Monday, April 6, 2009

You Are So Undead to Me

Original 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer film vs. You Are So Undead to Me by: Stacey Jay

When I first saw the cover for this book I was a little upset, considering the avid Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanatic that I am. Then I read the description..... all I can say is WOW could they be any more similar? Maybe I can convince you to think the same with the following information.

Now I do understand that images so closely related like this can happen by accident. I just think that with Buffy being such a big part of the sci-fi/horror genre someone would of caught this. Buffy fans are crazy with things like this, most can tell you when something in the background changes between scenes. The other reason this may have gone unnoticed is the fact that the picture is for the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film not the widely known television series.

The other thing about the book that bothers me is the storyline.
You Are so Undead to Me:
Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a whole bunch of semi-dead people with killer issues. All Megan really wants is to go to homecoming, but when you're trailed by a bunch of slobbering corpses whenever you leave the house, it's kinda hard to score a date. Let's just say Megan's love life could use some major resuscitation.
Megan's convinced her life can't get any worse - until someone in school starts using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into scary, hardcore flesh-eating Zombies. Now it's up to Megan to stop the Zombie apocalypse. Her life - and more importantly, the homecoming dance - depends on it.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
"Since the dawn of man, the vampires have walked among us, killing and feeding. The only one with the strength or skill to stop their heinous evil is the slayer, she who bears the birthmark, the mark of the coven. Trained by the watcher, one slayer dies and the next is chosen."
In 1992 Los Angeles, the new vampire slayer is cheerleader Buffy [Kristy Swanson]. Three bodies have been found with "really gross hickies" on their necks. It takes Merrick the Watcher [Donald Sutherland] some time, but he finally convinces Buffy that she is indeed the chosen one. When Merrick is killed by the master Lothos [Rutger Hauer] and Buffy links up with nerdy Pike [Luke Perry], she realizes how serious the vampire business really is. Things come to a head when vampires crash the senior prom.
I understand that one is about zombies and the other is about vampires, but what other major details are different? I definitely cannot see any.

And then when I went to the author's website there are reviews such as these:
...a cross between Stephenie Meyer and Joss Whedon.....high school angst with more than a dash of otherworldly danger" -Kidliterate Reviews
First of all there cannot be a cross between Stephenie Meyer and Joss Whedon. They both write about vampires, Joss just does it better.
"Part Buffy the Vampire Slayer, part Night of the Living Dead, this is one title you absolutely cannot miss."
-BookKids Recommends
Night of the Living Dead is completely zombies, but it cannot be a cross between the two because Buffy does contain vampires. These reviews make me think that the reviewers have never even watched an episode of Buffy, especially not the film version. They probably just think of Buffy because she kills vampires and nothing else. But since the reviewers all think of Buffy when they read this book, you think someone would have looked more into it since they are in the same genre.

Now I know that I am prejudiced because of my unhealthy obsession with Buffy but within this genre it would not be a good idea to upset so many fans. I just really believe that someone should of caught this before. I mean the book itself may be amazing, but this is kind of off putting for such a Buffy addict. What do you think? Has anyone read the book who has also watched Buffy?


5 comments:

Lenore Appelhans said...

That is a very good point! The book cover is VERY similar to the Buffy poster. Wow. I read the book, and I wasn't so thrilled by it.

Bookworm said...

OMG you should totally submit those similar covers to Alea, who does this awesome "lookalikes" feature on her blog!

avisannschild said...

Thanks so much for drawing my attention to this post! (I'm also now a follower, so I won't miss your posts in the future!) The blogger Bookworm was referring to is not me, though, it's Alea of Pop Culture Junkie, who also does a series on lookalikes.

Jen said...

I havent read it ^_^ I've watched the Buffy movie though ^_^ And a bit of the show, I was never really allowed to watch it when I was younger though

Alea said...

I'm in love with this lookalike, great find!

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