finds himself being kidnapped and done away with all caused by a dare he took years back. The Bullies as well this time do not do well as Bart is used and then slaughtered and Sam and Gunner who are forced to return to the barn get their lives snuffed out. The evil spirit of Farmer Joe showcases why he and his cursed land are feared as he seems to truly have control over the land and the weather around it, has a heard of ghost cattle protecting his land and like always has his trusty hoe in order to end lives and send souls to the great beyond. And it’s clear that Farmer Joe is taking great pleasure in this issue of killing people as well as ending his feud with Danny’s family once and for all. The comic is filled with lots of spooky atmosphere as well as has its share of blood, gore and violence with the best kill for me being the death of Gunner as being killed by a ghost bull is pretty cool. The cover is very cool and super eye catching for fans of Indie Horror Comics as it shows a woman on the ground as coming out of the barn doors is Farmer Joe with his hoe in hand, and I have to say I think Jason Gilmore did a great job on the colors and making it pop. The interior artwork was done by Jeff Potter and is really cool as the characters look like the actors who played them and he truly captures the nature of the short film its based on. This issue zero of Farmer Joe is a really fun read and fans of the short horror film will truly enjoy this one as it feels like an urban legend story mixed with a slasher film wrapped together to deliver one heck of a spooky read. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Jeff Potter for this comic.

I truly think that Farmer Joe made for a great comic book series and that creators Juliet and Potter did a great job of bringing horror comic readers a very spooky and bloody good read. And a few things I need to also say is that Farmer Joe was part of a fan vote event that Blood Scream Comics held in 2017 where three issue 0 comics were made by different creators all based around the Horror Movies of Independent B Movie and Farmer Joe was one of them as was the werewolf Scars from Bark At The Moon: Scars and The Sadness Killer from The Sadness who ended up winning the vote. And for those also wondering, the haunted barn location from the film has been torn down many, many years ago, making it impossible to revisit the filming location for those of you interested in doing so. And speaking of old barns I think out time here with Farmer Joe is over and with all that said, it’s time for this update to come to an end and for me to say that our next update of course will be another From Horror Movie To Horror Comic one as we take a look at the 1986 film The Abomination and the promo comic adaptation. So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update for a gross blood splattered good time.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Demons (1985)

Posted on June 3, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. For this one I will be talking about one of my favorite horror films as well as the comic book released by a U.K. record company based around it…and this film is the 1985 creepy classic Demons (or Demoni) and that record company is Rustblade Records. This is one I am very much looking forward to doing as Demons was one of those films I saw as a young teenager, and from the start it became one of my favorite fright films of all time as it’s up there with Tombs Of The Blind Dead, Halloween and Day Of The Dead for me. I see a strange man with a half metal mask handing out free movie tickets at the train station, so let’s grab our tickets and see what Rustblade and Demons has in store for us all, as I am sure it’s going to be a bloody good time.

Let’s start by taking a look at The Demons and their ways of dealing death to their victims as well as spreading their evil worldwide. The Demons are an ancient evil that will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs, and their reign of terror was even predicted by Nostradamus. The 1985 outbreak started inside a movie theater when the Man In Mask gave out free tickets to a screening at the train station to random people. Once inside the theater, the movie is a horror film about Demons and it along with a scratch to one of the guests caused by a Demon mask used as a promotional item starts the outbreak that quickly spreads throughout the theater via a bite or scratch from a Demon. When a person becomes infected, it’s very painful as they transform from being a human into a Demon and that means their teeth fall out, their nails fall off and turn into sharp fangs and long sharp nails. The Demons have a monstrous appearance that includes glowing eyes as well as green foam that pours from their mouths, and the site of them terrifies their victims. They are very violent and fast moving; they will kill their prey in packs and singly and are very dangerous as their main ways of killing is via their sharp teeth or their claws that shred flesh of their prey. They also seem to have the help of supernatural powers as once the outbreak starts the location’s exits disappear trapping the people inside and making it easier for them to be hunted down and slaughtered. The fact that they can infect people makes them much like zombies as their numbers can grow their threat level grows even higher for mankind. While The Demons are very dangerous and deadly, they can be stopped as they can be killed by being shot or slashed by a knife or even sword. The Demons are very deadly and while they can be destroyed they will truly bring Hell to Earth in their quest for chaos and death.

Now that we have talked about the Demons and their ways of killing as well as spreading their own kind, we should now take a look at the 80’s film they are from. And like always, I will be getting the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will be writing about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, lets’ head to the theater and see what film is going to grace the screen on this invite only screening.

Demons (1985)

“A group of random people are invited to a screening of a mysterious movie, only to find themselves trapped in the theater with ravenous demons.”

Lamberto Bava, the son of the great Mario Bava, was also making a name for himself in the world of horror cinema as he had made the films The House Of Exorcism (1975), Shock (1977), Macabre (1980), A Blade In The Dark (1983) and Devil Fish (1984) when he had an idea to make a horror anthology film that would be about demons. He then would change it up to a trilogy of films that would have the same spooky structure of Demons, but they would only loosely tie together. So what was slated to be one of the short segments in the anthology film would be developed into a feature film with the screenplay being written by not only Bava but also Dardano Sacchetti, Franco Ferrini and Dario Argento with Argento also coming on as producer. It is said that during the writing of the film, there was a little tension regarding the changes that Argento and Ferrini wanted to make to the story. The film would be shot in both Germany and Italy for nine weeks and Sergio Stivaletti would handle the film’s effects that would also go on to team with Argento on other projects. When it came to casting they would bring in such actors as Natasha Hovey, Paola Cozzo, Nicoletta Elmi, Bobby Rhodes, Geretta Giancario, Michele Soavi, Lino Salemme, Fabiola Toledo, Fiore Argento to name a few. The film would be released in theaters in Italy on October 4, 1985 and would be a hit at the box office. When the film would be released on home media in America it would gain a cult following. Demons would get a sequel in 1986 and was supposed to get a third film that would have taken place on airplane or a church in later ideas that would be scrapped and production would instead go to working on the film The Church from 1989. There are some unofficial Demons 3 films that are The Ogre (1989) and Black Demons (1991), both films have nothing to do with the series but got the title slapped on it. And as the years pass, it looks like we will never get a official Demons 3 as it’s said that Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini don’t think anyone wants to see one…and I say they are wrong. In 1985 Demons was released alongside such other horror films as Friday The 13^th Part 5: New Beginning, A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Day Of The Dead, Fright Night, Howling II, House, Hard Rock Zombies, Ghoulies, Silver Bullet, The Stuff, The Bride, Blood Cult, Teen Wolf, Igor And The Lunatics, Night Train To Terror, Once Bitten, Cat’s Eye and Lifeforce, to name a few.

Demons is one of my favorite horror films of all time and is one that I watch several times a year since I first saw it as a teenager when my brother and I rented it from a Blockbuster Video during one of our iconic weekend long horror movie marathons. Demons is a film that I think packs in very scary bloody moments as the Demons themselves are brutal in their killing ways and it as well has a great score by Claudio Simonetti and a soundtrack that featured some of my favorite musical acts like Billy Idol and Motely Crue that just helped add to the dark and sinister events that are taking place in that movie theater as well as outside it. The look of the Demons in this film is pure nightmare fuel as the one that always stands out to me is the one that crawls out of the back of the character Kathy after she has been possessed. Something about that weird demon has always made my skill crawl, and that same Demon is on the cover for the VHS release put out by New World Video and was also on my phone case for many years. What works well for this film is that a group of mostly strangers are stuck inside a movie theater and are being chased around and slaughtered by Demons whose numbers keep growing the more they kill. Just imagine yourself in this situation: the fear, the dread and the pure terror that would be running through your body and soul as you try and survive. At my work many people ask me what horror movie should they watch that is not mainstream, and I always suggest Demons, and every time I see them again they tell me how much they loved it! I am very much a fan of Demons 2 as well because it holds the same raw and terrifying mood of the first and instead of a movie theater our characters are trapped inside a high-rise apartment building. Bava and Argento should have teamed up to make a third film in the series as the horror fans would have loved to seen another, as I myself have even thought of several locations that could be the place were the outbreak happens and the characters are trapped in like a soccer stadium, a in door mall or an amusement park. One other thing I have to point out is that actress Fabiola Toledo who plays Carmen is one good-looking lady! Demons really is like a zombie film as it’s about an outbreak of killing monsters attacking people and turning them into one of their own, but what sets The Demons apart from the undead is that they kill in order to end a life and not to feed. If you have never seen Demons and like your horror films filled with lots of blood, creepy villains, awesome music and a fast pace, make sure to give this film a watch.

So now that we have taken a look at Demons, both the film and the killing creatures, I think that it is now time for us to review the comic based on the film and its sequel. When it came to choosing which Demons comic series to do, I ended up picking the Rustblade one over the two issue Arrow mini comic series as this one just seemed like the right choice, and keep in mind at some point I will also more than likely cover the Arrow ones as well on a future update. I would like to thank Rustblade for having this comic in stock on their website and making this update possible, and on a side not the comic also came with the Claudio Simonetti score plus a print of the film’s movie poster. And I would like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. Let’s see if this comic can capture the creepy mood, bloody kills and over all downbeat dread that the film had.

Demons # 1 ***
Released in 2019 Cover Price $8.00 Rustblade # 1 of 1

Ingrid Haller has been plagued of a vision of her parents being killed by Demons and finding herself trapped in a car that is surrounded by them, and she has turned these nightmares into a book about a Kingdom Of Darkness and the demons that roam around it looking for ways to enter our world. After having a Q&A with readers, she heads home by taking the subway were she meets another woman named Ingrid who is selling items at the train station and the woman ends up giving her the silver demon mask for free before disappearing. Once on the train Ingrid finds that she has been followed by Bloom, Eric and Carl who rob her of her purse…but also on the train is George and Hannah with the young lady having a nasty looking wound and is feeling really sick as while Bloom keeps bullying Ingrid, Hannah turns into a Demon and starts to attack! The Punks attack the Demon Hannah but from her body comes a little Demon that kills George just as Ingrid and the Punks get off the train that was being driven by The Man In The Mask as they look for safety but find themselves in the Kingdom Of Darkness surrounded by a wasteland filled with people in cages and demons all around, while there they run into pimp Bob and his two ladies Rosemary and Carmen and he tells them that they all need to work together in order to get out of his Hell and they all agree and Bloom informs Ingrid that she know who she really is and the book she has written and is pissed when she finds the Demon mask hidden in her purse as she thinks this is the cause of all this nightmares going on around them. Things get worse when Bloom who has been cut has her blood drip onto the body of a Demon that wakes it up and it bites Rosemary turning her into a Demon who then attacks Bobby who then gets Carmen and down the line the survivors Carmen, Bloom, Carl and Eric become Demons leaving Ingrid all by herself surrounded by them as the Man In Mask appears and tells her that all hope is lost that is until movie theater Ingrid shows up holding the hand of the child version Ingrid Haller and makes her remember back to being trapped in that car surrounded by Demons after watching her parents and neighbors being killed and with this adult Ingrid Haller grabs the sword that is attached to a statue and starts slaying Demons, but soon she finds that she is in the hospital waking from a coma surrounded by Demons as her death is being shown on the big screen at the Metropol theater.

