If you’re a fan of metal music, there’s a big chance you’re also a fan of all things horror. Just released from 3 Wolves is the motion comic version of the Realm of the Damned comic book series, and it’s a Black Metal delight. Written by Alec Worley, who’s done a huge amount of work with UK publisher 2000 A.D., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nickelodeon, and Star Wars. With artist, colorist, and letterer, Pye Parr they created a tale worthy of a metalheads’ time.
Director Tom Paton, did a wonderful job transforming the gruesome art into a killer motion comic, enlisting the voices of David Vincent (I Am Morbid, Ex-Morbid Angel), Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth), and Jill Janus (Huntress) as the main leads. We are taken to the world of Alebric Van Helsing. It’s a place where monsters are the dominant ruling powers. Vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein’s Monster-type creations live side by side with humans who seem fall in line.
Vincent is perfect as Alebric, he’s a religious man who’s outlived his family and hunts vampires to stay alive. Athena (Janus) is the head of her vampire sect joined with the Vatican to stop the return of her brother, Balaur (Filth). It’s a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of story. One really big violent sibling rivalry for power and revenge. They recruit Alberic as the force to stop Balaur. Full of side dealings and mistrust; the movie is compelling in its almost hour run time. The colors and atmosphere set here make it best a night-time viewing feature. A little rain wouldn’t hurt the mood setting either. It’s vulgarity and gore at its finest. It’s bloody, graphic and funny. It’s not too ham-fisted funny, but instead a well-placed humor. That’s a big plus for me, since mixing the two is always risky.
If you ever wished there were more things in the comics world out there that catered towards metalheads, this is a good start. It leans a little heavy on exposition at times, but you’re cramming a whole world into this. It’s undeniably black metal, full of almost every stereotype you can think of associated with the genre. There’s even a Son’s of Balaur album that came out through Season of Mist records last year to serves as a prequel in their video invocation. It’s pretty damn impressive to see this story told in multiple formats. If this somehow became a live-action feature, the costumes and effects would be insane. One can hope.
8.0/10
OMAR CORDY