EC Comics Presents... The Vault of Horror!

by Johnny Craig, Jack Davis, Jules Feiffer

When the history of horror comics was written, one name stood and still stands above the rest: EC Comics. With equal parts suspense, gore, camp, and revenge, the triumvirate of EC’s horror output laid the groundwork for what was to come from many of the genre’s greatest writers and directors.

Now, AudioComics (a division of Pocket Universe Productions) presents EC’s The Vault of Horror, its stories adapted and presented in an audiorich fully immersive setting complete with a full cast, scoring, and soundscapes. This ghastly grimoire adapts issues #12 to #17 of the classic horror series, with werewolves, vampires, cutthroats, and numerous ne'erdowells!

Starring Kevin Grevioux (creator of the Underworld film franchise) as the Vault Keeper, and special guests Phil Proctor of the Firesign Theatre and Denise Poirier (MTV’s Æon Flux), this series is going to chill your spine and clam your palms! So put your headphones on and enter the Vault of Horror! It’s a real scream!

Genres: Horror, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[Matt Boeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the stories were really entertaining and the acting was great.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it more. The production quality, eerie sounds, and voices were all great and the parts are well played. The Vault Keeper hosting the stores was pretty good and properly cheesy at times, but his clear deep bass reminded me more of Geoffrey Holder, the voice of the old 7-up commercials in the 80's, than what I imagined the Vault Keeper would sound like; maybe Creepshow ruined me on that point. Despite any problems I might find with it, I do wish radio theater like this was still a thing, and if there is more in a series of these available by next Halloween, I will probably get them.

If the same group would do all new stories, they would be pretty great. However, the updated stories failed to capture the mood of the 1950 originals. My EC Comic expectations were met with disappointment as the modernization efforts robbed the stories of that extra hoped for layer of 1950 comic book charm and appeal. Additionally disappointing was that many of the stories seemed to bear only a superficial resemblance to the originals by borrowing the title, character, and place names, but little else. It is almost impossible to read the originals along with the audio. The title would be more accurate if it was, The Vault of Horror!: As inspired by EC Comics.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was old school campy horror. There were no real surprises and it felt like stories I had heard before. I didn't find them very scary or even creepy. For some reason most of the characters were absolutely awful human beings. I guess I was meant to take joy in their demise but I found them so distasteful that it was difficult to continue. I listened to the Serial Box audio with music and sound effects which accentuated the silliness. The narration was over the top with lots of gruff evil voices and high pitched screaming. The actors really gave it their all and you can tell they were enjoying the ridiculousness of their work.

[Pietro Rossi]

This really isn't very good. I listened to the first six stories, but none were engaging sadly. No stars as I never finished it

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for what it was. Good ol' campy horror