First published back in January of 2022, issue twelve of ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ was compiled and edited by Jack Bantry and offered up another bloodbucket full of A5 black & white pages, packed with more stories, articles, reviews and interviews of uncompromisingly violent horror and gore.  The zine was made available for purchase via Bantry’s ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ website.

Editorial – 1 Page
Splatterpunk Zine’s Jack Bantry opens up this next issue with a short, joyful editorial about the recent surge in extreme horror authors and the rising popularity of the scene as a whole when compared with when Bantry was first getting into splatterpunk books all those many moons ago.

I Shoulda Stayed Home – Rayne Havok – 6 Pages
It wasn’t that he enjoyed his job or anything, but spending another night away from his overweight wife was nothing short of a godsend. Besides, it wasn’t like nightshift security work for the Hospice Centre was a particularly difficult task. He’d churn through his book and relax in his chair. Well, that had been the plan before he came across a woman who was clearly engaging in oral sex with a comatose patient. Sucking on him like there’s no tomorrow…

You’ve gotta love a bit of erotic horror. The sort of stuff that gets your blood pumping and pulse going just that little faster, for all the best reasons. With this hot-under-the-collar offering, US author Rayne Havok absolutely delivers the goods with both the raunchiness and then the blood splatter. Furthermore, the way the short jumps from the perspective of our hapless security guard to that of the woman who’s ‘caught in the act’, works an absolute treat. You just can’t take anything for granted in the story. Completely unpredictable and ingeniously constructed, slamming down twist after twist. It’s brutal, gory and fucking entertaining.

The story includes a full-page, graphic illustration by Jim Agpalza.



Insufficiently Splattery – Jeff Strand – 3 Pages
The result of pushing the guy off the bridge was incredibly disappointing. No explosion of blood and guts splattered upon the rocks below. No dramatic visceral carnage. None of the good stuff he sought. Instead, just a strangely awkward body heaped across the cold rockface. Disappointing for sure.  It was always frustrating when the outcome was like this. An underwhelming comedown. Still, doing what he does became worth it because of the visually spectacular ones. That’s what got him going. That’s what makes random murder a worthwhile venture…

Oh boy have we got some gore-tastic black comedy here! It’s only short and sweet, at just two pages of text with an additional page for the accompanying illustration, but damn does Strand throw in all he’s got with the comical serial-killer banter. The premise and set up of this short tale is wild and so well constructed. The semi-twist ending, equally as inspired and has you grinning fore ear-to-ear, although in a decidedly uneasy way. Honestly, this one so much fun. And so well delivered. One for all the gore-hounds out there.

The story includes a full-page illustration by Robert Elrod.



Pregnant At The Prom – Daniel J. Volpe – 7 Pages
The night before Ashley’s first day of her senior year, she’d woken in bed with an excruciating pain in her vagina. There was something, dark and strong on her. Forcing itself inside her. A stench of shit and matches, prominent in the air of her bedroom. As the beast climaxed, Ashely passed out.

Nine months later and Ashley’s heavily pregnant and going to her school prom. She’d been looking forward to the prom ever since she was old enough to start school. However, this wasn’t how she envisaged the night to be. Swollen belly and everyone’s eyes on her. But she’d make the most of it, nevertheless. It was her time. A time to enjoy herself. Or at least it would have been, if the thing inside her hadn’t chosen that night of all nights to enter the world…

Oh man is this a gruesome, gory piece of splatter horror. It’s pretty much a mash-up of ‘The Entity’ (1982), ‘Inseminoid’ (1981), ‘Alien’ (1979) and ‘Carrie’ (1974). Oh yeah, this one’s got it all going on. Furthermore, US author Daniel J. Volpe doesn’t hold back on the gross-out details. There’s more fluids and juices, and blood and gore on every page than you can shake an umbilical cord at. From the minute the blood-encrusted shit hits the fan at the school prom, the escalating levels of visceral gore go through the roof. It’s a wild ride; I’ll give you that. Extreme horror, written with a penchant for grossing you out. Frigging insane is what it is!

The story includes a full-page illustration by Dan Henk.



The Screaming Tree – Patrick C. Harrison III – 10 Pages
It was late July in Twin Oaks, Texas when Hank Waters took his good friend, Santiago Diaz, out to the Rolling Woods, to show him something important. A small clearing in the woods, where blood red roots littered the ground, converging upon a small red tree which sprouted upwards out of the mass of red tendrils. This was what Hank needed to show Santiago. This was the screaming tree. A tree which Hank had discovered back when he was a fifteen-year-old lad. At a time when death had become a common occurrence in Twin Oaks. Some sort of mass paranoia or hysteria which had befallen the once sleepy, peaceful town. Normal, peace-loving folk, driven to murder. Each one saying the same thing… “the tree made me do it”…

Goddamn is this a good read. US author Patrick C. Harrison III delivers an evocative story of eerie horror, provoking an air thick with unease which escalates to a thunderous and haunting finale. The story reads almost like a classic Stephen King offering, only with the harrowing horror cranked up to eleven. I wouldn’t necessarily put the short into either the extreme horror or splatterpunk buckets. Nevertheless, it certainly packs a powerful punch. And god is it addictive reading! The sort of story that just swallows you up from the outset. The narrative so intoxicatingly creepy that everything else disappears, but you and the story being spun before you. An outstanding read.

The story includes a full-page illustration by Denis Privezentsev.



Interview – Death’s Head Press – 3 Pages
Jack Bantry interviews Patrick C. Harrison III and Jarod Barbee – two of the guys behind the extreme horror publishers, Death’s Head Press. In the interview Bantry asks about what it was that brought them together to start a publishing business, why they decided to do Splatter Westerns, and if there was a plan for the series. The guys also talk about which writer they’d like to work with, the idea behind Stygian Sky Media, the potential for DHP hardbacks, and why Texas produces such good horror writers. Bantry wraps the interview up asking for a little about the pair, what they’d be doing if they weren’t sat answering these questions, and finally what terrifies them.

Book Reviews – 2 Pages
Beyond Reform – Jon Athan, Aron Beauregard, and Jasper Bark
Women – Wol-vriey
Sew Sorry – Aron Beauregard
A Red Winter In The West – C.S. Humble

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