Well this was a fantastic read that for the most part did justice to the film series its based on as while at times it can get a little confusing in plot details it still did a great job of bringing the frights of the Demons as well as the dark mood set in the films. The plot has Ingrid Haller, a survivor of a Demon outbreak becoming a writer and finding herself in the mix of another that ends up taking her into the Kingdom Of Darkness and having to face the true nature of the attack she went through as a child. What is great is that characters from both Demons and Demons 2 appear in this comic as from the first film we see The Man In The Mask, Carmen, Rosemary, George, Hannah, Ingrid and Bob who is called Tony in the movie and from Demons 2 we have our main star Ingrid Haller who was a kid in the film and is an adult here…sort of as the younger version also appears. And besides the characters landmarks from the film also appear like the train, movie theater, demon mask, statue on motorbike, the apartment parking garage to name a few. Our main character Ingrid Haller was from Demons 2 and was played by Asia Argento, and her she finds herself in a strange reality that has her as a book writer but also being the target of the Man In Mask who is once more trying to usher in another Demon outbreak, and while at first she is scared of the demons and even bullied by some street punks by the end she finds her inner strength and armed with a sword sets to defended herself as well as try and protect the world. She also learns that the life she is living could not be a real one and she as well as all the other victims of the Demons outbreak is stuck in a world of damnation. There are other characters in this issue with the punks lead by Bloom being the only other ones who find them selves being attacked, killed and turned into Demons. The comic has its share of blood, nudity and violence as the Demons bite and claw their victims causing lots of the red stuff to splatter. There are also lots of throwbacks to the film series such as the couple who are choked to death in the theater with the red rope while making out, giving it that nostalgic feel for fans of the films…also giving us an almost hunt on each panel to see clues or parts taken from the films to spot. The cover for this comic is very eye catching as it shows Ingrid Haller holding the silver demons mask with demons all around her and if you are a fan of these films this cover with the films title logo in yellow is truly awesome. The interior artwork is done by the super talented Simona Simone who is truly one of the best artists in the Horror Comic world going as she does a top notch job of making characters look like actors as well as the way she draws the Demons themselves is spooky good. She is also the same artist who did the comic from Mardi Gras Massacre for Severin that you can read about here. This comic is also larger in size and is not your normal American standard as it’s taller and wider, so to bag and board it you will need a larger size than Golden or Magazine. If you like your horror comics based off cult films of the 80s filled with terror and blood, or like your horror mixed with a dream like fever feel than make sure to get this comic and give it a read. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Simone in this comic.

And as you can see, Demons is one of those horror films that could easily be made into a great horror comic or series and I would love to see a publisher like Eibon Press tackle doing so. I also wish that Rustblade Records would make more comics as they could truly be a powerhouse in the world of horror comics based on films, plus I wonder why they never did an issue # 2 for Demons? Well out time at the Metropol is coming to an end but do not fear our time with spooky hhorror comics based on frightful horror films is still going strong, as our next update will be about the 2003 short horror film called Farmer Joe that was released Independent B Movie and got the comic book treatment from Blood Scream Comics. So until next time, make sure to read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. So make sure for the next update you have some seeds ready for Farmer Joe as he is looking for a new crop to grow and a few heads to roll.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Turistas (2006)

Posted on May 22, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. This time around we will be talking about the 2006 film Turistas, a horror thriller that deals with the horrors of human organ trafficking and the scares one could get when in a foreign country where you are the target of a group of people who want to do you harm. And what is very cool about this film is that the fine folks at IDW Comics gave it the comic book treatment, and like always, I wish more movie companies would team with comic book publishers to make this happen more often. So if you are ready, let’s head to Brazil and see what Dr. Zamora and his internal organ harvesters have in store for us as they slice and dice not only on film but also on the pages of a comic book! And before we move on, I want to also say that I truly do enjoy doing these From Horror Movie To Horror Comic updates as they are a great way to talk about two things I love: horror movies and horror comics. Plus I have always been a fan of comics that are based off films and will always try an cover as many as I can here on my blog.

Let’s start by taking a look at Dr. Zamora, the ruthless killer of the film Turistas, and his ways of dealing death to those who cross his path and don’t follow his orders. Dr. Zamora is a normal man who lives in a small village in Brazil and who takes care of the kids in the village with shots and healthcare, but is using stolen drugs from his victims to do so. Dr. Zamora has an army of armed men that do as he orders as many of them he pays well in drugs and cash making them very loyal to him and not minding taking the lives of others or bringing him tourists to do what he wants with. You see, Zamora is a doctor who steals the organs of tourists after he has his followers drug and take them back to his lab in the middle of the jungle so that he can harvest their livers and kidneys to give to the local hospital to save his people’s lives. He is skilled at cutting up bodies and taking the body parts he needs, but he is also very cruel in nature as he gets pleasure in killing the tourists as he truly hates them and everything they stand for. He is also very cruel to his own followers as he has no issues killing them if he feels they let him down, and uses their death to make sure others fear him. One of his major tools is fear as those who know him, serve him and are targets of his all fear him and his cruel ways. Dr. Zamora will end a person’s life not only with a scalpel but also will use guns in order to make his victims meet a bloody and painful end. He also will use sharp objects like a stick to jab into a person’s eye and into their brain showing how little he cares for life that he feels is below him. But while Dr. Zamora is very mean and evil he is just a man and can be killed like any normal person from beating, stabbing, drowning, burnt, shot and everything else that a person could die from. While he is not the most unstoppable nor brutal killer we have looked at, he is one of the top when it comes to medically killing you to steal your internal organs.

So now that we have taken a look at Dr. Zamora and his was of not only killing you but also stealing your kidneys, I think that it is time we take a look at the film he is from and that is Turistas from 2006. And like before I will be getting the film’s write up from our pals at IMDB and then will write a little about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s dive into the water and swim around the waterfalls and hidden caves as we try and keep our guts in our own bodies were they belong.

Turistas (2006)

“A group of young backpackers’ vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned in a remote Brazilian rural area that holds an ominous secret.”

Turistas was written by Michael Arien Ross and was his first screenplay, but he was not stranger to horror films as he was the editor on such films as Wrong Turn (2003) and 2001 Maniacs (2005). Director John Stockwell was no stranger to shooting films that are set on islands, tropical and beaches and had done such films as Blue Crush (2002) and Into The Blue (2005) and took the directing duty after it reminded him of being robbed by a gang of glue huffing teenagers in Peru and how the police did nothing about it, well they did offer him a chance to kill the kids for $300.00! The film would be distributed by 20^th Century Fox and would get a budget of around $10 million. It would be filmed in Brazil to capture the beauty of that country, and when casting they would hire such names as Olivia Wilde, Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Beau Garrett, Desmond Askew and Miguel Lunardi would be hired to play Dr. Zamora the films main villain. The film was shot very barebones with not a lot of crew and the insects were very bad during filming. The underwater stunts in the caves were the actors, and many times during the shoot Olivia Wilde would have some scary issues in the water. Once the film was done Paul Haslinger would score it and 20^th Century Fox would release it under their Fox Atomic label to theaters on December 1, 2006 and it would do ok for them bringing in $14.7 million. The film would be called Paradise Lost in the U.K and Ireland, and this was the first film to be released under the Fox Atomic label. The film would only last around 8 weeks at the first run theaters and was met with mostly negative reviews from critics, with Fangoria Magazine at least being a fan of it. The film was also meet with protests due to the negative image it shows of Brazil, and this hurt the film’s run in South America as it was blamed for trying to scare tourist away from visiting. The film would be released on home media in 2007 and found a bigger audience when the DVD would feature both the theatrical and unrated editions of the film for viewers to see as well as tons of extras including deleted scenes and director commentary. The film in 2006 was released with such other films as An America Haunting, Creepshow 3, Evil Bong, Final Destination 3, The Grudge 2, Hatchet, The Hills Have Eyes, Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes, Saw III, See No Evil, Silent Hill, Slither, Snakes Of A Plane and Underworld: Evolution to name a few.

Turistas is a film that I can remember when it was released to theaters as well as Home Media, but it took me all the way until 2023 to watch it even though I had both the film and comic for a long while…and I am not sure why it took me that long in order to watch it as it has a interesting plot and truly I am shocked I didn’t see in theaters to be honest. When Turistas was released, it was during the start of what critics called “torture porn horror” that was started by Saw in 2004 as well as Hostel in 2005, and while this was very bloody, when it comes to the scenes of stealing the organs, it in my opinion is not in the same league as those films in the bloody violent department and is more of a solid horror thriller that has some gruesome moments. What makes this film standout is that they really did film in Brazil, and this made the scenery very beautiful and 100% the film’s standout actor was Olivia Wilde who played Bea, one of the poor vacationers that is kidnapped and captured for organ harvesting. And as you know, Olivia has gone on to be in many horror and sci-fi films over the years including Alpha Dog (2006), Tron:Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Lazarus Effect (2015), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and was not only one of the lead actresses but also the director of “Don’t Worry Darling (2022)! Another standout in this film was Miguel Lunardi, who played the lead killer Dr. Zamora, and he is fantastic as he looks crazy and also careless when he takes live, a very solid performance. It also very cool that Fox Atomic understood that making comic books to help promote their films was a good idea to draw in more fans to the theater and also it brings moviegoers to comic shops to get a copy of the comic they have just seen. The film’s gore effects work really well with some of the surgery shots being real as they filmed a real doctor at work! Turistas is a film that I did enjoy when I finally watched it, but also I feel has been lost in the shuffle over time as this era for horror films was a mixed bag of theater hits, direct to DVD duds and everything in-between. But if you like horror thrillers about tourists in deep trouble, give this one a watch.

Now that we have talked about Turistas as well as its main villain Dr. Zamora we should get to the comic book based on this film that was release by IDW to help promote the film as well as deliver another horror comic into the hands of readers. And first I would like to thank an Amazon Seller for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. And what is cool with this one is just like with the movie, this will be a first time read for me, and much like the movie, I am not sure why it took me so long to give it a read. But if you are ready, I am ready to see what Horrors that Turistas has in store for us.

Turistas # 0 **1/2
Released in 2006 Cover Price $3.99 IDW # 1 of 1

Buck Mercer is a tourist who lands in Cambodia as in America he strikes out with the ladies, and he hopes to find some cheap thrills with the prostitutes in this foreign land. Once there he finds a young woman but as they are walking back to a hotel room, Buck is robbed and breaks down as all of his money is gone that he brought. But the woman tells him that it is ok, she works on credit and the two head back and have sex. Buck gets money wired to him from his bank and he spends a week with the woman who still will not take any money saying she works on credit, all the while the woman is also taking to someone on a cellphone. One night the woman drugs Buck, and he wakes up in a bathtub filled with ice feeling terrible, bloody and his organs have been stolen! We then join Don and Kym Axelrod who are in a more remote part of Cambodia to visit small villages and try and help the people, and they are joined by a guided named Pham who warns the couple not to take any pictures of the kids as they have been having issues with human trafficking. But of course Kym breaks the rules and the villagers turn on her and Don who are told to run by Pham as the men of the village gear up to attack! Don is knocked out and wakes up in the jungle seeing a chopped off human hand holding one of Kyms earrings and he sets out to rescue her. Don fights off and kills some of the villagers only to find that Pham has set them up all along as he is going to sell Kym to the slave market and then plans on eating the heart of Don!

