In GHOSTED #8, the true secret of the Cult of the Closed Book is revealed. And… it’s pretty twisted. Pretty much what you’d expect from a cult who kidnaps women who have been possessed.
The idea that one man, the Maestro, is responsible for the production and distribution of all the evil books in the world was an intriguing one and one that I sort of stumbled onto as I was working on the plot of the second arc of Ghosted.
Now I don’t want to give away too much about #8 or this arc, so instead Skybound and I decided to show a few movies that use some form of “evil book.” Not an extensive list… but you have to wonder… did the Cult of the Closed book create these?
Grimorum Arcanorum… From Disney’s Gargoyles
Grimorum means “Book of Magic” and this particular Grimorum was used to curse Goliath and the rest of his merry crew of Gargoyles to a stony existence. Xanatos and Demona eventually got their hands on it and it was used as a tool to torment the Gargoyles when they arrived in New York City.
So… side note. Just had one of those moments where I realized that I was a dumb little kid, because how did I not know that Demona was going to betray everyone and be a bad guy? Her name is… Demon… a…
Anyway.
Jason goes to Hell: The Final Friday
And then comes the Friday the 13th movies. It’s kind of crazy how many horror movie Easter eggs are in this film, but really the best is the Necronomicon from Evil Dead 2… which we’ll get to a bit later in this list.
Is the Necronomicon somehow responsible for Jason’s supernatural powers… did poor Miss Voorhees use the book to get revenge on those pesky teenagers?
Speaking of teenagers…
The Watcher’s Codex… from Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Giles’ book… or as I like to call it… “The Exposition Machine.” In nearly every episode, especially in the first three seasons, the Scooby Gang would go to the library and have the basic plot explained to the audience via Giles reading about the monster of the week. It was a quick and easy way to get the plot moving and for Buffy to kill some demon, or baddie. Pictured up above is actually the Vampire book that Giles shows Buffy earlier on in the series. But it’s a good visual representation of all the books that were used in Buffy.
You’d think Giles would have a book of this importance memorized. Also, after having the books in their position for years, why didn’t the Watcher’s Council ever translate all this stuff… make Cliff Notes? I mean, really.
Books of the Dead
Not so much a book. At least not as we think of them now. These Egyptian “books of the dead” were writings inside the ancient Pyramids on the tomb walls or on the sarcophagi. Sometimes written on Papyrus scrolls and placed inside the sarcophagi. The point was to help the deceased on their journey through the underworld. There is something oddly poetic about that to me.
One of the films to use a pretty elaborate Book of the Dead was the modern The Mummy franchise from Universal. It even had a pretty cool opposite in the “Book of the Living.” Now they took the idea of the “Book of the Dead” and created an actual book instead of the scrolls. It surprises me that there doesn’t seem to be many movies that have used the idea of the scrolls or the walls of a building instead of a book… wait… ideas forming…. Hm.
So now… let’s go ahead and get to the nitty gritty.
Necronomicon Ex-Mortis… from EVIL DEAD
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Jackson wasn’t heavily influenced by Ash from the original Evil Dead series, especially in Army of Darkness. So let’s go ahead and dive into the best… THE EVIL DEAD.
It’s fair to say that HP Lovecraft’s Necronomicon is the most famous on this list. And probably the coolest. Used in much of Lovecraft’s major works, the Necronomicon has captivated the twisted imagination of many horror writers. Whole books, comics and movies are based around it. Too many to list here.
But in my humble opinion the visual interpretation from the Evil Dead series is easily the best. In fact, the original title of Evil Dead 1 was “Book of the Dead.” So much of my writing style has been influenced by Sam Raimi’s ability to mix horror and humor, that I owe this series a lot.
What is your favorite movie or story that features a evil book of some kind?
So that’s it and I leave you with…
Klaatu barada nikto!
– Josh Williamson
BONUS!!!
The Diary of Patience Buckner… from The Cabin in the Woods
One of the best horror movies in recent years, The Cabin in the Woods has a book that looked a bit like a Necronomicon, but was in fact a diary of a very tortured young woman. Not to give too much away, but this movie rules!
