Literature / Universal Monsters

A Tale of Terror for the 21st Century

Universal Monsters is a six-part series by Larry Mike Garmon, released by Scholastic for younger readers in 2001-2002 and based on some of the classic Universal Horror films. The series begins when three 21st century teenagers — Robert "Captain Bob" Hardin, Joe Motley and Nina Nobriega — from San Tomas Inlet in Florida have an accident with a prototype of an experimental holographic movie projector (illicitly borrowed from the Universal Studios theme park) and a lightning storm, releasing the monsters and other antagonistic characters from the films Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Wolf Man (1941) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) into the real world. Consequently, the trio have to hunt down the escapees and return them to the films.

The series consists of:

• #1: Dracula: Return of Evil
• #2: The Wolf Man: Blood Moon Rising
• #3: Frankenstein: Anatomy of Terror
• #4: The Mummy: Book Of The Dead
• #5: Creature From the Black Lagoon: Black Water Horror
• #6: Bride Of Frankenstein: Vow Of Vengeance

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This series provides examples of:

• Adaptational Villainy: In the original film, Maleva is a benevolent ally who tries to help Larry after he becomes a Wolf Man. In book 2, she possesses Wilma Winokea and proves to be as malevolent as the werewolves that feature in the story.
• All for Nothing: In book 5, Captain Bob uses his library card to try and break into Ben Browning's RV. It breaks... and then it turns out the door was unlocked the whole time.
• All Just a Dream: Subverted in book 3. Fritz has vague memories of his death at the Creature's hands in the movie, but Herr Henry Frankenstein has convinced him they're just a dream. He never figures out Herr Frankenstein was lying.
• Artistic License – Biology: In book 5, while investigating the Gill Man's cave, the group finds a pile of bones, including a skull from a great white shark. Sharks don't have bones, except for their teeth — the skulls are pure cartilage, far softer than bone.
• Back for the Dead: In the final battle of book 6, Deputy Chad Barnes is killed in his Wolf Man form, and he and his mother both remain within Goldstadt Mansion when it blows up.
• Back for the Finale: All the previously captured monsters (Dracula, Larry Talbot's Wolf Man, Frankenstein's monster, Ardeth Bey and the Gill Man) are re-released in book 6. The book also features several other returning characters, including Angela Chavarria, her sister Devin, Deputy Chad Barnes, Wilma Winokea, Francisco "Trey" Trejo and Gayle Braddock.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't mess with Captain Bob's yacht captain's hat. He gets downright furious when the Wolf Man destroys it in book 2, physically attacking the monster in anger (luckily, the hat is restored when the Wolf Man and its allies are defeated).
  • In book 5, the Gill Man's destroying Rita Crockett's teddy bear (a Christmas gift from when she was five) prompts her to go berserk and attack it.
• Big Brother Instinct: Sister case in book 1 — when Dracula comes to abduct Angela Chavarria, her big sister Devin tries to save her. It doesn't work, as Devin falls under his sway again, but it's the thought that counts.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: In book 1, shortly after meeting Dr. Dunn, Bob comes under attack by a swarm of oversized ticks. Devin Chavarria, who's becoming a vampire courtesy of Dracula, later claims to have sent them; it ultimately turns out she was lying and they were actually a shapeshifted Dracula (as revealed when more giant ticks later turn up in his base of operations and then turn back into him when Captain Bob starts smashing them).
• Big Damn Heroes: In book 3, Joe has been attacked by the Creature (which intends to kill him), only for Francisco "Trey" Trejo to show up at the last minute and attack it from behind, saving Joe's life. Unfortunately, the Creature is able to capture Trey and run off with him.
• Big Friendly Dog: In book 2, Gayle Braddock (whose boyfriend has become Larry Talbot's Wolf Man) has a big friendly Siberian husky named Snow — a present from said boyfriend. In her first scene, Snow comes to Gayle's side to comfort her when she's upset.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • In book 1, Devin Chavarria's boss is Dr. Abel Dunn. She thinks he's her friend, but in actuality he's Dracula, escaped from his movie and out to turn her into one of his brides.
  • In book 4, Levi Tovar claims to be the son of Professor Angus Tovar, and a friend of the group. He turns out to be Imhotep.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: As revealed in book 1, Captain Bob likes using peanut butter instead of mayonnaise on his sandwiches (including with bologna and other meats) after having first done so years before as an emergency substitution when he'd run out of mayo. It grosses out Nina though. Book 5 reveals that his friend Skylar does the same, and book 6 has Nina being weirded out even further when, early on, Captain Bob makes a hot dog topped with onions, relish, jalapeño peppers, chili and mayonnaise, followed by strawberry jelly.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Captain Bob. He's got an IQ of 130, but can barely keep his grades up because he thinks his classes are boring and is irritated that the high school won't let him take any advanced classes in his freshman year.
• Canon Foreigner: Book 5 features a Gill Woman, somehow created by the desires of the Gill Man.
• Central Theme: Discussed in book 6, as Nina — with a little help from Joe — explains to Captain Bob that she feels love is the actual central theme of each movie, with each of the monsters being motivated by the desire to find someone to love and who would love them back. Later on, Nina revises her theory, thinking that maybe the real central theme, and what drives the monsters, is not just love but loneliness. Captain Bob, meanwhile, thinks her initial theory's nuts. In the epilogue, he admits that he's still not sure Nina was right, but he's closer to believing it now.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • In book 1, after their penultimate fight with Dracula, the teens try to warn police detective Turner about Dr. Dunn being Dracula. Naturally, he doesn't believe them and thinks they just hallucinated the vampire stuff.
  • In book 4, after they get attacked by a baboon and jackal, Nina tries to tell Levi Tovar about their battles with the monsters. He thinks she's making it up and angrily storms out. He later apologizes, but still doesn't believe... until later on. It ultimately turns out he was faking — he knew it was real, because he was Imhotep the entire time.
