Four Questions with Rich Davis
The author stopping by Tamika Talks Terror today took a well known character and created a version so unique and memorable that his bestselling comic, Cult of Dracula, is being made into a film.
Rich Davis was kind enough to share his thoughts on horror and the spookiest thing that's ever happened to him.
Tamika Thompson: What is horror?
Rich Davis: Wow! That's a question I've never been asked. I love it! Horror is whatever scares YOU. It's different things to different people. My mom, for example, is absolutely terrified of anything involving demons. The Exorcist is the scariest thing ever made in her opinion. It doesn't scare me in the slightest. It never has. That's what I love about the genre. It's so versatile and diverse.
Thompson: What is the spookiest experience you've ever had?
Davis: When I was a little kid, my cousins and I decided to explore the caves near my grandparents' farm. We'd made it a couple hundred feet inside and found an area where the cave opened into this larger room. As soon as I stepped in, I got this vivid memory of being there before. I saw a campfire and people sitting around it. It was just a flash but it felt very real. Then it was gone and I was just sort of stunned. I still have dreams about that vision. It still feels like I was there, sitting around that fire.
Thompson: What is the scariest book you've read and what about it frightened you?
Davis: Nevil Shute's On The Beach is hands down the most frightening book I've ever read. The hopelessness of it. Humanity clinging to its last moments. Everyone who's left all huddled together on an island continent. All they can do is watch their doom roll in on a cloud of nuclear death. The helplessness. That scares me. Not being able to do anything. Powerlessness. End game. But it doesn't happen fast. It makes you wait. It's playing with you. Prolonging your suffering. That's terror.
Thompson: From the look to the origin story, the Dracula you created in Cult of Dracula is unlike the one I’m used to. And your work not only became a bestselling comic but it is also now in development to be made into a film. What about this character do you think resonates with readers?
Davis: Dracula is the archetypal vampire. Vampires represent primordial fears.
The tormented spirits of those we couldn't save come back to torment us. Losses, regrets, memories that drain us dry. There's something universally human about that. We're all scared of it. I think those concepts just strike a chord deep inside us all. I think that is what allows Dracula as a concept to be re-imagined and re-interpreted in so many different ways without reducing its impact.
Rich Davis is the writer and creator of the underground horror sensation Cult of Dracula and Rise of Dracula from Source Point Press. His first book, Cult of Dracula, was a 2021 Top 100 comic and all-time best seller for Source Point Press. It has sold more than 50,000 units and has been optioned by Sure Pictures for film and television development. In a short period of time, he has built a reputation in the comic book industry as an innovator with a tireless work ethic.
