It’s a classic group of cereals that includes the only cereal that’s in the borg Hall of Fame: The good ol’ cyborg FrankenBerry, one of our very first honorees.  And they are all magically… er… frightfully delicious.  You probably remember that chocolate milk made by Count Chocula and the blueberry Boo Berry, along with the strawberry flavored FrankenBerry.  These classic marketing cartoon character mascots are recognizable to generations of kids whose moms let them eat ’em (thanks, Mom!).  General Mills “Big G” added Fruit Brute in 1974 and then Fruity Yummy Mummy in 1987.

Periodically Big G remarkets these famous monsters in different ways, and we discussed one of those times here at borg a decade ago.  But this year Big G is introducing its first new monster cereal in more than 35 years, Carmella Creeper, and it’s really good–a worthy addition to the Big G characters and flavors.  But is it really as advertised?

Carmella Creeper is some kind of zombie disc jockey, a cousin of FrankenBerry.  Or is she just Goth?  Her cereal is a very vivid green, and the cereal is labeled as “Caramel Apple Cereal.”  It probably won’t matter to you, but it not only isn’t made with carameled apples, it tastes nothing like caramel or apples.  If you want that flavor there’s always Apple Jacks.  The flavor is still great, and the green is just the latest in the Monster line-up of colored milk makers.  But this cereal tastes like waffles and maple syrup.  Remember Waffelos or Waffle Crisp?  If you like that, you’ll like Carmella Creeper.

Along with Carmella Creeper, General Mills is updating its Monster Mash cereal to include Carmella Creeper as Monster Mash Remix, staying with Carmella’s new vibe.  Monster Mash must have been the odd design of some Big G worker who mixed up his vats one day–it’s a mix of all the Monster Cereals.  Every year, Count Chocula, Boo-Berry, and FrankenBerry are re-released for Halloween, but they don’t always release them all.  They’ve had updated boxes like this:

For filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, who has already used Fruit Brute in both Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, re-issues of original boxes are an easy way to show a time period in your production backgrounds cheaply.

Count Chocula and Frankenberry both first hit grocery stores in 1971 and Boo Berry arrived in 1973.  Fruit Brute was on store shelves from 1974 to 1982.  Fruity Yummy Mummy was relatively a recent cereal, in stores from 1987 to 1993.  We can now welcome Carmella Creeper to the family.  Although the cereals now have monster shapes, they originally all were circles with Xs in the middle.  And all had, and still have, those great little marshmallows.

Look for five Monster Cereals in stores through October 2023: Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, Carmella Creeper, and Monster Mash Remix.  Sorry, we apparently won’t see Fruit Brute or Yummy Mummy this year, unless you want to pick them out of your Monster Mash Remix.

C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg