The Midnite Show

by Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt (Illustrator), Bill Crabtree (Colorist)

From the creators of The Sixth Gun and Manor Black comes this new supernatural horror series about monsters of the silver screen coming to life and wreaking havoc on a small town.

Basil Saxon is a legend among horror fans. Over fifty years ago, he vanished during a freak accident on the set of the film that would have been his masterpiece. The cursed film—God of Monsters—was never completed and has never been seen. But when a film festival shows footage from the long-lost movie, classic horror monsters manifest to wreak havoc and terror on the unsuspecting populace. A ragtag group of misfits must band together to stop the most famous creatures of all time and send them back to the realm of celluloid nightmares.

Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, Bill Crabtree, and Jim Campbell unleash this tale of terror. Popcorn not included. 

Collects issues #1–#4 of The Midnite Show comic book series, along with a sketchbook section, and pinup artwork by Dan Brereton, Francesco Francavilla, Kelley Jones, and more!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics, Fantasy, Vampires, Graphic Novels Comics, Media Tie In

112 pages, Paperback

Published June 18, 2024

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better efforts from Bunn in recent years - he allows himself (and thereby us) to have some fun! Classic movie monsters come to life, and are out to collect movie reels that function as magical artifacts. Basically this means lots of fun violence. All in all, I wouldn't mind seeing a second volume.

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I heard the creative team behind THE SIXTH GUN was going to work together again on a horror comic featuring classic monsters of the silver screen - that was more than enough to whet my appetite.
This is obviously a tribute to the Universal Monsters, with a couple of additional features to keep it interesting. Dr. Frankenstein has now placed his brain inside the Frankenstein monster, so he's a thinking and calculating brute. Dracula has bitten the Wolfman, turning him into a necro-wolf (half vampire, half werewolf). The Mummy brought his hounds along. The Creature From The Black Lagoon becomes The Dweller, with Lovecraftian eldritch overtones.
Despite the viciousness of the monsters and many bloodbaths, this wasn't scary at all. I expected a trip down nostalgia lane with some familiar monster faces, and I wasn't disappointed by Bunn and Hurtt's interpretations. More deserving of a 3.5 star rating, if such a thing was possible here.

[Ondřej Halíř · Rating 4 out of 5]

Další krátká a rychlá Bunnova žánrovka, která trpí na to samé co mají společně všechny tyto jeho věci.

Na úvod ale musim rict ze overall je to velice prijemna hororova gore jednohubka, jenz vzdava holt klasickym monster filmum. Navic cely pribeh se zabyva prokletym ztracenym filmem, coz mam rad.

Plus to má dobrou atmosferu, fajn gore a opravdu to evokuje poctivá béčka. Má to spád a nenudí to.

Bohuzel kvuli kratkosti pribehu tu musite zapomenout na jakykoliv character development, hloubku ci nejake zamereni na postavy ktere by z nich udelali neco vic nez jen jednodimenzionalni canon fodder. Tohle je neco cim Bunn v jeho kratkych vecech trpi velmi.

Tim jak je cely pribeh situovany na boj proti ctyrem monstrum, tak jakmile se pusti proklety film a zacnou se dít sracky, tak uz vas ceka jen akce bez chvilky na postavy. Coz vzhledem k tomu ze je tohle 4 issue kratka serie zase tak nevadi a dá se to pochopit.

Davam silných 7/10, pro fanousky zanru jasna volba. Kresba je fajn.

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

This was a great homage to the Hammer Horror Classic movies, but it felt a bit juvenile when it came to execution, and the art was average.

It could have been more fun with a little bit of Buffy-like-snark and better action scenes (boils down to art again, probably), but it was lacking in that department, so it was just ok over all.

[Garth · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 - 365 Days of Horror

Day 277: Placeholder for first issue as the singles haven’t been added yet.

3.5⭐️ Good start but since Scott Snyder already covered the unfinished, cursed film lost in a studio fire in Night of the Ghoul last year, The Midnite Show has a lot to live up to.

2023 - 365 Days of Horror

Day 305: 4⭐️ Still no single issues! Come on GR! Get your act together! A bit campy but this was a fun issue. Except the annoying content creator. She should have been this group’s first victim. And The Mummy, with different coloured rings of power, turning people to dust. Hmm, where has that been done before…

2023 - 365 Days of Horror

Day 340: Third month, still no single issues!

[James Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a love letter to Universal Classic Monsters movies

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one definitely wasn’t a great comic, but it was a fun classic horror movie monster tale that was right up my alley. I would solidly put this one as “not bad” and I’ll give it a bit of a bump because of my enjoyment in this kind of subject matter. This felt a bit like Snyder’s recent book and he did a much, much better job at this kind of story.

