Characters from the Goosebumps novel The Girl Who Cried Monster.
Lucy Dark
Portrayed By: Deborah Scorsone (TV)
"Life is just a phase I'm going through."
The titular character of The Girl Who Cried Monster, Lucy has a fascination for monster stories, but her fascination turns to fear when she learns the local librarian actually is a monster and no one will believe her.
- Big Brother Bully: Well, Big Sister. She loves freaking out her little brother with her monster stories. Though why her brother would be afraid of monsters (since both he and Lucy are monsters) is anyone's guess.
- Cassandra Truth: Pretty much the whole book. She’s known for scaring her kid brother by telling him stories about monsters. However, when she discovers that her librarian is a real monster, her parents don’t believe her.
- Crying Wolf: She's annoyed pretty much everyone around her with all her monster stories so of course they won't believe her when she learns Mr. Mortman actually is one. However, when she gets her friend to believe her and tell her parents, they change their mind... and then they eat him. It Makes Sense in Context.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has black hair and black eyes, along with her brother. Probably a trait of being a monster.
- Cute Monster Girl: She's a cute young girl who seems to like monsters a bit too much. Well, she also is a monster herself; she hasn't gotten her fangs yet, but they're coming.
- Deadpan Snarker: Enjoys snarking at her parents. At one point her mother worries about this "monster phase" she's going through, and Lucy retorts "Life is just a phase I'm going through." Well, being a monster is her life, so...
- Determinator: After witnessing Mr. Mortman transform, she takes it upon herself to expose him no matter how many people don't believe her and how dangerous it'll get. Though her reasons for doing so are much different from what one would expect: it's so that her parents can eat Mr. Mortman and ensure that the Dark family are the only monsters in town.
- Hypocrite: She is very outraged that her friend doesn't believe her about the monster and calls him a jerk, completely ignoring the fact that she had been acting the same way with her monster pranks on him before.
- It's All About Me: At one point, she imagines her parents giving her grand rewards for proving to them that Mr. Mortman was a monster, insinuating that she wants to prove them wrong more from her own self-gratification rather than for the concern of her family and friend.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Can be pretty rude most of the time (especially towards her brother), but she really does care.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: She is the Masculine Girl to her best friend's, Aaron, Feminine Boy. She likes to go rollerblading and play pranks on her younger brother, while Aaron usually is more sensitive and shy.
- Meaningful Name: Her last name is Dark, and she likes to tell lies about monsters, encounters a real monster herself, and even IS a real monster.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Her love for monster tales. Makes sense; she herself is a monster.
- Non-Malicious Monster: The only reason her parents kill Mr. Mortman is to protect their family's identity as monsters, which seems more justified when you remember he tried to kill Lucy to protect his secret as well. Other than that, they're not hostile. There's a specific moment in the TV show where it looks like her parents are considering eating her best friend for dessert, and she seems very horrified before her dad asks if said friend will join them for pie. Quite a family, eh?
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The Energetic Girl to her friend, Aaron's, Savvy Guy. Lucy is known for being a snarky Jerk with a Heart of Gold who plays pranks on her younger brother while Aaron is more sensitive and shy.
- Skewed Priorities: When she first finds out that Mr. Mortman is a monster, she runs out of the library. But then she remembers that she still forgot her rollerblades in there, and goes back to get them. Luckily, she comes to her senses, and decides to get them back when Mr. Mortman isn't around.
- Unreliable Narrator: She acts as if shocking elements in her story are real, but they turn out, they were just fake monsters. Also, she deliberately leaves out the fact that she herself is a monster, along with the rest of her family, until the very end of the book.
- Walking Spoiler: Clearly there's more to Lucy than meets the eye, if you can tell by how much is spoilered out. Her true motives? Trying to make sure that she and her family are the only monsters in their town by having her parents devour any rival monsters. Aww, how sweet! She's not evil though, so it's okay.
- With Friends Like These...: She can be pretty rude to Aaron, even when he is the only friend of hers to hang out with during the summer. When he gets braces, she is frustrated at him because that operation made him miss out on a chance to see Mr. Mortman as a monster. Because of this, when he complains about his new braces, she gives him No Sympathy.
Eugene Mortman
Human Form
Monster Form
The librarian of Timberland Falls. Although he looks like a normal, albeit slightly overweight, human, Mortman is actually a monster who eats insects, reptiles, fish... and sometimes people.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: He's a fair bit calmer in the mobile game Goosebumps Horror Town and even manages to talk things out with Mrs. Dark. In addition, when he transforms, he says to himself that he will simply scare the children trying to expose his secret so that they stop instead of trying to murder them.
- Adaptational Villainy: He acts more antagonistically in the TV episode, chasing after Lucy the first time she sees his monster form. He also supplies the above quote.
- Affably Evil: He's relatively polite and friendly in his human form, even going to the trouble of returning Lucy's bag when she leaves it in the library.
