SATAN’S SWARM is like an old horror movie your parents didn’t want you to watch

Satan’s Swarm

Writer: Steve Niles
Illustrator: Piotr Kowalski
Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Remember when you used to go to the video store with your parents as a kid? If you were like me, the minute you went in you sprinted to the horror section. You saw your favorites there, movies you’ve seen a hundred times already and would see a hundred more. But then you’d stop. Out of the corner of your eye you saw a forbidden movie, the kind your parents told you they weren’t going to rent out for you because it’s too gory, or taboo, or (worse) not rated. Take your pick. Zombie 2, Cannibal Holocaust, Faces of Death, House by the Cemetery, Cannibal Ferox, The Gates of Hell, or in very special cases Nekromantik. Still, you’d find a way to see them. Maybe you’d sneak them in at the register when it was too late for mom or dad to fight you on it. And then, you’d get home and go straight to your VCR to watch some of the most gruesome things ever put on film.

Steve Niles and Piotr Kowalski’s Satan’s Swarm falls neatly into that category of horror, a standalone short graphic novel that leads with blood, gore, and nasty creepy crawlies with a hunger for human flesh that old school parents would be scandalized by. It feels very much like a 1970s/80s European horror movie of the mondo variety, in which violence was portrayed in a documentary-like manner to make death scenes seem intensely macabre and snuff-like. Satan’s Swarm doesn’t go as far, but there are stylistic choices that lend its horror a similar feel.

Satan’s Swarm centers on a disparate group of people, that range from influencers to entomologists and reporters, who receive an invitation by a doctor called Phillip Morgan to visit his coastal research facility. Very little time is wasted from the initial intro of the characters to get the bloodshed going. It’s quickly revealed that Dr. Morgan has been experimenting with small insects, especially ants, that devour everything with a pulse in their path. The group tries to survive, and they do a poor job of it.

The story doesn’t get any more complicated than that, and that’s a good thing. Niles seems to be keenly aware that what made most of the movies I mentioned above highly sought-after was the over-the-top violence and the death scenes. So that’s what he gives us, a group of people lined up to get devoured up-close-and-personally for our viewing pleasure. There’s a great reason why this happens, though. Had it gotten a bit more story behind it, it would’ve been even more gratifying. Dr. Morgan is a fascinating character that earns more screentime, if you will, before the madness begins. But what’s here gets the job done.

The simplicity of the story does give Kowalski free reign to have as much fun as possible with the carnage. Here’s where the mondo influences come in. Kowalski tends to draw in a very naturalistic and realistic way, a trait that’s made his previous horror work also hit hard when it comes to violence (see his work on Hellraiser, Bloodborne, and the more recent Where Monsters Lie). In Satan’s Swarm, he seems to be having the time of his life.

Characters get chewed down to the bone and there’s not one scene where it doesn’t look grisly. In some cases the feeding is drawn out through several panels so we can appreciate the frenzy of the attacks. The details on the insect swarm evoke images of biblical plagues and warzones, and you want even more of it because of how well it’s put together composition-wise. It’s a treat, and a great showcase of Kowalski’s abilities.

This one’s a no-brainer. Satan’s Swarm is a nostalgic gorehound’s dream and a great ode to the controversial European horror movies of the 70s and 80s. Niles offers up a lean script that gives Kowalski a chance to run wild. These types of free-flowing collaborations never fail to result in bloody good times. That’s exactly what they achieve here.