Alex Sarll's Reviews > Night of the Ghoul

I've said elsewhere that all Snyder's recent horror stuff seems to be variations on the theme of Wytches, and that ideally he'd finish that rather than getting distracted by alternate takes. But within that moan, this is a pretty good variation on the theme. A film restorer's obsession with a great lost horror film, which of course is called Night Of The Ghoul*, has wrecked his marriage; now, with his ambivalent son in tow, he's succeeded in tracking down both what survives of the film itself, and its vanished director. Who of course tells him that it's all true, and that the fire which destroyed the film was no accident. None of this is particularly new, and in places it's a little too keen to obfuscate that; when our seeker tells the director his film "created a new classic creature", really? The ghoul was already a creature of folklore and nightmare, just as the vampire was, and if the version seen here differs from that of the old tales, well, so does the Hollywood vampire. As for the idea of one monster which inspired the legends of all the others...well, again, that seems at least strongly implicit. But for the most part the story does an excellent job of working in all manner of horridness without ever feeling like it's sacrificed consistency of theme or tone. Much of the praise for which must go to Francavilla, whose shadowed art knows exactly the unnerving things comics can do best, and then delights in running down the list: the image of the trusting victim just beginning to realise something might be awry, as a shadowy claw descends from above and silhouetted figures open doors behind, is perfectly done. I think I even detected a nod to the Ghoul card from the old horror set of Top Trumps, improbable as that reference seemed. There's a topical relevance, too, in the notion of secret societies working for and against the Ghoul. Or at least, there used to be; the opponents were all wiped out, leaving only the Order of the Fly, the ones who believe "its job is to show us that everything we do to make meaning out of our existence – art, music, civilisation – it's nothing. The only meaning comes from surviving together as a species, a tribe." No wonder they've been doing so well these past few years.

*I still find it bothersome that there is no term for a work of fiction which shares its name with the non-existent work at the centre of its plot. It's not like there aren't enough high-profile examples, not least the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.