{"id":30147,"date":"2019-01-14T09:45:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=30147"},"modified":"2019-01-14T09:45:15","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:45:15","slug":"remembering-the-tv-adaptation-of-r-l-stines-goosebumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/14\/remembering-the-tv-adaptation-of-r-l-stines-goosebumps\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the TV Adaptation of R.L. Stine\u2019s \u201cGoosebumps\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As one of the most popular horror authors of the 1990\u2019s who penned two very popular series of horror novels \u201cGoosebumps\u201d and \u201cFear Street,\u201d author R.L. Stine had a humongous influence on kids everywhere. He helped introduce many to the joys of spine-tingling horror and tongue-in-cheek mystery, as well as the art of storytelling. \u201cGoosebumps\u201d and \u201cFear Street\u201d thrived on creating unique and realistic protagonists, along with introducing genuine plot twists and ironic endings that channeled Rod Serling and Richard Matheson. \u201cGoosebumps\u201d books a hallmark of school book fairs and local libraries across the country, and as a horror buff myself, I can attest to cutting my teeth on everything the man wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

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I read everything that I could find by him when I was in middle school, and I was always chasing the next chapter of his \u201cGoosebumps\u201d anthology novels. One of the things I loved most about Stine\u2019s books is that he never talked down to his audience and met them eye to eye, which is probably why so many people my age embraced his work. Sure, he wrote PG rated horror novels, but they\u2019re among some of the most inventive horror yarns you\u2019re likely to find outside of \u201cadult\u201d novelists like Stephen King, Clive Barker, or Ray Bradbury. I must have re-read the second \u201cGoosebumps\u201d novel \u201cStay Out of the Basement\u201d at least three times, which says a lot for someone who had to have his arm twisted to read anything when he was a child.<\/p>\n

With the rabid success it was only a matter of time until studios took notice and a television adaptation of the Goosebumps series soon followed. Premiering on October 27, 1995 as part of the US afternoon line-up FOX Kids, Goosebumps kicked things off with one of the more notable tales from Stine\u2019s cannon, \u201cThe Haunted Mask.\u201d The two-part episode involves young Cary Caldwell (Kathryn Long), who buys a Halloween mask from a local store and is warned by the store owner (famed character actor Colin Fox) that if she wears the mask more than three times, she\u2019ll begin to get possessed by it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Naturally, Caldwell doesn\u2019t heed the advice of the shopkeeper and the mask begins transforming Caldwell in to a vicious monster. Other notable episodes include \u201cThe Girl Who Cried Monster,\u201d about a young girl prone to spinning tall tales who suspects that her local librarian is in fact a monster. There\u2019s \u201cNight of the Living Dummy,\u201d where a young girl named Amy is given a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy with a nasty attitude, \u201cBe Care What You Wish For\u2026\u201d in which another young girl is granted three wishes by a mysterious amulet that gives her good fortune, but causes pain for everyone else; and \u201cCalling All Creeps!,\u201d the tale of a bullied kid named Ricky who arouses the attention of three aliens masquerading as school students who confuse him for their commander.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say, if you like your Stine stories a little bleak, these are the episodes to watch (especially \u201cCalling All Creeps!\u201d). One of my fondest childhood memories involves my little sister being reduced to tears during \u201cNight of the Living Dummy\u201d and \u201cRevenge of the Lawn Gnomes\u201d episodes. You might think it\u2019d be hard to take Stine\u2019s novels and conjure up the same magic on to television, but Goosebumps managed to accomplish the feat, sticking to what made the novels so accessible right down to the monster designs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And though the series garnered a pretty small budget, it perfectly evoked a lot of Stine\u2019s more notable installments from the Goosebumps label for young audiences. Even the opening credits\u2014involving the man in black releasing pages from Stine\u2019s books onto an unsuspecting populace and spreading the terror\u2014cemented the anthology series as its own breed of horror. The energy and genuine novelty of the show was absolutely infectious and, thankfully, the series paid great respect to the original novels.<\/p>\n

With every episode you were guaranteed some decent scares, a lot trademark R.L. Stine dark humor and a surprise ending that would almost always leave you dumbstruck. \u201cGoosebumps\u201d still gets mentions for featuring future stars like a young Ryan Gosling (who\u2019d later return to FOX playing a young \u201cHercules\u201d), Hayden Christensen, Scott Speedman, Laura Vandervoort, Kevin Zegers (who\u2019s since starred in a ton of horror based film and TV projects), Katharine Isabelle (also now known for her work in horror based film and TV projects) and Caterina Scorsone, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoosebumps\u201d is still compared to this day to Nickelodeon\u2019s \u201cAre you Afraid of the Dark?\u201d and while I\u2019d the latter any day of the week over the former, FOX did a bang up job conjuring Stine\u2019s energy and vibe. There\u2019s nothing really that can top R.L. Stine\u2019s original novel series from 1992, but \u201cGoosebumps\u201d is still a strong kid friendly horror anthology that will assuredly help provoke imagination and builds some creative monsters that helped identify with children, turning them in to protagonists we could root for and sympathize with. I wish more modern kids could get their exposure to Stine and his series, as he helped influence so many horror buffs, including yours truly.<\/p>\n