  • In book 5, the teens try to convince Rita Crockett that the Gill Man is an escapee from a movie. She doesn't believe them until the very end.
• Cat Scare: Late in book 1, as the trio are exploring Carfax Hotel, they open one of the basement doors and see a pair of yellow eyes... but it turns out to just be a frightened cat.
• Chairman of the Brawl: During book 4, when he and Nina are attacked by a baboon and jackal (really the reanimated heads on a set of canopic jars), Levi Tovar grabs a lounge chair and throws it at the jackal. Nina later takes it up and uses it to fend off the jackal when it tries to attack her again, and then uses it against the baboon.
• Character Catchphrase: Bob's is "I'm off, said the madman". Nina thinks it's a cheesy exit line, but he takes it seriously.
• Child Prodigy:
  • In book 1, when Captain Bob asks Dr. Dunn how a 23-year-old is a fully licensed dentist, Dunn claims to have been one of these who finished high school when he was twelve.
  • Book 4 has Hannah Tucker, one of Professor Tovar's graduate assistants — only twelve, but she's already earned two degrees, in ancient languages and anthropology. Unfortunately, she's also obnoxious.
• Class Clown: Captain Bob is always joking around, in and out of school.
• Coffin Contraband: A variant in book 4, wherein Joe discovers that the Egyptian exhibit (containing the sarcophagus and mummy of an ancient Egyptian queen, along with the rest of her tomb's contents) includes an ornate couch, and that its legs each hide an ancient figurine containing the four pieces of the Scroll of Thoth that Imhotep needs to revive her.
• Composite Character: Book 6 shows that the released Karl (from Bride of Frankenstein) is essentially both Karl and Fritz (from the original Frankenstein film), as he has memories of both identities.
• Convulsive Seizures: In book 3, Francisco "Trey" Trejo suffers from these — a sudden stabbing pain in his head, falling to the ground with his heart pounding, and sometimes nightmares. He also starts to suffer one in book 6, but narrowly recovers in time.
• Cramming the Coffin: In book 4, Professor Angus Tovar is attacked early on by the mummy of Imhotep. His body is later discovered inside the coffin of the priest who was buried with the queen that would be the focus of Professor Tovar's exhibit. Later, Stacy McDonald is found alive in Imhotep's coffin. Somehow, she isn't nearly as upset as they'd expect.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Slice for Devin Chavarria in book 1. He stalks her, gets violent towards any other man he sees near her, and is very possessive.
• Depraved Dentist: Downplayed in book 1 — Dracula poses as Dr. Abel Dunn, a local dentist, but doesn't torture his patients during visits. Instead, he uses his assistant and customers to find prospective victims, and has been secretly manipulating said assistant to make her into one of his brides.
• Disappeared Dad: Captain Bob's dad has never been mentioned throughout the series until book 6, when he mentions to Joe and Trey that "I already lost somebody I care about. I don't think I could go through that again.", which they guess refers to his dad. Captain Bob confirms it, and then one of the boys says he figured Captain Bob would tell him about his dad if he wanted, before adding that "I figured your mother and father got a divorce or something." Captain Bob's only response is "Or something," before he turns away and stares silently off into the distance.
• Distant Finale: Downplayed in book 6 — the final chapter picks up only a month after the final battle, and the day after school ends for the year, as Nina, Joe, Captain Bob and Trey relax together.
• Duct Tape for Everything: Book 5 has the gang visiting Captain Bob's friend Skylar Crockett, who can make anything out of duct tape — wallets, suits, book covers, a tote bag, Christmas tree ornaments and a football are all mentioned or shown.
• Dumb Struck: Claimed to be the case in book 1. After his encounter with Dracula, Todd Gentry was found babbling about a wolf that walked upright like a man; the newspapers say he hasn't spoken since due to the trauma, but his girlfriend admits to Nina that he's talked to her in his brief times awake, blaming himself for his dad's being in a coma.
• Evil All Along: In the very end of book 2, it's revealed that the spirits from The Wolf Man had fused with real people — Deputy Chad Barnes and his mother Wilma Winokea — when they were released from the films. Said characters drive past the trio when the teens are heading out of town, giving them nasty looks and proving they're just as evil even when they aren't possessed. Joe and Captain Bob later theorize that their evil is what drew said spirits to them when they were released from the films. However, book 6 subverts it when Chad and Wilma return to help the teens, and Wilma even helps out in the final battle.
• The Executioner: Subverted in book 4 — Joe decides to pull a prank on Nina and Stacy by showing up behind them in an executioner's costume with a fake ax. All it gets him is a black eye, courtesy of Levi Tovar. He later explains that he'll be dressed as one for the period he'll be working in at the exhibit they're taking part in. Another executioner later shows up and genuinely attacks Joe and Captain Bob while they're sneaking around the Egyptian exhibit... except Detective Turner later tells them it was just a robot intended for the exhibit, and they must have turned it on by accident.
• Expy: Invoked and discussed — the monsters tend to find or merge with people whom they'll make fill in the roles of other characters from their movies, which the heroes figure out late in the main events of book 1.
  • In book 1, the band member Slice ended up as Renfield, his girlfriend Devin can be inferred to have filled in for Lucy Weston (as Dracula's first female victim), and her sister Angela fills in for Mina Seward.
  • In book 2, Don Earl Abernathy ends up in the role of Lawrence Talbot, being bitten by a werewolf under similar circumstances and becoming Talbot's Wolf Man. His girlfriend Gayle fills the basic role of Larry Talbot's love interest Gwen but adds in a partial werewolf transformation, while Wilma Winokea ends up possessed by, and in the role of, the gypsy Maleva, while her son John becomes the first expy of Maleva's son Bela, and her older son Chad — John's half-brother — becomes the second.
  • Subverted in book 3 — none of the normal human characters end up filling the roles of characters from the films.
  • In book 4, Nina ends up in the role of Helen Grosvenor, whom Imhotep believes is the reincarnation of Anck-Su-Namun, leading him to and sacrifice her to revive his love.
  • In book 5, Rita Crockett ends up in the role of Kay Lawrence, as the Gill Man's love interest. At least, until he somehow creates a Gill Woman to fill the role.
  • In book 6, Megan McMahan ends up as one for the unknown woman whose corpse was used for the Bride, as she dies and gets remade into the Bride's new incarnation.
• Failed a Spot Check: In book 5, a teacher stops Captain Bob in the hall and asks for his hall pass. He gets detention for not having one... except later, he finds it was in his shirt pocket (and not his pants pockets, where he'd checked) the entire time. Said teacher, it's determined, must have seen it there but gave him detention anyway.
• Fainting: In book 6, during the first battle at Goldstadt Mansion, Herr Frankenstein faints from fear when Detective Turner has him at his mercy.
• Fight Dracula: The plot of book 1 deals with this, as Dracula has escaped from his movie and the heroes have to find a way to send him back. They have to fight him again in book 6.
• Flare Gun: In the prologue of book 5, Skyler Crockett tries to use one as a weapon against the Gill Man. Unfortunately, it doesn't work because it isn't loaded. Later, Captain Bob fires one into Ben Browning's dinghy, and ends up blowing up its engine.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early in book 3, Nina is told about an exhibition opening in a month, which students interested in Western civilization and humanities can help out with... and it includes an Egyptian exhibit, including a mummy. This reveal comes long before the Sequel Hook at the end has Joe realizing the implications and figuring out that their next monster to deal with will be from The Mummy.
  • In book 4, Levi Tovar mentions he's claustrophobic... hinting that he's really Imhotep, because "Who wouldn't be claustrophobic after centuries of being cooped up in a tomb?"
• Frankenstein's Monster: In book 3, Herr Frankenstein creates a new Creature out of dead body parts, which serves as one of the antagonists of the book. However, he comes to realize that this is not the right way, and becomes determined to use a still-living body with a new brain for his next Creature, trying to use Joe as the body and Francisco "Trey" Trejo as the source of the brain. Book 6 features the Creature again, this time apparently emerged directly from Bride of Frankenstein.
• Friend on the Force: Detective Mike Turner, who serves as the mentor for Joe and Captain Bob's "Forensics Club" at their school. It's subverted in the first two books, where he doesn't believe their claims about movie monsters being on the loose, but becomes a Skeptic No Longer in book 3 after seeing Herr Frankenstein and Fritz and helps the teens out in books 3, 4 and 6.
• Fun T-Shirt: Book 1 introduces a variant, which continues to show up throughout the series — Captain Bob and Joe each own a leather jacket with "Born to Raze Hell" on the back, specifically embroidered at their request.
• Fusion Dance: After realizing the monsters have escaped from their movies, Joe and Captain Bob initially theorize that Dracula has fused with a real person and taken him over. It's subverted in his case, but the climax of book 2 confirms that some of the others did merge with real people when they were first released from the films, starting with Bela the gypsy and his mother Maleva. It happens again in book 6, where Larry Talbot's Wolf Man is re-released and merges with a different host from before.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Skylar Crockett in book 5. He's built a "Crockett car", an improvised vehicle, in his tech-ed class — effectively a cross between a golf cart and an elongated skateboard.
• Gale-Force Sound: In the final battle of book 2, the Wolf Man is able to blow Nina, Joe and Captain Bob to the ground just by barking and sending a powerful wind at them.
• Ghost Ship: As in the original novel, Dracula's presence is first hinted at when father and son duo Ralph and Todd Gentry, out for some late-night fishing, find an abandoned ship, covered in blood with its only occupant a wolf (who turns out to be a shapeshifted Dracula).
• Going Commando: Referenced in book 5 — when Captain Bob has to serve detention and won't have time to pack extra clothes before they leave that afternoon, he says he'll just borrow some of his friend Skylar's (since that's who they're visiting). When Joe asks about underwear, Captain Bob shrugs it off and says he just won't wear any. It's subverted when Nina ends up delaying the trip so he can clean off the chalk dust he's gotten covered in, and gets a chance to pack as a result.
• Groin Attack: In book 6, during the second battle at Goldstadt Mansion, Captain Bob has been dragged underwater by the Gill Man. In a desperate act, he kicks it in the crotch, causing it enough pain to let him escape.
• Hanging Around: How Fritz dies in book 3 — during the final battle, the Creature throws him into a set of chains, one of which wraps around his neck and breaks it as he hangs.
• Harpoon Gun: Book 5 features Ben Browning, a short-tempered man and retired naval officer (or so he claims; he later says he's a marine biologist from the Florida Keys) who doesn't like anyone setting foot on his property and is willing to threaten (and shoot at) them with a spear gun to make them leave. When the teens team up with him later, he reveals it's actually loaded with tranquilizers.
• Hassle-Free Hotwire: In book 6, Joe resorts to brute-forcing this — he smashes the steering column with his fist to expose the ignition switch, then smashes the switch itself, reaches in and turns what's left of it to start Nina's car.
• Healing Factor: Essentially all of the monsters, who can't be killed by normal means and will recover from any injuries sustained until they're sucked back into their movies. The film's human villains don't have this advantage though.
• Heel Realization: The version of Herr Henry Frankenstein from book 6 seems to have already undergone his, and begs the teens and Detective Turner to help him stop Dr. Pretorius. Subverted when it turns out to be an act and he turns on the teens as they arrive at Goldstadt Mansion.
• Here We Go Again!:
  • At the end of book 1, Nina shows the others that Dracula may be back in his movie, but the other five films are still missing some of their characters, so they'll have to keep an eye out for signs of them in the real world and send them back.