This is a very strange comic tie in to a film as it does not feature Dr. Zamora nor does it even take place in Brazil instead it features two different stories with two different styles of baddies with one being a prostitute who steals organs from visiting tourist and the other is a guide who along with a village human traffics tourist and even eats the organs of others! The first story is about a chubby loser type guy who has no game with women. While on vacation he falls in love with a lady of the night only to wake up in a bathtub of ice with only one kidney. The other story has a couple who travel to a village to help the people who have been dealing with human trafficking only to find themselves the ones who are in need of help from being trafficked. The kidney-stealing prostitute is smooth in her operations as she uses her good looks and her skills in bed to rope in a dope and then once she has gotten a buyer uses drugs to knock them out and then steal and sell their organs on the black market. While Pham and the villagers almost seem to have a fun time messing with the tourist before they sell them or in the male tourists case eat their hearts, to Pham and his people its clear that life is cheap as they seemingly sacrifice their own people in order to toy with Don who is trying to rescue his wife. And while these stories are pretty well done and creepy, I really did wish it would have been about Dr. Zamora and his ways of stealing organs and killing those who got in his way. Out of the two stories as well I would have to say they are both very much even in the entertainment factor as both have their own sinister charm. The comic is does have bloody parts and does have some gory violent moments that should please the horror comic reader who loves the splatter. The cover for this comic is pretty much the theatrical poster making it eye catching for the fans of the film, but not so much for those who are unaware of the film as its just a close up of a woman’s face. The interior artwork was done by Fabian Slongo, and is pretty good stuff as he captures the rawness of the violence and the style of art that IDW had during this time. Over all while this ties into the theme of the film Turistas, it does not fully feel like a movie tie in comic as the main characters and place of this film are not showcased here, but with that said, it still was a entertaining read and fans of this fight flick should still check it out. Speaking of checking out, take a look at the artwork below to see the style of Slongo used in this comic release.

Well it seems like this vacation is over and it looks like the good old organs are still intact, so that means we must have stayed clear of Dr. Zamora! On a side note I wish that both IDW and Fox Atomic would have remained teaming up as there could have been some cool and interesting horror movie comics released! I should also point out that Fox Atomic did break off and have their own very short lived publishing company and even did a graphic novel based on the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (but that’s for a future update).Well before we go our separate ways until the next update, I should let you know that our next one will take us to the world of Italian horror as I will be covering Demons and a comic released by a record label! So until next time, make sure to read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for a spooky, creepy good time!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Posted on May 12, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. For this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update we will be talking about a 2014 film that was spawned from a short film and would become a super popular indie horror film that is talked about to this day and respected by those viewers who like a little art in their spooky films. That film is A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night! This comic is very cool as most comics based on horror films that are about vampires are tied into Dracula and this one is not as it showcases a female vampire simply known as The Girl. This has been a update I have wanted to do for a while now and with this year being all about the From Horror Movie To Horror Comic, the time has come for it to finally get the Rotten Ink treatment. So if you are ready, let’s grab our skateboard and head into Bad City and see what horrors await us.

Let’s first take a look at The Girl and her ways of dealing death to humans that become her targets and victims. The Girl is an attractive Middle Eastern female vampire who has the charm to draw people in with her looks as her beauty gives them a security of no harming falling on them by such a woman. She is very quiet and watches and stalks her prey without them even catching on that their time on Earth is coming to an end by her hands. She is seductive and cold and has eyes that will both make you call in love as well as fill your heart full of fright. The Girl is a music lover, skateboarder as well as likes to dance and this keeps her in touch with her human side and allows her to somewhat bond with humans. She is strong and fast and can uses these skills to rip apart a human to get what she craves and that’s blood. Being a vampire her main way to kill is her razor sharp teeth that she plunges into skin to drink blood and rip apart flesh. She also has a way of attracting the scum of city the ones who wish to do harm to the weaker people of the city. When she speaks her words can be very fearsome and scary and this as well helps her strike total fear into her victims. Being a vampire, she does have weaknesses with he major one being sunlight that will kill her, she also has a weakness as she is looking for love and her own place in this twisted world. The Girl is very dangerous as she is a vampire who kills for blood to feed as well as sport when it comes to ridding her city of scumbags. The Girl is very deadly and can kill a person very fast making her truly a dangerous being.

Now that we have taken a look at The Girl, I think that its time that we take a look at the film she is from, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night that was released in 2014 and was a hit among indie horror fans. Like always, our friends at IMDB will supply the films plot and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts about the film. So with that, let’s head deeper into Bad City and see what this film is all about.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

“In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.”

In 2011, Ana Lily Amirpour made a short film called “A Girl Walks Home Along At Night,” and it was a big success as it was traveling festivals and winning awards. In 2012 a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo was launched as Amirpour had an idea to turn her short film into a feature, and she ended up getting over what she needed to get this film off the ground. The film would bring in such actors as Arash Maradni, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains and Sheila Vand would play the vampire The Girl. The film would be filmed in twenty-four days in California as it was cheaper and had fewer obstacles to over come if it was shot in Iran where the story takes place. Once the film was done, Bei Ru would score it and it would be released by Vice Films and Kino Lorber and would have a limited run in the theater released on November 21, 2014 and would bring in around $491,910.00 in America. The film would be well liked by both critics and fans and would gain even more praise and fans when released on home media. The film would be released alongside such other horror films as Tusk, As Above So Below, IT Follows, The Pyramid, Last Shift, Purge Anarachy, Annabelle, The Quit Ones, The Babaook and many more. Sadly this is one I did not get to see in the theater as I am not sure if any of the local theaters showed it.

The vampire genre in horror cinema has so many interesting films and one of the more artistic and well done in recent years is A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night as it brought the vampire into western cinema with an Iranian legend touch. The thing that made me very interested in this film, besides that fact it was in the horror genre, was The Girl, a vampire who tries to be like Dexter (from the Showtime TV show) and only deal death to those who are bad. Plus it is cool that she is a skateboarder in Iran who skates around at night looking for her next meal. I really enjoyed this film that I would end up having to watch on DVD as it reminded me slightly of one of my favorite Universal Monster films “Dracula’s Daughter” that was released in 1936, and by that I mean the atmosphere and beauty of the female vampire lead. The acting in the film is really good with Sheila Vand who plays The Girl really stealing the film as her performance is what makes it all work so well as I found The Girl to be haunting, scary, sympathetic, sad and stunning and that is perfect as that what a well played vampire should be like. The film does not rely on gore to bring the scares but more the fact that the world at times can be a very sad and depressing place and in the end all we want is to find our own happiness and place. The film also made the right choice of being shot in black and white as it truly adds to the films mood and feeling and brings out the city as well as the citizens that live in it. The film is slow paced and subtitled and that might scare away some viewers as will the fact that its very Indie, but if you like vampire films, I say that you should give this one a watch as you might just find yourself really into it…and I wish I would have gotten to see this one on the big screen.

So now that we have talked about The Girl as well as the film she is from A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, I think that it is time that we take a look at the comic book based on the film that was released by Behemoth Comics! This was original released as a graphic novel, but a few years later was released as two issue and those floppy issues are what we will be reviewing for this update. I would like to thank both Mavericks Cards And Comics and Bell Book And Comic for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s walk together this night and see what The Girl and her vampire bite has in store for us.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night # 1 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Behemoth Comics # 1 of 2

The Girl is soaking in the bathtub thinking about Bad City and how every night is the same for her as she heads into the night looking for a person to drain of their blood, and sadly this city is filled with bad people who she can pray on. The Girl also at night meets street cats as well as skateboards around in the darkness. She finds a young kid up late at night watching TV, but chooses not to take his blood as he is yet to show if he is a good or bad person…but she will wait and see where is life takes him and she will be waiting. A gay man is hanging around a fence putting on lipstick as a man filled with hate attacks him with the idea of doing him physical harm when The Girl arrives and drains him of his blood an stills his ring and ditches the body in a massive pile along with her past victims. We then join The Girl back in the tub as she is thinking about the sins of those lives she has taken as next to the tub is a large basket packed with all the rings of her victims.

I truly feel that this comic does justice to the film it’s based on as the plot of the comic is about The Girl, a female vampire skateboarder who lives in a rundown city in Iran who looks for victims by taking a look at their dark secrets they have, and she chooses those who have or are doing horrible things to become her next meal. The Girl is clearly a vampire who tries to live by her own code as she knows that she must feed on human blood, she tries her best not to hurt those who are innocent and only select those who are evil and just foul people. She is also very torn in nature as you can tell she enjoys aspects of her “life” but also very much loathes other parts of it as she is looking for something or even someone more…she is lonely. The Girl is almost like a protector of the innocent and weak in her own ways as she roams the streets saving people from the evil that mankind does. Her victim in this issue is a very nasty man who is homophobic and is walking the streets at night just looking for trouble, and he finds it when he messes with a gay man and ends up having his life taken by the fangs of The Girl who witnesses the attack. The comics horror comes from the mood and atmosphere of a rundown city that is filled with the down and out as well as criminals, and of course the main comes from the fact a vampire is loose on the streets. The comic does have some blood spilled but is by no means a blood bath, but for those looking for the red stuff via vampire bites will not be disappointed. The cover for this issue is very cool and eye catching and the interior art is really good and done by Michael DeWeese. And I have to say that this first issue is very well done and does justice to the film it’s based on and is making me look forward to reading issue two so let’s get to it.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night # 2 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Behemoth Comics # 2 of 2

The Girl is in the desert buried under the sand she came there to die via the sun, but fear and instinct causes her to always hide right before the sun rays hit her undead skin. At night she rises and looks around at the skulls and bones of her past victims including a couple that were making love and she enters their room and slaughters them. The Girl wonders what her “life” is really about and even takes the life of a spider just cause she can and needed to feed, but her hunger is strong and she heads toward Bad City in order to find a life to take, and as she makes her way toward the city she remembers all the different countries she has been in and all the blood she has taken. And at the end she hits the city limits of Bad City and her hunt is about to start.

The second issue is just as good as the first issue and this time around The Girl is hiding out in the hot desert being upset over her own thoughts as she is conflicted about being a vampire as she both enjoys and hates the fact that she must kill a person for their blood in order to survive. And at times it seems like The Girl is looking for love and when seeing humans in love makes her more angry and makes their deaths more gruesome and painful. We also see that she will kill insects as in the first issue she shows that she cares about felines as she pets the animal instead of taking its life and here she chomps down on a big spider. This issue almost feels like the start of the story as well as it kind of has that vibe that this was her first time entering Bad City that she would end up making her “home” and hunting ground for some time. With this second issue it also is a very fast read with most of it being visual and very little dialogue, but this works so well for this issue as I feel this one is about finding oneself and coming to terms on who you are and what you have done. This issue as well has more blood and gore with the couples death aftermath being pretty gruesome as The Girl has their insides ripped out and even has removed heads! I really do think that this comic series did the film it is based on justice and I really do with that more Indie Comic Publishers would team up with Indie Horror Filmmakers and make comics like this more often. The Girl is a very interesting vampire and this issue really adds a new level to her as she is very torn about her existence but also loves her powers. The cover for issue two is also very cool and eye catching and has The Girls hand coming out of the sand, and like before the interior art is done by Michael DeWeese and his art style is really great and I love the way he draws The Girl as it looks mostly like the actress who played her. This was a very cool and entertaining series based on a very cool cult Indie Horror film that if you enjoyed you really should track down these comics as I think they will deliver some fright. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by DeWeese as his style is really spooky and truly captures the nature of the film and characters.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is clearly not a film nor comic that is for everyone as they both are a little artsy and having many hidden messages and meanings behind them, but I do think that fans of horror films from companies like A24 and IFC will truly enjoy it. And as you can see, our update and time with the vampire called The Girl has came to an end and with that I think we should take our leave from Bad City, but don’t worry our next update will have us remaining in the world of horror as we will find ourselves this time a tourist in the world of Turistas a 2006 gut stealing Horror Film that got the comic book treatment thanks to IDW. So until next time read a Horror Comic of three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. I wander what a kidney goes for now and days?