[Maciej · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cullen Bunn to twórca, który potrafi operować popkulturowym dziedzictwem grozy z gracją, ale i tendencją do skrótowości. W The Midnite Show, przygotowanym wraz z Brianem Hurttem i sprawdzonym zespołem artystycznym (znanym m.in. z The Sixth Gun), autor zabiera nas do świata, w którym legendy srebrnego ekranu dosłownie wychodzą z taśmy filmowej, by siać spustoszenie w niewielkim miasteczku. Brzmi jak list miłosny do Universalu? W istocie – ale to list pisany w pośpiechu, rozwodnionym atramentem.

Punktem wyjścia jest odnalezienie fragmentów „przeklętego filmu” pt. God of Monsters, który miał być opus magnum legendarnego reżysera Basila Saxona. Emisja tych materiałów podczas festiwalu filmowego kończy się spektakularną katastrofą – potwory ożywają. Mamy tu pełen zestaw klasyków: Drakulę, Mumię, Wilkołaka (tym razem „necro-wilkołaka”, bo połączonego z wampirem), monstrum Frankensteina z umysłem samego doktora oraz istotę przypominającą stwora z Czarnej Laguny, ale z lovecraftowskim posmakiem.

Fabularnie jest to klasyczny motyw: grupka ocalałych próbuje powstrzymać bestie i nie dopuścić do jeszcze większej rzezi. Problem w tym, że cztery zeszyty to zdecydowanie za mało, by rozwinąć jakikolwiek wątek – czy to postaci, czy tła fabularnego. Bunn próbuje żonglować różnymi bohaterami i motywacjami, ale zamiast dramatycznego napięcia mamy raczej efekt „monster mayhem”, który – choć efektowny wizualnie – wypada płasko emocjonalnie. Brak tu czasu na oddech, budowanie grozy czy relacje między postaciami. Przypomina to raczej seans dynamicznego trailera niż pełnokrwistego horroru.

Na szczęście, oprawa graficzna rekompensuje wiele niedostatków scenariuszowych. Hurtt z wprawą rysuje potwory, nadając im odpowiednią dozę nostalgii i przerażenia, balansując między pulpą a klasyką. Kolorystyka Crabtree'ego – nasycona czerwienią, mrokiem i teatralnością – świetnie współgra z klimatem starych filmów grozy.

Czy to wszystko dowozi? Dla fanów klasycznych potworów i horroru w stylu „Monster Squad” – jak najbardziej. To wizualna uczta, pełna odniesień do popkultury. Ale jeśli ktoś liczy na głębszą historię, z rozbudowaną mitologią czy bohaterami z krwi i kości – może poczuć niedosyt. Wrażenie niedokończenia i pospiesznego finału potęguje myśl, że seria aż prosiła się o 8–10 zeszytów (dwa tomy). Czy pojawi się kontynuacja? Tego nie wiadomo, choć zakończenie zostawia furtkę na vol. 2.

Przyjemność 3,6/5
Styl: 3,2/5
Historia: 3,8/5

Ocena: 3,54/5
goodreads - 3/5
thestorygraph - 3,5/5
lubimyczytac - 7/10

[Wm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to image what this could have been, if Bunn had applied for permission to use Universal IP. Because this mix of public domain and veiled IP references (The Dweller? but who looks ripped from celluloid?) clunks at best. The one good move Bunn made was to do the thing great horror does: He set us up to care about his – sorry, I mean the monsters' – inevitable victims.

It's just... not interesting. All the reviews calling this a "love letter to Universal Monsters" are wrong. There's nothing loving about depicting monsters famous and infamous as cardboard cutouts. This is a love letter to horror movie fandom. An acquaintance once described how some nouveau-superstar comics writers "cash-in" by putting out every fleeting idea, like they expect their half-boiled tales to be acceptable after visual collaboration. I mean, the art *is* great, but without a solid story, it's a waste of everyone's time, which is a crime of commercial art in some ways worse than having done nothing in the first place.

For a real love letter to monsters, please read Mark Russell and Peter Snejbjerg's Cereal.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cullen Bunn tries to juggle multiple plotlines and character arcs in this series to what has been, up to this point, a fun take on classic Universal Monster stories. The pace is SO brisk, throwing the group into one perilous situation after another, that you may suffer whiplash before you even understand what’s happening. While it took the first two issues to set up the plot, it felt like this final issue could have been at least two or three issues itself. Crabtrees colors bring these dark moments to life and I loved both the details in the panels and how the colors add an extra visual spark to them. Brian Hurtt's art continued to be a wonderful treat, bringing the monsters to life with great detail, making them truly terrifying in a comic book way that combines horror with more rounded lines evoking classic comic strips.

