Horror Movie Parody Poster of Kid's Bedtime Goes Viral
John Galbincea's son is the unlikely star of a horror movie poster parody.
— -- A nighttime conflict that undoubtedly happens in most homes where toddlers reign was turned into a horror movie parody poster and has become a viral sensation.
The story began innocently enough one night as John and Amanda Galbincea, of Houston, were trying to put their 2-year-old son, Andrew, to bed in his new toddler bed.
Unburdened by the confines of his crib, Andrew quickly learned how to open both his bedroom door and the baby gate his parents set up and kept escaping from his room, John Galbincea told ABC News.
After about an hour of silence, the Galbinceas thought their son was asleep in his bed, only to find Andrew face down on the stairs, sound asleep.
“We immediately turned around and walked away to laugh hysterically,” Galbincea said. “Once we composed ourselves we knew pictures had to be taken and shared with friends and family.”
One of the friends they shared the photo with, Eric Metze, took it and ran with it.
“The lighting of the hallway looked like a spotlight, and everything else faded ominously into black,” Metze, a Dallas-based multimedia artist. “It immediately struck me as a movie poster. All it needed was some treatment.”
Metze turned the photo of Andrew into a horror movie-like poster with the title, “Bedtime.” The poster’s tagline reads, “THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR,” the same caption Amanda used when she sent the photo to family and friends.
“I had to add some humor to it,” said Metze. “The more I thought about the epic struggle that is parenting, the more dramatic the idea grew in my mind. Having been a temporary stepfather of two young children, I fully understand how the tiniest things can become the biggest events.”
Metze used fake names on the poster and he and Galbincea posted it on Reddit last week, where it quickly went viral.
“The reaction has (not surprisingly) been completely unexpected,” Metze said. "I just made it because I wanted to give a gift to my friends, and the creative juices simply wouldn't stop flowing.”
Metze says he is now getting requests for posters from other friends. He is currently working on turning the “Bedtime” poster into an updated version with the Galbinceas’ actual names that will be blown up full-size to hang in Andrew’s room.
“Maybe Andrew has a future in the movies, who knows?,” Galbincea joked.