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: 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: The Remaining (2014)

Posted on February 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 taking a look at a religious horror flick that would end up getting the graphic novel treatment from Kingstone Comics! this is a sub genre of horror that I think is often over looked by fans as most just think that they will be preachy and lack the scares of your normal horror feature, but that’s not true. While yes, they all tend to have a very faith based message, some of them truly bring some scares as who doesn’t find the end of the world scary? And the fright flick we will be looking at today is The Remaining, a film about the end of days. So if you are ready, let’s dive into this film as well as the graphic novel based around it.

Before we get too deep into our look at The Remaining, let’s take a look at the Demons who are our killers and death bringers in this film. When the Rapture happens and the second trumpet echoes out into the air, The Fallen, who are winged demons, come upon the Earth and attack the remaining people left behind. The demonic Fallen fly around in the darkness and stormy sky and swoop down to attack their prey. The Fallen truly love to torture their victims as they feed on people’s fear and misery. Their appearance is very ghastly, and this puts fear into the hearts of those who see them. They are very strong and can lift a person into the sky to either kill them or injure them before dropping them back down to the ground. They also make horrible noises and at times you can hear them in the air above you before they come down to snatch you up. They hunt humans mostly during the night and are drawn to people who pray or find faith in God as they want to wipe his teaching and word from this world. Their main tool to deal death are their tails that are much like a scorpions as they can impale a person as well as sting them that inflicts as very nasty wound that has poison inside it and also gets infected very easily. The Fallen Demons will kill individually but also will kill in a horde, and they truly are very dangerous. The Fallen Demons do not have any known weakness, and once they are called to Earth, there is no way to defeat them. So as you can see, these demonic Fallen truly are very dangerous and could even be unstoppable.

Now that we have seen what the Demons can do to those humans that are left behind, we should take a look at the film they are from! 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 about it. So if you are ready, let’s see what would happen to those who would remain.

The Remaining (2014)

“A supernatural thriller that addresses questions of life, love and belief against an apocalyptic backdrop. A group of close friends gather for a wedding, but the celebration is shattered by a series of cataclysmic events and enemies foretold by biblical end-times prophecies. The survivors face a horrifying, uncertain future as they scramble for safety, but as their world collapses around them in chaos and terror will they choose real life through faith, or just try to survive?”

The Remaining was a film that was created by Casey La Scala, who was the producer behind such films as Donnie Darko and Amityville: The Awakening and was inspired to write and direct his own horror film after visiting the set of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. He wanted his film to be on a bigger scale for the scares and that’s when he decided to base it around The Book of Revelations and the rapture that is said to take place when believers all over the world will be called to Heaven and those left behind will face the end of days. The film was picked up by Triumph Films for release and then such names as Johnny Pacar, Shaun Sipos, Alexa Vega, Italia Ricci, Liz E, Morgan and Bryan Dechart was brought in for lead roles, and Nathan Whitehead was brought in to score the film. The film was released on September 5, 2014 in limited theaters and would end up grossing $1,169,603.00 on a unknown budget and come out alongside other horror films as Tusk, The Pyramid, The Quiet Ones, Devil’s Due, As Above So Below and Dracula Untold, to name a few. The film would also be shown around the world and was well reviewed by fans and critics to very mixed reviews with many praising the terror but hating the dialogue. While it’s not a popular nor cult film, it does have its fans and has left its mark on the horror genre and is one of the biggest film in the faith-based horror subgenre in the last few decades.

