Goosebumps

This article is about the book series by R. L. Stine. For the bumps that form on skin, see Goose bumps.

For the TV series, see Goosebumps (TV series).

R. L. Stine with some of his creations.

Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas created and authored by R. L. Stine. Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997, the last one being Monster Blood IV.

The Goosebumps series was often challenged in American libraries for their sometimes-violent content; the novels were fifteenth on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 1999.

The series spawned several spinoffs, also written by Stine, including Give Yourself Goosebumps and Goosebumps: Series 2000 which appeared in 1995 and 1998 respectively.

The series inspired two board games produced by Milton Bradley, "Terror in the Graveyard" and "Escape from Horrorland", a 1996 PC game produced by DreamWorks Interactive also entitled, "Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland" like Milton Bradley's board game, several direct-to-video movies and a TV series.

During the height of the series popularity, two parody books were released by an author going by the penname R.U. Slime called Gooflumps: Eat Cheese and Barf! and Stay Out of the Bathroom.

Front covers and most other Goosebumps-related art was done by artist Tim Jacobus, while the covers for the later Give Yourself Goosebumps series were digitally created by Craig White.

Inspirations

A lot of Stine's plots are, by his own admission, based on classic sci-fi/horror movies, TV shows, and stories. For instance, one of the most popular books in the series, Night of the Living Dummy, was inspired by Stine's reading of the original Italian version of Pinocchio, while taking its title from the film Night of the Living Dead. The book It Came From Beneath The Sink! took its title from the 1955 science fiction film It Came from Beneath the Sea, though plotwise there is little resemblance between the two. The two-part Series 2000 book Invasion of the Body Squeezers is an obvious parody of the classic science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Many books also resemble episodes of the original television series, The Twilight Zone, including Say Cheese And Die, Welcome To Camp Nightmare, Be Careful What You Wish For, and The Haunted Mask and its sequel, to name a few. A Give Yourself Goosebumps book, Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum, was based on the film House of Wax. Another Give Yourself Goosebumps book, Zombie School, is based on the movie They Live, and features the same subliminal advertising as the movie.

Popular books and characters

Stine named the original Night of the Living Dummy as his favorite Goosebumps book in his autobiography. The Night of the Living Dummy series, which features the walking, evil, talking ventriloquist dummy Slappy (who surprisingly played only a small part in the original novel, with the equally villainous Mr. Wood being the main antagonist), are some of the series' most popular books, and Slappy has gained a reputation as Goosebumps' most popular and well-known antagonist. Later books attempted to explore his background and how he came to be created, and the final book in the series, Slappy's Nightmare, was told from Slappy's (third-person) point of view. The Monster Blood series is also very popular among fans, albeit not to the extent of the above. The book One Day at Horrorland proved to be so popular that R.L. Stine wrote a sequel titled Return to Horrorland. Two games spun off from the book both named Escape from Horrorland, one version a boardgame, the other a computer game. The Haunted Mask and its sequel The Haunted Mask II proved so popular that both were made into TV episodes. Stine even planned a sequel for the nonreleased Goosebumps Gold series called The Haunted Mask Lives!. There was even a reproduction of the Haunted Mask sold in certain stores.

Some of the most popular characters of the book are Cuddles the Hamster from Monster Blood II, Slappy the Dummy, the Horrorland Horrors, Amaz-O the bunny magician from Bad Hare Day, Prince Khor-Ru the mummy, the Mud Monsters, the egg Monsters, the Beast from the East, and Curly the Skeleton. Curly, while having no appearance in any of the books, became the spokesperson for Goosebumps and has been illustrated in various Goosebumps memorabilia, along with being featured on the cover of five of the Tales to Give You Goosebumps anthologies.

Stine has also named Brain Juice, and Invasion of the Body Squeezers (both from the Goosebumps 2000 series) as two more of his favorite books.

Overall, the series itself was so popular that it helped spawn a number of children's horror book series in the 1990s, including Spooksville, Spinetinglers, Shivers (book series), Deadtime Stories, Bone Chillers and Graveyard School.

Conventions

The books in the Goosebumps series often include a plot structure with normal kids getting involved in scary situations and twists at the end of each story, after the central conflict has either been or appears to have been resolved. Also, in his autobiography, R.L. Stine has stated that he often ends chapters in a state of suspense. Following the conclusion of every Goosebumps book, Stine includes a 1-3 chapter preview of the next book in the series.

Twist endings

Many books feature a twist in the end, such as the original Night of the Living Dummy, where the protagonists spent most of the narrative fighting a murderous dummy, only to be confronted with a second creature at the end. Another book in the series, The Girl Who Cried Monster, which was based on the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, also has a twist at the end; the main character's parents transform into monsters to protect her from the villain. Welcome to Dead House ends with a sadistic real estate agent, thought to be dead, turning up on the last page, seen in the distance by the main characters.

List of books

Main article: List of Goosebumps books

Television series

Further information: Goosebumps (TV series)

A popular television series was made, based on the Goosebumps books and the spin-offs. It ran for four seasons from 1995 to 1998.

As of October 1, 2007 the series began running on Cartoon Network, presumably in honor of Halloween.

VHS and DVDs

File:Goosebumps.jpg.jpg

Carly Beth in her mask from the episode "The Haunted Mask".

In the mid-late 1990s, several Goosebumps VHS tapes were released. DVDs of the series have also been released, many of which were contained episodes previously released on VHS. The DVDs run at approximately 44 minutes each, and include no special features. Some include two separate episodes as opposed to a single two-part episode.

