Are you a werewolf, mummy, or simply a ghost trying to just live your damn life human free? Did you also know that human attacks account for 100% of premature deaths for witches, cyborgs, and other supernatural beings? Well KE Flann’s new book, “How To Survive A Human Attack” is certainly a must have for your conversation starter coffin table in the living-dead room of your home. Or hey, if you’re just a nasty human, you may as well brush up on some basic human behavioral skills here, as you may actually find some helpful hints for yourself.
This handy parody book is a deep dive into how to be on point in your supernatural body; whether you’re a zombie learning how to bite into a skull properly, or an aging vampire not knowing the basics of how to use a computer, the book has an array of picture-filled, and detailed chapters on guiding monsters through these very scenarios.
However, even through the What We Do In The Shadows style of storytelling in this mock book guide, there are some pretty compelling talking points on the psychology of human behavior from the “monsters” point of view. As a matter of fact, after getting through the entire book I felt like a dirty, nasty human that feels the need to apologize on behalf of the entire human race to all the supernatural beings out there.
“How To Survive A Human Attack”, is comedic, compelling, and perfect for any Horror or Science Fiction aficionado. It truly was a fun read and I think anyone who appreciates just about anything monster-related, will as well.
About the Author:
K.E. Flann’s writing has been featured in The North American Review, Shenandoah, and Michigan Quarterly Review, and a collection of short stories won the 2014 George Garrett Award at Texas Review Press. Excerpts from this incredibly important work have appeared or will appear in Word Riot, The Higgs Weldon, Defenestration, and Monkeybicycle.
Six years before Robert Englund strapped on the infamous glove, the Freddy Krueger actor had an uncredited role in the iconic John Carpenter “immortal classic”, Halloween.
Six degrees of slasher separation is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?
As most seasoned Halloween fans are aware, the 1978 slasher classic was filmed in Pasadena, CA- and beyond the occasional slip up of a palm tree in the background, Carpenter and the crew did a bang-up jib of making audiences believe we were looking at a small town somewhere in the Midwest- the fictional Haddonfield. Hell, I was fooled as a kid before I actually knew better, because I thought Haddonfield was a real place until I was like, twelve.
To be young and naïve is also, such a beautiful thing.
Anyways, during filming Englund was a struggling actor in the Hollywood area, and through an interview with Access, spilled the blood beans on his connection tot he Halloween franchise- that he actually worked on set for one day as a volunteer with his roommate, throwing leaves around set to give the film its Fall ambience!
“I actually had a roommate back when they did the original Halloween, the John Carpenter one. And he conned me into going to Pasadena one day with garbage bags full of dead leaves and we were working on the set of the original Halloween movie. Throwing the dead leaves around so it looked like Autumn, so it looked like Fall back in the Midwest.“
Needless to say, it’s a pretty cool tidbit of horror trivia, and obviously the town of Pasadena, I mean, Haddonfield, was obviously spared a slasher duo of unbridled terror that day. That was more or less saved for the kids of Elm Street when Krueger met up with Voorhees in 2004.
Without skipping a beat, 80s’ kids know that My Buddy jingle- and we also know without a doubt, THIS, without a doubt, is the true inspiration behind the Child’s Play franchise. Sure, the Cabbage Patch Kids as originally stated, served as some inspiration for good ol’ Chuck. But My Buddy was in itself, was inspired by the Xavier Roberts’ line. Also, looking at this pair side-by-side, it’s beyond obvious we know where he got his look from.
In the earlier part of the decade, Cabbage Patch Dolls rules the ugly doll market with a mighty fist; crushing any and all competitors that stood in their creepy, cabbage-dwelling way. Although considered non-gender specific, the dolls were mostly marketed towards little girls. The boys had their GI JOES and HE-MAN, and that seemed to be the way it just was. Up until Hasbro launched a market campaign with a doll, directly marketed to boys as, “A little boy’s special friend! Rough and tough, yet soft and cuddly.”
The My Buddy doll was officially stocked on store shelves in 1985 and actually sold fairly well – ranking in eighth place officially as the top-ten selling toys for that year. But it didn’t last long. And neither did his off-shoot Kid Sister either- which I TOTALLY HAD.
And intro the theme song that will probably be stuck in your head the rest of the day. In which case, was most certainly the biggest selling point of this doll. It truly was the perfect combination for creating a memorable identity for a toy while cleverly referencing the doll’s name throughout the “earworm” so much so, all kids’ would remember the name My Buddy or Kid Sister when asking for an oversized bundle of plastic and stuffing with sewn-on clothing.
Then, 1988 happened and in comes Chucky to permanently bury that pussy My Buddy/ Kid Sister duo forever into the hallowed grounds of unwanted toys.
Now while, it has already been confirmed via Don Mancini himself that the Cabbage Patch Kids served as some sort of muse for Chucky, along with other things, (NOT that garbage Robert the Doll story that has been circulating for years); it wasn’t until fairly recently that Mancini himself admitted to there being an inspiration from My Buddy as well. This could be due to any possible lawsuits that could have come his way and towards the studios with such an admission. Which, of course, is fair enough. However, we all knew better anyway.
Hell, everything from the look itself, the fake toy box, all the way down to the commercials screamed this was a blatant killer copy-cat. Come on… Even in the original pitched script Chucky’s name was “Buddy”; which of course, was later actually utilized in the reboot of the franchise in 2019.
Now don’t get it twisted. I’m certainly not giving the guy (Mancini) any shit. I’m eternally grateful to have such a marvelous, witty, pint-sized horror maniac in the horror movie legends roster. But, let’s face facts. Chucky was directly inspired by My Buddy- who in turn, had a hand in the down-fall of the doll.
Just like with Freddy, every kid in the late 80s’ early 90s’ knew all about Chucky; and we closely associated the plastic terror with the My Buddy doll. My younger brother had a My Buddy doll prior to the movie coming out, as I did as well with his sister companion. However, shortly after seeing the movie, we got rid of those fuckin’ nightmare inducing wads of stuffing on the fact it resembled it TOO much; and it did give my brother several nightmares. He did NOT want that thing in his room anymore; and unfortunately, that same scenario rang true for many other kids as well. Whether it was the kids themselves, or parents making that association, the My Buddy toy line suffered. Hasbro subsidiary Playskool continued manufacturing the doll into the 1990s, while changing up his look a bit to distance the toy’s legacy away from the Child’s Play series. But, it didn’t have the effect the toymakers’ thought it would and My Buddy went completely off line in the 90s’ due to poor sales.
Prior to the upcoming Child’s Play series coming in October from SyFy, Chucky’s kill count sits at 74. Let’s just make it 75 because My Buddy deserves at least that.
Nightmare Nostalgia 