The Strange House Vol 1 creeps onto the scene with a chilling mix of mystery, supernatural suspense, and psychological tension. From the first few pages, you can feel that classic horror manga vibe creeping in—where every shadow hides a secret, and the house itself feels less like a setting and more like a living, breathing character with its own sinister agenda.
The story begins when a small group of characters—each with their own reasons for being there—find themselves drawn to an isolated, decrepit mansion that no one in town dares to go near. Whether out of curiosity, desperation, or simply bad luck, they end up crossing the threshold into a place where the laws of reality seem to unravel. What starts as a creepy exploration quickly turns into a fight for survival as the house reveals its terrifying true nature.
What sets this manga apart from your average haunted house story is how it blends psychological horror with twisted, almost puzzle-like scenarios. This isn’t just about jump scares (though there are a few excellent ones); it’s about the dread that builds as the characters realize they are being watched, manipulated, and toyed with. The house seems to feed off their fears and regrets, warping reality to confront them with their darkest secrets. Each room they explore presents a new horror, and you’re never sure if what they’re seeing is real, a hallucination, or some twisted combination of both.
Characterization is a strong suit here. While you might start off thinking the cast fits the typical horror archetypes (the skeptic, the brave leader, the nervous wreck), as the story unfolds, their backstories and personal traumas are peeled back layer by layer. You start to understand why they were drawn to this cursed place and how their inner demons might be just as dangerous as the supernatural forces closing in on them.
Visually, The Strange House Vol 1 nails the creepy atmosphere. The artwork is detailed without being cluttered, and the panel work uses shadows, tight framing, and eerie negative space to build tension. The creature designs and supernatural elements are delightfully grotesque, often showing just enough to make your imagination fill in the blanks. The house itself is drawn in such loving, horrifying detail that you can practically hear the floorboards groaning and the wind howling through cracked windows.
One of the strongest elements of this first volume is the pacing. The story doesn’t rush into the action but instead lets the unease build slowly. You get moments of quiet dread, sudden bursts of terror, and those lingering cliffhangers at the end of chapters that make you hesitate before turning the page (but let’s be honest, you’re turning it anyway). The tension never lets up for long, keeping you just as trapped and confused as the characters themselves.
There are definitely some questions left unanswered by the end of Vol 1—Who built the house? Why is it cursed? Can anyone truly escape?—but that’s part of the fun. Rather than handing you easy answers, the story invites you to piece together the mystery right alongside the characters, all while wondering if the truth is something worse than you imagined.
If there’s any downside, it’s that readers looking for fast-paced horror might find the slow-burn approach a little too drawn out at times. But for fans of atmospheric, psychological horror in the vein of Junji Ito or early Silent Hill vibes, The Strange House is a welcome chill down the spine.
All in all, The Strange House Vol 1 is a promising start to what could be a terrifying and thought-provoking horror series. It draws you in with creepy aesthetics, keeps you hooked with mysterious storytelling, and leaves you glancing nervously at your own walls and ceilings when you finish reading.
English