From Vault EIC Adrian Wassel: I actually think horror is in a renaissance moment. For instance, slasher novels are now a thing—a big thing!—and it makes my crooked little heart squeal with devilish joy. As for VFX. I adore good VFX, especially practical effects. 1982 The Thing for instance...burned into my mind forever. In some ways, I think CGI has actually stripped movies of VFX by making it easier. I love a "cerebral horror" flick as much as the next person, but sometimes, I want Pumpkinhead, where I'm there to eat my popcorn and soak in the visual ingenuity!

I'll check them out, thanks for the answer!

From Adam: HAHAH YES! John wrote the list of titles (save for Revenge of the Pacifist and The Hardest Snog…those were me) then I took the list, before he and I ever spoke, and just drew what came to me from the titles. I tried really hard to make them unique to different directors, poster artists and studios.

From John: I wrote a big master-list of dumb made-up movie titles, which Adam them drew as posters. Apart from REVENGE OF THE PACIFIST, that one was all Adam! Monster-Dome Video is one of the central locations of our story, and to make it feel more real and full of personality, we wanted it to be filled with all these cultural artefacts, to really create the sense of a bigger world beyond the story we were telling. And some of the most fun I had in crafting dialogue is having all these horror fans just throwing back and forth all these references to horror movies they avidly love, but which don't actually exist!

From John: I think I'd disagree on the point about horror's popularity. I'm old enough to have lived through some dark days for the genre, and now it feels like it's thriving. In the world of film, some of the big non-tentpole-IP cinema success stories of last year were horror movies like SMILE or THE BLACK PHONE or TERRIFIER 2, or M3GAN this year, and in comics, there is so much exciting stuff out there at the moment. I think there's always going to be stuff that's bad or that isn't for us, in any era, but by the same token, there's always good and exciting stuff if you know where to look.

From Adam: How is it working with Vault? You know our bosses are watching right? It’s been incredible. So much support and enthusiasm for what we’re doing. And I’ve liked just about every single thing they’ve done, but some favorites: Heathen, Resonant, I Walk with Monsters(!!!), End After End.

From John: Working with Vault has been absolutely fantastic! I was already a fan of their work before we started working together, with titles like THESE SAVAGE SHORES, BARBARIC, MONEY SHOT and THE AUTUMNAL, to name just a few. But I've become even more of a fan since we started working together on THE NASTY. Across the board, the whole team is great, so engaged and committed to this project, making it feel like a real team effort.

EDIT:

From Adam: ooh I like how we picked very different titles. Yours are all good too. OOH PLOT!!! PLOT TOO. God that one is SO GOOD. Besides The Nasty, or better, along with The Nasty, I think I Walk with Monsters, for me, is the most Vault of all the Vault titles.

From John: Now you have me kicking myself that I forgot to mention I WALK WITH MONSTERS! I was obsessed with that book!

One of my favorite things I've seen in the marketing for THE NASTY are all the silly fake B-rate horror movies, like PERVERT BIGFOOT and REVENGE OF THE PACIFISTS and such. Who came up with these ludicrous movies? How do they play into the story?

From John: The fun thing about SINK is that, once we established the world, we had leeway to take it in any genre direction we liked while still staying true to the spirit of the world. So, under the SINK umbrella, we've done horror, crime, action, drama, even romantic comedy. With this particular story, yes, we're entering particularly dark horror terrain. But as always with SINK, be ready for a few unexpected left turns along the way!

As for folklore, the Gorbals Vampire is indeed a genuine story. The blue van clowns are totally a legit urban legend that was big in Scotland when I was a kid. Bonnie Shaw, however, is totally made up. The creepy thing is, though, at cons, I have had people from Orkney come up to my table, and tell me they remember stories of Bonnie Shaw from when they were kids. So, perhaps we have invoked this demon into reality!

From John: I'm a fan of Larry Fessenden in anything I've seen him in. I actually did a horror panel with him once at NYCC!

