Score:
★★★★★ (5/5)
The Scott Snyder/Comixology era has been unsurprisingly fantastic as the three exclusive digital comics - Clear, We Are Demons, and Night of the Ghoul - have been as exciting to read as one would hope from a titan in the industry. They'll eventually be printed for release by Dark Horse Comics but the outstanding story of this trio has been the goosebump-inducing 'Ghoul.' A non-stop old-fashioned thriller straight out of the early monster movie days where you're on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. And the conclusion in issue six is no different with one of the wildest most unsettling finales you'll read this year.
Forest's obsession with Merrit and his unfinished film reaches a dramatic end at the studio where it started all for the filmmaker. It would be perfectly normal were it not for the fact that a dead woman is in Forest's car, his son Orson is frantically trying to reach him on his phone, and Merrit is on the verge of death himself. Forest has had tunnel-vision this entire series and it's led him to "rescue" Merrit from the care facility and selfishly see the end of his film at any cost. Without giving away the ending, it's fair to say that without Forest's obsessive reckless behavior, the threat of the ghoul may have been held in check as it's been for years. Instead, Forest's single-mindedness has put not just himself in danger but his son and others while indulging the creepy filmmaker and his legacy. At what cost you might ask?
Francesco Francavilla is a master of horror and 'Ghoul' is a highlight reel of what the talented artist is capable of. Snyder and Francavilla put together a tense and unnerving story that continually escalates into a nerve-wracking and shocking twist after twist. Most of the second half of the issue is a chaotic unyielding terror-fest with some of the most horrifying shots since the Alien movie franchise. Francavilla hits all the right notes in framing every new shocking image like a conductor in a symphony from the depths of hell. I imagine him maniacally laughing as he puts ink to paper giving horror fans all they can take in this masterful display of monster mayhem.
'Night of the Ghoul' demonstrates how old-fashioned monster tales can still invoke terror in the modern day with some clever myth-making and genuine reckless abandon. It's the type of scary story-telling that slowly builds upon the myth and the legend without showing everything until all hell breaks loose and the monster reveals itself but by that time it's too late to look away in fright. Snyder and Francavilla conclude their masterpiece of horror with unrelenting passion and gleeful menace.
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