The Blood Factory
While cruising the dealers’ floor at Comic Con, I came across several exhibits of interest. I want to review what was probably the most unusual booth I saw at the convention – The Blood Factory. The first thing you notice is the prop where a person gets in this table with their upper bodies visible, their lower bodies hidden behind a fleshless, dismembered lower body. This was a popular stop and always had a line of patrons waiting to imitate a victim. But there is more to The Blood Factory then a fun effect and pretty lab assistants.
The Blood Factory is a dual media project spearheaded by Danny DeVito. On the Internet front, The Blood Factory (http://www.thebloodfactory.com/) is a series of short horror films directed by Danny DeVito and written by John Albo. Several minutes in length, these are in-your-face scares. There’s no build up, no character development and no frills. And that’s what makes these shorts scary, the fact that you don’t expect the horror to start so soon. And the subject matter is disturbing; delusions, fanaticism, incest, and cannibalism to name a few.
The other medium is a comic book, also called The Blood Factory, that illustrates the short movies in beautifully painted panel form. The artist, Nicholas Bonamy, has hand-painted both volumes and a third is in the works as I write this. I enjoyed these comics and to me are similar to the old 50’s EC horror anthologies. Disturbing, yet reminiscent of the classic horror comic.
I found the whole concept extremely well done, and the mix of two mediums works well to complement each other. I questioned Danny Devito’s involvement with the project; after all, he’s a comedian isn’t he? But Nicholas pointed out that he was also involved in some dark projects, such as Throw Mama from the Train, War of the Roses, and, in my opinion, a pretty good Penguin. The Blood Factory is a unique project that is loaded with talent and potential in their short bursts of horror. The Blood Factory will not be for everyone, but it’s for me.
ComicsOnline.com gives The Blood Factory 4 mixed media projects out of 5.
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