I’ve had a lot of time to spend at home lately, which means quality Netflix time! Last night, during a pumpkin pie induced haze, I decided to take a trip back to my childhood and watch a few episodes of Goosebumps. Some episodes still held a creepy vibe that still hit me in the 8 year old gut and others…well they didn’t hold up as well. However, one character will always have a place in my spooky heart.
Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy has been a staple of the Goosebumps franchise since it began. Slappy, and various other dummies, appears in 9 books, 3 episodes, and the upcoming feature film. You can buy collectibles and your own life size Slappy Dummy. Basically, he’s the Chucky of kid’s horror TV. So here is my official ranking of “Night of the Living Dummy” episodes!
3. “Night of the Living Dummy 3” (Pt 1 & 2)
This may be the most remembered episode from the entire Slappy series. “Night of the Living Dummy 3” was a two part episode (a common gimmick used over the entire series) about 2 kids, Trina and Daniel, who are forced to spend some vacation time with their lame-brain cousin, Zane (played by Hayden Christensen). Zane is afraid of everything and his cousins are determined to terrify him this year. What follows are a variety of ventriloquist dummy shenanigans that Trina and Daniel are blamed for but didn’t actually do. After Trina and Daniel’s parents ban them from going to summer camp they decide to find out what’s really going on. While Slappy has been alive the whole time, it’s actually been Zane getting back at them for previous pranks.
And that’s why this is my least favorite of the bunch. It spends the entire first part making us think Slappy is the one playing the jokes but the reality is just sort of lame. Yeah, Zane has found his courage and earned his cousin’s friendship and blah blah blah. Boring! The second half reunites our 3 main characters with Slappy who has decided to turn Zane into a dummy for all of his joke playing. The Zane dummy is quite frightening though and it always bothered me as a kid. But what will forever stick in my brain is Zane’s head doing a complete 360…eeesh!
2. “Night of the Living Dummy 2”
When constantly put-out middle child, Amy, gets Slappy as a mysterious gift she decides to win the family with jokes. Too bad Slappy is a total asshole and ruins Amy’s life by saying mean things to her family. Amy finally convinces her older sister that Slappy is real when he comes to life and tries to put his soul into one of them (basically as creepy as it sounds). They presumably kill Slappy and the family returns to normal.
As the pseudo “middle child” of this list, I have to peg this one as not bad but not great either. I ranked NOTLD3 lower because it made me wait two episodes before it got to the Slappy action (not as creepy as it sounds). So at least with this one, it doesn’t make you wait until next week to see what you should have been watching the whole time. I also thought this one was a lot funnier because Amy could have very easily convinced her family Slappy was real by talking at the same time he did. But, kids are stupid so things like that didn’t matter on this show.
1. “Bride of the Living Dummy”
Clearly, this is the most Child’s Play like in title and story line which is probably why it’s my favorite. Slappy joins with ventriloquist Jimmy O’James in a two man act traveling the country. One night Slappy spots young Katie in the audience who happens to be carrying Mary-Ellen, the blonde girl doll of his dreams! He abandon’s Jimmy and sneaks himself into Katie’s house in order to hunt down his woman. But wait! Turns out Mary-Ellen is actually alive too and has been controlling Katie and threatening to kill her parents. Yes, this show for 7 year olds, shows a beloved toy threatening to kill a little girl’s family while also being in love with psycho-mechanical, murder-toy from hell!
This is the absolute best from this trilogy of episodes. Mary-Ellen manages to be even scarier than Slappy for a time until the big reveal happens. I guess blondes aren’t Slappy’s thing after all and he’s wanted to marry Katie the whole time. Thank you R.L. Stine for actually making a kids version of what could have been a really fucked up horror movie.
