The One With the Cannibals: A Horror Comedy Novella Like Your Favorite Sitcom

by Cody Hendley

So no one told you life was gonna end this way...

After ditching her fiancé at the altar, Frankie Bennett stumbles into a quirky group of new friends who offer her comfort, kindness—and maybe something a little more sinister.

In a charming West Village apartment hiding a terrible secret, Frankie must choose between surviving heartbreak and surviving her new family.

A darkly hilarious horror novella with razor-sharp wit, heart-wrenching turns, and a monstrous twist on found family.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

106 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2025

Reviews

[Sadie E · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’ve ever wondered what Friends would look like with cannibalism, this answers that question. Sometimes hilariously, sometimes awkwardly.

So, basically this is what would happen if someone locked the Friends cast in an apartment with a deli slicer and no supervision 😭🩸

My biggest criticism. How are you gonna write a cannibalistic Friends story and not include the line, "Joey doesn't share food"???

It's absolutely unhinged in both the best and worst ways. It starts off normal, a runaway bride stumbling into this weird little found family situation. Then suddenly everyone's acting like they’ve never heard of normal human behaviour, and the whole thing goes completely off the rails.

The characters are so aggressively sitcom-coded that I was half expecting a laugh track after every line. None of them feel like real people, but it more or less works because the entire book feels like it escaped from the Bizarro World where NBC made a cannibalism spin-off (idk if Friends was by NBC, but just go with it).

But it relied way too much on the show to do any actual character building. I wanted more depth and individuality, something beyond “off-brand sitcom archetype.”

The supernatural element kind of ruined it for me. It would have been so much scarier and more engaging if they’d just been regular people who also ate people. No extra explanation needed, just unsettling human horror. Instead, the twist comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing, which made it feel more random than shocking.

The horror isn’t especially scary or gruesome, but it is weird. Like “why am I still reading this?” weird. “I hate this but I cannot look away” weird.

I wouldn't say it was good, but it was chaotic, and against my better judgement I had fun.

2 stars. 1 for the premise and 1 for the sheer audacity.

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.25 ⭐️

I actually never read a bigger pile of nonsense in my life.

The .25 stars are literally just there because I managed to read this “book” before my food was done cooking so at least it didn’t waste much of my time.

This was awfully written I feel like it’s actually useless to point out what was wrong with this book because there was so much… actually the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever consumed with my own two eyes

[Tinii Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god 😭😭

[Jessica Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Baba Yaga. I love Friends. I love horror/comedy. But this book did not do it for me. It was not well-written and it relied too much on the show Friends to handle its character development.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a weird and fun short story. I couldn't help but picture and hear the Friends cast while reading this. Could also practically hear the laugh track at some points.

I hope Hendley writes more funny horror stories.

[Ryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had so much potential but the twist ruined it 🤷‍♀️

[Taylor 🦇🔮🌙 · Rating 3 out of 5]

50% of the book hinges on a “Friends” like camaraderie between the characters that feels as superficial and vapid as the actual “Friends” show did. The horror kicked up after the 50% which I did enjoy. The horror aspects were unique but I would have loved to see the “Friends” dynamic be max 25% of the book with more foreshadowing (any foreshadowing?) before just being thrust in the middle of the story for what I assume is shock factor. I didn’t particularly find this book funny (I don’t find Friends funny either so maybe that’s it) nor particularly scary (the real horror was minimal) but I would be interested in exploring the folklore parts of it more.

[Elie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know it was horror comedy going into this and was pleasantly surprised. However, wasn't so pleasantly surprised by the Baba Yaga twist. was kinda expecting more cannibalistic murder cult and not so much Russian folk lore. not upset though. still love baba Yaga, still a cute good short read. 3.5/5

[Sandra Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, fast book

Wish things went a little different when things got going, I was hoping for more injection of the friends personalities during the horror, and the epilogue was odd. Also I'm not sure why Brad was given so much grace, but I enjoyed it and have recommended it to a few people

[Stephanie Duron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Any guesses on what TV sitcom this book might be "based on"? Ugh, I hate Friends. BUT I love Baba Yaga, so whatever. I didn't love this, but I didn't fully hate it either. Quick read.