• Released on September 7th, 2004: "Welcome to Dead House," "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp," "The Haunted Mask II," and "Night of the Living Dummy III"
• Released on April 12th, 2005: "Cry of the Cat," "Deep Trouble," and "How I Got My Shrunken Head"
• Released on September 6th, 2005: "Chillogy," "The Ghost Next Door," and "Scary House" (note: "Chillogy" and "Scary House" were not based on Goosebumps novels.)
• Released on September 5th, 2006: "A Shocker on Shock Street," "My Best Friend is Invisible" (also includes "An Old Story" [based on a short story by R.L. Stine]), and "Perfect School"
• Released on September 11th, 2007: "Night of the Living Dummy" (also includes "Bride of the Living Dummy"), "Say Cheese and Die" (also includes "Say Cheese and Die - Again"), and "It Came From Beneath the Sink" (also includes "Strained Peas" [not based on a Goosebumps novel])

The future of Goosebumps DVD releases, in terms of complete season sets, is unknown. Possible candidates for future releases are those that were previously released on VHS, or were never released but aired as two-part episodes:

• "The Haunted Mask," "Welcome to Camp Nightmare," "Stay Out of the Basement," "A Night in Terror Tower," "Attack of the Mutant," "Monster Blood," and "One Day at Horrorland"

A new Goosebumps movie is said to be in production, although it is early in the preproduction stages and it is unclear whether it will have a straight-to-DVD release or a theatrical release. Speculation points to the film's plot being based on one of two possible source materials: The Series 2000 two-part story, "Invasion of the Body Squeezers", or the upcoming Horrorland series.

Goosebumps Graphix

In September 2006, a Goosebumps graphic novel was released. Titled Goosebumps Graphix, it is based on three Goosebumps books. The first book in the series is titled Creepy Creatures, and it contains The Abominable Snowman of Pasedena, The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, and The Werewolf of Fever Swamp. Two more graphic novels have been planned for release, the first in May and the second one planned for July. The first, Terror Trips, contains Deep Trouble, One Day at Horrorland, and A Shocker on Shock Street. The second, Scary Summer, contains The Horror of Camp Jellyjam, Ghost Beach, and Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes.

Goosebumps HorrorLand

A recent interview revealed that R.L. Stine plans to write a twelve-book series titled Goosebumps HorrorLand. The series, based on One Day at Horrorland, is the first Goosebumps series where each book is part of the same plot:

The new series will be an immersive storytelling experience welcoming fans to HorrorLand, a vast theme park which R.L. Stine describes as "the scariest place on Earth." In a Goosebumps first, the new series will be a serialized adventure, and the story won't end on the final page of book one, Revenge of the Living Dummy. Instead, the spine-tingling and funny bone-tickling adventures will continue on the Internet and in books #2-12, each of which can also stand alone. The first nine HorrorLand books all will feature a combination of frightful new faces as well as the vilest villains from the original Goosebumps series. Ordinary kids are being summoned to HorrorLand-but why? Readers are in for the ride of their lives as the cast of characters trapped in the theme park grows larger with each book, and their situations become more and more perilous.

Books #10-12 will take place entirely in HorrorLand. Who-or what-is behind the evil plot to assemble these kids? The answer will be revealed in the final book. Soon after the debut of books #1 and #2 in April 2008, Scholastic will begin to reissue original Goosebumps books-ten bestselling titles that tie in with each new story as it unfolds in HorrorLand.

Scholastic will launch HorrorLand with a dedicated website that, with the publication of each book, will further the narrative and provide corresponding clues to help readers unlock the secrets to HorrorLand. In addition, the web site will offer readers original HorrorLand material not available in the books-including ten free internet-only related stories, bonus downloads, interactive games, and more.

List of Goosebump HorrorLand books

Goosebumps in other languages

Goosebumps books were also popular worldwide.

• In Spanish, it was known as Escalofríos (literally "Shudders") in Latin America, and Pesadillas (literally Nightmares) in Spain.
• In Greek, the series is called Ανατριχιλες.
• In Swedish, the title is Kalla Kårar.
• The title in Danish is Gåsehud, a direct translation of the word "Goosebumps".
• In Norway, the title of the series is Grøsserne, meaning/defined as "Novel which uses horror effects", "Thriller" or "Chills".
• In Canadian French, the translation is Chair de Poule (literally "hen flesh", the French phrase for goose bumps).
• In Slovenian language, the translation is Kurja polt, a direct translation of the word "Goosebumps".
• In German, the title of "Goosebumps" is the direct translation "Gänsehaut"
• The Dutch translation is Kippenvel, which is Dutch for goosebumps. (However, the Dutch word originates from "chicken skin" instead of "goose bumps.")
• In European Portuguese the title is Arrepios (literally "Shivers").
• In Brazilian Portuguese the title has been maintained while each story's title was translated. (Say Cheese and Die for instance turned Sorria e Morra).
• In Hebrew, the title is "צמרמורת". which means "Goose-bumps".
• In Arabic, the title is "صرخة الرعب" which means "scream of horror".
• In Thailand, the title is "ชมรมขนหัวลุก" which means "Scary Club".
• In Finland, the title is Goosebumps.
• In Italian, the title is Piccoli Brividi which means "small shudders".
• In Polish, the title is Gęsia Skórka.
• In Russian, the title is Ужастики, meaning "Chillers". The TV series is entitled Мурашки, which is Russian for "goose bumps", though the word originates from "little ants".
• In Catalan, the title is Pànic, meaning "Panic".

External links

• Goosebumps home from Scholastic Press
• Official Goosebumps Graphix site