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Satan Place A Soap Opera From Hell (1988)

Posted on May 2, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink for this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update that will be a fast one as we will be talking about a 1988 shot on video anthology horror comedy film that has been long forgotten by many and only got a VHS release back when it was completed, and that film is called Satan Place: A Soap Opera From Hell! And shockingly enough, this 1988 film would get a comic book in 1992 showing that no matter how small your horror film is in budget and viewers, it still can make for a great horror comic release. This is one that has been on my list to cover for many years now and I feel it is a perfect fit for this two year long look at horror comics based on horror films. So with that, let’s dust off the old VCR and put in the VHS tape as it’s time to take a look at the silly low budget anthology film known as Satan Place.

Let’s take a look at Sally Satan, a lady of the night who is a serial killer! Sally is a very beautiful blonde woman whose looks are stunning and cause men who see her to turn to perverts as well as forget common sense and ignore warning signs all around them. She can use her looks, sexual charm, and she is so hot that it can burn the chest hair off her male dates. She is also very kinky and likes to tie up her dates. She likes to also scare them by claiming she belongs to Satan and speaking in a demonic voice and then use plastic knives to try and scare them to death. Sally is also the bringer of bad luck and misfortune as when she interacts with other people they find themselves in very weird and bad situations that mostly end with them killing or being killed. But while Sally is a killer, she is also very much human and can be killed like any normal person like being shot, stabbed, drowned, crushed or even have a whole blown through her chest by Satan himself for playing games using his name. While not the most dangerous killer we have ever covered here, Sally Satan still has a body count and has help lead to others dying just by people crossing her path.

So now that we have taken a look at Sally Satan and her ways of tormenting and killing, I think that it’s time that we take a look at the film she is from and that is Satan Place: A Soap Opera From Hell that was released in 1988 via VHS. And like we do with all the From Horror Movie To Horror Comic updates, I will be taking the films plot from our pals at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film, so let’s get to Satan Place and see what spooky laughs are to be had.

Satan Place: A Soap Opera from Hell (1988)

“A horror anthology, in which the beautiful bleach-blonde Stephanie Spencer fields a series of crude remarks from belching, T-shirt-wearing, pickup-driving character actors, then watches them die in grisly blood-spurting closeups after being visited by zombies, so that in the big final story of the video, she can dress up in black lingerie, tie her weenie boyfriend to the bed, and summon a demon into her body.”

In 1988 two directors came together to write and direct a horror comedy anthology film. They were Alfred Ramirez and Scott Aschbrenner and they had Melanie Johnson help them with the script and this would be the only film the three would ever work on. The film was clearly shot on video with a low budget and they would bring in such actors as Stephanie Spencer, Warren Andrews, Mark Rackstraw, Nora Miller, Sonja Etzel, Jon Kay, Marsha Malone, Lisa Hatter, Alice Ashbrenner and Mark Blouin to name a few. The film would feature four stories and would have backyard style special effects and once done would be released on home video. And sadly as fast as it was released, the film fell into obscurity and never was able to find its audience. In 1992 the filmmakers would continue Satan Place on with a comic book and this as well never found its footing and most horror comic readers do not even know about it. But those who do know about the film seem to really enjoy it, so it has what could be said a Micro Cult Following. The film would only be released on VHS and never get a DVD or Blu-Ray release yet as of this updates posting. The film in 1988 was released alongside such other horror movies as A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Return Of The Living Dead Part II, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Pumpkinhead, Waxwork, Rabid Grannies, Night Of The Demons, Howling IV, The Blob, Child’s Play, Halloween 4, Maniac Cop, Phantasm II, Friday The 13^th Part VII: The New Blood, Critters 2, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Sleepaway Camp II, Return Of The Killer Tomatoes, Poltergeist III, Dead Heat and They Live to name a few showing that 1988 was a great year for horror.

Satan’s Place: A Soap Opera From Hell is one of those 80’s shot on video films that was released on VHS with hopes of it being on rental store shelves that faded away before it could even be discovered and even to this day a very small amount of horror fans know about it. I first heard of the film many years ago when I was part of an indie horror group that talked about small budget films and this one was brought up a few times, and then a short time later I found out that it also had a comic book based around it that was used to help promote the film. While the comic was easy for me to find, the film was not as used copies of the VHS were rare and when they did pop up they would sell for hundreds of dollars. So I would have to search the grey market and that is where I found a copy to watch, and spent one hot summer evening eating chicken wings and checking out this forgotten humorous fright flick. And the first thing that came to mind when watching it was the old Public Access films I use to watch as the production value was around that same quality. For me the best segment in the film was called “Disposable Love” were a terrible husband kills his wife over beer and then cooks here body as soup to put down the garbage disposal, and yes it has lots of twists and turns and a fun mix of Horror and Comedy. The other three segments are great and Satan in the final tale “Sally Satan” is amazing cheesy stuff that I love about SOV Horror films. I also really like the films score that was done by Scott Aschbrenner and Jon Kay as it has that sound that made so many of those style films special back in the day. And I am sure I am not the only one who thinks that actress Stephanie Spencer who plays Sally Satan looks like she stepped out of a 80’s Hairband music video, and with her looks she should have been in more indie Horror films! While Satan Place is not the greatest horror anthology in the world it is a fun little 80s watch that has some silly humor mixed with some backyard Horror that should get a release on modern physical media in my opinion.

Now that we have taken a look at Satan Place: A Soap Opera From Hell as well as Sally Satan, I think now we should take a look at the comic book based on this 80s flick that was released by the people who made the movie! More indie filmmakers should do this as so many of these awesome indie horror films in the world should get the comic book treatment! And for those of you creators that do just that, good on you and for those who don’t you are missing a great tool to promote your film and give the fans of your film something cool to collect and add to their collections. But enough of that as we have a comic to review so first I would like to thank a Ebay seller for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would then like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that, let’s knock on the door at Satan Place and see if Sally is home.

Satan Place: A Soap Opera from Hell # 1 **1/2
Released in 1992 Cover Price $3.50 Thunderhill #1 of 1

Sally is new in town and is looking for the apartment complex she is to be moving into and meets a real jerk named Eddie who gives her the directions and then creepily hits on her…Sally gives him a punch for his attempt. “Disposable Love” Eddie comes home from work and his wife Doris and makes her feel like crap over what she made for dinner, he then starts drinking beer and watching wrestling on TV and is demanding more cold beer and when Doris refuses over his health, he hits her so hard that she dies! Eddie chops up his wife and cooks her remains and then puts her down the garbage disposal, with the bones being tossed in the trash truck. But things get spooky for him when the ghost of Doris appears and keeps haunting him even causing his fingers to be chopped off! In the end Eddie dies of a heart attack and you find out that Doris is still alive and she now is being haunted by his ghost as he even mean in death. Sally’s car has broken down before she can get to the apartment and Johnny just drives on by her “Say Goodnight Sophie” as Johnny keeps on driving as he is heartbroken over his lady breaking up with him, and while screaming at his ex on the phone he hits a old man with his truck. Johnny is able to get the old man to the hospital were he later dies as Johnny hits the bar to get drunk. That night on his way home Johnny finds the body of the old man in the road and freaks out and takes it home. In the morning after waking up Johnny takes the old man’s body out and buries it, only for that night to find that the old man is now a zombie and with his zombie lover Sophie they start eating the face of Johnny! Sally has finally made it to her apartment and meets the landlady Enid who is very rude and leaves for home. “Too Much T.V.” as Enid gets home her teenage daughter Lisa is ingnoring her as she is watching her favorite show that is hosted by Richard Slasher and as he keeps showing bloody movies Lisa keeps imagining that all the violence is happing to her mother as Richard Slasher is telling her to kill her mom via the TV! In the end it’s Enid that ends up killing her daughter by slashing her throat. “Sally Satan” Jonathon goes to the apartment of Sally as the two have a date, but once inside things are very weird as he finds a disgusting meal in the microwave, newspaper clippings about Sally being blamed for a murder and she herself is just acting odd when she ties him up to the bed. Sally then pulls out knives and tells her that she is with Satan and stabs him…but the knives are fake and she was pulling a prank. But Sally’s life comes to an end when Jonathon is Satan and kills her for playing games.

Satan Place is a comic adaptation of the film and is clearly being used to not only push the sale of the movie on VHS but also to help launch Thunderhill as a comic book publisher. This comic features Sally a woman new to town who when she comes across people bad things seem to happen for them that night and she is almost out host of four ghoulish tales that feature zombies, ghosts, killers and even Satan himself! The best story in the comic is “Say Goodnight Sophie” as I think it was the one that translated from movie to comic the best, plus you can never go wrong reading about face eating zombies! And I think that the one that did not make the leap very well was “Too Much T.V.” as that one is defiantly better on tape as the whole segment is about the movies Lisa is watching and the host telling her to kill her mom, on panels that spooky feel is lacking. The team behind this comic really did do a great job of bringing this shot on video film to the pages of the adaptation comic and it really reminds me of such indie Horror Comic titles like “Vault Of Doomnation” and even “Campfire Stories” with the later having a indie film made about it. The comic has blood and violence and the Horror comes from not only that but also the creatures and monsters that are roaming around with Satan and the Zombies being my favorites. I have to praise the makers of this film and comic as they understood the power of promotion via a comic as throughout the issue there was ways for readers to order the film on VHS, plus they also showed the films cover box at the start of the comic. The cover for this issue is really cool as it shows Satan’s eyes looking over a mound of fire. The comics interior art is a mixed bag as several different artists helped on this issue and these artists include Alfred Ramirez, Jackson Guice, Al Val and Jeff Guice. Some of the art is very classic Indie Horror style from the late 80s and early 90s, while some was a little more amateurish. But with that said I will say that I really do dig the style and feel of this comic as I feel they creators did a great job of staying true to the film its based on. If you are a fan of the film Satan Place or just enjoy Horror Anthology Comics make sure to track down a copy of this one as I think you will truly enjoy it. Check out the artwork below to see the styles used in this comic.

As you can see Satan Place: A Soup Opera From Hell is once of those micro films made in the late 80’s that made its way into the world of comics in the early 90s and for the most part it made a small impact in both as it really is a fun combo to checkout if you like micro budget films as well as comics that bring a series of spooky stories. But sadly our stay at Satan Place has came to an end but our time with Horror Comics based on Horror Films is still going strong as our next update will be about the indie film A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and the comic book released about it. So until next time read a Horror Comic or three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host! See you next update as we take a walk with the vampire called The Girl.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Don’t Look In The Basement (1973)

Posted on April 22, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update here at Rotten Ink. This time around we will be heading to the Stephen’s Sanitarium a metal asylum where the patients are wandering the halls and one poor nurse finds herself in the middle of this madness and chaos when all she wanted to do is help! The film we will of course be talking about is the cult movie called Don’t Look In The Basement that was released in 1973 and has scared moviegoers ever sense. We will also be taking a look at the Blood Scream Comics adaptation of the film, and I will not be giving the comic any kind of star ratings as I am connected to Blood Scream and that just seems very silly. But if you are ready, let’s head to the asylum and for gosh sakes lets stay away from the basement.

