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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Oct 6, 2017 2:02:44 GMT -5
I remember enjoying this one a lot as a kid. I look forward to You Can't Scare Me. After Horrorland, I'd say that is my favourite. A genuinely funny book.
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msc
Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 6, 2017 3:17:02 GMT -5
That's a really good review, and I never thought about the drug subtext before, but you're right, it makes sense now I think about it. Don't do invisibility mirrors, kids!
Will admit there are a few books I am looking forward to seeing the reviews of, and one is the very next book!
Also, the books had a different order in the UK. Monster Blood was Book 5, for example. No idea why they changed them about.
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Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 6, 2017 3:29:38 GMT -5
Going way back in time, to my 10-12 year old memories, here's my ten favourites as a kid. I read all of the books multiple times.
1. One Day at Horrorland 2. Scarecrow Walks at Midnight 3. Ghost Next Door 4. Calling All Creeps 5. Night of the Living Dummy II 6. Night of the Living Dummy 7. Attack of the Mutant 8. Haunted Mask 9. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder 10. How I learned to Fly
And the flip, my 10 worst:
1. Chicken Chicken 2. Legend of the Lost legend 3. My best friend is invisible 4. Deep trouble II 5. Why I’m afraid of Bees 6. Say Cheese and Die - again 7. Deep Trouble 8. How I got my Shrunken Head 9. Curse of the Mummys Tomb 10. Monster Blood iv
I'd roughly stand by that, though strangely some of them hold up better for me as an adult! You Can't Scare Me, for example.
We were introduced to the series by my Primary 5 school teacher, who would read 3 chapters a day to encourage us to read. Within a few months, I went from never having heard of Stine, to being hooked on all the greats: M.R. James, Benson, etc. Well, the ones Dad would allow me to read aged 10!
Two other snippets: the only Goosebumps book I nearly gave up on, because I felt it too disturbing? The Barking Ghost! And the only book Mrs Walker had to stop reading the class, because apparently too many of us got nightmares? Ghost Beach. Kids, eh!
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 6, 2017 23:02:01 GMT -5
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Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 7, 2017 4:50:24 GMT -5
Stine used the exact same twist trick in one of his short stories, but I wont mention which one in case you are covering the short story anthologies.
I don't know, the Dummy books always disturbed me. It's like how Lets Get Invisible has the drug addiction analogy. In these books, young girls are psychologically (and sometimes physically) tormented by someone who, when they grass them up, their own most loved ones can't accept it. It's a fantasy novel, yes, but the real life metaphor isn't that hidden from the surface. The old Twilight Zone trick, it's fantasy so you can get away with stuff you wouldn't in a kitchen sink drama. I always found the "scarier" Goosebumps books weren't the ones full of jump scares, but the ones with concepts which lurked in the back of the mind. This is definitely the latter.
Especially now I'm a lot older, and Mr Wood or Slappy could easily just be a whole bunch of guys I've had the misfortune of knowing of at various points.
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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Oct 7, 2017 6:43:09 GMT -5
Another fun review. I never cared much for Night of the Living Dummy, just never appealed to me as a kid.
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 7, 2017 22:45:17 GMT -5
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Post by häšhtå.gdālėÿ on Oct 8, 2017 2:17:30 GMT -5
I have no recollection of that ending, and I'm in tears reading it! Poor monster library man didn't deserve that at all!
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msc
Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 8, 2017 5:51:37 GMT -5
First up, happy birthday to the man, the myth, the legend: RL Stine! 74 years young today!
Second, there was a poll done of Goosebumps readers (US ones only, this annoyed us at the time) about the best twist ending. This was c 1995 as there was only about 20 books out at the time. Anyhow, Girl Who Cried Monster won comfortably.
And for the longest time, I didn't get that. I mean, yeah, it's a twist, but is it better than The Ghost Next Door? Of course not, not in any conceivable way (imo...) Then, when I was in secondary school, I was reading a local interview with Mr Stine, where this book got referenced again. However, whilst in his autobiography, he refers to it as being a twist on who the monsters are (which fits in with his Twilight Zone for kids ethos), in this interview he referred to it as a twist on who the villain was. Even if that was a slip, the whole book suddenly made sense to me. Mr Mortman is set up to be the creepy piano teacher type villain which pollutes the book series, when in actual fact, he's the victim of the real monsters.
I mean, the book still feels one of the weaker in the series, but I do like that twist now. Poor innocent monster man, no wonder Lordi sang a tribute to him...
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 8, 2017 22:35:47 GMT -5
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Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 9, 2017 5:09:46 GMT -5
Blimey, that is not the review I was expecting. Almost makes you want to nab a copy on Amazon to re-read it with adult eyes. At the time, the twist really killed it for us, and some of the moments (Roger and Sabre, for example) actually made our class laugh when Mrs Walker read them.
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 10, 2017 4:02:35 GMT -5
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Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 10, 2017 18:11:36 GMT -5
Good review of a really good book.
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 10, 2017 22:42:01 GMT -5
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 11, 2017 22:12:12 GMT -5
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msc
Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 12, 2017 2:19:35 GMT -5
Ah, I got knocked off course by the British numbering system. Thought this would be Piano Lessons. Be Careful, not a great book, but the twist did sort of disturb at the time. {Spoiler}Basically, the girl who thinks no one likes her and they would be better off without her, the twist is, they think they would too. It's sort of a mirror world depressed person's nightmare... Spoiler tags solely in case someone somewhere goes "this thread is so good, I need to start reading these"...
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 12, 2017 22:19:00 GMT -5
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Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 13, 2017 2:42:18 GMT -5
Woohoo, you liked Piano Lessons!
The second book our teacher read the class after The Ghost Next Door. Two creepy characters, some well written scare scenes, and an overriding sense of unease: underrated as a kids book imo.
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Oct 13, 2017 23:18:39 GMT -5
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Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Oct 14, 2017 6:01:49 GMT -5
Ah, The Werewolf of Fever Swamp isn't a bad story. It isn't a good story. It's THE story... in this particular book.
By which I mean it's just one of those books which happened to be there without inspiring emotions, either pro or against. Is it worse to be that than Chicken Chicken? No, certainly not, but then the latter sticks in the mind for being so bad, while Fever Swamp just melts away like a random fever dream from the 90s. Oh well.
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