The Remaining is a film that I have overlooked for years and did not really pay attention to it until 2022 when I found that the film also had a comic book based around it. So I knew I had to see it and cover the graphic novel here, and it would be 2023 before I would both watch the film and read the graphic novel. On a lazy summer Sunday I put the DVD of The Remaining in the player and sat back and watched it, and I have to say that over all I enjoyed it as I feel that the film had some great visuals and used darkness and shadows really well in many of the scenes. The first picture in this update is one of my favorite shots in the film as it has a very dark and spooky mood that truly says horror. Those who are looking for The Fallen Demons to be a big part of the film as far as being seen will be a little disappointed as they are not seen hardly at all and when you do it’s seconds. I really do wish that we would have seen more of them as they are truly the main villains of the film as they stalk our heroes across the city. The film’s writer and director Casey La Scala was raised religious, and it was clear that he wanted to make a horror film that could be faith based but yet not be so forceful in pushing a message, and for the most part he pulls it off. But with that said, much of the meaning of put your trust and faith in God is very present and only slightly in the end truly pushes that message home. While I do also agree that some of the dialogue is a little bland, I did find that I liked the bond the actors seemed to have making this film as it showed up on screen. I also liked actress Italia Ricci who I think could have made a go at becoming a horror actress, she did play Silver Banshee in the TV Show Supergirl for five episodes and she is one of my favorite Superman villains next to Parasite and Doomsday. Also for those who are wondering actress Alexa Vega who plays Skylar is best known for playing Carmen Cortez in the Sky Kids movies and has been in other horror films like “Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)”, “Mother’s Day (2010)”, “The Devil’s Carnival (2012)” and “Machete Kills (2013)” to name a few. And let’s be honest, I feel that one sub genre that gets over looked is faith based horror and I would like to see Kingstone Comics along with artist Kyle Holtz to team up and make more comics like this based off these type of films. Over all this is not a groundbreaking film but was a creepy end of days film that brought some scares as well as makes you wonder what would happen to you if the end of days happened in your lifetime.

So as you can see, The Remaining have their hands full with The Demonic Fallen that want to bring them death and a part of the destruction of the world as we know it. But now we are at the part of this update that we take a look at the graphic novel adaptation of the film that was released by Kingstone Comics, you remember them the Christian comic publisher that we covered when we did an update on Samson that you can read here. I would like to thank Amazon for having this graphic novel in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to 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 take a look at The Remaining and see how well this graphic novel stays true to the film it’s based on.

The Remaining GN ***
Released in 2014 Cover Price $9.99 Kingstone # 1 of 1

It’s Dan and Skylar’s wedding day, and Tommy Covington is filming it walking around the venue and getting video of their friends and family wishing them good luck and this includes Jack, Ally and Lauren. The ceremony goes smooth but Dan needs to tell Skylar something but all the guests keep interrupting. The reception is filled with joy and prayer, but Ally seems to be down and Jack notices as they are dating, and they break up that very night as she does not think he truly loves her. And just like that the air gets cold and people at the wedding just drop over dead, and Tommy is able to find a few of the living that include Skylar, Dan and Jack, and they are scared and shocked as outside planes are falling from the sky and crashing to Earth and the earthquakes start happening as the group of friends flee the venue in order to try and find Ally, but to their horror they find a massive storm is in the air and the streets are littered with death and destruction and all the while Tommy keeps on filming. The group also find that others are still alive and people are trying to help one another, and what is on everyone’s mind is why this happened and why are they left alive. Skylar tells the others that she thinks this is the End Of The World as told in the Bible and that the dead are the good people called to heaven, and she wants them all to find shelter as what is coming next will be very bad. Just then the sky turns weird and massive hail falls from the sky and causes them to hide in a library where they meet a teenager name Sam who ends up joining them as they continue their quest to find Ally, and now there is loud noises coming from the sky and so do demonic creatures that try at attack them, but they once more find shelter this time in a church as Skylar is injured by the creatures and needs medical help. And at the church they also find Ally who is happy to see them but also upset about the death of her friends and Skylar being injured. The priest is still at the church and fills in the friends about the Rapture and Tommy shows them his video that shows the demons in the sky that hurt Skylar as Jack and Ally make up and confuse their love for one another. Skylar’s wounds are getting infected and Dan goes out to the parking lot to get more medicine from the nurses van to help her, and they are able to get it and escape the sky demons that are all around. Tommy gets talking to Sam and they two bond over food and Tommy telling her about his love for Ally, and then all the friends start telling each other their dirty secrets like Dan had an affair, Tommy tells Ally his feelings for her and Jack is filled with anger. The Demons break into the church and kill the priest and the nurse, leaving everyone afraid in the basement. In the morning Dan, Jack, Tommy, Ally, Sam and the injured Skylar make their way to the hospital to get treatment for her as she is dying and while Tommy and Jack search the hospital for medicine, Skylar dies in Dan’s arms as Ally and Sam are with them in this moment of grief. Dan goes outside and curses the name of God and is killed by a demon, as Tommy and Jack return to the body of Skylar they find Ally has been killed as well by a demon. Now its only Tommy, Jack and Sam left, and they make their way to the bridge were many people have gathered. And Tommy makes the connection that everyone of his friends that have just died got attacked once they found a link with God, and Jack right then is at the prayer tent and gets ripped apart by demons. In the end Tommy and Sam are running for their lives as the demons are all around and have to make a choice.

