Continuing their reign as masters of gothic horror fantasy in the graphic novel world, the creators involved with titles including Manor Black, Harrow County and The Sixth Gun are back with a new supernatural horror: The Midnite Show. Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt figuratively break the fourth wall in their latest tale of terror from Dark Horse Comics, as monsters evade their cinema screen boundaries, breaking free and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting townsfolk. With colouring from Bill Crabtree and lettering by Jim Campbell, let’s have some classic, noir-style slasher fun, in this juicy compendium collecting all four issues of the original comic book run.
One thing that initially drew me to The Midnite Show was its hypnotising cover, with lettering from Campbell resembling the corny, blood-soaked film titles of the noughties, and artwork from Hurtt depicting a brightly lit monster amongst a grey, decomposing crowd of cinema watchers. The narrative begins retrospectively with the filming of a vampiric horror movie; however, at a pinnacle moment, the scene is cut short when a fire erupts on set. With the director nowhere to be found, the cast and crew are forced to abandon the building as it goes up in flames, leaving the fate of the director, Basil Saxon, ambiguous, and the film incomplete: “The film – Saxon’s masterpiece – was never completed. And the film was lost. Until now”.
Back in the present day, the reader is left with a sense of unease as Saxon’s lost film ‘God of Monsters’ premieres in cinemas. Horror film buffs clap and holler, as Dr Magnus Morbid presides over the event, letting the audience in on some behind-the-scenes secrets – particularly interesting is that Saxon played ALL the monsters in each of his films, as well as writing and directing. Oh, and also that the film is rumoured to be cursed – no big deal. Except it totally is. As the monsters are given exposition on screen, they are simultaneously spawning and killing innocent victims throughout the small town, whilst the film watchers remain oblivious to the blurring of fact and fiction.
The panels steadily flip back and forth between scenes in the film, and the killing spree outside the confines of the cinema; in both film and reality, fishermen are gnawed to death by ‘The Dweller’, a terrifying man-fish hybrid with razor-sharp teeth, Frankenstein’s monster kills to reclaim his laboratory and Count Dracula emerges from the dark shadows of the cinema, thirsty for blood. The cinema=goers finally discover what’s going on when attacked and forced from the theatre by a bloodthirsty gang of bats: “If you haven’t noticed, there’s some sort of goddamned apocalypse underway”, says one celebrity guest, as she watches Count Dracula bite into the neck of an innocent bystander. A ragtag group of survivors quickly forms, who it turns out, may be the town’s only hope…
What an awesome concept to see come to life in graphic novel form. It was so much fun to see traditional horror film monsters in a real-world setting, wreaking their personal brand of chaos. The range of monsters was great: from the terrifying, mummified Amon Razar who can turn living humans to bones and dust, to the bulging, bulky ‘Necro-Wolf’, able to rip the faces from perpetrators. Each monster is drawn spectacularly, being shrouded mostly in black, with elements of red and icy cold blues really highlighting them as hardened and otherworldly compared with the soft, fleshy humans. As the group hits the streets in search of a solution, the panels become overwhelmed with a white mist, as if they themselves have become characters in a dramatic horror film. Their surroundings also change depending on the monster they are facing, for example, their small town becomes 1960s London in the face of Dracula.
The body horror leans more towards the slasher side of the horror genre, with the violence not being too gratuitous. Another fun detail to note is the typographic changes when each monster is speaking; Campbell shows his versatility and uses the lettering masterfully to reflect each monster’s personality; Dracula’s speech is all in red, whilst the Mummy’s takes on an Egyptian calibre, and the Necro-Wolf’s an almost furry quality. The onomatopoeic effects are also fantastically rendered, with ‘splooshes’ and ‘blams’ erupting across the pages, while the chapter dividers were another star of the show, having almost a 3D effect, and showcasing one monster per chapter in all their gory glory.
One thing I love about comic book compendiums is getting to see all the variations of the cover art, usually compiled in a gallery towards the back. The variants are vivid and mesmerising and showcase a fantastic range of amazing artists. I could go on for pages and pages waxing lyrical about how fun this grisly, gore-fest was to read, but my advice to all lovers of the horror genre is to pick up the collection of The Midnite Show and experience its manic madness for yourselves.
Cullen Bunn (W), Brian Hurtt (A), Bill Crabtree (C), Jim Campbell (L) • Dark Horse Comics, $19.99
Review by Lydia Turner