Let’s start by looking at Dr. Geraldine S. Masters, a crazed woman who deals pain and death to those who cross her path or go against her words. Dr. Masters is a mental patient who, after an accident leaves the real Doctor dead, takes over running the asylum and does so with an iron fist as she does not like it when people disobey her orders. Geraldine Masters is a patient at the Stephen’s Sanitarium who thinks she is a Doctor and has been allowed by the staff to act like one with her fellow inmates, she is schizophrenic and made a mistake when studying to be a nurse that lead her into this madness. Dr. Masters will uses her hold and threats over her fellow inmates in order to keep them in line and to play along with her delusions. Those who do cross her path end up being tortured by being burnt, having their tongues removed and being drugged in order to not speak the truths about her. She has a way to make those who do not know about her believe what she says and truly think she is a doctor who cares about her patients. She is a liar that uses her words to manipulate those around her and can get them to do things she orders as well as think a certain way about a person. If Dr. Masters is crossed or disobeyed to the extreme she will attempt to kill you with a sharp object or will try and have one of her fellow inmates do so for her. But because Dr. Geraldine S. Masters is crazy and human she can be killed like any normal person so stabbing, cutting, bashing, shot, drowned and all other ways of people dying will end her ways of terror. Also her madness and her ego can lead her down a path of death as she pushes her fellow inmates to hard and this will cause them to fight back with deadly results as is her fate in the film. While she is not the most dangerous killer we have ever covered here on a From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update, she is still very deadly and has the tools and authority to end lives.

Now that we have talked about Doctor Masters and her ways of dealing death and fright I think that it is time that we take a look at the film she appeared in Don’t Look In The Basement. Now I would like to remind you that I will be taking the film’s plot from our pals at IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s wonder around the Sanitarium and see what dangers await us all.

Don’t Look In The Basement (1973)

“Nurse Charlotte Beale arrives at the isolated Stephens Sanitarium to work, only to learn that Dr. Stephens was murdered by one of the patients and his successor, Dr. Geraldine Masters, is not very eager to take on new staff. Charlotte finds her job maddeningly hard as the patients torment and harass her at every turn, and she soon learns why Dr. Masters is so eager to keep outsiders out.”

Don’t Look In The Basement is a 1973 Horror Film that is known by several other titles like “The Forgotten” and “Death Ward # 13” that was the brain child of director S.F. Brownrigg who also produced the film with Tim Pope writing the screenplay. The film was made to cash in on the big horror boom of the early 1970’s as theaters and drive-in moviegoers seemed to not be able to get enough of them. The film was about a secluded mental asylum that was run by a Doctor who ends up being murdered as well as his head nurse and the inmates take over the asylum and this is bad news for a young nurse who arrives later that night after the killings. The film would cast Playboy Playmate Rosie Holotik as the young nurse with such actors as Bill McGhee, Annabelle Weenick, Jesie Lee Fulton, Harryette Warren, Betty Chandler and Gene Ross making up some of the cast. The films budget was around $100 thousand dollars and was your typical indie film production for the time, and once the film was done Robert Farrar would do the score and American International Pictures would distribute it. The film when released in theaters was meet with mix reviews from critics, but moviegoers seemed to enjoy this downbeat film and over the years thanks to home media the film has built a very strong cult following. The director of the film S.F. Brownrigg would continue to make horror films and would follow this film with such titles as Poor White Trash Part II, Don’t Open The Door! and Keep My Grave Open all that have gotten a following over the decades. Sadly Brownrigg would pass away in 1996 at the age of only 58, as who knows what other delights he could have made for Horror fans. The film did get a sequel in 2015 and was directed by Anthony Brownrigg, the son of S.F. and over the years many remakes have been spoken about but never filmed. When released in 1973 it was joined by such other fight flicks as The Exorcist, Theater Of Blood, Return Of The Blind Dead, The Crazies, Satanic Rites Of Dracula, Scream Blacula Scream, Blood Orgy Of The She-Devils, Godmonster Of Indian Flats and Wicker Man to name a few.

The first time I seen Don’t Look In The Basement was via a old VHS tape my brother found at the store Suncoast that was located in one of our area’s local indoor malls. We both had always heard about the film thanks to the books like The Gore Score and Splatter Movie Guide plus of course old issues of Fangoria Magazine had featured it. And after seeing this film I was a fan as I feel that it was very creepy and spooky and the atmosphere and story did a good job of bringing a very uneasy watch as each of the patients in the asylum have their own personalities and insanities. And the different patients are what really makes this slasher film interesting as each bring their own level of crazy to the unfolding story with some being more dangerous than others, but in the end we have that all the patients can be driven to commit murder. The film is also pretty bloody for the time and budget level with some of the splatter being really well done, and the ending of the film that has the patients hacking away on the Doctor is the best kill in the film. I have to say that Rosie Holotik who plays Nurse Charlotte Beale is not only beautiful but also is not a bad actress, and she would be in two other horror films “Horror High” and “Encounter With The Unknown” and she should have done more as she could have easily became a top casted actress in horror if she would have stuck around longer. The film falling into the public domain has given many people a chance to see it as many companies have released it on home media, it’s has been hosted by many horror hosts and can be found on streaming sites and this hide release for the film is good as it has allowed it to keep building on it’s cult statues. This film is 100% a product of its time as it was a perfect fit for the Drive-In Theater as well as the Grindhouse ones and sadly films like this do not have a theatrical outlet like they use to and they get dumped on one of the many streaming services and get lost in the mountain of content they consume to fill their product…and along the way loose lots of money doing so. But if you have not see Don’t Look In The Basement give it a shot if you like 70’s indie horror flicks.

As you can see, Dr. Geraldine S. Masters is truly unstable and the film Don’t Look In The Basement has earned its cult statues over the years, as it really is an unsettling fright film. It’s crazy that still to this day that more comic publishers and creators are not making comics based on horror or sci-fi films as both of those film genres have great characters and worlds for creators to play in. I mean so many horror films over the centuries should and should have gotten the comic book treatment. And now we are at the review part of this update and as I stated before I will not be giving this comic any type of rating as I was connected to the making of this comic. I would like to thank Marc Gras Cots for creating this comic for Blood Scream Comics and making this update possible. So if you are ready, let’s head to Stephen’s Sanitarium and see what the inmates are up to.

Don’t Look In The Basement # 1
Released in 2017 Cover Price $4.99 Blood Scream # 1 of 1

Nurse Charlotte Beale has shown up to the Stephens Sanitarium as it’s her first day at the job as she has been hired a few days back as they are short handed. She is greeted by Dr. Geraldine S. Masters, who informs her that Dr. Stephens has been killed by one of the patients and now she is the sole Doctor in charge and after some words Masters allows Charlotte to stay on and the next day introduces her to the patients that are Danny a prankster who acts like a spoiled brat, Sgt. Jaffee who lost his mind after he lead his men into battle that caused them all to die, Jennifer a depressed quite young woman, Mrs. Callingham has a broken mind and speak in poems and thinks flowers are her kids, Harriet who carries a baby doll and thanks its her baby, Judge Oliver W. Cameron who has lost his mind and only speaks in court talk, Allyson King a missed used woman who looks for love from anyone and last is Sam a mountain of a man who has a mind of a child. The next day Charlotte finds that Mrs. Callingham has cut out her own tongue and someone has also cut the phone wires cutting of the Sanitarium’s outside communication! And when a phone man shows up he is confronted by Dr. Masters who is mad that he just walked in and later he is cornered by Allyson who uses her flirty ways, and later that night Judge and Sam are talking and Judge says he killed Dr. Stephens with an axe while Sam say he is still alive! And in another room Dr. Masters burns some paper in the hand of Sgt. Jaffee for not going to bed when she told him to, showing that she demands respect. The next day Sam finds the body of the telephone repairman and Allyson snaps and tells Charlotte that Dr. Masters is really a patient who killed the repairman, cut the tongue our of Mrs. Callingham and will kill anyone who exposes her dirty secret! Charlotte goes around and asks many of the patients if it’s true that Masters is not a true Doctor and is a patient like them, and when she finds out that its all true she also learns she is trapped inside and that the phones are still not working. Charlotte then finds the body of Dr. Stephens in the basement as Sam grabs her on the orders of Dr. Masters who wants to cut Charlotte up and remove the illness from her! But Charlotte is able to talk with Sam who stops Dr. Masters from cutting her and the other inmates arrive into the room and start slaughtering Dr. Masters as Charlotte is able to escape the Sanitarium and run for her life away from the madness and slaughter.

This comic adaptation cuts out the opening death of the old nurse and the attack on Dr. Stephens by Judge in order to build more of the suspense on what is the dark secrets of this mental hospital, and I think it is very much achieved as the story unfolds for Charlotte and the reader. The plot is this a young nurse shows up for her first day of work at a mental hospital only to find that the doctor who hired her died in an accident and she soon learns all those around her truly are crazy and all hide a sinister murderous rage that explodes out in the end. The comic as well does a great job of following Nurse Charlotte Beale as she is the main focus of the whole issue and this makes the patients and Dr. Masters the background players who add to the haunting atmosphere of the horrors the young nurse must face as while she is getting to know them she also can not fully trust them. And with this shift of focusing on Charlotte also gives us the reader the element of not truly seeing the more mental and friendly side to the patients which makes for some uneasy reading as we get deeper and deeper into the Sanitarium. We do also get to see the more evil sides of Dr. Geraldine S. Masters as around Charlotte she is firm yet understanding, well that is until her secret is exposed while to the other patients she is cruel as she removes ones tongue and burns another’s hand just for questioning her authority! Dr. Masters is very cruel and very much driven by her madness of wanting to be a real doctor, but she also meets her gruesome end when her fellow patients cannot take her cruelty any longer. While they are around Sam, Judge, Jaffee, Callingham and Allyson play their parts to move along the story while sadly Jennifer, Harriet and Danny only appear very briefly. The comic does have some bloody kills with the death of Dr. Masters being the most brutal and something horror comic readers will love. The cover is really great and captures the screaming mouth of Charlotte with the logo in the middle and fans of this film will truly enjoy this tribute to the films trailer. And artist Marc Gras does a great job on the interiors, as he is able to draw out the creepy atmosphere of the film and capture the characters look and moods. Don’t Look In The Basement is a perfect film to be made into a horror comic, and I was honored to work alongside Marc Gras and Blood Scream Comics to make it possible. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Marc in this spooky comic.

As you can see, our time at Stephens Sanitarium has came to a very bloody end as Dr. Masters got what was coming to her and not truly the inmates are running the asylum! I for one would love to someday revisit Don’t Look In The Basement with an issue # 2 that would be our creative teams vision of what happened to Nurse Charlotte, Sam and a few other others after the events of the film/comic, and who knows if this will ever happen only time will truly tell. Well with that said let me take a moment to let you know that our next update will take us to Satan Place: A Soap Opera From Hell that is a 80’s long forgotten horror comedy anthology film, so that will be a fun one for sure am I right? So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror film or two, and as always, support your local Horror Host. See you next update as we will also be meeting Sally Satan, one of the many oddities that lives in Satan Place.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Passenger (2017)

Posted on April 19, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another SUPRISE “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. For this one, we will be chatting about a short horror film as well as the comic book based around it, both done by Strange Films! And this is what I love to see here at Rotten Ink, a horror filmmaker turning his films into horror comics for fans to check out to not only bring attention to the film, but also give horror comic readers something new. The film and comic we will be talking about is Passenger, that was released around 2017 and has frightened viewers ever since. So if you are ready, let’s hit the dark spooky road of horror comics and see what this Passenger has in store for us in the scare department.

