Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr. Divinus

During his 45th year of life “A singular voice in cinema,” (Movies in Focus) and “One of genre’s most exciting filmmakers” (Indiewire) decided to make a comic book.

After the release of three startling, award-winning movies that have played around the world and been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, S. Craig Zahler wanted to return to his first artistic passion―illustration. With tools that he had developed as a director, screenwriter, cinematographer, novelist, and songwriter, he committed himself to writing, drawing, inking, and lettering his graphic novel debut, a full-length work of noir horror entitled, Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr. Divinus.

Homeless people are disappearing in New Bastion, and occasionally, a dismantled corpse turns up in a dumpster. These crimes are left alone, until the day a comatose woman named Lillian Driscoll is kidnapped from the hospital. Her brothers―a grumpy detective named Leo and a slick mobster named Tommy―seek answers that lead them to darkness, arcane medicine, and pain.

Fans of Bone Tomahawk (recently named best film of the decade by Conan O’Brien) will enjoy Zahler’s return to the supernatural, and the idiosyncratic, tough guy dialogue found in his crime pictures Dragged Across Concrete and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (both of which premiered at the Venice Film Festival) is also present in this starkly rendered, black-and-white graphic novel, a stylistic confluence of pre-code horror, vintage comic strip, and modern indie art styles.

Novelist, Director, Screenwriter, Songwriter, and Drummer S. Craig Zahler was born in Florida and lives in New York. His debut western novel, A Congregation of Jackals was nominated for both the Peacemaker and the Spur awards. His 2014 crime novel Mean Business on North Ganson Street received starred reviews for excellence in Booklist who said the book was “bizarrely mean…mordantly funny…and not to be missed,” while Kirkus review called it “a gripping story.” This crime book was quickly optioned by Warner Brothers, who then hired Zahler to do the adaptation himself. His science fiction novel, Corpus Chrome, Inc. was praised by sci-fi grandmaster Larry Niven and called, “a bravura literary performance,” by Booklist, and his acclaimed book Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child, is a gothic tale that he will bring to the silver screen with the help of his new creative partners, The Jim Henson Company. His sixth novel, a nasty crime piece entitled, The Slanted Gutter, will be published by Chizine Press in 2020.

Zahler wrote and directed (and co-composed the score for) the 2015 film Bone Tomahawk, an Independent Spirit Award nominated picture for Best Screenplay, starring Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins. The film garnered praise from critics and fans alike, including the New York Times, who called Bone Tomahawk, “[a] witty fusion of western, horror and comedy that gallops to its own beat”. Zahler more recently wrote and directed Brawl in Cell Block 99, starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, and Don Johnson, which premiered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival and went on to be a New York Times Critic’s Pick and even wider critical acclaim. Both movies were added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Zahler’s third movie was Dragged Across Concrete, a crime picture that stars Vince Vaughn, Mel Gibson, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, and Jennifer Carpenter. This picture premiered at the 75th Venice Film Festival in 2018 and showed at the London Film Festival and also to a sold out crowd for the closing night of Beyond Fest. “[P]uts you on the edge of your seat,” (RogerEbert.com); “A singular voice in cinema,” (Movies in Focus); “[A]n idiosyncratic cop movie masterstroke,” (Birth.Movies.Death); “A sprawling, gritty action noir, gorgeously lit and morally challenging,” (Projected Figures); “Inventive and nasty,” (Guardian); “[S]uperb performances, a fabulous script…never goes where you expect,” (Nerdly UK); “One of genre’s most exciting filmmakers” (Indiewire).

After the release of this third motion picture, Zahler returned to his first artistic passion―illustration―and wrote, drew, and lettered his debut graphic novel, Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr. Divinus.