Did Bunn expect to have longer to tell his story? I wish he did, because this was an action-packed cluster of an ending that didn’t feel like the conclusion the promise of Bunn’s vision deserved.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best Cullen Bunn book I've read in a while. But then again Bunn has made some of his best comics with Brian Hurtt. Yeah, I'm looking at you The Sixth Gun. This is fun. I would have liked to see it be a little more decompressed. It would have been even more fun with 12 issues instead of just 4. It's about old monster movies that are clearly meant to be the old Universal monsters. The movie comes to life and the monsters start killing people. Do you really need much more than that? There is more but that's all you really need to know going into this.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if...movies were...real?!

Yeah, that's hardly a revolutionary plot hook, but Midnite Show is a monster movie more than anything else from the get-go, and when have they needed anything more than Scary Monster Kills People?

Bunn uses the classic Universal Monsters to interesting effect, and isn't afraid to go through his cast of characters like Jigsaw at a Horrible People convention. The ending's a little too open-ended for my taste, but maybe we'll see a second volume - stranger things have happened at Dark Horse.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to have the creative team from The Sixth Gun back together, but I wish it was for something a bit more substantial than this. A lost, cursed horror film is screened, bringing the various classic monsters (vampire, werewolf, mummy, fish creature, Frankenstein) to life in the real world, where they go on a killing spree. A mixed group of survivors have to figure out what's up and how to stop it, before the "god" of monsters takes over. Fun, but a bit aimless and could have used a bit more development.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monster Squad but with more death. That's basically what this is. Most of the Universal Horror monsters come out of a movie and destroy a town, with a bevy of cannon fodder coming to grisly demises at their hands. Subtle it is not. The twist isn't hard to see coming, and ultimately it feels like a decent concept that wasn't held up in its execution (although the artwork does capture the story well in all of its gore and classic monster period work). Not one of Bunn's better works, but not so terrible it should be avoided. Just don't get attached to anyone.

[Mindy Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

an infamous monster movie creator dies when a fire breaks out on the set of his last film, effectively halting production: decades later, his unfinished film has finally been completed, but on the evening of the premiere, the audience gets more than they bargained for when the monsters somehow escape the confines of the screen. i dunno. i usually love cullen bunn's stuff but i felt pretty so/so about this. it was kind of fun, kind of entertaining, the art was cute. i don't NOT recommend it but i didn't love it. 3/5.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The combination of Bunn & Hurtt is solid and here there are elements of a good story but it was extremely rushed and felt incomplete. Its a love letter to classic horror movies as a cursed movie is screened in a small town and the movie comes to life. Hurtt obviously had fun in this as his work was energetic and there were so many dynamic panels. I liked the fact that the cast wasn't safe and the twists were decent but this story needed more time to breathe and not punch you in the face every other page. Overall, a fast, decent horror book with some really fun art.

[Linus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty fun monster book and Hurtt's art is top of his game. Unfortunately, the story itself, especially the characters, are a little thin. Like the group and their interactions but not a lot of depth. Maybe that's asking a little much for <100 pages. You'll dig it if your a classic monster movie fan, but don't know there's much here for anyone else.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like in Six Gun, this comic delivers great art from Brian Hurtt, but the story fails to deliver.
Cullen Bunn had another great idea, but in the final act, he used a shameful deus-ex to solve all problems in a single page and quickly finished the story.

I remember getting also frustrated while reading Six Gun, because of all the wasted potential that comic had.

[Trike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it right to call a bloody horror comic “fun”? People get beheaded and eviscerated constantly - one even gets their face ripped off, literally - but this is a hoot. It’s an updated take on the Universal monsters, brought to life due to a cursed film and causing mayhem aplenty.

A snappy story with terrific art, hitting all the horror movie tropes with a couple neat twists. Good stuff.

[Robert Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you were a monster kid, watched monster movies on UHF TV, and read and re-read issues of Famous Monsters until they fell apart, this is for you. The creators of The Sixth Gun create another potent tale that will shock a white streak through your hair!

[Ana Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had such a blast with this book. It stays true to the classic monsters I love but gives them more sinister looks and stories that perfectly tie them into one universe. These are the stories that remind me why I love graphic novels (and horror) so much.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I DO like a comic where a bunch of seemingly main characters are dispatched unceremoniously. I'm tired of all the ceremony that comes with the deaths of main characters. The robes, the candles. It's like, enough already.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the art, as I expect any monster fan would, but the story is way too thin. Felt like it needed another issue or two to better develop the mythology it was trying to establish.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved parts of it but other parts were a big mess.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than The Monster Squad.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. It was a ton of fun. It played like the best elements of a monster fight movie meets parts of Popcorn and In the Mouth of Madness.

[Jye · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun. Fans of the Universal Monster movies are sure to love this.

[NerdyReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

An R-rated Monster squad. Fun book.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd see a 3.7/5

The art is really good. The story isn't so bad.

[Kzfartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could be adapted into a fun horror movie.