Let’s start by taking a look at The Passenger, a weird demon like creature who walks the roads looking to hitch a ride with unsuspecting drivers! The Passenger has many ways of dealing death. His first way is his monstrous appearance as he looks like a reptile like demon creature and when a victim sees this, they are frozen with fear leaving them open for an attack. He also has the ability to run into a moving or stopped car and place himself into the back seat of the automobile making him very hard to escape, and leaving his targeted human once more easy to attack. While he shuffles when walking, The Passenger does seem to move fast when he sets his eye on a target and is ready to attack. His main tools for killing are his claws and his razor sharp teeth that can shred human flesh and his bite can rip away flesh like a hot knife through butter. Another tool The Passenger has is his bite, which can turn his victims into a monster like himself making him also a spreader of some sort of demonic virus. The Passenger is super dangerous and as of this update he has no known weakness making him a “unstoppable” killing machine. While he might not be the most evil killer or creature we have covered here, The Passenger remains a true cryptozoology style urban legend monster that is sure to scare his victims to death.

Now that we have taken a look at The Passenger, the creature, we should now take a look at Passenger, the short film that this weird killer creature is from! And like always, we will be taking the films plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will be writing about the films production as well as my thoughts. And with that if you are ready, lets’ stick out our thumbs and see of we can hitch a ride…but not turn into this type of Passenger!

Passenger (2017)

“In a small town where monsters, evil, and secrets lurk in every corner, THE STRANGER watches from the shadows. On her way home from a night out, Lindsey will soon become the victim of an unexpected passenger.”

Passenger was a sequel to a short film called “There’s Something Down The Road” that was the first film for production company Strange Films that is run by the son and father duo of August & Frank Aguilar who have creative minds and started building their own movie universe. The film had a budget of around $500 and would be written and directed by August Aguilar, who would bring back actor Roger Gregg to play The Stranger (a recurring character in the Strange Film Universe) and then would bring on such actors like Megan Jones, Hunter Brown, Christina Wilson and Tyler McKee would be casted as The Passenger. The film would be shot around the Knoxville, Tennessee area and would have Erik Jackson doing the special effects. When done, the film would be around 6 minutes long and would feature free to use music that blended well with the film. When done the film was released in August 2017 and would show in a few film festivals and would get good word of mouth from those who seen it. The short film would be released on YouTube on July 7, 2019 and would go on to get well over 6.4k views as of this updates posting. The film was met with mostly positive reviews from critics and fans and would even get a comic book based around it. The film in 2017 was released alongside such other horror films as The Bye Bye Man, Get Out, Happy Death Day, Wish Upon, One Cut Of The Dead, Creep 2, Jeepers Creepers 3, Devil’s Trail, 10/31 and It Comes At Night, to name a few.

The Passenger is a film I discovered because of the Kickstater that August Aguilar was running for the comic book adaptation of the short film, and from the moment I saw the creature design, I knew that I had to not only back the comic and read it but also watch the short film on YouTube and when watching it…it made me flashback to the days of my friends and I making low budget horror films. What works so well for this film is the way that August uses shadows and darkness to cloak The Passenger who is roaming around the darkened streets just looking for a person to hitch a ride with, and the make up effects used for this wandering creature are really well done and makes the short film stand out from many other films on its budget level. The Passenger is a short film that I wish would be developed into a feature film sometime in the future by August that is set in a small town in Tennessee with The Passenger being an urban legend around town, and a group of friends out running the roads one night after a lame house party stumble across this twisted creature and find out that the stories are all true. I would also not tie it into The Stranger, a character that connects some of the company’s films together and just make this one a stand-alone fright feature all about the title creature. But back to the short film, I think the short film is well acted and directed and is one you should check out on YouTube as supporting indie horror cinema is very important.

So now that we have talked about The Passenger, both the creature and the short film, I think that it’s time for us to take a look at the comic based on the film. I first want to thank Strange Films for not only having this comic in stock and making this update possible, but for also making the comic as I wish more indie movie distributors would do this with their horror, sci-fi and action films. I also want to say that the comic series this is part of is called “Strange Comics” that has each issue being about a different film from August Aguilar and his Strange Films company, but we will just call this one The Passenger # 1 for this update. Like always, I also want to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So if you are ready, let’s see what horrors The Passenger has in store for all of us as this is a first time read for me and I am very much looking forward to checking it out.

Passenger # 1 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $10.00 Strange Comics # 2 of ?

In the small town of Erwin, a man is roaming around the woods when he is attacked and killed by The Stranger, a weird demonic looking creature that rips the man apart. Later that night Lindsey is driving home and listening to the radio that features a news report about all the strange things going on in the town, as she keeps driving she passes The Passenger that is at the side of the road and runs into her car…and unknown to her The Passenger is now in the back seat of her car watching as she calls her boyfriend Chris at work as this encounter has scared her to her core. As she pulls into the warehouse were her boyfriend works the late shift The Passenger attacks her and bites her turning her into a weird demonic creature like himself! As Chris comes out to check on his lady, he is attacked by the now creature version of Lindsey! As Lindsey gets done killing her boyfriend she is greeted by The Stranger, a supernatural traveler who welcomes her to this strange family, and as this is going on The Passenger is attacking and turning more townspeople into monsters like him.

What a fun quick read comic for a spooky quick watch short film! The comic’s plot has Lindsey on a late night drive when she runs into a demonic creature called The Passenger that ends up hitching a ride with her and turning her into a monster like himself, and under this weird creature’s virus bite she ends up killing her own boyfriend before joining the side of the supernatural being The Stranger. The Passenger is truly a killing machine as he starts the issue off killing a person by ripping their guts out and then goes on to infect several other people with his bite turning them into a lesser monster version of himself. The Passenger also seems like a very cold and uncaring creature that kills out of instinct and maybe a dash of hatred for mankind. Lindsey and Chris is a couple that sadly become victims when they have a chance encounter with The Passenger that leads one to be killed and another to become a monster. And The Stranger at the end appears and almost seems to be enjoying the fact The Passenger is spreading his weird demonic virus to others, its like he feels these monsters are like family and he is building an army of them. The issue has some blood and gore with the first death of an unknown man by the hands of The Passenger being the best kill as well as the goriest. The cover is really cool and eye-catching and captures the vibe of this short film, with the interior art being done by Tim Sparvero and his style is really cool and fitting…and I like how he draws The Passenger as well as the gore. This comic does a great job of fitting into the short film universe and offers a quick spooky read. I wish that The Stranger aspect would have been left out and those panels would have given us more on The Passenger and his background…but that’s a minor complaint and my only complaint besides I wish the comic was longer because I enjoyed what I was reading. So if you like indie horror comics based on indie horror films make sure to give this one a read as it’s a spooky good time. Check out the artwork below to see Tim Sparvero’s style used for this comic.

As you can see while both the film and comic are short, they both pack a frightful punch as what I think makes them both work is that they both have that small town urban legend feel as every one of them has some sort of unknown creature like this. But now that we have all found ourselves safe and sound at the places we all like to read Rotten Ink, I think that its time we part ways, but before we do I would like to tell you that our next update will get us back on track as we will be diving into the cult classic film Don’t Look In The Basement! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always, support your local Horror Host. See you next update and let’s hope that we really don’t have to see what is in the basement.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Two On A Guillotine (1965)

Posted on April 12, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another from Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates. This time around, we will be taking a look at a classic 60’s film that featured a crazed magician who is a master of illusions and tries to bring fear to those he has decided to torment and I am of course talking about the film Two On A Guillotine! And what a cool and strange film to get the comic book treatment, but that was the thing about Dell Comics, they made some very interesting and cool comics based on all types of horror and sci-fi films, and I for one miss them as who knows what kind of cool comic adaptations we could have gotten over the years if they would have lasted past 1974. But if you guys are ready, let’s head to the update show as the great John Harley Duquesne is performing, and I heard that tonight he is going to o one killer guillotine trick!

Let’s start by taking a look at John “Duke” Harley Duquesne who was driven mad after a performance act gone wrong. The Great Duquesne was a masterful illusionist and magician who was well loved by his fans and who made lots of money performing alongside his wife, but after an accident that killed his wife, he stepped away from it all even gave up his own daughter, and after seeing a picture of his daughter grown up his mind snapped as she looked just like his dead wife that he lied to the world about saying she ran away. The Great Duquesne is a charming looking man in appearance, but his mental break makes him very dangerous as he is unstable and will do whatever it takes to prove his guillotine act will work and his wife’s death was truly an accident. But The Great Duquesne can shock people who see him after he faked his own death as they think he is a ghost and this can chill people to the bone. He is also very skilled with his illusions and the help him pull off his grand plan of faking his death to lure his daughter back home. Because he is mentally broken, this makes him unpredictable in nature as who knows what he is capable of all to make amends with the spirit of his wife. One of his main ways of getting into the minds of his “victims” is making it seem like he will rise from the grave and leaving little spooky tricks all around making you scared and feeding into your nightmares. He is also a skilled fighter when it comes to throwing fists and can handle himself in a fight. The Great Duquesne is not a violent man as his attacks are more mental and are not coming from a vicious place but more from madness. The Great Duquesne is a living person who can be killed like any normal person so being stabbed, shot, poisoned, crushed, burnt and all other manners of death can end his life. While The Great Duquesne has claimed one life due to accident, he is still a dangerous man as his mental break and illusions make him delusional and insane.

Now that we have talked about John Harley Duquesne and his way of dealing death and fright to those who find themselves apart of his crazed plans, I think that we should now take a look at the 1965 film that he is from and that is Two On A Guillotine. I will be taking the film’s plot from our pals at IMDB and then will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts. So if you are ready, the house show lights are dimming so that means it must be show time!

Two On A Guillotine (1965)

“The daughter of a psychotic magician must stay in his mansion for seven nights in order to inherit his fortune.”

In the 1960’s Warner Brothers decided to make movies that would have directors brought in who mostly worked on TV Shows as they worked cheaper, and they wanted to see if they could find the next big movie maker. And Two On A Guillotine was one of those films as William Conrad was brought in to direct. He had worked directing such shows as The Rifleman, The Rough Riders, Bat Masterson, Route 66 and Gunsmoke to name a few, Conrad would also produce the film. The script was written by John Kneubuhi & Henry Slesar and was given a lower budget with such actors as Cesar Romero, Connie Stevens, Dean Jones, John Hoyt, Parley Baer and Virginia Gregg making up the main cast. The film would only have a three-week shoot time and once done the legendary composer Max Steiner would score it. For those who don’t know, Max is the one who did the music for the 1933 classic King Kong as well as Son Of Kong, Gone With The Wind and Casablanca and these are just a small amount of examples of his work. The film would be released to theaters on January 13, 1965 and it is unknown how well the film did at the box office. The film was met with very mixed reviews from both critics and viewers, but it was actress Connie Stevens and composer Max Steiner who both let it be known that they thought the movie was a stinker. The film was released in 1965 along side such other Horror Films as Color Me Blood Red, Die Monster Die!, The Embalmer, Monster A Go-Go, Orgy Of The Dead, Planet Of The Vampires, The Skull, Gamera The Giant Monster and War Gods Of The Deep to name a few.

