On Friday, 90s children everywhere (myself included) will finally get the long-awaited Goosebumps movie we have been clamoring for for nearly 2 decades. I was a Goosebumps junkie as a kid (those books in the picture above are my Goosebumps books, another addition to my expert photography skills for Bloody Disgusting), so I’m excited but wary about the film. We are all understandably nervous, as the comedy-heavy trailer did not inspire much confidence though Kalyn did have moderately positive things to say about it. We here at Bloody Disgusting thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books that really got under our skin!
The Haunted Mask
All I wanted was a replica of the Haunted Mast as a kid, but sadly they never made an actual replica of the mask in the TV episode, so what I got was this mask with a built-in voice changer. It was disappointing, but I digress. “The Haunted Mask” is one of the most terrifying Goosebumps novels that R.L. Stine wrote. I identified with poor, bullied Carly Beth, so reading about her having a Halloween mask permanently fused to her face tapped into my claustrophobia as a child. It is definitely the scariest Goosebumps book, and my personal favorite.
Calling All Creeps!
Famuos for being Stine’s first novel where the villain wins in the end, “Calling All Creeps” tells the story of Ricky Beamer, the school punching bag. After the bullying goes too far and he is kicked off the school paper, he accidentally contacts group known as the Creeps, purple lizard creatures (they’re yellow in the TV show). They plan to take over the world and the book ends with just that. Ricky succumbs to the Creeps’ plan and gives his entire school cookies that turn them into Creeps . The book ends with all of the new Creeps becoming Ricky’s slaves forever as he too eats a cookie and transforms into a Creep. “Calling All Creeps” isn’t particularly terrifying, but the ending stayed with me for a long time after reading it. It was the first time I learned that not all stories have happy endings.
The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight
Scarecrows are terrifying. It really says something about R.K. Stine that he could make a children’s novel about scarecrows scarier than SyFy can. Much of the novel centers around lead character Jodie’s paranoia about the scarecrows, only for it to be revealed that farm hand Stanley has brought the scarecrows to life with a magic spell. The scarecrows are incredibly threatening, and the confrontation in the climax of the novel is more tense than most of Stine’s books.
Night of the Living Dummy
Slappy is arguably Stine’s greatest creation, be it Goosebumps or otherwise, and for good reason. Dummies are genuinely disturbing objects. Their eyes seem to follow you around the room and their exaggerated facial features accentuate their creepiness. Stine was able to tap into readers’ fear of dummies with not one, but nine books (only three of which were in the original Goosebumps book series). While Slappy wasn’t the main villain in the first novel. Mr. Wood was just as terrifying. I’ll never get the image of Mr. Wood trying to strangle the family dog out of my head.
What were some of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books that scared you the most as a child? Or did you find them more goofy than scary? Let me know in the comments below or Tweet me!
