Streamer beware, you're in for a scare!
Goosebumps is a 2023 horror comedy series based upon R. L. Stine’s iconic book series of the same name. It is the second TV adaptation of the series following the 1995-1998 show, and distinctly tells a more serialized story as opposed to the original show's anthology format. It was developed by Rob Letterman (director of the 2015 film adaptation) and Nicholas Stoller, and stars Justin Long, Ana Yi Puig, Miles McKenna, Will Price, Zack Morris, Isa Briones, and Rachel Harris.
Following a Halloween party in a haunted house, a group of teens find themselves at the center of a series of bizarre, supernatural events in their town — events which may lead back to their parents. The series was released on both Disney+ and Hulu on Friday the 13th in October 2023.
A second season is in development
. The show is expected to take on an anthology format with a new cast and setting for the new season.
Previews: Trailer
Goosebumps contains examples of the following:
- Accent Adaptation: Slappy now sounds like an Evil Brit due to being voiced by English actor Chris Geere who also plays his human self, Kanduu.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: The series takes elements from multiple Goosebumps books - Say Cheese and Die!, Night of the Living Dummy, The Haunted Mask - and combines them all into one narrative.
- Adaptational Badass: This iteration of Slappy is much more effective than his counterparts in the book and the original series. Instead of trying to bully his "slaves" into following his orders, he manipulates them by helping them gain success (in Ephraim's case) or popularity (for Harold) to persuade them to do his bidding. It also seems to have supernatural knowledge of what his victims will need, as once Bratt reads the spell to revive him, he knows immediately about his need for an ending, even though Nathan didn't even think of writing the book until after Slappy was thrown off a cliff. And since he's the spirit of an Evil Sorcerer inhabiting the dummy body, he's also able to teach them magic spells, at the very least the one to turn other people into puppets. Once he is restored to life, he is able to use those spells himself.
- Adaptational Wimp: To compensate for his increased manipulative and arcane skills, Slappy is much less of a physical threat than in any other adaptation. This version of the spell only allows him to talk, but not to move on his own, let alone physically push around his victims like he used to. This makes him easier to seal away if one can ignore his manipulation, as he can't really do anything to stop them once they've decided to ignore him, as both Ephraim and the parents demonstrate. Justified in-universe in that Kanduu is much more imposing and powerful when not impeded by being stuck inside the body of a dummy.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: In the books, the Evil Camera, the Haunted Mask, the Cuckoo Clock of Doom, and the worms from Go Eat Worms all have various origins that have nothing to do with each other. Here, all of them are a result of Harold haunting his former possessions.
- And I Must Scream: When most of the population of Port Lawrence, including the teens' parents and Lucas, are turned into puppets and under Kanduu's control, Nathan tells them that their parents can't hear them, and describes Kanduu's puppet spell; he gives the victim their deepest desire and once they give in to the Lotus-Eater Machine, he traps them inside that reality, while he takes control over their body.
- Big Bad: Kanduu, an age old British Evil Sorcerer. Better known by the name of the vessel his spirit inhabits for most of the show - Slappy the Dummy.
- Blackmail: At the end of the second episode, as Nora tries to warn the other parents about the supernatural happenings and how they connect to an incident from her past, they threaten to make sure she loses custody of her son if she doesn’t drop it.
- Break the Haughty: How Lucas is freed from the worms' influence: up to that point, he had performed a series of reckless stunts to emulate his late father, who died during one. Then Nora reveals that he was suicidal and picked a jump that he knew would have killed him, leading to Lucas realizing the futility of his actions.
- Cassandra Truth: Nora's sixth sense to the supernatural occurrences in Port Lawrence are dismissed by her friends as her being crazy. It gets bad enough that Isabella's mother puts her in a mental ward and tries to drug her to keep her docile. At least Isaiah and James's parents are starting to realize she's been right the whole time. It's implied that Isabella's mother is guided more by denial for what they witnessed and a need to save appearances than more strictly this trope.
- The Corrupter:
- The mask drives Isabella to be more assertive at first, which is gradually twisted into more violent behavior.
- This is what makes Slappy so dangerous, as he twists his owners' desires to trick them into serving him, even having them willingly commit murder on people who disagree with them.
- As revealed in the last episode, the ancient temple. It's what gives Kanduu his powers, his name and the idea to unleash monsters and horrors over the world.