  • At the end of book 6, a month after the final battle, Joe gets a letter from Bryan Bohannan of Universal Research and Development — who'd visited them at Detective Turner's house between the first and second battles at Goldstadt Mansion — threatening to sue the trio unless they return the working projector and the eight DVDs that were stolen with it... which is when it hits Captain Bob: eight, not six. There's still two monsters on the loose, thanks to Dr. Pretorius — the titular characters of The Invisible Man (1933) and Phantom of the Opera (1943), the former of whom is apparently right there at the time, as he taunts them in the last lines of the book.
• Heroic Dog: Gayle Braddock's husky, Snow, in book 2. She comes to Gayle's rescue when the Wolf Man breaks into her bedroom, despite the danger to herself, and gives her life protecting her owner. Fortunately, she revives when the werewolves are all defeated.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Book 3 reveals that Detective Mike Turner is just as familiar with the classic Universal monsters as the teens, to the point of reminding them that Henry Frankenstein was just a student and therefore Herr Frankenstein in the movie, not Doctor Frankenstein.
  • Likewise, Captain Bob thinks of high school senior Oscar Morales as just a dumb jock, but his biology teacher reveals that Oscar's actually very smart and a natural for surgery.
• Holy Burns Evil: In book 1, to protect his friends, Joe pulls out a cross and presses it against Devin Chavarria's forehead, leaving a burn mark (as shown afterward) and causing her to pull away and pass out. In the final battle, Nina holds up a cross in front of a flashlight, causing a giant shadow that burns Dracula himself. Unfortunately, Devin promptly disarms her.
• Holy Water: Used late in book 1 against Dracula and Devin, causing the latter's flesh to bubble as if hit by acid when she gets splashed by it. It also heals Angela, who's been partially transformed, when it's poured down her throat and on her wounds.
• Horrible Housing: Book 5 has a variant — Ben Browning has rigged up an old bungalow on the beach, full of fish heads and such, where people think he lives. Subverted when it turns out it's a decoy, set up to keep people away (which Nina figures out beforehand because it looks too unpleasant to be for real), and he really lives in his RV.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place:
  • In book 2, Captain Bob says all but the last word of the trope name when Wilma Winokea names the place of black water — Deadman's Landing — which she says is sacred to her people, and where she claims her son underwent the ritual to become a skinwalker.
  • In book 6, the teens have to find a place for Wilma Winokea and Deputy Chad Barnes to stay, since they can't stay at any of the trio's homes. What they find is the Bates Motel, much to Captain Bob's distress — as he puts it, "If I walk into that office and find Norman Bates sitting there wearing an old lady's wig and dress, I'm going to scream and run." Nina assures him it's just a coincidence, and that the motel's been there for as long as she can remember.
• I Heard That: Late in book 1, Nina mutters an exasperated "Freshmen," under her breath after a back-and-forth with Captain Bob. When he says the trope name, she retorts that he was meant to. He and Nina later throw the trope back and forth a few times towards the end of book 5.
• I'll Kill You!: In book 6, Detective Turner (who's being held in a cell) threatens Dr. Pretorius this way, saying "You're dead if I ever get out of here." Soon after, he says "I'm gonna get you and that scumbag WHEN I get out of here." Pretorious, who's completely unphased by the threats, nonchalantly guesses that he's referring to Henry Frankenstein.
• I'm a Humanitarian: In book 3, Fritz is apparently a cannibal, trying to bite into Captain Bob with the intention of eating him. He's fended off, fortunately.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In book 6, during the final battle, Nina snatches up Imhotep's sacrificial dagger and uses it to run Dracula through. It's enough to disable him, though it takes a minute or so for him to react, mainly doing so when he notices it's impaled him all the way through.
• Innocently Insensitive: In book 3, after Nina gets back at her classmate Stacy McDonald with a thinly-veiled insult, Stacy whines to their teacher that Nina called her fat. Mrs. Hoving, however, completely misunderstands and thinks they were both using the slang word "phat", meaning "cool", and asks "Isn't that supposed to be cool with you kids today or something?", causing Stacy to gasp and (just as the bell rings) stomp out of the room.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • A self-given one — Bob Hardin wants everyone to call him "Captain Bob", adapted when his favorite uncle gave him a worn-out yacht captain's hat. Only Joe really uses it though. He also calls Captain Bob by the nickname "madman" from time to time.
  • Francisco Trejo, introduced in book 3, prefers to be called Trey.
  • Skylar Crockett, featured in book 5, is sometimes called "Sky" for short.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting:
  • In book 2, Don Earl Abernathy can't control his Wolf Man transformation — just getting angry is enough to trigger it.
  • In book 6, after his initial transformation back into his mummified Imhotep form, Ardeth Bey changes back and forth more than once, but apparently can't control the transformation.
• Irony: Book 2 has Don Earl Abernathy, a vegetarian, becoming the flesh-eating Wolf Man.
• It Only Works Once: In book 2, the method that returned Dracula to his film (a modified camcorder, equipped with a reversed version of the program that fixed the faulty film projector) doesn't work on the next monster at first; the trio quickly figure out they have to modify their camcorder for each monster or group of monsters.
• It's Personal: In book 3, Captain Bob says this after Fritz's attack on him wrecks his moped, bought with the money he earned interning at Universal Orlando.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: The villains are first released from their films when a lightning strike hits while "Captain Bob", Joe and Nina are watching said films on an experimental holographic movie projector. It doesn't help that they took the broken prototype instead of the working version.
• Like Brother and Sister: Book 5 reveals that Captain Bob has come to think of Joe and Nina as his honorary brother and sister in their time together.
• Living Statue: In book 4, the statue heads on the canopic jars (containing the organs of the queen whose mummy is on display) are brought to life as full animals (or in one case, an Egyptian warrior) by Imhotep, who uses them to attack people.
• Man Bites Man: In book 6, during the final battle, Nina resorts to biting the Gill Man on the arm at one point. It's not a pleasant experience though, as she ends up with a salty ooze in her mouth as a result.
• Mars Needs Women: In book 5, as in the original film, the Gill Man is searching for a mate. It initially fixates on Rita Crockett, Skylar's older sister, and later tries to abduct Nina.
• Moment Killer: Captain Bob, who somehow interrupts any time Nina tries to get close to a guy. She gets really irritated about it in book 4 when he interrupts she and Levi Tovar, who has similar interests to her. Captain Bob, for his part, doesn't seem to understand why she's angry at him.
• Monster Mash: Book 6 sees the return of all the previous monsters — Dracula, Larry Talbot's Wolf Man, the Frankenstein Monster, the Mummy and the Gill Man — and introduces the Bride, bringing the six creatures together for the first time in the setting.
• Mummy: Naturally in book 4. The plot revolves around an exhibit of the mummy and sarcophagus of an ancient Egyptian queen and the contents of her tomb. Imhotep (having escaped from his movie) tries to revive her as Anck-Su-Namun, but Captain Bob and the others stop him.
• Mummy Wrap: In book 6, after resuming his original mummy form, Imhotep is able to use his bandages as a weapon to restrain the people he's fighting.
• Mythology Gag: Invoked by the film-escapees, who tend to recreate aspects of their original films in the modern world in this series. Examples from specific books include:
  • Dracula:
    • In the original film, Dracula arrives in London on what seems to be an abandoned ship, having fed on and killed the crew. In book 1, he's first seen on a similarly abandoned ship, having again fed on the crew.
    • In the original film, Dracula's base in London was the abandoned Carfax Abbey. In book 1, his base in Florida is the abandoned Carfax Hotel. This gets lampshaded in book 2 when Joe, Captain Bob and Nina are recapping what they know about the first monster in the hopes of figuring out how to deal with the Wolf Man.
  • The Wolf Man:
    • In the original film, Larry Talbot has his fortune told by the gypsy Maleva, who sees the pentagram on Jenny (a friend of Larry's love interest)'s palm and tells Larry to leave her tent. Soon after, Larry saves a woman from a werewolf via beating it to death with a silver object (his cane) he bought to impress a woman, but is bitten and becomes another werewolf. In this book, Don Earl Abernathy has his fortune told by Wilma Winokea, an Ocala shaman, who sees a pentagram on his forehead and tells him to leave her tent. Soon after, Don Earl saves a woman from a werewolf via hitting and driving it off with a silver object (the belt buckle) that his girlfriend won earlier, but is likewise bitten and becomes a werewolf himself.
    • In the original film, Larry has come back to his father's home in Wales, Great Britain. In the book, the Wolf Man manifests in Wales, Florida. This gets lampshaded when the teens are putting the facts together.
  • Frankenstein:
    • In the original film, Fritz tries to steal a good brain, but drops and breaks it, so he takes a criminal brain instead. In Young Frankenstein, Igor does the same, but claims the brain came from one "Abby Normal" (really "Abnormal"). Captain Bob does a deliberate Shout-Out to this when he explains that Fritz did the same thing all over again — he claims the stolen brain came from a "De Viant". When Nina doesn't recognize the name and Captain Bob starts snickering, Nina catches on and even lampshades it — "Fifty thousand comedians out of work and you think you're Mel Brooks!"
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon:
    • While looking for the Gill Man, Joe, Captain Bob and their friend Skylar run across a house owned by a man, Ben Browning, whom they think might be the human form of the Gill Man. He's not ( in fact, he turns out to be Dr. Mark Williams — also escaped from the film — instead), but he shares the same name as Rico Browning, who played the Gill Man in its underwater scenes.
    • Near the end of the book, the characters suddenly realize that Rita Crockett shares her name with the boat that the film characters used to travel down the Amazon River.
  • Bride of Frankenstein:
    • Dr. Pretorius's assistant Karl has memories not only of his own life, but of Herr Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant Fritz's. In real life, they were both played by the same actor, which Joe, Nina and Captain Bob mention.
    • At one point, Dr. Pretorius paraphrases one of his lines from the movie — "To the world of gods and monsters!"^note The original line was "To a new world of gods and monsters!"
    • The adventure ends when the Bride rejects the Creature, prompting him to let the heroes escape before the mansion blows up, taking all the monsters and the two mad scientists with it, just as happened with the lab where the Bride was made in the movie.
• Mystery Meat: Referenced for humor in book 1, when Captain Bob says he isn't eating the cafeteria food at Ponce de Leon High School that day because they're serving UFOs — "Unidentified Food Objects".
• No Ontological Inertia: When the monsters are defeated and pulled back into the films, people remember what happened, but any damage they've done is reversed as well, up to and including reviving most people who were killed during their rampages and leaving no physical evidence, which helps people rationalize it away as a hoax.
• No-Sell: As discovered late in book 1, the monsters are "not of this world" and cannot be killed in the standard methods (like a stake through the heart for Dracula) — they heal automatically from them. The heroes have to instead find a way to trap them back in their movies. The only ones not immune are human villains Fritz (who gets thrown into a set of chains by the monster, resulting in one of them wrapping around and snapping his neck), Karl (who dies when Joe slams a board into his head), and in the final battle of book 6, Herr Frankenstein and Dr. Pretorius, who die at the hands of the Creature.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Joe Motley. It's not until late in book 6 that his full first name, Joel, is revealed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the epilogue of book 6, when Joe and Nina realize Captain Bob isn't wearing his hat (and in fact he claims to have thrown it away), it's the first sign that something's different. He then admits that their experience has really changed him, and he doesn't want to just watch movies — he wants to go out and do something, and to be called "Robert" rather than "Captain Bob". The other two are both more than a little weirded out by this.