The Remaining is a creepy look at the end of days and follows a group of friends who are at a wedding when the rapture happens and they stick together looking for safety and to get answers and along their way they see lots of death of destruction, pick up a new friend name Sam and even encounter demons in the sky that want to make humans dead who try and find faith now. And in the end many of the friends do not make it and the ones that do have to make a choice find God and be ripped apart or stay neutral and watch as Earth turns into Hell. For a faith based horror comic based on a horror film, this is a pretty great read as all the spooky elements come from The Sky Demons (The Fallen) as well as just the atmosphere of the world coming to an end and the fear of those left behind. Our main focus of the film is Tommy Covington, a man who was hired to film his two friends’ wedding and who by the end of this graphic novel confesses his love for a woman dating his best friend, becomes friends with a young woman he meets that a fellow survivor and lastly tries to be the peacemaker in the high tension environment that his friends find themselves in. Jack and Ally are a couple that have been dating for seven years, and while she wants to get married, he seems to just be happy with the way things are, and right before The Rapture, the two break up and he spends his time trying to find her as he truly does love her. Sadly they both meet their end at the hands of The Demons as both end up finding faith and guidance in God. Sam is a younger lady who has found herself alone and hiding in the library before she ends up joining up with Tommy and his friends, and she truly becomes part of their group and goes along the quest to find and save others. The newly married couple are Dan and Skylar who are deeply in love and things get bad when she is attacked by The Demons that cause terrible wounds that get infected and as well filled with poison, and she dies of her wounds and Dan turns on God and faith all together and gets killed. And that is the thing, all of these friends have their own secrets and these could be what has kept them from being brought to Heaven during The Rapture as many are not close or have to faith. The Demons are truly evil as they attack anyone who mentions God as their goal is truly to bring on the end of times, and all those who are sinners or faithless will be the target for their deadly attacks. The graphic novel does have some blood and violence, but is by no means a bloodbath. The cover for this graphic novel is pretty cool ,and the interior artwork done by Kyle Hotz is top notch as Kyle’s style is perfect for this style of faith based horror comics…in fact I wish Kingstone Comics and Kyle Hotz would team up more often and make more comics and graphic novels based on faith-based horror films! While many readers might be turned away from the religious tones and messages in this graphic novel, I for one was not as I found it to be a entertaining read that was filled with some spooky moments and did its job of making a group of friends come together under extreme stress in order to try and watch after each other. And I want to also say that I feel that this graphic novel did a great job of staying true to the film its based on with the major change being they show The Fallen more and I am ok with that change! Checkout the artwork below to see the style of Kyle Hotz used in this graphic novel.

The Remaining is one of those horror films that is not known but has its share of fans, and I am sure this graphic novel helped bring attention to the film as that is what comic books based on the fright films of the cinema and home media are good for, and I really do wish that more filmmakers and studios would work with comic publishers to make these types of comics for readers. I really do give Kingstone Comics respect for doing this comic series as this is totally out of the norm for them, and I hope that they do more comics like this as I would like to see them do a comic based on the 2023 film Nefarious as I think it could have made a great spooky read, make this happen Kingstone and Kyle Hotz! But our time with The Remaining has come to an end, but our time with horror comics based on horror films has not as our next update will take us to the Motel Hello or I mean Motel Hell as I will be revisiting that film as well as the IDW Comic series based on 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. I hope we get in time to the Motel to get some fresh Farmer Vincent jerky!

