The Goosebumps book where pumpkin-headed monsters force kids to trick-or-treat forever.
Drew Brockman and her friends, Walker Parkes and the twins Shane and Shana Martin, absolutely loves Halloween. Unfortunately, their last two Halloweens were ruined by two of their jerkish classmates, Tabitha Weiss and Lee Winston. This year, Drew wants revenge. She plans to scare them silly, with Shane and Shana's help. But things take a turn for the startling when Drew, Walker, Tabitha and Lee all meet two pumpkin-headed beings who lead them to another neighborhood, where they force the four into an endless round of trick-or-treating... and are soon revealed to not just be people in costume, as the four kids thought.
It was adapted into the tenth episode of the second season of the 1995 TV series, with a novelization based on the episode being released as book 16 of the Goosebumps Presents series.
It was reissued in the Classic Goosebumps line in 2018 as a tie-in to the movie Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.
The book provides examples of:
- Agony of the Feet: When Walker hears Drew's father call her elf one time, he decides to give that a try himself. She responds by stomping on his foot so hard that he never tried that again.
- All for Nothing: A year after the massive prank at Lee's party, Drew and her friends decided to get even with him and Tabitha. They decided to host a decorated party at her house and invite the two over, and they would prank them in front of all the guests. But then on that night when they were about to throw the party, Tabitha called Drew to tell her that she and Lee are trick-or-treating at another neighborhood for lots of candy. Drew and her friends are outraged at this, and give them even more reason for them to get revenge.
- Big "NO!": Lee gives one of these at his party when two burglars emerge from his basement. It actually turns out to be part of an act.
- Bowdlerise: The Goosebumps Classics reprint tones down the original book's description of a black character who "acts real cool and sort of struts when he walks like the rappers on MTV videos." It also alters a plot point involving four missing people, describing them as being merely "big" rather than fat.
- It also removes a part about Walker's costume featuring black facepaint, likely because it's similar to blackface.
- Burp of Finality: After eating a ton of candy, Lee says that he doesn't feel so hot. He then lets out a long, loud burp to emphasize.
- Catapult Nightmare: In both the book and TV episode, Drew has an imaginary moment where her friends and herself are taken prisoner by a crazy old man and woman who "collect" trick-or-treaters with what they consider good costumes and lock them up in their attic.
- Cheap Costume:
- In Drew's fantasy of their third Halloween night, her and Walker, as well as Tabitha and Lee, have these going on. Drew and Walker were plain ghosts, Tabitha was wearing her princess costume from two years ago but with green make-up on (to signify that she's a space princess), and Lee wore a hand-me-down Superman costume. This is why when a homeowner tells them they have wonderful costumes, Drew thought that sounded false.
- And on the actual night, Drew notices that her superhero outfit isn't too rad, but doesn't care. She has on bright blue tights and a blue top, with red boxer shorts. She also had a red tablecloth that nobody used anymore as a cape, white vinyl boots, and a red cardboard mask.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: At Lee's party, Walker is wearing a mummy costume and he is worried because it keeps unraveling. Shane asks him if he is worried about this because he is not wearing anything underneath, and Drew briefly imagines Walker caught in his underwear at the party. Walker assures them that, yes, he is wearing clothes underneath, but he is instead worried about slipping on a loose piece of cloth.
- Covers Always Lie: Sometimes, people anticipating that the cover is fake works in the book's favor. In the TV version, the main bad guys aren't the beings with the Pumpkin heads on the cover... which is expected. However, the aliens who save the kids from the monsters were the Pumpkin-headed beings.
- Door Slam of Rage: At the beginning of the book, when Drew is going out and her father calls her elf, she responds by slamming the front door shut.
- Dramatic Drop: When Tabitha calls Drew to tell her that she and Lee aren't coming to the party, Drew reacts by dropping the phone to the floor. She has to pick it back up to continue listening to what she had to say.
- Dude, Not Funny!: After it is revealed that Tabitha and Lee faked a break-in in which two teenagers pretend to be criminals and force most of the party members to perform push-ups, the partygoers abruptly leave the house, telling Tabitha and Lee that their prank was not funny at all.
- Force Feeding: When the group protests that their bags are full and they can't do candy anymore, the pumpkin heads reply that they can simply eat some of it on the spot, and even emitting flames to threaten them into doing it. So the group have to eat candy one after another, until they get sick.
- Gender-Blender Name: The female Drew, a name traditionally short for "Andrew".
- Group Hug: Right after Shane and Shana scare Tabitha and Lee, Drew and Walker congratulate them by giving them this.
- Halloween Episode: The story is set on Halloween, and revolves around trick-or-treating.
- Human Aliens: Used as Twist Ending. Shane and Shana are aliens, but look human.
- I Got a Rock: While trick-or-treating, Tabitha and Lee are displeased that they got apples at one house. They threw them on the ground, and wondered why people do this trope, as they should know trick-or-treaters only want candy. Tabitha suggests that it's because some people are cheap.