[Curious Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story even if it felt rushed and uneven at times. Some of the dialogues were very witty and funny while I was surprised by the gore and some of the visceral action. The writer shows some potential to do great things in the future, hope he keeps doing horror/comedy.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Favourite Quote: "Besides"; she continues. "I already promised my eternal soul to Chad Michael Murray when I was 11".

WTF was this book? I read this because of a post on TikTok and have never been filled with more regret than after reading it. I thank the gods above it was only about 100 pages. In case you were any doubt this is basically just some weird twist on the pilot episode of friends in which a woman runs away from her wedding and bursts in to a coffee shop. There she meets a new group of friends who you guess it, are cannibals. And that is where the good ends. The interactions between all the characters are so strange, nothing is properly explained, and for some reason the ex she jilted at the altar appears with alarming frequency. Nothing is explained at really any stage of the book and then it devolves in to some kind of final girl drama. Honestly just save yourself the time I wasted reading this.

0.5 ⭐

[Dillon jeffries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a beautifully fun short read that’s nothing more or less than what I expected! If you love Friends and horror, a short fun blend of them both!

[DaniPhantom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baba Yaga x Friends?? I don’t really like Friends but it would if it included cannibalism & found…weird… family

[Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really a quick read and a furthering of my concerning amount of cannibal books this year. The first half does a phenomenal job capturing the feeling and dialogue of a sitcom, I can almost picture the three camera setup for the stage. The growing sense of unease and absurd surrealism really blends well with the sitcom vibes. I have to voice the same criticism as others and say I was not expecting Russian folklore and unfortunately found myself a touch lost at the end as I am unfamiliar with some of it. The early signs of the supernatural had me thinking wendigo but hoping just psychosis. Still, the story is fun and well-written, just a touch off what was hoped for I suppose.

[Sophie:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and fast paced read. Basically Friends if it was a horror novel.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/3 ⭐️
Saw this on TikTok and was intrigued. A quick novella with a fun premise; however, I think it could have used a bit more development/editing. 🍗

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

🐓🏢🍴

this was quite fun, a lot of unique little elements that worked well together. it’s funny (in a dry humor “this is absurd but i love it” sort of way) with great references to friends; i think it’s hard to pay homage to a very familiar pop culture entity and still make it your own (which happened here!). i wish i was more fluent in friends (or at least rewatched the pilot), i’m sure i missed a lot of references. i didn’t realize this was going to pull a lot from the show but that’s on me for not clocking the title and putting it together with the synopsis.

the only 2 things that didn’t quite work for me was 1) there was a fair amount going on which ended up working as a whole but it didn’t feel 100% cohesive. it blended well more often than not but between the botched wedding aftermath, the many characters, and the spook factor, there were some instances that felt a bit patchwork. 2) because there were so many characters, i got a lot of them mixed up. i basically followed the tones of each character to match them to the personalities from friends and go from there but i couldn’t tell you their names. in the story’s defense it’s really all or nothing when it comes to friends.

overall this is well written, unique, funny, and (what i most like) a good bloody little horror story. i didn’t understand the cover going into it but after reading it, it’s wonderful. i love when old world monsters modernize 🩸

[Cody Hendley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be biased, but I think this book is great. I’ve read it hundreds of times over the last 3 years! It’s funny and scary in all the right ways.

[Erin Kingery · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a very quick read, to the fault that you don’t have any time for the story to truly develop. I also felt that the author relied too heavily on the story being similar to the show Friends.

[Kailey MacLean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Darkly funny? Where??? Sharply written? Poorly

[Emma Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now I'll never wonder what would have happened if Rachel Green found cannibals instead of her friends

[Travis Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was…not for me.

[Miracle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a confusing, disjointed mess that felt like a fever dream that never saw an editing team

[Allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

for a book called "the one with the cannibals" there really weren't any cannibals.