When it comes to horror, the go-to holiday is predominately Halloween with Christmas a close second. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is sorely lacking when it comes to horror media. Yes, there’s the Eli Roth movie, and classics like Blood Rage, Home Sweet Home, The Last Thanksgiving, ThanksKilling, and I guess Black Friday counts. But let’s be honest, Thanksgiving has got a long way to go to catch up with the other holidays in terms of horror.
Which is why it’s so surprising that Betsy Haynes’ Bone Chillers series had not one, but two, Thanksgiving-themed stories, which were later adapted for TV.
Frankenturkey is the fourth in the series, followed by Frankenturkey II, which came three books and one year later. It’s the story of two children who bond with the turkey their parents plan to kill and eat for Thanksgiving dinner. In their desperation to save their new friend, they unwittingly create a monster.
In the first Frankenturkey, we follow Kyle Duggan, his little sister, Annie, and their dog, Trouble, as they struggle to adapt to change. The Duggans have moved from sunny Florida to gloomy Massachusetts, and the kids are not enjoying being near the place where the Pilgrims first landed. I wouldn’t either. Aside from being homesick, Kyle and Annie’s biggest problem is Jake Wilbanks. Due to being held back, he’s the oldest and biggest kid in the sixth grade and has been making Kyle’s life a living hell. You’d think Kyle’s mom being the sixth grade teacher might make a difference, but it just makes Kyle a bigger target.
Mr. and Mrs. Duggan think the best way to help Kyle and Annie get used to their new home is to have a supposedly traditional Thanksgiving like the Pilgrims held. They decide to raise a living turkey to eat instead of buying a frozen turkey, while Mrs. Duggan arranges for the school to reenact the very first Thanksgiving.
At which point this book immediately goes into cringe territory as a lot of the kids proclaim they’d love to be “Indians,” wearing war paint and feathers and making whooping noises. Sigh.
Anyway, Kyle and Annie pick out a turkey who seems different from the rest of the mindless gobblers aimlessly pecking at seeds and feed at the nearby turkey farm. This turkey seems more mindful, smarter than the other turkeys, and lonely. Kyle and Annie feel bad for the poor bird and name him Gobble-de-Gook. The Duggan children are horrified as their parents gleefully explain how they’ll fatten Gobble-de-Gook up for Thanksgiving, chop off his head, and rip his guts out to prepare him for dinner. Kudos to these parents for completely failing to see how disgusted their children are.
Kyle and Annie refuse to let Gobble-de-Gook suffer and conspire to replace him with a decoy. That means buying a frozen turkey and decorating it with construction paper, feathers, wire hangers, and an old Halloween mask to look like an actual, living bird. Since Kyle and Annie are given the responsibility of feeding Gobble-de-Gook, they hope their parents won’t look at the turkey pen hard enough to notice the difference. They didn’t count on lightning striking their creation and bringing it to life, turning it into a real, living turkey again! Because lightning can do anything.
And thus Frankenturkey is born.
Kyle and Annie think their problems are solved until they discover just how vicious this new turkey is. Frankenturkey’s eyes are blood red, and his talons are as sharp as knives. He makes Jake Wilbanks scared for his life, but the Duggans quickly learn their creation hates everyone. And it’s slowly transforming back into the junk used to construct it, making it angrier. Kyle and Annie have a monster on their hands, and they not only have to save Gobble-de-Gook, but their own family from Frankenturkey’s wrath.
The original Frankenturkey is a surprising read for me. While the discussion about playing Indian frustrates me and deserves to be criticized as outdated, Kyle and Annie’s fondness for poor Gobble-de-Gook is legitimately heartbreaking. That in turn only makes their parents even more obnoxious for useless YA horror parents, due to how concerned they are with a “proper Thanksgiving.” Frankenturkey itself is, well, it’s hard to beat a Frankenstein’s monster that’s actually a turkey.
Surprisingly, this book received an immediate sequel. Frankenturkey II was released a year later as the seventh Bone Chillers book. To think R.L. Stine waited until 15 books later to do Monster Blood II. The point of view shifts from Kyle to his sister, Annie, and things start on a bleak note when we learn poor Gobble-de-Gook has died. Hit by a car in-between the first and second book, the Duggan siblings aren’t handling the loss very well. Kyle’s pretending he’s not upset by acting as though he didn’t care about Gobble-de-Gook, frustrating Annie.
When the Duggans discover they still have the wishbone from last Thanksgiving, they use it to wish for Gobble-de-Gook to come back to life. And he does! But he’s brought someone with him. Since that wishbone came from Frankenturkey, the evil bird’s hitched a ride in Gobble-de-Gook’s body. Annie discovers Frankenturkey has come back with the power to grant wishes, and is using it to twist her family’s desires for the sake of revenge. If Annie and former bully Jake Wilbanks don’t act fast, Annie’s family are going to eat her brother for Thanksgiving!
…see, this is why it’s maybe not a good idea to a eat a monster turkey for Thanksgiving no matter how delicious or golden brown it looks.
Frankenturkey II amps up the craziness from the previous book, in much the same way A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge made up its own rules. The evil poultry has come back as a living Monkey’s Paw (Turkey’s Paw?), to the point he can even influence people into making wishes when they don’t mean to. Trouble the dog starts acting like a cat, Mr. Duggan loses his job at the bank, Kyle gets brainwashed into eagerly wanting the new turkey dead, and then the Duggans proceed to stuff a ravenous Kyle silly so he’s fat enough for Thanksgiving dinner.
A lot of the twisted humor in this book relies on Annie being kept exempt from the influence of Franketurkey’s power, being forced to watch as her family blithely prepares to murder her brother for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s the sort of book that expects you to just run with everything it throws out, almost like a Thanksgiving-themed episode of Tales from the Crypt. Annie and Jake have to figure out how to outsmart Frankenturkey before Kyle becomes dinner, but is there perhaps something of Gobble-de-Gook still inside that can save the day?
The Bone Chillers TV show adapted the first Frankenturkey into an episode and kept the plot mostly the same as the teen protagonists try to save an innocent turkey from being slaughtered for Thanksgiving. The evil Principal Pussman declares Edgar Allen Poe High will raise and kill a turkey for Thanksgiving (because apparently Pussman is making the kids come to school that day, which is especially evil). Poor Gobbles the turkey is scared out of his mind, and Pussman assigns Fitz Crump and Brian Hoseapple to feed Gobbles as punishment for mouthing off.
Fitz, Brian, Sarah, and Lexi try to save Gobbles by conspiring with Carl from the cafeteria to replace him with a frozen double. Unlike the original book, the teens and Carl deliberately try to bring the fake turkey to life (Fitz having been inspired after watching “Frankenstein’s Brother-In-Law” the night before). When it appears the experiment failed, they dump it in the garbage bin next to Gobbles’ pen. At which point lightning strikes the chicken wire fence connected to the garbage bin, freeing a terrified Gobbles and bringing Frankenturkey to life!
In keeping with the TV show’s deliberate camp values, most of the episode centers on Fitz and his friends trying to save Gobbles as the turkey is chased throughout the school by a now kaijuu-esque Frankenturkey. The poultry abomination is capable of breathing fire and roaring like a dinosaur as it hunts its living counterpart. Things get even more convoluted when Principal Pussman offers a reward to the student who tracks Gobbles down.
The highlight of the episode is perhaps the puppetry used for Gobbles and Frankenturkey, making them a bit reminiscent of something you’d see from Jim Henson. Gobbles is far more animated compared to Gobble-do-Gook, and by the end of the episode he’s hiding out with Fitz’s group wearing nothing but a pilgrim hat and a pair of sunglasses.
As luck would have it, this was one of the few episodes to get a VHS release so treat yourselves this Thanksgiving. And if you can’t grab a copy, the episode is available on Youtube alongside the rest of the Bone Chillers TV show (as of the publication of this post).