The stupid skeleton mascot Curly never did it for me though.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084849)

The cover of this book was good for scaring the hell out of my little brother with, though. Those searching for a great scary dummy should acquaint themselves with Dead of Night (1945), which is pretty slow-going but packs a helluva punch at the end.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084881)

So great, and then...

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084896)

You know it's the 80s/90s when Day-Glo clothing is a plot point.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084900)

Probably the closest the series ever got to Dario Argento territory.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084920)

By the time I was old enough to really start reading the late 80s YA horror books, though, I had already moved on to King and Koontz and 'harder' stuff.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084971)

Which, of course, was the point.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40084994)

Instead, it's some dumb shit with a mermaid. Who cares? Not me.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085007)

Not to be confused with How To Eat Fried Worms, which is a great children's book.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085025)

This is just a lot of good, goofy fun.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085082)

Not a George20 approved book.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085091)

Anyway, this is a good book--pleasantly gross, fun and unsettling cover, wild ending, and a fun satire on competitive sports. It's also probably a coded message about Jeffrey Epstein.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085155)

Still, it's basically just One Day At Horrorland with a Hollywood reskin, some odd possible foot fetish stuff at the end and a dumb ending. But I love this one.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085170)

This is basically just a retread of the original, from the point of view of minor characters there (so it's like the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead of Goosebumps). I always remember being sad that the kid's mom bought him cookies and the dog ate all of them (but it all turns out okay anyway).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085179)

what are the odds of that phrase ever appearing in print in th ehistory of humankind

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40088275)

Anyway...when I was a kid, headless ghosts scared the heck out of me, so this was already pushing my buttons. In addition, the description of the different grisly goings-on in the house (the weird ivy room that gave you hideous rashes, the kid going into the dumbwaiter and only his body parts and blood being found in its place) scared me. But it's also a fun book, very good-natured, and one of the highlights of the second half of the series.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085199)

All in all, though, this isn't horror, it's Encino Man for kids, and the magic snowballs are weird and dumb.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085211)

This is the former. On paper, the plot actually isn't that bad, but this is all very formulaic and derivative of material that was done better in other Goosebumps books. Also, a kid sneaks out and goes to a nightclub??

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085235)

Some of it is at least a little interesting, though, but Luigi Cozzi's splatter flick Alien Contamination handles the material much better.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085242)

I think I was an idiot--look at the cover, at the weird colors described in the book, at the bizarre logic of it all--this is basically a PG-rated Richard Corben story in an issue of Heavy Metal circa 1979. But that wasn't what I was looking for.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085257)

this was a kids psychedelic horrorshow. very dream like in imagery sertting and pacing not fantasy at all

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085324)

I read this one before the original, and I loved it. I really like that they play around with the premise, and don't just do the Final Destination stuff again, but go full on body horror. This is pleasantly gross stuff, well-handled, and uses some clever silly logic about the nature of photography as a plot point. The stuffy teacher is fun too. This is just a fun book, with some surprisingly dark content.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085269)

The ghost stories they tell around the campfire are cool and spooky (and makes me wonder if this camp was downwind of the town from Welcome to Dead House...), even though one of them gets brought up later when it shouldn't.

The ending is cool and kinda funny and kinda sad and kinda scary.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085282)

Genuinely atmospheric, scary, exciting, clever book that's all killer and no filler (well, relatively little filler for a Goosebumps book)--this one is very cinematic and I wouldn't be surprised if they were writing it with an eye towards its adaptation for the TV show. I love love love love love love love the ending.

My classroom had one of the giveaway promos that came with this book--a big green furry hand that you could wear as a glove. So much fun.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085294)

I mean, holy shit.

I read that while waiting for my mom to finish shopping at the department store and my blood ran cold.

Too bad the rest of the book is lazy boring crap.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085303)

There's a lot that's weird in here (some interesting racial stereotypes, a really weird prank home invasion, the TRICK R TREAT FOREVER NEIGHBORHOOD) and unsettling but not in a good way, more in just an odd, queasy way. The ending is cool though, although I didn't pick up on the darker implications that are hinted at throughout the book about aliens eating fat kids--my dad pointed it out to me, with a bit of glee.

This one is sort of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space of the series--it is weird and goofy but has a sick sense of humor that gives it a harsh edge.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085320)

Note that this and its companion volume both do seem to hint at some more than just platonic feelings between the male and female characters. Were they written by the same writer?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085329)

This book has really good writing and characterization, almost no horror content, and a good (if simple) plot arc. I remember putting this one off for a while and being pleasantly surprise when I gave it a chance.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085366)

From what I've read about it, some people online object very much to the cruel body horror, but then I liked the cruel body horror of Say Cheese and Die Again, so maybe I would've liked this one. Ah well.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085374)

can't wait until you do The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (should be up soon since you're going in order)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085381)

Anyway, I remember that I read this around the same time I was reading Stephen King books that one of my friends smuggled out of his brother's collection for me. So I was getting my mind blown out by real horror at the same time I was still reading Goosebumps. I remember reading Skeleton Crew, and feeling that Stephen King was a hack because The Word Processor of the Gods was the same premise as this book, and both were the same premise as a Twilight Zone episode!

Anyway, this has a great cover and a fun dumb ending.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085413)

I don't remember this actually being that good--I felt at the time there were too many camp ones already--but some of the surreal stuff of being in the 'dead camp' is pretty cool in a What Lies Beneath way.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085417)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085426)

But in some ways, what really made it the end of an era was when I saw that the next Goosebumps book was something called Goosebumps 2000. I felt betrayed. I felt like something had changed, something had ended, something was moving on and I didn't want it to.

I never read this fucking book.

However, this doesn't have to be the end of our Goosebumps trip, because I also enjoyed several of the Choose your own adventure books and other errata.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085465)

This was a Christmas-themed collection, and there's some really great stuff, including kids turning into marshmallows, videotapes that turn you into a Christmas obsessed saccharine pixie, a neverending ballet, dumb punchlines, a fever dream about endless snow, and a well-done, chilling story about expert skiers encountering ghosts.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085494)

This is a pretty good one.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4518636&forum_id=2#40085538)