Some families go on a hunt for Halloween candy — but this macabre mom has a taste for blood and brains.
Bobbi Rylant went too far by dressing her kids as flesh-eating zombies for a gory holiday photo shoot last week, if self-proclaimed parenting experts on social media have anything to say about it.
The 26-year-old mom of two set up her simulated slasher scene in the backyard of her Tukon, Oklahoma, home and at a nearby lake.
In full “Walking Dead” makeup, her daughter Kynadee, 5, is pictured grimacing at the camera while cupping a plastic brain in her hands. Not to be outdone, 10-month-old Kamden chows down on one while sitting contently in a bucket of fake blood.
Rylant shared the gruesome images on Facebook in a viral post that’s been shared more than 208,000 times — although not everyone got the joke.
“This was just for fun,” says Rylant, whose outraged followers accused her Pinterest-inspired photo shoot of being “unsafe.” Some hellbent-for-justice helicopter parents even compared the gory shot to an “abortion scene.”
Her photo post has spawned more than 90,000 comments, some praising crafty dark humor, others critiquing her maternal instincts.
“Many people have said that my children should be taken from me and I know that is not true,” the part-time photographer tells Media Drum. “There are some people that do not like the images, and I knew there would be, which is why I stated in my post that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but most people love this idea and want to try it with their own kids or client.”
The faux massacre was made of warm water and cherry Kool-Aid mix, said Rylant, assuring the shoot lasted “10 minutes tops,” so baby Kamden wan’t pooling in blood for a very long time. His head was smeared with strawberry and chocolate syrup — much tastier than blood — and the gash on his forehead is just a “temporary tattoo” from a costume store.
Despite her hardcore horror flick fandom, most Photos by Bobbi Facebook followers preferred Rylant’s more wholesome takes on the pumpkin season.
Still, Mom said the carnage cosplay serves an important purpose, too, by helping her skittish daughter overcome her fear of scary movies.
“I can now show her the photos of herself dressed up scary and explain that monsters and zombies aren’t real at all, they’re just regular people dressed up just like she was,” she says.
Rylant adds that her children had just as much fun as she did, except for the part when Kynadee stepped on a splinter and cried before it was “quickly” removed.
“I was hoping no one would think I was hurting her since she looked all bloody and was screaming!”