As someone who loves comics based on horror movies, I was delighted by the news that two of my now-ten-year-old favorites—Behind the Mask and Hatchet—will be making the leap to comics. It’s a medium that works well for horror. They often attract some of the best talent in the business. There are comic stories based around horror franchises like Halloween, Hellraiser and Puppet Master that are as better than many of the sequels in their respective franchises.
The news got me wondering, though, if there were other films from the era that would work well in the comic world. Hatchet and Behind the Mask aren’t the first, of course. We’ve seen comics based on modern franchises like Saw, Final Destination, The Hills Have Eyes remake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, 28 Days Later, Trick ‘r Treat and so on.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other horror films from the era that couldn’t benefit from seeing a comic book sequel or prequel. In fact, there are a couple that excite me just to think about, because they feel tailor-made for the format.
With that in mind, here are some 2000s-era horror movies that should get comic book spinoffs.
The Midnight Meat Train
It might seem like a bizarre choice, but there’s something very pulpy about Midnight Meat Train and it already had the color palate of an edgy horror comic. Clive Barker outlined two sequels to the film that we’re definitely never going to see. I’m sure they only got weirder and weirder, given the way the movie ends. I think it would be great to see that storyline get adapted as a comic.
While I’m not overly sold on the idea of the Mist TV series, I can admit that there’s certainly more story to tell in that world. I would love short one-offs about how other people dealt with that crisis outside of that store. More than that, though, it would be great to focus on the Arrowhead Project and the events that led up to opening that interdimensional Lovecraftian gateway.
Teeth
Teeth clearly ended with the promise of more adventures for our heroine. I would have loved to see them. I think it would be great to see a comic that picked up with her on the road, taking down predatory men in different towns, or maybe even finding out of there are more people like her out there. There was room for that story to develop, even if we’ll never see it continue on the screen.
The Descent
I’ve always thought The Descent would make an awesome comic. Even if the sequel felt unnecessary, there have to be some interesting stories that could be done within that world. It’s evident in the first film that people had come down there at some point. A prequel that went into the first encounter with the crawlers, however it may have happened, would be excellent.
May
There’s interesting potential for translating Lucky McKee’s May into a comic book. Even if it was just a one-shot, it could be a great story. Whether it takes place during the events of the film or picks up afterward with a one-eyed May adjusting to life with her new best friend, it’s something I’d love to see.
Ginger Snaps
I don’t understand how this isn’t a comic book already. Ginger Snaps would translate so well to comics. The teenage protagonists, the dialogue, the supernatural metaphor, it all seems catered to that format. A Ginger Snaps comic from the team behind Chilling Adventures of Sabrina could be a dream come true. It’s unlikely we’ll ever see another Ginger Snaps movie, so this would be a great thing way to bring back fans of that trilogy, or even make some new ones.
Shaun of the Dead
It’s been thirteen years since the release of Shaun of the Dead. It’s a movie that’s somehow only gotten better with age—or maybe just something I relate to more and more as I get older, but either way—and feels like it would fit perfectly into the current comic climate. There are so many bitingly funny titles on the market right now and Shaun of the Dead could fit in perfectly among them. A series focused on Shaun and Liz adapting to a zombified world could be great, especially if it manages to capture the movie’s genuinely sweet undertone.