- Jaw Drop: At the end, Drew does this upon being told by Shane that he and his sister only eat fat people, and they don't eat skinny people like her.
- Karma Houdini: The human-eating aliens leave unimpeded at the end, assuring that they'll return for the buffet next year. They do reassure Drew that they won't eat her because she's too skinny and they're friends.
- Kill the Lights: One of Drew and her friends' ideas for pranking Tabitha and Lee at the party involves this trope while a spooky voice calls to them.
- Laugh Themselves Sick: When Drew and Walker finally succeed in scaring Tabby and Lee, with Shane and Shana's help, they laughed until it hurt.
- Loud Gulp: Lee lets one out when the "burglars" tell him that his parents aren't around at the party. Again, part of an act.
- Madness Mantra:
- Tabitha and Lee soon get tired of the Pumpkin Heads demanding that they continue trick-or-treating, and chant "No way!" in protest.
- And when a crowd of Pumpkin Heads come out to surround the two, they chant "Trick or treat!"
- Nested Story Reveal: Drew narrates how she and Walker got Tabitha and Lee to come trick-or-treating with them, and come into a house only to be kidnapped by an elderly couple whom keep them hostage along with other trapped children. But then the next chapter reveals that this was just a daydream of Drew's.
- No-Sell: When the antagonists emerge from out of nowhere screaming and having flames bursting out of their eyes, Tabitha and Lee are not scared at all. As their adventure continues, however, the two start to lose it.
- Product Placement: A bunch of brand-name candies are namedropped during the trick-or-treat scenes. Several characters also drink Pepsi, as Scholastic had a promotional tie-in between Goosebumps and Frito-Lay around the time this book was published.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: After being forced to eat a large amount of candy from her back, Tabitha wheezes out "I...can't...eat...any more."
- Rapid-Fire "But!": This is Drew's response when the Pumpkin Heads demand she and the rest continue trick-or-treating even after they were forced to eat a lot.
- Security Cling: The two pairs of friends in the story, Tabitha and Lee along with Drew and Walker, do this when the pumpkin heads are starting to genuinely scare them.
- Sham Supernatural: The jack-o-lantern people who take the group hostage aren't actually malicious spirits, they're people in costume, as part of an elaborate plan to help the main characters get vengeance on Tabitha and Lee. How they pulled off the more overtly supernatural feats like levitation and shooting fire from their eyes is explained at the end by the fact that they're actually aliens.
- Spotting the Thread: As the members of Lee's party are forced by supposed thugs to do push-ups, Drew notices that Tabitha and Lee are not doing push-ups with the rest of them, and are looking rather amused. This clues her in that they orchestrated this party and "break-in" as part of a massive prank.
- Stingy Jack: The main characters are forced to trick or treat all night by a group of entities that can breath fire with jack o'lanterns for heads. They are revealed to be aliens by the end.
- Teens Are Monsters: Todd and Jeffrey are two teenage boys who agree to pretend to be thugs who break into Lee's house while a party is going on, and threatening everybody to do push-ups. They seem to have a lot of fun doing it.
- Tempting Fate: At Drew's failed Halloween party, Shana accidentally dropped a ball of slime into the coach, burning a hole in a cushion. Drew wants to have it covered up before her Mom and Dad see, but the two of course come into the living room. Drew crosses her fingers and hoped they wouldn't notice, but then her mother immediately shrieked upon laying sight at it.
- And on next Halloween, she tries to speedily go out the front door to avoid a holdup with her parents. But then her father is by the entranceway wanting to take her picture. Indeed, he causes a holdup trying to get Drew's photo right, much to her frustration.
- Theme Twin Naming: Shane and Shana, whose names start with the same four letters.
- Too Old to Trick-or-Treat: In Drew's dream, Walker mentions how as twelve year-olds, this trope is supposed to be in effect a year later, and Drew thinks that this was a depressing thought.
- To Serve Man: The ending reveals that Drew's friends Shane and Shana are the aliens who ate the four fat adults whom were missing according to a local news story.
- Trap Door: As part of their ideas for revenge on Tabitha and Lee, Walker suggests a trap door to send the two from Drew's living room to the basement. Drew herself liked the idea, but had to reject it because her parents wouldn't like her sawing up the floor to build it, and also because that might break Tabitha and Lee's necks.
- Trying Not to Cry: This is Drew's reaction when finding out from Tabitha that they aren't coming to her party, which ruins her first chance at revenge.
- A Weighty Aesop: Presented in Space Whale Aesop format. Near the end, the man-eating aliens warn the kids not to eat too much candy, or they'll end up as dessert some day.
- Wham Line: The last couple of chapters let out three of these that are quite groundbreaking.
- First one:
Drew: It worked, guys! It worked! It worked! We really scared Tabby and Lee this time!- Second one:
Drew: Of course, it helps to have two aliens from outer space as friends!- Third one:
Shane: People from our planet only like to eat very plump adults. So you don't have to worry for now.
