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| Original |
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| Restored |
The first story of this comic is a tale of Caleb Standish and his young trophy wife (Sally) who happens to be cheating on him. One day while coming home from work Caleb notices a strange exotic antique shop that he has never seen before. Caleb decides to stop in the store and find a gift for Sally, immediately Caleb realizes this is not a typical antique shop. The shop owner try's to sell him a voodoo doll which can mimic anyone Caleb wishes and anything that is done to the doll will be felt by the "model". The uneasy Caleb leaves the shop and comes home to find out first hand that Sally is in fact cheating on him! Fueled by anger Caleb returns to the shop and requests a voodoo doll of Sally. After the strange ceremony Caleb is warned that anything done to the doll will be inflicted upon the wife.Although I could not find a direct influence for this story, the tales of Voodoo Dolls had been around for decades.
Spoiler Alert!!!With Sally continuing to try to see her new lover Caleb is forced to test out the doll, first with just a cut and then by breaking the dolls legs! After weeks of recuperating at home with Caleb, she has had enough!. In an interesting climax Sally begins berating Caleb for spying on her as she proceeds to break anything she can throwing the voodoo doll into the fireplace, thus burning herself alive! That;s what that cheating hussie gets for being so terrible.
Werewolf
Spoiler Alert!!!One night while sitting around a campfire the men hear a shriek and find a woman torn to shreds by what appears to be an animal. While searching they find that the Viktor is missing and a trail of wolf prints leading up the mountain. The story climax's with the beast being shot to death with silver bullets, but three of the men have wounds from the battle including Reggie and Eric. Terrified, Jan explains that any man wounded will now turn into the dreaded Werewolf. We end with the three men surrounding Jan as they complete their transformation and close in for the kill!
This story seems to be original and has yet to be adapted into an episode or movie, at least that I know of. This is a tale of nature biting back at the corrupt! The town historian Abner Tucker is tired of just getting by so he decides to put his knowledge of the towns residents, specifically the dead ones, to work for him by digging up the bodies of the wealthiest people. The chosen deceased were all buried with treasure/jewelery or some other form of wealth.On the first night Abner is almost discovered which makes him rethink his new found plan. Abnercomes up with the idea to become a caretaker at the cemetery so he applies and gets the job. Now with no concern over being caught and the cemetery to himself Abner is free to go to work. Immediately he realizes he is not alone as there are hundreds/thousands of rats and they are not only getting in his way but carrying the buried treasure away. Obsessed with killing every rat Abner creates trap and drops poisoned meat in an attempt to clear the tunnels.
Spoiler Alert!!! Abner is now convinced the rats are all gone, so he digs an intricate tunnel system that must be secured with bracing shores. But the rats are back and they are out for revenge, slowly every night hundreds of the rodents begin gnawing at the shores weakening the support. Then on one fateful night while Abner is digging he hears the snapping of the shores and soon after is buried alive with hundreds of rats surrounding him.
The Strange Couple!
The final story in this comic and my personal favorite out of the four is a strange tale that is both creepy and surprising and continues this comics tradition of being an "original" story, I hope this gets made into a movie one day. A man whose name you never learn is driving through a torrential down pour and can barley see infront of his car. Attempting to bypass a closed road the man turns down a side street that happens to be riddled with potholes. Unfortunately for the man he hits one hole a little too deep and stalls his engine. Stuck in the storm the man begins to drift asleep when he notices a light coming from a house down the road. Fighting the storm the man rushes the old worn down home and knocks on the door. An old woman with a crooked face answers and gives stiff warning that the man should go away, begging the man is finally allowed in the home when the husband notices. Throughout the night the man is warned that the old woman's husband is a vampire, while the husband warns that the wife is a corpse eating ghoul!
Spoiler Alert!!! Terrified the man locks both the closet and the door to his room. He pushes the furniture against the doors and finally feels secure. He is awoken in the middle of the night to a growing light that seems to come from a secret panel in the wall. Sure enough the panel slides open to reveal both the husband (a vampire) and the wife (a ghoul), who were both telling the truth! With a scream the man wakes up in his car to discover it was all a dream. Peering out the window he notices a light in the distance and approaches the same house from his dream...
Final thoughts
I did find amusement in the vault-keepers increased involvement in this comic. Similar to the crypt keeper from the HBO series the Vault Keeper is filled with one liners and puns, which may be cheesy but perfect for lightening the mood. It was also nice to see a grouping of original stories that did not have direct influences.
And now I present my favorite panels from each story.
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| Dude just told his wife he knows she is cheating and she has the balls to be mad at him! |
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| Not alot of options from this story |
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| He is scared of rats yet kills one and picks it up? |
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| That is just a freaky image |
Thanks for reading and join me tomorrow for Vault of Horror #15.
Credits
Cover Artist: Johnny Craig
Story Artists: Johnny Craig (Voodoo Vengeance!), Al Feldstein (The Strange Couple!), Jules Feiffer & Harry Harrison (Werewolf), Graham Ingels (Rats Have Sharp Teeth!),
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