Night of the Ghoul Review (Scott Snyder, Francesco Francavilla)

Forest Innman, a film archivist, and his son Orson drive out to a remote Californian rest home for the elderly on a quest to track down the elusive old-timey writer/director, TF Merrit. Forest is a fan of Merrit’s supposedly lost 1946 masterpiece, Night of the Ghoul, and hopes to find the final reel of the film from the man who might know where it is. But what Forest doesn’t realise is that the horror fiction in the movie is actually real - and the Ghoul is not far away…

Night of the Ghoul is two noteworthy things: the only Comixology Original I’ve read that wasn’t pure dross and Scott Snyder’s best comic in years. Neither is high praise given what they’re compared to, but this is still a pretty decent horror comic that definitely held me attention, even with the abundance of cliches dotted throughout the story.

SPOILERS for the rest of the review because my critiques mention a final act plot twist and other details. Ultimately I’m recommending it for horror fans even though Snyder doesn’t really stick the landing.

The story is a good balance between the present day Forest and Orson in the increasingly creepy rest home with Merrit and scenes from the titular black and white movie that opens in WW1 in 1917 and onwards through the ‘20s. I liked that he made an effort in giving Forest and Orson some substance so they’re not just horror movie stereotypes, there to run around screaming while the monsters are loose. Forest wants to prove to his son that he’s doing something with his life while you feel Orson’s frustration at his father and knowing what he does about his mother, Forest’s estranged wife.

Snyder builds up the suspense and intrigue slowly and effectively so that you know something’s not right in the rest home, ditto the events in the movie, and he keeps you guessing throughout. Crucially also, he keeps the monster out of sight, save for an occasional glimpse, for most of the story, which always makes for a tense and unnerving horror story.

What I wasn’t impressed with was the overreliance on horror staples, like when the lines of old folks lean out of their rooms behind Orson’s back before snapping back into their rooms as one, the old lady in the abandoned Italian village murmuring about the curse of the ghoul, the animals with red eyes, and the professor character who predictably and quite helpfully appears mid-story to dump info on the ghoul. Oh, and of course the handy coincidence that the father and son just so happen to make it to the rest home on the very important night they did. Maybe the intention is deliberately cheesy - the comic is called “Night of the Ghoul” after all - but that doesn’t make it good either.

I didn’t see the twist at the end coming but that’s because Snyder presents The Order of the Fly and The Legion of the Scarab as both absurdly sinister so the misdirect is easy (and not especially convincing either - The Legion of the Scarab still looks evil AF). And the ending itself is a silly horror movie cop-out. The final reel of the movie is stupid too - what, they kept filming Merrit’s burning rather than drop the camera and try to help him? It’s the comic book equivalent of those Lovecraft stories in diary form that end with the main character writing even as they’re being dragged away by nameless horrors - such a dumb conceit.

Francesco Francavilla’s art is really great - his style of thick blacks works really well within this genre and story, lending them a powerful shadowy atmosphere, and some of the body horror scenes were disturbing enough to be worthy of a Junji Ito book! I didn’t love the Ghoul itself though. The design reminded me of Bloom, the Batman villain from the tail end of Snyder’s Batman run when things got bad, with those fingers, not to mention those grotesque oversized teeth looking like Greg Capullo’s cover of Batman #27.

Night of the Ghoul is so contrived that it borders on farcical comedy but it’s also undeniably entertaining. I read it through in one sitting and that’s rare for me. Definitely the only title in Snyder’s growing Millarworld-esque range of Amazon comics that’s worth checking out, and a solid horror comic to boot. I also recommend Snyder’s best horror comic, Severed, if you haven’t read it yet.