- Alas, Poor Villain: His fate of being Eaten Alive may qualify as this considering that he was only trying to keep his secret safe, even though he does lose a good amount of sympathy for trying to kill a child, although it's slightly justified, seeing as he didn't want Lucy to tell anyone who he is. Averted for the episode adaptation, as his sadistic streak makes him very hard to pity.
- Anti-Villain: Although he tries to kill Lucy (and probably anyone else who finds out his secret), he's still mostly a monster who wants to live his life peacefully. At least in the book. The episode makes him more sadistic.
- Apologetic Attacker: After locking Lucy in the library, he apologizes for what he's about to do before transforming and trying to kill her.
- Bald of Evil: He's described as having male-pattern baldness, and appears this way in the TV episode as well. His monster form is completely bald.
- Big Bad: Of The Girl Who Cried Monster.
- Body Horror: His transformation into his monster form. For example, his eyes stick out of his head on stalks.
- Child Eater: Although he mostly eats creepy crawlies, he shows more than a little interest in eating Lucy, especially in the TV episode.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Lucy's parents eat him alive.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted. He initially seems to care for his pet turtles (tarantulas in the episode), but he later eats them.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: In the book, both his human and monster forms are noted to have raspy voices. As for "evil", while he's an Anti-Villain, he still does try to murder a child when he could have simply tried to talk things over with her or gotten a restraining order against her since nobody would believe a child who was a known habitual liar, especially in regards to something like a monster existing.
- Eye on a Stalk: Has pitch-black eyes on stalks in proportion to his fat head.
- Fat Bastard: Downplayed. He is slightly overweight with a double chin, and while he mostly keeps to himself and doesn't harm others, he does become openly evil when he seemingly attempts to kill Lucy to get her to stop trying to expose him instead of simply trying to talk things over with her. Played straight in the episode, which completely removes his Anti-Villain status and shows him as a sadist who gleefully chases Lucy while laughing and making a joke about fast food.
- Faux Affably Evil: In the episode, he is more openly malicious and creepy and none of his politeness seems genuine like in the book.
- Foil: To Lucy and her family. They are all monsters, but while they are a family unit, he lives and operates on his own. Unlike them, he eats live animals instead of normal food. While they are all relatively friendly toward humans and seem to want to live their lives peacefully while still being willing to kill to protect themselves, Mortman is less sympathetic since the one he tries to kill is a child and there are other options he could try. Finally, Lucy and her family know that they are killing another monster, while he thought that he would be killing a human.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Although the actual book never mentions him wearing glasses, the cover art shows him with a pair, and the TV episode followed its example.
- Horror Hunger: Eats a whole lot of really nasty things.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: For the most part he's not doing anything wrong...then he tells Lucy he can't let her leave now that she knows his secret...Keep in mind that he is invisible to photos and knows that nobody will believe her given her habit of making up stories.
- Karmic Death: His being Eaten Alive by the parents of the girl he was trying to eat counts, at least in the episode where he is openly sadistic about wanting to eat Lucy and is not just trying to keep his secret.
- Missing Reflection: His monster form does not show up on film, as Lucy discovers that he is missing from the photos she took.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: He apparently decides that the only logical way to get Lucy to stop trying to expose him is by killing her. He may have just wanted to talk to her about her snooping or threaten her to keep quiet, but he seems to imply that wasn't the case.
- Named by the Adaptation: Goosebumps Horror Town reveals that his first name is Eugene.
- Non-Malicious Monster: He really just seems to want to live his life in peace. He seems to prefer eating animals over humans (his own animals mind you, so he's not preying on lost pets or animals that don't belong to him), and he's pretty friendly in general. While he does try to kill (or at least threaten) Lucy, this was only because she knew his secret and was trying to expose him.
- Sadist: While he's mostly a Non-Malicious Monster in the book, only resorting to trying to harm Lucy after she continues to snoop on him and only doing so out of self preservation, he displays obvious blood-lust in the episode, gleefully chasing her while laughing and making a joke about fast food.
- Scary Librarian: A librarian who is a literal monster. An Affably Evil monster who mostly just wants to live his life peacefully (at least in the book), but still a monster who is willing to eat children to keep his secret.
- To Serve Man: Although he seems to prefer eating turtles and flies, Mortman will eat a human (such as snooping kids).
- Tuckerization: The above mentioned name is most likely a reference to Eugene Lipinski, who played Mortman in the TV episode.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can turn into a monster seemingly at will.
- Weaksauce Weakness: He can be stopped in his tracks by knocking the card catalog into disarray. This appears to be a nod to the famed obsessive-compulsive behavior of vampires re: seeds. Lucy chalks it up to his being a librarian.
- Would Hurt a Child: He chases Lucy in an attempt to harm her to get her to keep quiet about his secret.
