Comics
Exclusive: Interview With Haunted Caves Scribe and Halloween Producer Sammy Montana! Part 1
Continuing our week of exclusive interviews with several of the industries’ key names in horror, today we have the first installment of my 2 part interview with writer/producer Sammy Montana (Writer-“THE HAUNTED CAVES”, Producer of the “HALLOWEEN” films)! Beyond the break you’ll Sammy talks with us about his original graphic novel “THE HAUNTED CAVES”, breaking into the industry, and his experience with comics personal and professional.
THEoDEAD: First off thank you for your time again, Sammy. I greatly appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to do an interview with us. Before we get into why don’t you introduce yourself to the readers who may not be familiar with your work whether it be in the film industry or in the comic book community.
Sammy: Sure, well I work production and development as a producer for the “Halloween” film franchise. Initially I got approached by a guy for the “Haunted Caves” (graphic novel). He had a script for the comic and wanted to do a graphic novel for it so we talked back and forth for quite awhile on whether it would work as a graphic novel or not, at first we thought we might end up getting somebody else actually, and I pitched my idea for the story and my take on the graphic novel, and they went for it. We talked to Devil’s Due Publishing about putting it into graphic novel format and they ended up going for it and publishing it.
THEoDEAD: I actually got to read “The Haunted Caves” and I really enjoyed it quite a bit. Now I did hear that the story was in development for a film, what’s going on with that? Is it still kind of in pre-production limbo?
Sammy: Michael made a trailer to the movie to try and help sell the idea, and we went back and forth with negotiations for the film, but then Michael had some personal issues come up and he was dealing with that. At the time we weren’t done with negotiations so that kind of took up our time. And then it honestly kind of fell by the way side. We had other projects that we were dealing with in other genres, action, horror, comedy stuff. So then we kind of fell out of touch.
THEoDEAD: That’s too bad. I got to watch the trailer and from what I saw it was very good, I really enjoyed the look and feel it had going for it. I know there were a lot of people who saw it and really dug it. It’s to bad that that kind of fell through.
Sammy: Yea, I’m definitely if he’s wants to get back in touch I’d love to continue talks because it’s really cool. There’s so much in the graphic novel because we had such a limited amount of time because the story is like 48 pages, so we had a limited amount of time to put the story on paper. So you had to figure out what to put in there and what not to put in there. And there was much more that I wanted to do with the graphic novel. I wanted to delve deeper into the characters but a lot of things had to be cut out because we were on a time crunch. So in the end I thought it turned out good but I think it definitely could have turned out much better. But yea I liked working with the artist and it was a lot of fun.
THEoDEAD: Well hopefully that works itself out because I know a lot of us would be looking forward to seeing the movie happen. Recently I got to sit down and talk to Joe Harris (“Ghost Projekt”, “The Tripper”, “Darkness Falls”) and one of the things that we kind of got onto the topic of is that with comics finally breaking through to the mainstream after so many years of being kind of this closet thing where people really didn’t want to admit that they read them, as to where now it’s this cool thing. I know that as a kid myself I got made fun of for my interest in the genre. So tell me what was your experience with comics at an early age? What got you into the genre?
Sammy: Well I grew up reading comic books, and I still read them, but now the comics I read are slightly more edgy. Like I read “Spiderman”, and that’s edgy now too but not to edgy. But edgy enough to where they’re not kids comics. They’re more like mid teens to late teens. So when I started out it was like anyone can read “Spiderman”. And then a friend of mine actually got me into them. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but I’m pretty sure it was one of the “Spiderman’s”. This was back during the time where “Webb of Spiderman” and “Sensational Spiderman” were still running. So it was quite awhile ago. And I read them and got hooked. It was very very addictive. I’m a very visual person so that appealed to me. It’s almost like you’re watching a movie only it’s static that’s the only difference. So that’s what I thought was so good about it. So then I started reading “Spawn” when it first came out, and Image when their big hype was coming up like “Youngbloods” and all the other ones. So I basically grew up reading comic books, but then I went on hiatus for awhile because I got caught up with work and everything and I didn’t want to buy comic books if I didn’t have time to read them. So I just caught up, read a whole bunch, and then I took a hiatus for about 2 and a half years. But then about 2 years ago I thought I’d just walk into a comic book store and I ended up getting into it again.
THEoDEAD: That’s how they get you isn’t it?
Sammy: Yea definitely.
Stay tuned here to BD for the conclusion of my one-on-one with Sammy as we continue to bring you exclusive news, interviews, and previews you won’t find anywhere else.
Comics
[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream
Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.
“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”
Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.
Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.
Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.
Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.
Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.
Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.
Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.
Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion.
Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.
‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.
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