Frankenturkey: A Zombified Thanksgiving Nightmare
With Thanksgiving not far away, I thought I would read and review Betsy Haynes’ Frankenturkey (1994). This was the 4th book in the Bone Chillers series, which was one of the many YA horror series that jumped on the Goosebumps bandwagon. Not long ago I reviewed R. L. Stine’s Attack of the Jack-O’-Lanterns – another holiday horror aimed at a YA audience released in 1996 – which got me curious about this book.
A little bit of trivia: R. L. Stine would go on to publish his own poultry-based horror Chicken Chicken (Original Goosebumps #53) a year after Frankenturkey‘s release. This was the same year the Bone Chillers TV series was aired in 1997. But how will this compare with a Goosebumps? Will you go gobble-de-gook with fear when next presented with a turkey dinner, or will this book make you want to go cold turkey?
Only one way to find out…
Themes
Holiday Horror
Before getting into the plot, let’s explore the major theme of this book. Holiday horror uses common themes, motifs and iconography (such as the Jack-O’-Lantern) within the setting. Home Sweet Home (1981), according to Wikipedia, is the earliest holiday horror film released where the focus is around Thanksgiving. A further Thanksgiving-themed horror film was released in the 80s (Blood Rage, 1987). The number of these types of films more than doubled in the next decade. In the 90s we saw the release of:
- The Boneyard (1991)
- Amityville Horror: A New Generation (1993)
- The Granny (1995)
- Intensity (1997)
- Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998).
Frankenturkey spins the yarn of a giant, bloodthirsty turkey that is out to bully (and seemingly kill) Kyle, and anything else that gets in its way. More recently, taking a similar premise of a killer turkey going on a Thanksgiving rampage is the ThanksKilling franchise. If this idea has piqued your interest see the trailer below.
Plot
The blurb on the back of this book is misleading. It states that Kyle and Annie supposedly want to celebrate Thanksgiving dressed like the Pilgrims, and even raise their own turkey to slaughter for their dinner. Well, they don’t. They’re the new kids at school and their mother is a teacher there too. To make matters worse, Kyle’s bully waits for him at the bus to beat him up every single day.
Kyle’s mother, who is overly enthusiastic about the detriment of her kid’s street cred, decides it would be a great idea to dress up her kids as Pilgrims and take the turkey they are raising for Thanksgiving dinner to ‘show and tell’. After the family pick up the turkey, the kids become attached to it as they would a pet. Fearful that their new friend will end up on the dinner table, they decide to make a fake turkey out of a frozen turkey, coat hangers and a Halloween mask.
Suddenly a bolt of lightning strikes the creation, and Frankenturkey is born! But Frankenturkey is evil. He is after the kids… After the family dog… But will anyone become dinner for the turkey this Thanksgiving?!
Summary
Frankenturkey was a bit of a bore. It felt like it took me way too long to finish such a short book. This was in complete contrast to the ending. Whilst some Goosebumps books endings feel rushed, and a little goofy, I have never read a book where the ending felt quite so rushed. If there was more going on in the story it would have been an easier read.
Despite this, there are some very jarring themes and images throughout. Not only was I surprised that there was some gore in this – something I have not yet seen in a YA horror for such a young audience – but I also found the themes of bullying rather menacing for a kid’s book. The fact that animals get attacked, or threatened to be attacked by the school bully, got a reaction from me which I did not think possible from a book aimed at 8 to 12 year olds.