- Creator Cameo: R. L. Stine makes a cameo as the voice and likeness of a podcast host in episode 9.
- Darker and Edgier: The tone and subject matter is much more serious and the scares much darker than previous adaptations - including the 2015 movie by the same director.
- Demonic Dummy: Series Mascot Slappy is the overarching villain of the series. In the present day, Biddle is attempting to locate him after he was stolen and hidden.
- Demonic Possession: Biddle's ghost takes over Nathan Bratt's body, using him to interact with the world.
- Disney Villain Death: A repentant Harold tosses Slappy off a cliff after realizing the dummy manipulated him into killing his parents. While the impact broke Slappy into pieces, his head does an Eye Awaken and The Stinger of the episode indicates someone will retrieve him, which Nathan Bratt does the very next episode.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Ben ripped Slappy apart when the doll spoke to him. Lucas happens upon one of his eyes. Nora has the other parts. This doesn't stop Slappy from speaking, much to Nora's confusion. Happens again after Harold tosses Slappy off a cliff, though all the parts are in one place.
- "Eureka!" Moment: The start of Episode 9 has Bratt coming back home after the entire ordeal and musing "make a hell of a book." His eyes light up and months later, we catch up with Bratt having written a novel based on the whole adventure.
- Everyone Has Standards: Ephraim saw no problem with turning the theater manager into a life-sized dummy, but he instantly drew the line at setting countless people on fire, which prompted him to betray Slappy and try to seal him up.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Except for newcomer Mr. Bratt, Margot's father, and Isaiah's mother, every adult in the series with more than a couple of lines of dialogue not only went to the same high school in the same year, but seemed to be Childhood Friends.
- Evil Brit: Slappy in this incarnation has a British accent.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Seems to be Slappy's weakness and Kanduu's in general, his casual attitude to murder is what ends up snapping his thralls out of his control and causing them to rebel.
- Evil Mask: The Haunted Mask is the threat of the second episode, driving Isabella to commit evil acts before eventually trying to completely take her over.
- Feels No Pain: In episode 4, Lucas unwittingly eats worms from the Biddle house, which causes him to not feel any pain and almost instantly recover from any injury, making him become more reckless as a consequence.
- Fighting from the Inside: Bratt can briefly reassume control of his body if he gets hurt while in Biddle's mental prison. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true, leading to poor Bratt getting smacked back and forth.
- Forced Transformation: Slappy knows a spell that transforms whoever the user wishes into a life-sized puppet, at least in close proximity. The spell is evidently fatal in a spiritual sense, as the souls of Harold's parents latched onto his spirit after Harold used it on them, refusing to move on until their son is redeemed.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Nora and Colin are portrayed as sympathetic, since Sarah moved to Seattle without her husband and daughter, and she's the only one who didn't already realize her relationship with her husband was beyond saving. Nora in particular is depicted in a sympathetic light since she's still struggling with the grief over her husband's suicide.
- Grave Robbing: Slappy has Ephraim dig up the corpse of Kanduu to obtain a spell in his pocket. As Ephraim reads the spell, he has a vision of a burning tower and screaming people, convincing him to betray Slappy and hide him in the wall of his new home in Port Lawrence so he can't manipulate anyone else.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Whoever built the ancient temple inscribing spells in it. It's hard to think of a good reason to leave a manual to release evil upon the world ready to be found. What makes it particularly daunting is that we know absolutely ''nothing'' about who, or why, built it.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Episode 3 sees James trapped in a time loop after hitting his head on the Cuckoo Clock of Doom in the pilot, leaving him unable to leave the Biddle house without getting transported back to the moment he hit his head. He is able to stop the loop by disabling the clock, but he later learns that every time he attempted to leave the house, he created a copy of himself.
- Haunted House: In the trailer, the teacher talks about how he’s moving into a house that has a history of tragedy. Sure enough, he gets possessed by a spirit in the house.
- Here We Go Again!: The first episode ends with Harold Biddle's spirit possessing Mr. Bratt after appearing reflected in a bathroom mirror. The finale ends with Kanduu's spirit doing the exact same thing, even prompting a "Not again!" from a shaken up Bratt.
- Human Sacrifice: Whenever someone reads Kanduu's spell, they have a vision of a burning tower full of people. This is part of Kanduu's ritual to free all the horrors of the world, requiring him to sacrifice a thousand souls.
