Even when he's not alive, Slappy still manages to be scary as hell!
- The opening to the show deserves a mention. It's somewhat minimalist, but its imagery, like the man in black (presumably R. L. Stine himself) with a briefcase's files being scattered by the wind and the "G" slithering around and making the billboard's face twist and making the dog's eyes glow, has stuck with many people for a long time. Not to mention the incredibly sinister but awesome song.
- The television adaption of The Haunted Mask REALLY hammers home the horror of the book. When Carly Beth first sees the mask, we briefly see its eyes and when the store owner slams the door in anger, all the other masks turn in surprise.
- The scene where Carly Beth and Sabrina realize the mask is attached to her face. There's no awkward monster suits, no Special Effects Failure. Just a twelve-year-old girl realizing something is very wrong with her body and no idea why.
- When they can't find the bottom to the mask, Carly Beth suggests cutting it off.
- The following scene where Carly is told straight up by the mask store owner that the "mask" is not a normal mask and that it is to be her new face, prompting a hysterical breakdown from Carly. And then the spirits of the other faces wearers come to life.
- The episode "Welcome to Dead House" is considered one of the episodes that are genuinely scary thanks to its creepy and gloomy atmosphere, music, and well done zombie makeup.
- This can be a very unsettling watch, even for adults, depending on your point of view. The town itself is just so dark and creepy, and everyone they meet wears hats and heavy clothes and is always acting a little off. Then we start hearing strange voices and other creepy shit, ending part one with an unsettling scene of a hand in a barrel. Part 2 is when the zombies/vampires/whatever come into play. And even for a kids show, they portray them pretty well. They are quite unnerving. Especially with the music.. Great episode.
- It’s eerie how the Thurstons talk to Amanda and her family once the wreath is destroyed, revealing how they were waiting for it to be removed so they could feed off the Bensons. Karen reassuring Amanda they can be best friends once the feeding is done only adds to the threatening tone shift.
- Karen seems genuine in her plea to be best friends, which makes it even worse. She seems to hate what she has to do in both the book and episode so the process of befriending to "feed" must be nightmare fuel for her as well. She seems more emotionless when speaking than other Dark Falls residents despite her apparent friendliness. Perhaps she has PTSD from doing what she has to do to survive? That doubles as a Tear Jerker and as well, plus some Fridge Horror on the side.
- The opening two minutes have the same eerie and genuinely unsettling, ominous atmosphere that you'd expect from a Stephen King adaptation. The episode itself, while scary for a Goosebumps episode, is of course nothing compared to It or The Shining, but it has the kind of dark and ominous atmosphere you'd expect from a horror movie for adults.
- The episode of "The House of No Return". All of it. Especially the Twist Ending, even though those kids had it coming. The tragic backstory to the ghosts haunting the titular house explains that they were a married couple whose infant child died when it fell through a weak spot in the floor. They were so stricken with grief they turned into hermits, spending the rest of their days constantly arguing with each other inside the house before they die. They collect children because they're trying to replace the family they had when they were still alive. As the Ghost Man and his wife the Ghost Woman close in on the three bullies, eerily saying over and over that they're going to love the three children forever, it cuts outside to the haunted mansion being struck by lightning on the rooftop, thunder cracking and the children heard screaming. Cue end credits.Ghost Man and Ghost Woman: We love children! You're going to be loved by us forever! FOREVER!!!
- "Click" isn't particularly scary for the most part, but then comes the ending, where Seth, whose mind has been taken over by the remote, attempts to stop his friend from taking the remote by hitting the power button on him... but ends up accidentally turning off himself, leaving him in some sort of void. And just then the batteries die! Uh oh! The creepy salesman from earlier thanks him for trying out the remote and just leaves him there, calling out for help. An even darker interpretation, one that the short story especially leans towards, is that Seth literally shut off the world.
- "Attack of the Mutant":
- The episode gives us a first person view of the titular mutant spying on Skipper from behind some foliage, and then landing on his bus shortly before he introduces himself to Skipper as "Libby".
- He also impersonates a bus driver later on, creating plenty of Paranoia Fuel. Who else could the Mutant have impersonated in Skipper's life? Wilson? His parents?
- After Skipper gets zapped by the scanner in the Mutant's HQ and thus turned into a comic book character, he occasionally starts to see things in "comic book vision". There's no explanation for this until the end, and it's very random and very creepy.
- "Awesome Ants": This episode has one of the eeriest Downer Endings in the series just for the sheer implications for humanity. As if increasingly massive ants trying to attack you wasn't bad enough, Dave wakes up to find his family only has strange blue marbles in the fridge. He soon remembers that ants are actually skyscraper-sized, hyperintelligent creatures who herd humans for their own entertainment. The entire town is just one big vivarium with every human fighting over scraps of the blue food they are forced to survive on. After a brief chat with Mr. Lantz about his role-reversal Tragic Dream, Mr. Lantz solemnly tells the boy to gather some food for his family before it's all gone.
