Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The House of Demons!
Let's take a look at one more shivery 70's Skywald tale before we head back into the freaky 50's for the usual / unusual fare around here... today's story also comes from the nerve wracking, November 1973 issue of Psycho #15 (see our previous post too), and where as the last "horror-mood" classic relied primarily upon gruesome gore and shocking violence to achieve its mood, The House of Demons is more about shadowy atmosphere and lurking, gloomy evil. Nice, slick art from Amador Garcia too, full of heavy blacks and wonderful Poe-esque detail.
Oh man, I loved this one. Everybody in this tale is a dark, immoral, twisted cruel, wicked character and I love it! The artwork is stunning, and the tale is dark and wonderfully twisted. I love the last panel on page 8 with the uncle and the nurse ready to murder Vincent.
ReplyDeleteThis could have done without the twist. I like it, even though it's predictable, but the story could have stood on it's own without the last page.
ReplyDeleteThe whole "reflection in the mirror" is a bit unannounced and kind of flimsy, but I'll give it a pass. GCD says Chic Stone wrote this.
The art: awesome. Good horror art, good "good girl" art, and an excellent use of black & white to show darkness and gloom. Fine work. This is the kind of fun, Poe-ish type of tale Skywald was so good at.
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ReplyDeleteThis really has the feeling of a BW Italian horror film as much as anything else. In fact, that picture of Melanie in the center of Page 4 makes her look like Barbara Steele in any given role in one of those.
ReplyDeleteThis might be the only weird story that has a secret panel that's been so overused it doesn't work very well as a secret panel!
You got in one, Grant. Completely like those early '60's gothic horrors from Italy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent art, and "That scream! It came from the cellar!" - how can you not love it.