[I recently bought several packs of film- and tv-related trading cards: everything from Growing Pains to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. I plan to open one pack a week and document every card, sticker, and stick of gum I find. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll discover a hologram or two.]
Title: Fright Flicks
Publisher: Topps
Year: 1985
Details: 9 Cards || 1 Sticker || 1 Stick Bubble Gum
Many horror fans who were kids in the mid-80s fondly remember Fright Flicks, a short-lived trading card collection that combined stills from (mostly) beloved horror and sci-fi films, lame puns and silly quips, and Ripley’s-style can-you-believe-it? creepy factoids.
The pack I bought contained cards with images from Aliens, Day of the Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street I, II, & III, Poltergeist, The Fly (1986), Ghostbusters, and Predator:
Of the nine images, my favorite – based on the badass-image/non-sequitur-tagline combo - is the “Okay, Who Took A Bite Out Of My Bran Muffin?”/The Fly card (Card #9). I’ve always been partial to the toungue-in-phone gag from A Nightmare on Elm Street, so Card #8 is a great find for me as well.
The pack also had a striking Fright Night sticker that I’m currently in the process of finding a home for. (One problem with my day job is that I have relatively few occasions to carry a sticker-covered Trapper Keeper):
That's Slimer's chin on the reverse-side puzzle piece
Finally, this pack contained a piece of the ubiquitous Topps chewing gum:
Card-collecting readers of a certain age should get an immediate and powerful sense memory from viewing this image
Although I haven’t had a piece of Topps gum for close to two decades, seeing the stick immediately made my mouth water. Even when fresh, Topps gum wasn’t objectively good. But I remember loving it as a kid because… hey… free gum! Also, it was such an integral part of the card-collecting process (open pack, chew gum, see if you got anything good) that I never even questioned whether it was a good as a stick of Big Red or a chunk of Bazooka Joe (note: it wasn’t).
In the interest of journalistic integrity, I decided to chew the 25-plus-year-old stick while writing this post, and include my thoughts on how it tasted. Like a connoisseur of fine beer, I sniffed the gum before chewing it. I was surprised to discover that it was completely devoid of any discernible odor. I suppose it was made of iocane powder.
Undeterred, I put the gum in my mouth. I expected it to be tough and difficult to chew, but the opposite was true. Within seconds, the gum had completely liquefied, leaving behind a glaze of slightly-thicker-and-sweeter-than-normal saliva in my mouth. I don’t know what the substance was that made Topps gum chewy, but it apparently self destructs in less than two-and-a-half decades.
If I die in my sleep, please bury me under this tombstone:
Best. Epitaph. Ever.
If you remember buying Fright Flicks, let me know your favorite cards or memories of collecting them in the comments.
You got some great cards in that pack. I too know the sting of morbid curiosity when it comes to the gum. A few years ago I tried some from a pack of Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids I bought at a flea market (Trader’s Market to those in the North Texas area), and it did the same thing. I lived, but it hasn’t been a full life since that dreaded day.
Great post, those cards were a hoot.
As for the gum … ooof, you’re a braver soul than I.
I love picking up packs of Fright Flicks. I spot them at conventions still and can’t resist getting a pack. And the picture of the gum made my mouth water, I just love gum. Great post!!
Those are amazing cards. It’s great you just posted this because I was given an unopened pack of Batman Returns trading cards last night. Obviously not as great as Fright Flicks, and no gum but, fun none the less.
Oh my God. I know what I’m getting my wife for Valentine’s Day!
I love them Fright Flick cards. You forgot to mention that hey totally debunk the Did It Ever Happen?’s on the wrapper. Check out this video in which I’m wearing a home made Did It Ever Happen? T-Shirt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HssIi-d5sS4
Matthew: That’s a great idea for a shirt. Was the “Did It Ever Happen?” logo appear anywhere other than these cards?
And you’re right about the back of the wrapper. The cards say “Did It Ever Happen?” and the back of the wrapper essentially says “Nope. Never happened.” Pretty funny.
You know I don’t think it has ever been used for anything else, I don’t even think he artist is credited anywhere on the pack or cards either.
I loved these as a kid and I remember wanting to see THE FLY particularly badly, because of the creepy stills. A few years back, I came across an entire box of these at a flea market and got the entire thing for like ten bucks. Boy, did that bring back memories!