The Undead Files: Zombies From Hell

Posted on February 12, 2017 by bloodlinematt

On this Undead Files, we will be taking a look at the not so mainstream version of the living dead. You know, the stuff that people would say is scraping the bottom of the barrel, the black slime of the genre that most fans would like to throwaway and act as if it never was. After searching local comics stores, horror conventions and the web I have found a backyard zombie comic that fits the bill; all my friends who are fans of underground and independent comics have never heard of this one and neither had I until I found it listed on Ebay for $1.49 plus $1.99 shipping. This zombie comic is called “Zombies From Hell” and was made by Robert Bennett. So let’s travel the unsafe world of the living dead once more and take a trip with some zombies down a generic road that leads to the bargain basement of undead doom!

This is part is not so much about a low budget zombie story but one you all might find funny. In 2015 during the Christmas season, a couple in Cincinnati, Ohio decided to mix Halloween in with their Christmas decorations and made a zombie nativity scene complete with a zombie baby Jesus! In 2014, they had done the same thing as a publicity stunt for a haunted attraction that they ran and most the locals seemed to dig it, but the city didn’t and in 2015 they tried to charge the couple $500 a day for not getting a permit to build the horror themed nativity! Think about that, they were threatened with fines for being into horror and turning Halloween decorations into Christmas ones! This upset the wound-too-tight city officials who in turn got the law enforcement involved…what have we become!?! In 2016, neighbors of a Texas homeowner were upset over his zombie babies Halloween display, and sadly this crybaby (get the pun) behavior is spreading as many other people getting into decorating for Halloween and Christmas with a touch of horror are being targeted by sticks in the mud who want to take the fun out of everything and are way too judgmental on those who like dark entertainment. So if you are one of these people who have extreme Halloween decorations or mix zombies into your Christmas ones, I say keep being you and there is nothing wrong with being a monster kid and making the holiday more fun for those who enjoy the spirit.

Horror films were a staple for my brother and I growing up, and we would see many of them on the USA Network. That goes for the film I have chosen that should have been made into a comic book series, and that film is “Zombie Nightmare,” a classic undead flick that’s been shown many times on USA Saturday Nightmares and is also known being riffed by Mystery Science Theater 3000. This 1987 low budget horror film is about a young baseball player who’s dad was murdered saving the local voodoo woman from some punks when he was very young. Once he grows up, he’s killed in a hit and run and comes back to life thanks to the voodoo woman who makes him a zombie who has revenge on his mind. The film starred rockstar John Mikl Thor and Adam West and is a truly cheesy flick filled with lots of over the top acting and kills. If I could make the comic via Blood Scream Comics, the plot would be this: It’s modern days, and Tony Washington’s old neighborhood has gotten worse. Crime is out of hand, and gang violence is out of control. When his mother is murdered in a home invasion gone wrong, the voodoo of Molly Mokembe brings the long dead Tony back from the gave and with his trusty ball bat, he embarks on a one zombie war against the gang members responsible. Throw in the cops and you have a mix of action and horror. The artist I would love to see on this one would be Damien Brunk as his style would be perfect for it. I would also live to see Eibon Press do a comic book based on this film as an adaptation. While Zombie Nightmare might not be one of the 80’s most popular zombie films, it sure as hell has a place in my black heart and should have gotten a comic book back in the late 80’s and it’s a shame that it didn’t.

So before we get to the extremely zero budget comic, I think I should talk about a cheesy zombie video game that I played in my youth. My brother was the first to buy a PC in our household, and he was so hyped to get onto the internet that was new at the time. To be truthful, part of the reason we were hyped is because we could look up stuff about horror films, comic books, video games and pro wrestling, and we wanted to check out the TNT Monstervision website! But while the net was cool, we were also hyped that we could play video games not only on CD but also 3.5” diskettes, and this opened the door for us to play many games like Doom 2, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Free Ski, You Don’t Know Jack, Waxworks and a little cheesy first person gem called “Isle Of The Dead.” The plot of this game has you as a survivor of a plane crash on an island that is overrun by zombies and is ruled by a mad scientist who is the madman creating the flesh eaters. The game, besides being a first person shooter that had you use guns and a machete to hack the baddies, also had elements of a point and click adventure as you have to find items and weapons in order to survive. While I have lots of great memories about the game, it did have many flaws as it was prone to freezing during play, was repetitive and by all accounts just a really bad game, but something about it made me love it. I can remember spending hours playing it on my brother’s old computer and always wondering if they every made a sequel…they didn’t. The game was made by Rainmaker Software and published by Merit Software in 1993. It was poorly received and came and went with out making a splash in the world of Doom and Wolfenstein dominating the first person shooter PC Gaming world, but at the Brassfield house Isle of The Dead was a popular survival horror game that to this day is one of my favorite PC games and had one amazing music score that I still hum to this day. Do yourself a favor if you love cheesy first person zombie shooters and your PC/Mac can play old DOS games, get yourself a copy and have a great time trying to survive the isle of the dead!