S. Craig Zahler is certain to become one of the great imaginers of our time.” –Clive Barker Novelist, Director, Screenwriter, Songwriter, and Drummer S. Craig Zahler was born in Florida and lives in New York. His debut western novel, A Congregation of Jackals was nominated for both the Peacemaker and the Spur awards. His 2014 crime novel Mean Business on North Ganson Street received starred reviews for excellence in Booklist who said the book was “bizarrely mean…mordantly funny…and not to be missed,” while Kirkus review called it “a gripping story.” This crime book was quickly optioned by Warner Brothers, who then hired Zahler to do the adaptation himself. His science fiction novel, Corpus Chrome, Inc. was praised by sci-fi grandmaster Larry Niven and called, “a bravura literary performance,” by Booklist, and his acclaimed book Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child, is a gothic tale that he will bring to the silver screen with the help of his new creative partners, The Jim Henson Company. His sixth novel, a nasty crime piece entitled, The Slanted Gutter, will be published by Chizine Press in 2020. Zahler wrote and directed (and co-composed the score for) the 2015 film Bone Tomahawk, an Independent Spirit Award nominated picture for Best Screenplay, starring Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins. The film garnered praise from critics and fans alike, including the New York Times, who called Bone Tomahawk, “[a] witty fusion of western, horror and comedy that gallops to its own beat”. Zahler more recently wrote and directed Brawl in Cell Block 99, starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, and Don Johnson, which premiered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival and went on to be a New York Times Critic’s Pick and even wider critical acclaim. Both movies were added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Zahler’s third movie was Dragged Across Concrete, a crime picture that stars Vince Vaughn, Mel Gibson, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, and Jennifer Carpenter. This picture premiered at the 75th Venice Film Festival in 2018 and showed at the London Film Festival and also to a sold out crowd for the closing night of Beyond Fest. “[P]uts you on the edge of your seat,” (RogerEbert.com); “A singular voice in cinema,” (Movies in Focus); “[A]n idiosyncratic cop movie masterstroke,” (Birth.Movies.Death); “A sprawling, gritty action noir, gorgeously lit and morally challenging,” (Projected Figures); “Inventive and nasty,” (Guardian); “[S]uperb performances, a fabulous script…never goes where you expect,” (Nerdly UK); “One of genre’s most exciting filmmakers” (Indiewire). After the release of this third motion picture, Zahler returned to his first artistic passion―illustration―and wrote, drew, and lettered his debut graphic novel, Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr. Divinus.

S. Craig Zahler is certain to become one of the great imaginers of our time.” –Clive Barker Novelist, Director, Screenwriter, Songwriter, and Drummer S. Craig Zahler was born in Florida and lives in New York. His debut western novel, A Congregation of Jackals was nominated for both the Peacemaker and the Spur awards. His 2014 crime novel Mean Business on North Ganson Street received starred reviews for excellence in Booklist who said the book was “bizarrely mean…mordantly funny…and not to be missed,” while Kirkus review called it “a gripping story.” This crime book was quickly optioned by Warner Brothers, who then hired Zahler to do the adaptation himself. His science fiction novel, Corpus Chrome, Inc. was praised by sci-fi grandmaster Larry Niven and called, “a bravura literary performance,” by Booklist, and his acclaimed book Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child, is a gothic tale that he will bring to the silver screen with the help of his new creative partners, The Jim Henson Company. His sixth novel, a nasty crime piece entitled, The Slanted Gutter, will be published by Chizine Press in 2020. Zahler wrote and directed (and co-composed the score for) the 2015 film Bone Tomahawk, an Independent Spirit Award nominated picture for Best Screenplay, starring Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins. The film garnered praise from critics and fans alike, including the New York Times, who called Bone Tomahawk, “[a] witty fusion of western, horror and comedy that gallops to its own beat”. Zahler more recently wrote and directed Brawl in Cell Block 99, starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, and Don Johnson, which premiered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival and went on to be a New York Times Critic’s Pick and even wider critical acclaim. Both movies were added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Zahler’s third movie was Dragged Across Concrete, a crime picture that stars Vince Vaughn, Mel Gibson, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, and Jennifer Carpenter. This picture premiered at the 75th Venice Film Festival in 2018 and showed at the London Film Festival and also to a sold out crowd for the closing night of Beyond Fest. “[P]uts you on the edge of your seat,” (RogerEbert.com); “A singular voice in cinema,” (Movies in Focus); “[A]n idiosyncratic cop movie masterstroke,” (Birth.Movies.Death); “A sprawling, gritty action noir, gorgeously lit and morally challenging,” (Projected Figures); “Inventive and nasty,” (Guardian); “[S]uperb performances, a fabulous script…never goes where you expect,” (Nerdly UK); “One of genre’s most exciting filmmakers” (Indiewire). After the release of this third motion picture, Zahler returned to his first artistic passion―illustration―and wrote, drew, and lettered his debut graphic novel, Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr. Divinus.