...And All Through the House...

[cyberghostface]

 

This comes from the The Vault of Horror #35.

The story opens with "Santa" narrating the story with a tale of Christmas. It opens with a woman murdering her husband.








She goes to lock all the doors and bolt the windows but Santa still hasn't given up.




She drags the body into the closet and then locks the attic and the cellar. Finally, she goes to check on Carol only to find her daughter missing.

Comments

[fungo_squiggly]

I remember this story from old scans_daily. It's definitely a keeper.

My thoughts:

1) I love how they felt the need to make it super-clear that little Carol was in no physical danger from the homicidal maniac. One has to imagine, though, that the poor kid would be destined for many years of therapy after this.

2) "My husband provoked the maniac, officer! And then the maniac killed him!" There. How hard was that, Carol's Mom?

3) A lot of these old-time comics involve someone trapped in a loveless marriage who then goes on to murder his/her unwanted spouse. Centuries from now, anthropologists reading these comics will probably wonder if the murder rate dropped once divorce started to become more socially acceptable.

[cyberghostface]

The Santa from the film is IMO one of the scariest Santas out there. Just the shots of him looking in the window...brr....

[fungo_squiggly]

I guess it's because I never saw the movie (I'm too much of a wuss to enjoy horror movies), but the Santa in that picture doesn't look very scary to me.

To me he looks sort of sad and disappointed, like there's so many kids on the naughty list this year that he's gotten filthy from stuffing coal in all of their stockings.

[cyberghostface]

I guess you'd have to see it in context with him lurking outside of the windows and trying to break inside the house.

[greenmask]

will probably wonder if the murder rate dropped once divorce started to become more socially acceptable

..Did it??

[lilacsigil]

Yes, it did! The number of women murdered by their husbands dropped significantly, as did domestic violence by both men and women, and suicide by women. (Sadly for Joseph in this story, the number of men murdered by their wives remained small but steady.)

[icon_uk]

Where does it say Carol was in no danger?

[cyberghostface]

The news broadcast says that he won't harm children.

[icon_uk]

Ahem...oops!

Cheers

[righthondude]

I have to agree with you on 2. Carol's Mum should actually be pretty excited this dude showed up. He killed my husband and tried to attack me so I killed him in self defence so now he can't admit to it himself what a shame.

[donnblake]

As far as number two, the issue is- either she calls the police and locks the doors/windows to keep the maniac out, and then has to explain how her husband was murdered inside the sealed off house, or she lets the maniac in which... presents its own issues.

[fungo_squiggly]

"... And so my husband hurled the maniac out the front door, only to collapse from his injury a moment later. With his dying breath, he begged me to keep our daughter safe. So I locked the door, and I... I..." *weeping* "They always said my Joseph was such a mouse... but in the end, he was a hero, officer! A heroic HERO!"

[blunderbuss]

2) "My husband provoked the maniac, officer! And then the maniac killed him!" There. How hard was that, Carol's Mom?

Or even better, say that the husband and her were barricading the house and she had armed herself with a poker, until her husband suprised her and she accidentally killed him in a panic. Bam, perfect murder cover-up.

[kamino_neko]

That would reduce, but not necessarily remove the prison sentence she'd get (would depend on the jury she got, and the exact bounds of manslaughter or equivalent crimes in the jurisdiction), and probably still void her life insurance claim...so not exactly perfect.

[intertobamf]

The woman here is actually smarter than she is in the television version, where she manages to knock out Santa, but is more focused on setting up the crime scene of her husband's murder than killing the dangerous murderer gunning for her.

[espanolbot]

Really liked the film adaption of this story, in that anthology film which starred the always great Peter Cushing. :)

And, Pleasantsville? Huh, never seen the movie but if this was canon it would make it more interesting to me.

[icon_uk]

The specific anthology movie is the one actually called "Tales from the Crypt", with Mr Cushing in perhaps his most heartbreaking performance as the gentle, kind, lonely dustbin man whose life is destroyed and who is tormented to suicide by his snobby neighbours.

[thatnickguy]

This became an AWESOME episode of Tales from the Crypt. Thanks for reminding me of it, actually. Think I'll watch it to get in the festive spirit. :D

[captainbellman]

"The months of planning that culminated in a swift blow with a poker"

Oh yes, precision plotting.

[md84]

I love the karmic twist in this story. The only reason she can't call the cops when the maniac tries to break in to her house is because she doesn't want to reveal her own crime.

The television adaptation was even better. It ended with the camera focusing on her as she helplessly screams "No!" over and over again. Chilling stuff. This episode and "The Man Who Was Death" were two of my favorite Tales from the Crypt episodes.