Abandoned Daycare Retrospective (Patreon)

I wrote this little ditty for a zine.  Leave to me to go comical on a Halloween issue, right?  I'm such a contrarian.

Cabin in the Woods is probably my favorite "Horror Movie" because of how self-aware it is.  (This probably won't surprise people who have played Perpetual Change).   So it was really fun re-watching the movie beat by beat and trying to figure out how things would translate, as well as what to keep versus what to cut.

I worked with an artist named Nobat, who added illustrations to the final product, but I can't for the life of me find that version.  Which is a shame because they really added something.  They were also a really good collaborator shooting ideas back and forth with me and us gently butting heads until we found something that worked for both of us.

Originally, the monster was supposed to be an evil nanny-bot  (Figuring out a substitute for undead redneck torture family was the hardest part) but when combined with the control room aspect (also my favorite part) it made the whole thing feel just like a robo nursery trope and not a celebration of all the crazy abdl tropes.   

The other struggle was figuring out how to add in a bit of darkness without it pivoting into actual horror or gore at the very end, as neither of us wanted that.  

I think the final product we made was fantastic.

Here's a link I found of the zine in question.  

https://peculiarchangeling.gumroad.com/l/Fear?layout=profile