So “Two On A Guillotine” is a film that I am not sure if I had seen before watching the DVD in 2023, as it seems like something I would have watched but I remember nothing about it…so maybe watching it for this update was my first time seeing it….but I am not sure. The first thing I want to say is that Cesar Romero is fantastic as John Harley Duquesne as I truly think he is such a underrated actor, most of you readers will remember Romero from the 1966 TV show Batman where he played The Joker and a small amount of you will remember him from the horror films such as The Specture Of Edgar Allan Poe (1974), Judgment Day (1988) as well as playing Count Dracula on an episode of Night Gallery. The film is often looked at as being a low budget throwaway film but when watching it again (maybe first time) I have to say that I found the film to be pretty dang entertaining as it is a mix of haunted house terror as well as crazed killer thrills. Also I have to point out that actress Connie Stevens is absolutely beautiful and is a great actress as she does a great job as Cassie in the film. The film while a slow burn does a great job of making you bond with both Cassie and Val as they stay in this haunted mansion, fall in love and uncover her family’s dark secret. Also for fans of rabbits this film has a white rabbit that runs around the mansion and is a character all it’s self, he even has his own theme song! I am not sure why this film over the years has gotten harsh words from viewers and critics as I found it to be a very fun watch and hope that someday it builds a bigger cult following than it has now. If you enjoy 60’s style Horror and have not seen this one track down the DVD from Warner Archive as well as the Dell Comics adaptation and give them a watch and a read as who knows you might just find yourself drawn into the world of Two On A Guillotine and find the breakdown of The Great Duquesne interesting as I did.

Now that we have taken a look at the crazed magician John Harley Duquesne as well as the film he is from Two On A Guillotine I think now that we should look at the comic adaptation of the film that was done by Dell Comics a classic comic publisher that made so many amazing comics based on Horror and Sci-Fi films. And when it comes to these adaptation comics in modern time I feel that Dell is often over looked but they really shouldn’t be as they made so many great spooky reads with many of them being based on films that starred Vincent Price. I would like to thank a Ebay seller for having this comic in stock and making this update possible, I would also like to thank Warner Brothers for releasing the film on DVD as apart of there Archive collection. I would like to also remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, it’s entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head to the mansion and see if we can last for the seven nights with this psycho magician.

Two On A Guillotine # 1 ***
Released in 1965 Cover Price .12 Dell Comics # 1 of 1

Magician and Illusionist John Harley Duquesne along with his wife Melinda Duquesne are a big hit as their magic show is the talk of the town, and after a show John Harley Duquesne brings his press manager Buzz into a room to show him a new trick he is working on that would involve his wife being “beheaded” by a guillotine as he thinks this will take them to the next level for their tour of Europe. Many years have passed and John Harley Duquesne has passed away and his daughter Cassie shows up to watch her fathers coffin to be locked up with chains as his final words is that he will return! At the funeral she also meets many people including Dolly, a woman who has been a helper to the family for decades, Carl Vickers her fathers lawyer and Val Henderson, a fan of her father’s work who is also a member of the press. And with Cassie’s mother missing his estate is turned over to her, but only if she stays seven nights in his old mansion as he claims he will come back and speak to her…if she fails to, all will go do Dolly and other people who have helped him through his career. Cassie heads to the mansion and Val is waiting for her and the pair walk through the spooky mansion that has been rigged with all types of tricks that are sure to scare from plastic skeletons to weird plants the two wonder around as Cassie remembers back to growing up not known either of her parents. Days pass and Cassie and Val are becoming close and keep find more spooky tricks throughout the house, Val also in private confronts Dolly and Buzz as the pair are trying to spook Cassie to leave so that they can collect the estate. But when Cassie finds out that Val is a reporter she kicks him out of the mansion and that night has bad nightmares and wakes up to find her father is alive and is crazy as his guillotine trick back in the day killed his wife and now he thinks his daughter is his wife as they look alike! Dolly returns to the mansion and tries to save Cassie but fails and calls Val to hurry back to the mansion as John Harley Duquesne is going to try his beheading trick again this time with his daughter as his assistant. Val is able to get there in time and even after the trick works, John Harley Duquesne breaks down in tears as the police enter and arrest him for the murder of his wife those many years ago.

This is such a fun read that does justice to the film it is based on as the moments of the haunted mansion works as does the suspense of John Harley Duquesne being alive and well…not to bring up the fact that the shocking truth about John Harley Duquesne comes to light with perfection on these panels. The plot is very simple and has a daughter coming to town for her fathers funeral as she grew up not knowing her parents and now must stay in the families old haunted mansion in order to receive her fathers money and estate…but there is a trick as her father claims he will come back from the grave in seven days! Our main character in this story is Cassie Duquesne a young woman who was raised by her aunt after her mother went missing and her father became a recluse and leaving his illusionist act behind. You have to feel for her as the press is harassing her, her father fakes his own death and thinks she is his dead wife and she grew up with a strict aunt…plus she is almost killed by her father who is trying to pull off his guillotine act. Val Henderson is also kind of a hero here as while he first starts off as a pressman looking for a story, soon finds himself in love with Cassie and wants to protect her from anyone or thing he thinks is out to get her. Plus I feel in the comic he is more likable of a guy than he is in the film. Plus he does try his best to save Cassie even if he is the one who bumps into the guillotine and causes the blade to fall. Buzz and Molly are good people and while it looks like they are trying to scare off Cassie they are really just trying to watch out for her. John “Duke” Harley Duquesne was a master of magic and illusions who set the world on fire with his act, but after by accident killing his wife and hiding her body he was become a crazed person who wants to fake his own death, lure his daughter back to him as he thinks she is his wife returned in order to pull off his trick to prove it would work…he is a broken man. The comic’s horror comes from the suspense of the haunted mansion and if John Harley Duquesne would truly return from the grave and for those wondering the comic is bloodless. I really like how it has a classic horror feel to it and it really is a fast read that does have a few spooky moments. The cover is great and features John Harley Duquesne grabbing Cassie who is over taken with fear. The interior artwork is done by Unknown Artist and its really good as you have to love that classic Dell Comics style where the characters kind of look like the actors who play them and while the style is simple its prefect. Over all if you enjoy the film and or like classic style horror stories, make sure to check this one out. Check out the art below to see the style that is used by Unknown Artist for this comic adaptation of a classic 60’s horror film.

Two On A Guillotine is a spooky film and comic, and once more I have to give credit to Dell Comics for making some of the 60’s best horror comic adaptations made for comic readers to chill their blood to. While both the film and comic are not for everyone, if you like classic style horror from the 60’s that is a mix of haunted house, mystery, crime and even a possible deranged killer make sure to check it out. But as you can see The Great Duquesne’s show has ended and that leaves us having to leave the theater and as we make our way out I would like to take a moment to let you know that our next update will about that 1973 cult classic film Don’t Look In The Basement and the Blood Scream Comics adaptation of it! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for a crazy good time with the patients at the Stephen’s Sanitarium.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Alien 3 (1992)

Posted on April 2, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. For this update we are going to travel to the outreaches of space and where no one can hear you scream and the terrors of Xenomorphs are all around you! And for this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update we will be talking about Alien 3 and the adaptation comic series done by Dark Horse Comics who did a great job of delivering great comics based around the Alien series as well as many other movies when they had the licenses. To be honest, I was really torn on what Alien film to choose to cover for this update as I could have gone with Heavy Metal’s graphic novel adaptation of the original 1979 film, or the Aliens adaptation done by a Turkish publisher or lastly Alien: Resurrection that of course Dark Horse Released…but I chose Alien 3 as this was the one series I had when I was younger so it holds a special place with me. So if you are ready, get into your space suit and let’s head out to see what terrors and chaos this Xenomorph has in store for us.

Let’s start by taking a look at the Xenomorph (also called Dragon) from this film and its way of dealing death to those who cross its path. This Xenomorph was born when a face hugger attached itself to a Rottweiler dog on a planet that is filled with prisoners who have turned religious, but some are truly still bad people. This alien takes on the characteristics of the dog host the birthed it and walks on all fours and moves very fast when charging at its prey. This Xenomorph is also very stealthy and can hide in the shadows as well as small places in order to sneak up on its prey. Let’s not forget about its strange and monstrous appearance that can frighten a person to death as its blackish, grey in color has a skeleton looking endoskin, long fingers and a small mouth that extends from his normal mouth that it can used to puncture the skin of a person putting a whole right through them. This Xenomorph also has sharp teeth that, if it chooses, could bite and rip flesh, and it will use them and its claws to shred a person like a wild animal. It also has a long tail that it can uses to impale a person as well as can whip it around causing injury. The Xenomorph can also spit acid and its blood is also made of acid and this will burn the flesh of humans straight through and will also burn through metal. The Xenomorph is also very strong and can lift a person up into the air very easily and it can also climb on walls and ceilings. It can also make weird hissing noises and when attacking sometimes will go into a frenzy slashing and biting its human prey. But while this dog Xenomorph is very dangerous and deadly, it is still a living thing and that means it can be hurt and killed with being shot being a big way to end its life, you can also drop boiling hot lead onto it and then cold water as this will cause it to explode. But while it can die, this Xenomorph is very dangerous as if it is able to breed and create more of its kind worlds could truly end and become overrun with its species.

So now that we looked at this canine infused Xenomorph, I think that it’s time we took a look at the film that spawned him and that of course is Alien 3 that was released in 1992 from Fox. Like always, I will be taking the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s run around this isolated planet and see if we can stay one step ahead of this Alien.

Alien 3 (1992)

“Ellen Ripley is the only survivor when she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet’s maximum security prison. Once again, Ripley must face skepticism and the alien as it hunts down the prisoners and guards. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley leads the men into battle against the terrifying creature.”

20^th Century Fox was very much behind making more sequels to the 1979 hit Alien and with the 1986 film Aliens being a big hit for them a third film in the series was put into motion, but that was after going through a ton of scripts and ideas as they could not find the right one they felt would take the story to a new place and not just repeat the actions of the previous two films. Some of the ideas pitched would have had the Xenomorphs being used as weapons to keep people in line by the Weyland Corporation with Ripley and Hicks having to fight them in a epic battle. Another idea would have the Aliens invading Earth with another being that it would take place on a prison world…the latter is what Fox ended up choosing. So with many rewrites and drama, the film’s screenplay would be written by many writers that include David Giler, Larry Ferguson and Walter Hill ,and after a big search and rehires the directors chair ended up going to David Fincher, who was a music video director. The casting would see Sigourney Weaver and Lance Henriksen return to play Ellen Ripley and Bishop and new names to the cast included Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Pete Postlethwaite, Tom Woodruff Jr. and Holt McCallany to name a few. Fox would give the film a budget of $60 million and would be shot in England, and the film had a stressful shooting schedule and time, but once done Elliot Goldenthal would do the film’s score and it would be released in theaters on May 22, 1992 and would do well for Fox as the worldwide box office bringing in $159.8 million and would end up being #28 for the year out of 200 films. The film was meet with very mixed reviews from critics and movie goers and it would gain its following over the years, mostly thanks to home media releases. In 1992 Alien 3 was released alongside such other horror films as Army Of Darkness, Candyman, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dr. Giggles, Demonic Toys, The Lawnmower Man, Hellraiser III, Dust Devil, Mindwarp, Tale Of A Vampire, RAAT, Critters 4, Waxwork II, Severed Ties, Stepfather III, Split Second, The Vagrant and Buffy The Vampire Slayer to name a few. Alien 3 is a film that still gets some hate over all these years but has found its fan base as well and is worth a watch if you enjoy the Alien film franchise.

