![]() ![]() Oh, you only remember the absolute tonal shift into crazytown with the ghoulishly frightening truck driver Large Marge? Cool, same. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure sure was a great movie, wasn’t it? Remember his cool bike? How about his cute little dog? Or maybe you remember the laughable tit-for-tat “I know you are, but what am I?” repartee. The only thing more nightmarish was the clunky attempt to try to force an obvious night-time Mac Tonight concept to promote breakfast – what? Since this was actor ( and friend of GeekDad) Doug Jones’ first role, we’re almost willing to overlook this one. The “Nighty, night” tagline before he bludgeons somebody practically writes itself. ![]() It’s almost a shame that this concept hasn’t already been applied to a horror movie franchise. Triggered by moon man? Better not turn on your television for the entirety of 19. Let’s get a talkin’ moon guy!” “Yeah, and Bobby Darin’s ‘Mack the Knife’ can easily be mutilated to become ‘Mac.Tonight!'” “Genius!” Much like the California Raisins, Mac Tonight was everywhere and seemingly inescapable. I mean, how much coke were the folks at McDonald’s ad agency snorting to think this lazy concept would be a good idea? “Hey, the moon comes out at night. The mascot used to advertise late-night dining at McDonald’s restaurants looks less like a lounge singer serenading listeners behind a piano and more like a murderous movie monster waiting under your bed or in your closet for the lights to go out. Will we never learn?! The Unsolved Mysteries Theme Song While you would think the majority of the planet would now be wise to their sinister plots, Monchhichi are still available to purchase online. (If it’s a school of fish and a gaggle of geese, then I’m going to call it a palpitation of Monchhichi.) Oddly their popularity was large enough back in the day that they had their own cartoon series. One was bad enough, but if multiple Mochhichi were at a friends house, you knew it was going to be a sleepless sleepover. The commercials tried to brainwash us kids into thinking these things were gender-specific, but with only a tuft of hair and a bow to tell the girls apart from the boys, we knew that was only a ploy to placate the sheeple until this obviously murderous alien race could take over the world. In a decade where Gremlins and Ghoulies were scaring folks on the silver screen, Monchhichi brought the horror home with their questionably cute face and disturbingly furry bodies. If you didn’t know, the name “monchhichi” is a combination of “mon-” for “monkey” and “-chhichi” for “Oh, my God! What is that thing? Get it away from my face!” These devil dolls were originally from Japan (of course!), but were licensed by Mattel for the U.S. ![]() Watch this 16mm footage and tell me it’s not a clip from an art house horror movie. ![]() Additionally, McDonald’s made sure that even if the equipment wasn’t some form of dungeon, then they ensured the torment would follow you into your dreams by giving each piece of “fun” the creepiest possible face ever. If one creepy Big Mac jail wasn’t enough, you had a giant purple Grimace to entomb you. You know what isn’t fun? A stiflingly hot child-sized jail in the mouth of a giant hamburger! Look, I appreciate that McDonald’s was trying to capitalize on the popularity of Sid & Marty Crofft’s creations at the time (for which McDonald’s lost a lawsuit), but horrors such as these need to be kept behind a television screen and not brought out into the real world. You know what’s fun for kids? A playground. Let me get two cheeseburgers and a side of therapy. Here’s ten pieces of inadvertent nightmare fuel for ’80s kids: McDonaldland Playground “Welcome to Hell!” Photo credit: Flickr user Sharon Mollerus (Altered). They say speaking about the trauma is the first step towards recovery. No, I want to bring attention to those things that were supposed to be “innocent” and “fun,” but nonetheless caused their fair share of frights. However, that’s not what I’m here to rant about. Horror icons like Freddy, Jason, and Hellraiser were all products of that decade and (appropriately) caused many of us to have sleepless nights. For kids who grew up in the 1980s, there were plenty of things to be scared of. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |