Comics
Michael Steven’s Haunted Caves Review
Haunted Caves is writer Sammy Montana’s first leap into graphic novels. After a couple pages of reading, the comic feels like storyboards for an almost semi familiar slasher movie. It makes sense since it was adapted from Michael Steven’s screenplay of the same name and that Montana works closely with the Halloween franchise.
The story revolves around a small group of high schoolers on Halloween. Eric, the pranking jerk unusual protagonist, his girlfriend Steph, and their gang of friends go to the ‘Haunted Caves’ haunted house. After their disappointment in the lame haunted house, they go for more dangerous thrills and chills in atypical slasher fashion into a corn maze and the real Haunted Caves. This is where the story starts kicking into overdrive and raises the body count and the teens fight for their lives.
The artwork by Ryan Browne and Scott Keating may not sit well with certain readers but the use of shadows and the ability to make storyboard-like panels really help the pacing of the comic.
Haunted Caves is a great comic for this time of year to read, with Halloween references and the corn maze. The story feels like something straight out of a slasher movie you’ve watched countless times, but Montana changes things around a bit where it feels different. Haunted Caves is a great first step for this group. This being a one shot, I’m saddened not to learn more about the story. But I feel this series is far from over.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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