• Open-Fly Gag: Subverted early in book 3. Nina gets back at Captain Bob (who's being his usual irritating self) by telling him his fly's open. Captain Bob promptly looks down and makes a face as he realizes she just tricked him — he's wearing sweatpants and therefore doesn't have a fly.
• Past Experience Nightmare:
  • In book 3, Fritz has vague memories of his death at the Creature's hands in the movie, but Herr Frankenstein has convinced him they're All Just a Dream.
  • In book 6, Karl has memories of being Fritz, and of the other man's defeat in book 3.
• Pest Controller: In book 1, an army of giant ticks attacks Captain Bob, and Devin Chavarria later claims she was the one who sent them. Subverted when the penultimate battle reveals they were actually a transformed Dracula.
• The Power of Love: In book 5, this is what allows the Creature From the Black Lagoon to create a mate for himself.
• Reckless Gun Usage: In book 2, when Joe meets Deputy Chad Barnes, Barnes claims to be guilty of this — when he was practicing his quick draw, he was startled by Sheriff Marshall suddenly walking in, causing his gun to go off and shoot over the man's hat. Ever since then, he's had to carry it empty, with only one bullet in his possession at a time.
• Red Herring:
  • In book 1, the core trio come to believe that Devin Chavarria's boyfriend "Slice" is Dracula, due to his vampire-like behavior. He's actually just a pawn of the real Dracula.
  • In book 3, Captain Bob comes to believe that Oscar Morales, a high school senior who's been revealed as a natural at surgery, is Herr Frankenstein's other form. Turns out he's innocent, and becomes Herr Frankenstein's backup choice as a body for his third Creature.
• Refugee from TV Land: A combination of lightning and a holographic projector releases characters from the six films. Each book features, respectively:
  • Count Dracula (disguised as a normal human);
  • Larry Talbot's wolf man (incarnated through Don Earl Abernathy after he's bitten by another Wolf Man), Bela the gypsy's wolf man (incarnated through John Winokea and later Deputy Chad Barnes), and his mother Maleva (incarnated through Wilma Winokea);
  • Herr Frankenstein, Fritz and the Creature they made;
  • Imhotep (in his guise as Ardeth Bey) and Anck-Su-Namun;
  • The Gill Man and Dr. Mark Williams;
  • Book 6 features the Bride of Frankenstein (or rather, a new incarnation made from the corpse of Megan McMahan), Dr. Pretorius and his chief henchman Karl, along with Dr. Pretorius's tiny homunculi and a returned Herr Henry Frankenstein (with his Bride of Frankenstein personality)... plus the other returning monsters: Dracula, Deputy Chad Barnes (who starts turning into the Wolf Man again before his mother stops him via a special dreamcatcher), the Frankenstein Monster, Ardeth Bey/Imhotep and the Gill Man. The ending confirms that the Invisible Man is also loose, while the Phantom of the Opera was likely freed as well.
• Ridiculous Procrastinator: Referenced in the epilogue of book 1, as Captain Bob looks on one of his websites for the most absurd headline possible for Current Events. One is "Scientist Discovers Secrets of Procrastination: Will Release Results At A Later Date".
• Sadist Teacher: Downplayed in book 5, where Captain Bob runs into one of these who gives him detention for not having a hall pass... despite it being very visible in his shirt pocket the entire time. She even has a slight smile on her face as he's on his way to detention later.
• Sequel Hook: Each book has one of the cast finding hints, via news articles, of the next monster they'll face.
  • In book 1, Captain Bob finds a news article about a giant wolf attacking people in Wales, Florida.
  • In book 2, Nina reads a news story that mentions a missing brain, and figures out it means Dr. Frankenstein is involved.
  • In book 3, Nina mentions she has to get up early and help set up an Egyptian exhibit at the San Tomas Inlet Cultural Center. Joe later realizes Egyptian equals mummy.
  • Early in book 4, the teens find evidence of the Gill Man lurking in the NASA causeway. The last chapter expands on it, with Captain Bob writing in his journal that a friend of his has contacted he and Joe to confirm the reports.
  • In book 5, Captain Bob is wondering what the final monster — the Bride of Frankenstein — is going to bring against them, when he gets called by Alvin Brown (the security guard who originally let them take the projector), who leaves a warning message for him on the answering machine that "he is in danger and his friends are in danger too. The hair dryer's gone and he's coming after them—" when he's suddenly cut off, sounding like he's being strangled.
  • The ending of book 6 has Nina, Joe and Captain Bob encountering the titular character of The Invisible Man (1933), while realizing that the Phantom of the Opera was likely freed as well. This being the last book of the series though, it was never picked up on.
• Shout-Out: In book 4, Captain Bob references Spaceballs by misquoting the film:
  Captain Bob: "Brother, just what we need — a jurist's princess."
• Sickening "Crunch!": In book 6, during Nina, Joe and Captain Bob's first confrontation with a returned Ardeth Bey, Nina hits him on the side of the head with a two-by-four, causing his neck to snap with "a bone-snapping, sickening crack". Despite his neck bone actually sticking out as a result though, it's not enough to end him.
• Skeleton Key Card: Subverted in book 5, where the teens have to break into Ben Browning's RV. Captain Bob breaks out his library card to try and get the door open... and breaks the card in the attempt. Then it turns out the door wasn't locked.
• Skeptic No Longer: After not believing the kids about what happened in the first two books, book 3 and his encounter with Herr Frankenstein sees Detective Mike Turner finally believing them about the monsters escaping from the films.
• Skewed Priorities: Late in book 4, Stacy McDonald has been kidnapped by Imhotep for use in reviving his love Anck-Su-Namun. After she's rescued, she's less worried about the living mummy and being kidnapped than by the fact that the mummy stole her weave, and "Now I look stupid".
• Skinwalker: In book 2, when the trio meet Wilma Winokea, she claims that her son John became one of these in an effort to bring honor and glory back to his people.
