Vault of Horror #15

Hello and welcome to the fourth post in my challenge as I present Vault of Horror #15. Right off the bat I want to say this is one of my favorite covers yet and it also is the first Vault of Horror to feature both the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch. As a favor to the vault keeper the old witch provides one of her stories of terror!.

Horror House!
Once again we have a story that does not seem to have a direct influence, but you could make the argument that the house on haunted hill (19) had some similarities. A man ( Henry) is at risk of losing his job because he has been late getting stories to the editor. Henry explains that his shithead friends keep coming over and having a party in his apartment. In an attempt to allude his friends Henry travels through the country side and finds an old abandoned house, naturally a great place to write horror stories. Everyone in town, including the Sheriff warns Henry that the house is haunted and he should avoid it. So of course Henry purchases the house and sets up shop, he is inspired and finishes multiple stories. But his friends somehow find him and bring the party with them, fed up Henry goes into town to buy some supplies. Henry's friends have the bright idea to play up the idea of the haunted house and set up props/speakers throughout the home in an attempt to scare Henry back into the city.

Spoiler Alert!!! Once Henry returns he finds an "abandoned" house and begins hearing strange noises which soon turn to terrifying signs that the house is indeed haunted. Henry bolts and decides to go get the Sheriff to help him clear the home. Satisfied with their cruel joke the group laughs out loud until they discover the true paranormal entities within the home. Once Henry returns with the sheriff they find 1 of the men hanging in the bathroom, 1 with his face eaten off and the woman laughing hysterically with her hair turned white!

I enjoyed this story more for the atmosphere and the fact that the true ghosts are never revealed. I am a firm believer that your imagination is usually more terrifying than the real thing.

Terror in the Swamp!

This is the first story to be hosted by the Old Witch and it is an interesting one. Basically the story surrounds a pair of men who are traveling through the swamps and come across an old hermit who gives a stiff warning not to proceed forward. Curious, the pair enters the old mans home as he tells them a story of the swamp and the "thing" that lives within which terrorizes all life.  In a flash back the hermit reveals that himself, his former fiancee and her father entered the swamp some 20 years before to begin research in the creation of life out of pure chemicals. Convinced that the group has the proper elemental/chemical sequence to create life they quickly learn that something is missing. In an attempt to bring life the group tries electricity, radiation, microwaves and sound waves. Nothing works and in a fit of rage the Father tosses the batch into the swamp and something happens which allows the creation of "life". This shapeless blob basically eats everything in its path including birds, crocodiles and the entire research facility with the hermits fiancee and father inside.

Spoiler Alert!!! Back in present day the pair of men ignore the story and pass it off as fiction, as they paddle away from the hermits shack they hear him yell that he was one of the scientists who created the abomination. But it is too late and the mass swallows the two men whole, adding to it's limitless hunger.
 

Woman love the Swampthing!

This concept of life being created from the swamp has been adapted into multiple movies/tv shows/comics. It is an interesting concept and is reminiscent of the Blob The most famous being the Swamp Thing which had its own comic franchise and eventually a feature film. If you are really bored and want to waste some time find the film Terror from the Swamp released in 1985, I warn you it is god awful and is not a direct adaptation of this story but it does have a killer half man half nutria (water otter).

I would advise you do not pay more than $1 for this shitfest

Report from the Grave
The third story in this comic happens to be my least favorite. The title and some plot elements would later be used in a Tales from the Crypt Episode, which is not that entertaining either. The story revolves around a group who has formed a club, the Vault Keepers club and begins with an introduction ceremony for a new member. Basically the club tells the potential inductee (Warren) that he has to go dig up a recently deceased members body and read the time on the watch, which has been dialed in by the president. Once Warren finally gets to the coffin he discovers a much older coffin filled with nothing but bones and rags. Convinced this was a joke the club council informs him that this is a mistake and there must be something wrong.

Spoiler Alert!!! The entire club goes back to the cemetery unearthing the corpse and the truth. One of the members had murdered the former member and buried his body in an unmarked grave somewhere in the cemetery. As fate would have it while the murderous member is attempting to flea the cemetery one of the tall grave stones is knocked over with an explosion killing him. The dumb-ass sealed the coffin too tight which allowed for a build up of pot mortem gases which caused the explosion.

As I said this was a weak entry and I did not care for it.

Buried Alive!

The final story in this comic is all about the Great Zobo a circus performer who's specialty is being buried alive and lasting for multiple hours. Suspicious of his wife (Rita) Zobo (Sam) begins tailing her and finds that she has been messing around with a wealthy man (Paul). Planning to confront her one night Rita explains that she is setting up Paul so that Sam and her can live in luxury. With Sam in the mix Rita lays out the plan. Basically Sam will storm in on Rita and her lover, engage in a fight and act like the Paul has killed Sam. With Sam being buried, Rita will convince the wealthy man that he will need to pay off multiple parties in order to keep this quiet.  Sam warns Rita that since he is going to be buried in dirt and not a coffin he can only hold his breath for 55 minutes.

Spoiler Alert!!! Everything goes as planned until Sam realizes that time is almost up and Rita has betrayed him. Luckily for him one of Paul's butlers notices the recently buried body and plans to rob it. Digging Sam up the butler is in for a shocker when Sam gets out alive. Hell bent on revenge Sam finds Rita and plans to bury her alive, dragging her into a swamp and specifically a quicksand pit Sam tosses the coffin into the pit but realizes that his tie is caught so he goes down with Rita as they are both buried alive.

This was another strong story to close out this comic. The story would later be adapted for a 1990 TV Film of the same name.

Final thoughts
I felt this was an overall good comic, although I did not like Report from the Grave. It was nice to see the addition of the Old Witch and less emphasis on Greed.

Now I would like to present my favorite panels from each story

Horror House!

I wonder what the ghost looks like?

  
Terror in the Swamp!

Anything that swallows a crocodile whole is okay in my book

 
Report from the Grave

A well illustrated panel

Buried Alive!

I am impressed, carrying a coffin with a person inside.

Thanks for reading and join me tomorrow for Vault of Horror #16.

Credits

Cover Artist: Johnny Craig
Story Artists: Johnny Craig (Horror House!), Al Feldstein (Terror in the Swamp!), Jack Kamen (Report from the Grave), Graham Ingels (Buried Alive!),