Melanie Ramos, a true Boricua artist who was born and raised in the ‘deep south’ of Puerto Rico, is best known for portraying the horror hostess character Melevill, the shadow demon.
Melevill is the 1st and only Puerto Rican horror hostess. And her show Melevill’s Hades Theater is the only pulp/ grindhouse horror show independently created by a Puerto Rican woman.
Melanie grew up secretly admiring all the creatures that hide in the dark. Some of those creatures, like Vampira (the 1st and greatest horror hostess) and Freddy Krueger (the scariest horror host of the 80s), inspired 50% of the creation of Melevill. While the other 50% came from occult, mythological, and philosophical themes (such as syncretism, Greek myths, Jungian archetypes, and existentialism).
While there have been other horror hosts with some Puerto Rican heritage, none of them were birthed by Puerto Rican parents and delivered in a terrible Puerto Rican hospital, or grew up and lived for more than 30 years facing the negative aspects of Puerto Rican culture, like: intolerance, ignorance, religious oppression, high crime rates, garbage music, and hurricanes.
However, the positive aspects of Puerto Rico (the nature, the beaches, the classic pirate lore, the Tartarian structures, and the hot weather) outweigh the negative, at least to the point that Melanie is proud of being a true Puerto Rican.
Her artworks are featured in Neo-Pulps! Issue 1, 2, and the upcoming Issue 3, on the Darvaza Wave music video “Demons In Your Mouth,” and other short films.
(Below) Melanie Ramos’s self-portrait and other art.
Stay tune for more upcoming artworks.
Neo-Pulps! 