• Spanner in the Works: Late in book 3, Herr Frankenstein's Creature decides to become one on purpose — thinking that if it kills the people its creator wants to use for a new monster, it can stop his plans. It proves to be this in the final battle of book 6 as well, as when Dr. Pretorius and Herr Frankenstein prepare to kill Nina, Joe, Captain Bob and their friends, the Creature shows up at the last minute and breaks Herr Frankenstein's neck before strangling Dr. Pretorius.
• Spit Take: Late in book 1, Captain Bob says a girl's name while he's dreaming. When Nina taunts him with it later, he almost does one of these, to her amusement.
• Spraying Drink from Nose: In book 2, while he, Captain Bob and Nina are having lunch early on, Joe accidentally laughs his milkshake up his nose at one of Nina's snarky remarks (aimed at Captain Bob), triggering a case of Brain Freeze.
• The Starscream: Book 6 has the current incarnation of the Creature, who's plotting against Herr Frankenstein and Pretorius, intending for them to make him truly immortal and then destroy them both, along with the other monsters, so he and his Bride can be together. He ends up destroying them both as planned, but the Bride's rejection of him afterward results in his reenacting the end of Bride of Frankenstein, and both he and his Bride die when the mansion they're in is destroyed in an explosion.
• Static Stun Gun: Joe improvises one in book 5, jabbing the Gill Man with the broken-off end of a power cord that's still plugged into the wall to drive the creature off.
• Stealth Insult: Late in book 4, Detective Turner heads off for home, with Captain Bob snarking about the man's plans, and Nina gets one in on Captain Bob as a result:
  Captain Bob: "Now that's sad. A young man like that, and he goes home to leftover meat loaf, a tattered lounge chair, and a rerun of a race he already knows the winner of. Could there be a more pathetic sight?"
  Nina (gives him a meaningful look): "Yes."
• Stuff Blowing Up:
  • In book 1, when lightning strikes Nina's house and overpowers the electrical systems, it also causes the experimental holographic movie projector to explode.
  • In book 6, Goldstadt Mansion gets rigged with C-4 by Detective Turner. When it blows up, it and all the monsters get sucked back into their movies once and for all.
• Swallow the Key: In book 6, during the first battle in Goldstadt Mansion, the Creature swallows the key to Nina and Angela's cell, in order to make sure the others can't get them out so easily.
• Switching P.O.V.: The first chapter of each book starts with a civilian encountering the monster of the film before the second chapter switches to following the Power Trio of the series.
  • Book 1 starts with father and son duo Ralph and Todd Gentry, out for some late-night fishing, finding an abandoned ship that turns out to have been depopulated by a recently released from his movie Dracula.
  • Book 2 starts with Don Earl Abernathy and his girlfriend Gayle Braddock attending a carnival before Don gets attacked and bitten by a Wolf Man.
  • Book 3 starts with Herr Frankenstein and Fritz stealing a body from a graveyard, intending to use its hands for a new incarnation of the Frankenstein's Monster, while Detective Mike Turner investigates a different crime and ends up witnessing the duo speeding and then carrying their stolen coffin, whereupon he confronts them and ends up knocked out, with Herr Frankenstein planning (but never getting the chance, as later revealed) to harvest his hands.
  • Book 4 starts with Professor Angus Tovar and his student Karl Homer in their office at the San Tomas Inlet Convention Center, the Professor analyzing a recently-arrived strip of papyrus... and after Karl leaves, Professor Tovar suddenly gets attacked by the mummy of the priest he found with the queen who's the focus of the exhibit.
  • Book 5 starts with Trent and Skyler Crockett, out fishing in the middle of the night, only for Trent to get mauled by the Gill Man.
  • Book 6 starts the night before the last chapter of book 5, on a Saturday night when security guard Alvin Brown is doing his duty at the Universal Studios theme park and encounters Dr. Pretorius, who steals the still-functioning second projector and tells Brown to inform the three teens that he's returned for revenge.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In the epilogue of book 4, Captain Bob admits that in the end, he felt sorry for Imhotep — the man was just lonely and wanted his lover back.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: In book 6, Gavin Hurlbut recalls how Captain Bob did this to another student at the start of the school year as a prank — he stuck live earthworms into his spaghetti and then swapped his tray with a senior's, which the older student didn't discover until he found half an earthworm wiggling around in his lunch.
• Tempting Fate: In book 5, while climbing into the NASA Causeway via an old ladder, Captain Bob starts to say "This thing is old. It's a wonder it hasn't fal—" before it promptly falls, sending him into the water (and he can't swim; fortunately, Joe saves him).
• Throw Down the Bomblet: In the final battle of book 1, as an effort to weaken Dracula, Captain Bob throws a set of Communion wafers at him. They end up functioning like this, exploding on contact and stunning him.
• Too Dumb to Live: Late in book 5, Ben Browning's greed gets the better of him, as he holds up a remote detonator in the middle of a lightning storm. It promptly gets struck by lightning, exploding it and nearly costing him his hand in the process.
• Transformation Sequence: In book 6, after Ardeth Bey's neck is broken, he transforms back into his original form as a mummified Imhotep. He remains just as dangerous in this form as before though.
• Trash of the Titans: In book 5, Skylar Crockett's room is a disaster area, cluttered with trash and dirty clothes. His sister takes one look at it and says "Sky must have cleaned up in here", indicating that it's usually worse.
• Unfortunate Names: In book 6, Gavin Hurlbut recalls how Captain Bob made his last name out to be one, via pronouncing it "Hurl-butt" and mocking him over it. Gavin himself didn't think of it as one, saying it was a name of honor used by warriors in combat, but Captain Bob kept up the mockery anyway.
• Vampire Vannabe: In book 1, Joe and Captain Bob discover that Devin Chavarria's boyfriend "Slice" owns a book, The Legend of the Vampire, that's essentially a guide for people like this — it's all about vampire worship, how to become one and similar things. He apparently wants to be one himself, having even filed his teeth down to points.