Well we are at the Undead Graveyard and in this section the cardboard gravestones are starting to fall over. From here you can see just how far away Zombies From Hell is from The Dead and Resident Evil that came before it in “The Undead Files” updates. From here the zombies wandering around look like they are just wearing K-Mart brand Halloween grease paint and rubber masks but for me that kind of cheesy stuff is backyard effect gold. Now lets see if this no budget approach can also do well in the horror comic world. One of the zombie is mumbling from his rubber mask and the muffled words sound like he wants me to remind you that I grade these on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So let’s take a seat next to this bent tombstone under this rotting tree and see what horrors Zombies From Hell has in store for me.

Zombies From Hell # 1 **
Released in 2014 Cover Price $2.99 Middle Atlantic Comixs # 1 of 1

Sam has found a book that is the key to open the Gates of Hell. He calls his good friend Professor Griffin along with a busty blonde female, they follow the book to the location that is said to hold the opening to Hell. Sam speaks a chant, and a door appears on an old tree. When they pry open it, they find a hotel lobby that is the waiting area before Hell and meet Zeus, the son of Satan and the manager of the hotel that has not seen a mortal in over 500 years. They soon find they are trapped in the lobby until they die, but meanwhile in our world, a band of bank robbing females are on the run after killing a guard and find the door in the tree and also enter to find they are now trapped. The girls panic and use guns on Zeus to no effect and even open the door that frees zombies after they were warned not to! Zombies come out of the door looking for meat and attack not only the robbing women but also Sam and his friends. The cops have tracked down the robber’s car and open the door in the tree allowing the survivors to escape but make the mistake of opening the door again, allowing the zombies to escape and eat them all!

This is truly an underground comic as its clearly put together using a copy machine from a library or even maybe an Office Depot as well as a glue stick that is holding the first page to the cover! And while some of you readers might be discrediting this comic for its cheap production, others are now more intrigued. The story follows a man who has been looking for a book that has been missing for 500 years that holds the secrets of Hell. He cons his friends into going on the quest with him and soon finds that his book only leads him to a boring lobby of a hotel. Throw in some female bank robbers, a creepy hotel manager and a horde of meat eating zombies, and you have the plot of this fun silly independent horror comic. Sam is the comic’s lead, and we are never filled into why he wants to find the opening to Hell. It’s clear that he is a jerk as he forces his friends by gunpoint to enter the door he thinks will lead them all to Hell! Griffin and his blonde female friend are just used as background characters who are trapped in the classic “Wrong Place Wrong Time” scenario. The three female robbers are bad news and are killers who don’t listen and the ones who cause the zombie outbreak, but they meet a fitting gut munching demise. Zeus is weirdly enough the voice of reason and also kind of crazy in delivering his warnings, I mean he is the son of Satan! The comic has some blood and gore but it’s nothing too gruesome, and has tiny bits of nudity as you can see slight female nipples during the zombie attack. Speaking of zombies, they are pretty cool looking and are your classic skull face looking ones. The cover is ok but does not truly capture the nature of the comic. I do, however, love the fact the color is done with colored pencils. The black and white art inside is done by Robert Bennett who also wrote the story, and while both are sloppy, they have a charm for this style of underground comic book making. This is clearly not for everyone, but I for one sure did enjoy every cheesy moment of reading it!

So as you can see, just because this comic was put together using a glue stick and some copy paper didn’t mean it was at least not entertaining, proving that comic books much like films don’t have to have huge budgets to bring on the enjoyment. But guess what readers, we are not done with zombies just yet as our next update will be a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update and will showcase the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake and the promo comic that was released along with it. So until next time, make sure to have a plan set in case of a zombie apocalypse, read a comic or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update readers and friends.