I am going to start off by saying that I am a fan of Alien 3 and have never understood the hate that the film would get from critics and viewers who trashed the more dark tones and complained about the downbeat mood of the film. I do understand one complaint about the film and that’s the death of Hicks and Newt in such a lackluster off screen way from the start, as we all would have liked to seen them continue on, but instead we got to watch Ripley once more be the hero she is and help a group of prisoners try and survive as well as sacrifice herself in order to kill the baby alien that was growing inside her. The film also gives us one more scene with android Bishop played masterfully by Lance Henriksen who also appears briefly as Michael Bishop Weyland, a man who clams to have been the creator of the androids. But one thing that I noticed that stands out like a sore thumb in this film is many of the digital effects look bad, and I mean really bad now as sometimes the alien looks like clip art made into a gif and placed in the film. But while the digital effects are questionable, the practical effects look really good and the Xenomorph looks as scary as ever. Speaking of the Xenomorph, I really like that they hint that the alien takes on much of its hosts traits and in this case a dog as the alien behaves at times like a wild dog! One thing that kind of stinks is that the film’s own director David Fincher is said to hate this film as do many of the past cast who think Fox did the whole series dirty with this one mostly by killing off the characters from the second film early all with off screen deaths. I saw the film when released on home media and at this point had already played and beat the Sega Genesis game based around it, read the adaptation novel and had talked about the Alien films with family and friends all the time…and after seeing it the first time, I really enjoyed it, a feeling I still have about the film to this day. While I get that the film is not as scary as Alien nor as epic as Aliens, it was a nice follow up that pushed the story forward and try something new with Ripley and the universe this series was building. Don’t just follow the trends of hating on films before you even see them, and check this one out and make up your own mind as you might just find yourself enjoying it.

So now that we have taken a look at the Xenomorph as well as the film Alien 3, we should get to the adaptation comic of the film that was released by Dark Horse Comics who for many years made some very cool comics based on films and shows as besides Alien they had comics based on Predator, Godzilla, Starship Troopers, The Terminator, The Thing, Gamera, Pumpkinhead and Darkness Falls to name a few. I would like to thank Bell Book And Comic for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s walk around the passage ways of the foundry located on Fiorina and see if we can stay out of the reach of the alien lurking around in the shadows.

Alien 3 # 1 **1/2
Released in 1992 Cover Price $2.50 Dark Horse # 1 of 3

A spaceship floating through space crash lands on the prison planet called Fiorina 161 with Ellen Ripley being the only survivor as Corporal Hick and Newt died, but an alien has also arrived on the planet via the crash. Mr. Andrews runs the prison planet and is not happy that a woman has arrived on the planet and order Doctor Clemens to keep her in the sick bay and not let he roam among the prisoners. A group of prisoners are sent out to retrieve the bodies and the wrecked ship, and their pet dog acts strange after making some noises. When Ripley wakes up, she finds out about the deaths of her friends and has Clemens take her to the ships wreckage and then learns that there are only 25 prisoners and one dog on the planet and they just work maintenance at the Weylend factory they all live in. Ripley asks Clemens to perform an autopsy on Newt as she tells him that it’s cause she wanted to make sure of the cause of death claiming it could have been from a sickness, but really she fears that the young girl could have an alien inside her as the wrecked ship had marks of acid blood being split. After the autopsy she finds that Newt really did pass away from the wreck and Andrews allows the Doctor to cremate the bodies and all the prisoners attend with one named Dillon saying the prayer. But while they all pay respects to the dead, the pet dog is sick and an alien is born from its torn apart body! Ripley shaves her head and finds that the prisoners really do not want her around as many of them in the past were killers and sexual predators of females, and she also has a bond with Clemens who is called out to look at a body of a prisoner that was knocked into a giant fan by the Xenomorph who spit acid in his face unknown to all of them. As Ripley goes to the scrapyard to find the body of android Bishop who would have the flight recorder of the crashed ship three prisoners on repair duty are attacked by the Xenomorph and only one is able to make a escape.

This adaptation comic from Dark Horse Comics starts pretty strong as it does a good job of staying true this far to the films plot and yet speeding up some of it in order to not only fit the film into three issues but also to keep it a little faster paced. The plot for the first issue to sum it up has Ellen Ripley waking up in a prison planet after the ship she was on wrecked and killed her friends, now she is stuck there with convicted killers and attackers who have now turned religious. But unknown to her the convicts are not the only threats that she has to worry about as a Xenomorph that was born inside a dog has also arrived and is looking to kill. While Ellen Ripley is tough, she is around some very dangerous men who nearly all have a history of violence towards women, so she really needs to be on her toes. Doctor Clemens is clearly a prisoner as well who seems to have changed his ways, but is not yet ready to share his dirty little secrets with Ellen who he has been treating. Clemens also seems to be respected by the fellow prisoners but also is on the annoyed side of Andrews who seems to not be filled in on all the goingson in the prison. And while Dillon is a dangerous man, it’s clear that he is trying to stay very loyal to his religious oath, and while he don’t like Ellen being there, he clearly has no want to hurt her. The Dog Xenomorph is very mean and quick and in this issue claims three lives that we see with one getting acid spit into his face! The issue does have some blood being spilt and violence making it a fun spooky read. The cover is really cool and eye-catching as it showcases a Xenomorph, and the interior art is done by artist Christopher Taylor and is good stuff and truly has that 90’s Dark Horse Comics look, and I have to praise his ability to draw the Xenomorph…and for those wondering the characters do not look like the actors who played them. A good issue for sure and is your average horror comic read based on a film, so if you are ready, let’s head to issue two and see what scares await us.

Alien 3 # 2 **1/2
Released in 1992 Cover Price $2.50 Dark Horse # 2 of 3

Ripley heads to the junk pile and finds the body of Bishop, but before she can get it back to the medical bay, she is attacked by some of the prisoners who are looking for a good time…but she is saved by Dillon, who beats up his fellow inmates with a crowbar and sends Ripley out of the area. Meanwhile Clemons is getting yelled at by Andrews for spending to much time with Ripley and not sharing any information with him as they have gotten a call that members of a very powerful corporation are on their way to get her. While at the medical bay Ripley learns from Bishop that a alien was on board the ship when they crashed and that all this information as been sent to the Weyland Corporation, he then has her terminate his life. The surviving prisoner of the Xenomorph attack is blamed for the murders of his fellow inmates and Ripley tries to warn Andrews and his assistant Aaron of the horrors that is roaming their prisoner factory, only for her to be mocked and ignored, as Andrews does not respect her at all and can not wait for the Weyland company to get her. Ripley goes back to Clemons and he comes clean to her that he was a drug addict doctor for years and that is what landed him there, but out of nowhere the Xenomorph attacks knocking Clemons’ head off and Ripley runs away to the mess hall where Andrews is holding a prisoner meeting and is his grabbed up into the ceiling by the Xenomorph. Ripley takes control and gets all the prisoners to set up a trap tat will seal the Xenomorph away from them all, and during this time she also learns that she has an Alien Queen in her chest! And also the crazed prisoner is free and thinks the Xenomorph is his friend.

The second issue has Ripley being attacked by some of the prisoners, being hated by the warden, finding out that a Xenomorph is in the prison factory, finds out that a company has interest in her, she is feeling sick and she watches as her only friend on the planet gets his head knocked off…so in other words she is having a very bad time on this planet! While Ripley is having a rough time, she is also a fighter as she does what she can to survive as well as try and warn the others of what kind of terror could be waiting for them around every dark corner. The one bad thing is that she also learns that the planet does not have any weapons as they do not want the prisoners to get ahold of them, leaving her pretty much defenseless against the alien. And when things get really bad Ripley also steps up and becomes the “leader” of the prisoners when they have to find a way to bring down the Xenomorph. Speaking of the Xenomorph, this alien is on a killing spree and is taking down the prisoners one by one and is doing so in such bloody ways, as that’s right this issue brings the blood and violence with the best kill being Clemons getting his head knocked off. The Prisoners seem very lost when their warden and boss Andrews is killed, and while some are for following Ripley others are not, but when Dillon puts his foot down that she is the one with leadership skills they all fall in line. The issue ends on a cliffhanger as Ripley discovers that she has an Alien Queen growing inside her, not to even mention that the Xenomorph is now on the attack causing panic with the prisoners. The cover for this issue is my favorite of the series as it really is a great cover that features the comic/movies monster. And like the last issue the interior art was done by Christopher Taylor, and again is good stuff if you like that Dark Horse Comics art style of the 90’s. And like before this, comic does a good job of staying close to the source material of the film and has some changes that makes it seem like a slightly new experience in that film’s universe. With that, let’s get to the third and final issue in this adaptation comic mini series.

Alien 3 # 3 **1/2
Released in 1992 Cover Price $2.50 Dark Horse # 3 of 3

Ripley discovers a message from the Weyland Company that alerts that they want the Xenomorph alive, and worse the Xenomorph has been captured but is set free by the crazed blamed prisoner who gets himself as well as another prisoner killed! The remaining prisoners all rush to the cell block and talk if they want to try and fight the Alien or just hide for the next 10 hours until the rescue ship arrives. Ripley meanwhile finds the Xenomorph and learns that it will not kill her cause of the Queen growing inside her, she makes a deal with Dillon that when they kill the alien he will in turn kill her to end this things bloodline…he agrees. After some harsh words with the fellow prisoners they come up with a idea that would have them trap the Xenomorph again and this time drop molten lead on it! The plan starts off smooth but soon goes into chaos as the Xenomorph starts catching and killing the prisoners until only Ripley, Dillon and one other are left alive…they are able to trap the alien and drop the lead on him, but during this time it is able to kill Dillon. The team from Weyland show up just in time to see Ripley drop water onto the melting Xenomorph and it explodes! And as the Weyland people try to convince Ripley to follow them to the ship so they can help her, she does not trust them and as the Queen in being born she leaps into the molten lead ending her life as well as the new Queens.

The saga of Ripley comes to an end…well at least until the next film and comic based on that film was released. In this issue’s plot Ripley and the remaining prisoners come up with an idea to kill the Xenomorph before the rescue team can arrive as they all know that the company wants to save the aliens life to use it as a weapon in wars. And while most of them all die they are able to kill the creature and Ripley is able to end her own life and destroy the Queen that was being born, ending the terror for now. Ripley really does want to die in this issue as she fears what will happen if any of the aliens are taken to Earth and knows that her death is the only thing that can stop it from happening as if they get their hands on the Queen growing inside her they could have an armor of them in no time. Dillon becomes a hero for sure as through this series he is the one who stops the other prisoners attack on Ripley, gives his life to try and bring down the Xenomorph and seems to truly be one of the prisoners who have found religion. The Weyland people are very much liars as they even send the creator of the android Bishop in order to try and get Ripley to follow them to their ship to “save” her and get ride of the alien baby…its clear they do not care about the people on the prison planet and really just want the power of the Xenomorph. And speaking of the Alien it really is a killing machine as it makes quick and bloody work out of many of the prisoners and while it is very dangerous it dies a painful death as hot lead and cold water don’t mix! The comic stays pretty close to the film and does change Dillon’s death as here he is dragged into the molten lead as in the film he is trapped with the alien and demands they drop the lead to try and kill the alien. The issue has lots of blood and kills and this helps add to the Horror of the comic, but to be honest lots of the scares comes from the dark mood and atmosphere. Like before artist Christopher Taylor does the interior art and its good stuff and the cover like before as well is really cool and eye-catching. Over all if you like the film Alien 3 or just the Alien films and comics in general, you should check this one out. Take a look at the artwork below to see the style used by Christopher Taylor in this comic mini series.

Alien 3 really is one of those films that you either love of hate, with much more being very negative about it…but if you like a more dark mood outing for the Aliens, then this is one I think you will enjoy. Plus once more I have to stress that I miss the days of Dark Horse Comics when they would make some amazing comics based on horror films, they seem to be lacking in that department lately. But with all that said our time with Alien 3 is coming to an end so I think that before we head our separate ways I would like to tell you that the next update of course will keep us in the world of horror films as we will be talking about the 1965 film Two On A Guillotine and the Dell Comic adaptation of the film. So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next time for a evil magic show in a haunted house!