• Vampires Hate Garlic: In book 1, Captain Bob tries to use this against a vampirized Devin Chavarria. Unfortunately, she's able to keep him from hitting her with it. It later helps against Dracula in bat form, but less so when he attacks the Chavarria house; Captain Bob then uses it successfully in the penultimate battle, as it burns him. It's also found that putting garlic and a cross around Devin, while she's unconscious, will start to revert her to human. They have to stay in place or she'll start to turn back though.
• Vampiric Draining: In book 4, the trio learn that Imhotep is stealing blood from people, using a needle. In the original film, he never did so, leaving them confused about his motives; it later turns out it was meant to replace Anck-Su-Namun's dried-up blood.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Used a lot in book 1.
  • Per his film abilities, Dracula can turn into a wolf at will, which is first seen in the book's opener when he attacks the Gentrys as a wolf. Unlike the film, he's seen slowly turning back into human form after chasing Todd away. He uses the form again later, attacking Joe and Captain Bob.
  • It's also believed to be the case when Captain Bob is attacked by a swarm of giant ticks (which Dracula never turned into in the film, as Joe notes; Bob, however, says that it's the 21st century and he can appear as anything he wants). Initially subverted when Devin Chavarria claims to have sent them... but in the penultimate battle, it turns out they actually were a transformed Dracula.
  • Late in the book, Nina gets attacked by a bat, which turns out to be a transformed Dracula. He uses the form again soon after, attacking Joe and Captain Bob. In the penultimate battle, he turns into a human-bat hybrid form; in book 6, he uses the form again.
  • During the same battle, Dracula takes the form of a red mist. He later uses this form in the penultimate battle to escape being strangled by a rope of garlic.
  • In the penultimate battle, Dracula initially appears as Dr. Dunn, the disguise he used to blend into humanity, before reverting to his original form from the movie.
• Weapons That Suck: In order to trap the monsters back in their movies, the lead trio have to suck them back in via filming them with a modified camcorder, equipped with a disc that's been programmed with a reversed version of the program that fixed the faulty film projector. They have to augment it with other specialty modifications in later books:
  • Book 2 has them having to film and capture the original Wolf Man and its servants ( John Winokea and Sheriff Marshall) before adding a silver dreamcatcher, with a woven-in pentagram, to the camcorder to capture the true villain — Maleva the gypsy.
  • Book 3 has them use the recording disc in Herr Frankenstein's computer, later realizing that since Herr Frankenstein had adapted to using modern technology, they had to use his own equipment against him.
  • Subverted in book 4, where the camcorder isn't used at all — instead, Captain Bob crushes the scarab representing Anck-Su-Namun's heart, and then she embraces Imhotep before both crumble to dust. Captain Bob and Joe later figure out that the scarab and the Scroll of Thoth acted as a conduit to send the pair back to the movie.
  • Subverted again in book 5, as the camera isn't used this time either — instead, after it kills its tormentor (another film escapee), the Gill Man simply finds true love, is enveloped in a beam of white light from the sky and returns to the movie.
  • In book 6, the final battle ends when Goldstadt Mansion blows up, and the faces of the six monsters, Herr Frankenstein and Dr. Pretorius all emerge from the smoke before the mansion and spirits are sucked into the ground, leaving only "an acre of blackened mass of smoldering cinders and dead vegetation." The epilogue implies that since the second projector and the associated DVDs were inside the mansion, everything got sucked back into them when the mansion was blown up.
• Weight Woe: Captain Bob, being more than a little chubby, takes extreme offense when it's pointed out. He ends up arguing with Joe about it in book 4 while they're under attack by someone in an executioner's costume.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: In book 2, this is Don Earl Abernathy's reaction when he awakens in the Ocala National Forest after transforming for the first time the night before, and discovers the taste of blood and meat in his mouth.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: In book 5, Ben Browning is so obsessed with capturing the Gill Man that he doesn't care if it dies — as he says, "No crime in killing a fish."
• Women Are Wiser: Nina, a junior to the boys' freshmen, is by far the most reasonable of the group.
• Wooden Stake: Suggested in book 1 as a way to get rid of Dracula. Nina, who isn't entirely convinced he's become real though, objects to doing so. Even after coming to accept that they're dealing with a real vampire, she still objects to using this method at first, though she eventually changes her mind. Joe actually does try to use one against Dracula in their final battle with him; unfortunately, he's able to fend it off, and a second attempt later reveals that because he's an escapee from a movie, it doesn't work anyway. Fortunately, they figure out an alternative solution to send him back to his film — in the final battle, after he's been stunned and blown into a wall, Joe pounds a wooden stake through his heart to weaken him long enough to get in close with a modified camcorder and suck him back into his movie.
• Wrecked Weapon: During the final battle of book 6, when Detective Turner arrives back on the scene, Captain Bob asks him why he didn't just use his gun and shoot the monsters earlier before he ran off to rig the mansion to blow. Turner explains that he couldn't have — the Creature had grabbed it and broken it when he and Joe met the monster on their way in.
• Wrestler in All of Us: During the final battle in book 6, Joe uses a wrestling maneuver Captain Bob had once used against him to lift the Creature off the ground and slam it into the floor.
• X Called; They Want Their Y Back: In book 3, when Nina's being annoyed by her classmate Stacy McDonald, she snarks back with "Does Camryn Manheim know you stole her wardrobe?" Stacy recognizes it as the You Are Fat insult that it is.
• You're Insane!: In book 6, when Dr. Pretorius voices an intention to use Detective Turner for spare parts and usher in a new world of superhuman beings who will help him conquer the world, Turner replies with the trope name.
• Your Mom: In book 4, while rescuing Stacy from Ardeth Bey, Nina taunts the villains by yelling "Your mummy wears army boots!"

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