From John: 5. Black Christmas, 4. Psycho, 3. Scream, 2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 1. Halloween. And I love slashers so much that I put together a TOP 100 list here: https://letterboxd.com/johnlees/list/my-top-100-slashers/detail/

From Adam: Is this the part where I list all 5 of the slasher films I’ve seen? Texas Chainsaw is 1. Friday the 13th 3. Scream? Scream is a slasher John?! Definitely that one is up there. And Psycho?! You can pick Hitchcock?! That one too. Where am I at 4? I don’t know…Ghost?

From SPECIAL GUEST ADRIAN WASSEL, VAULT EDITOR IN CHIEF:HOW am I supposed to limit myself to five. Right now, at this second:
Halloween
Scream
Sleepaway Camp
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
But I want to say X, too.

Your opinion on: Fictional horror stories downfall(because today these are not getting as much popularity as used to get in past) How much vfx contribute to make a horror story more creepy and memorable(the nun recent example)Does nowadays every movie should use vfx more and more?

How was the experience working with Vault, and are you a fan of anything else they’ve released?

Hey guys!

John, you’ve always maintained SINK is a crime series. With this latest volume you seem to be really leaning into your horror sensibilities, was this a conscious decision to take the title down a darker, more supernatural path?

Also, how much of your characters/storylines are adapted from local folklore? I’m aware of the Gorbals Vampire (which I would encourage everyone to Google!), but how about Bonnie Shaw, or the Blue Van? Do these have any basis in local legend?

For more AMAs on this topic, subscribe to r/IAmA_Art, and check out our other topic-specific AMA subreddits here.

What are you top Five Slasher films of all time?

Have you guys got love for Glass Eye Pix, and particularly their "I Sell the Dead"? If you like horror comedy it's pretty excellent IMO.

From John: My favourite comics! A big question. Honestly, the big Naoki Urasawa trifecta of 20th CENTURY BOYS, MONSTER and PLUTO are all up there, and depending on my mood, I could choose any as my fave.
As for what to expect from horror comedy, my answer would be something that offers some scares AND some laughs. I think it's different from just a horror that has some jokes in it, a horror comedy is generally lighter in tone.

From Adam: Favorite comics currently: Cankor, Matthew Allison. Fuck Off Squad, Baker and Goux. End After End, Andry and Daniel. Went to Edgar Wright and Tim Burton even some Miyazaki for “horror comedy” inspiration

From John: I've not actually seen Verotika. But I think it might be on Shudder. Should I be checking it out?

From Adam: PLENTY of thoughts on Danzig himself. Have not seen Verotika.

John, what comic solidified your love for the medium?

Adam, I know it has to be difficult picking up where George left off, how do you decide when to blend in seamlessly or do your thing?

Hey to both of you!

What are your favorite comics? And what exactly could I expect under "horror comedy"?

Thanks for the AMA!

Thoughts on Glenn Danzig, Verotik comics, and the Verotika movie -- incompetent enough to be bad-good, or just bad?

I’m not even sure what you’re talking about. I meant that they should use their platform in order to bring attention to something that could really help. If we could get 21 trillion dollars back then it could immensely improve our country. Although, I guess I did assume that they wanted to effect change in a positive way. My bad. I didnt intend an accusatory manner, and really I think you just took it the wrong way. Projection causes a lot of misunderstandings in these forums I think, so I forgive you for misunderstanding my intent. Also I’m not a boot licker. I don’t understand why I would try to have an interaction with these people on a random boot licker sub but I guess that makes sense to you so cool.

Have a good day man. Try some reading comprehension next time.

Not everyone on Reddit is an American. Millions protested against the war on terror in Europe and the Global South after 9/11. It’s the American people that were completely fooled into yet more endless (and failed) wars.

The people being evacuated were Western aligned elites in Kabul. How many people got out from around the country?

You think you're so smart from your smug perch, in reality, the war was lost 20 years ago.

Agree. Thank you for responding.

For someone from the Middle East region I can’t think of any moral reason for US contractors to be in Afghanistan or Iraq for that matter unless it’s for financial reason.

Honestly these jobs should’ve been handed over to local or regional contractors. Years could’ve been spend to teach and train them if their roles didn’t exist. The US missed an opportunity to actually help these countries.

20 yrs later both countries are worst off. Regardless of how you personally feel you can’t blame why the US and the West are not looked on kindly before or after these illegal wars.

do you fold or crumple your toilet paper?