- Invisible to Normals: For the haunted camera, only the people who use it (Isaiah) and Nora for some reason, are able to see the photos of people getting hurt or dying.
- I See Dead People: Nora has a sixth sense for the supernatural, with Slappy even commenting that something is different about her. She's able to see Biddle as he's tormenting Isaiah on the football field.
- Jerkass Has a Point: It's shown to be a sign of The Haunted Mask's influence over her (and she quickly goes overboard with it), but Isabella's anger at Lucas for his reckless destruction of her drone is entirely valid, especially since his offer to pay her back at a rate of five dollars a week is hardly suitable compensation for $3000 worth of damage.note
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Isabella is a Troll who often mocks her classmates on the internet in order to cope with feeling invisible and overlooked, but she isn't actually a mean person overall. When The Haunted Mask influences her to chew out Lucas and Colin while in Colin's office, she instantly regrets having done it, apologizes, and assures Lucas that she's willing to accept his meager repayment for her broken drone. She also loves her little brother, which is what ultimately enables her to throw off the Mask's influence, as harming him is farther than she's willing to go.
- Lucas is a callous jackass not caring of the collateral damage of his stunts, but he is also a kid still struggling with the death of his father, trying to gather the courage to succeed in the stunt that killed his father, not knowing that his father was actually suicidal and chose an impossible stunt for that reason.
- Kick the Dog: Slappy convinced Biddle to spill all of his friends' secrets during a talent show, as a means to drive them further apart.
- Loving a Shadow: James believes that Isaiah and Margot are more in love with the idea of each other and they would never be able to make it work as an actual couple.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "Night of the Living Dummy Part 2" Mr Bratt begins writing about the events of that happened in the show. His publisher states that his story could potentially become a series of novels, a reference to the Goosebumps books, plus the chance of getting more seasons.
- The publisher also mentions that the story need a "proper" ending after Slappy's defeat, a twist that also delves more into his past. Sure enough the episode ends with a reveal about Slappy's past, and him being back to take the stage as the villain for the final episode.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: This is Kandu's method of transforming people into dummies. Namely, he takes the form of a loved one (or has said loved one do his bidding if already under his control) and appears as though he is going grant someone's heart desires. If they fall for said trick, they get dummified. Below are the tricks he used for said gang:
- For Lucas (and likely Nora as well), he took the form of his deceased daredevil father, claiming that he had been a government witness during a trial that lasted over a year, and thus was forced to fake his suicide by the government under the threat of imprisonment. Despite having literally witnessed his death and burial himself, Lucas almost immediately forgets his suspicions and gladly accepts his "father's" proposal that they go for a ride on his motorcycle to "catch up." The moment he touches him, he becomes a puppet.
- For Isaiah, he took the form of a talent scout from the University Of Washington revealing, along with mind controlled parents, that he had been offered a full scholarship to said university in spite of his arm injury which had severely hampered his football skills. Isaiah almost falls for it, but his cast just happens to disappear the moment he is about to sign the offer, alerting him that something is up.
- James's Manly Gay boyfriend Steve, under Kanduu's control, dresses in a cat costume holding a sign saying "Be My Purr-fect Date To Prom?" He is saved by Isabella who....
- was simply told by her mother when she got home "It's so nice to see you!" Knowing how distant her mother is from her, this immediately alerted her that something was wrong.
- For Margot, he takes the form of her mother whom she and the gang had just visited, claiming she that and her father (currently under Kandu's control) had worked things out and decided to get back together. But she is saved from the "family hug" that would have led to her dummification by Isaiah.
- Made of Plasticine: The clones created by the clock look like James, but any decent impact causes them to explode in a shower of goo that smells like watermelon Jolly Ranchers.
- Missing Mom: Margo's mother is in Seattle and only returns in episode 5.
- Mythology Gag:
- An instant camera, similar to the one in Say Cheese and Die! is shown in the trailer. The characters do not react positively to it. It actually IS the camera.
- Near the end of the trailer, we briefly see someone curiously looking at an old cuckoo clock, much like the one in The Cuckoo Clock of Doom. Much like the camera, it's the actual clock.
- In the books, The Haunted Mask can only be overpowered and removed by using a symbol of love. In the show, Isabella's love for her little brother is what causes her to throw off its influence, since physically harming him is a line she's unwilling to cross.
- The town of Port Lawrence is named for R.L. Stine, whose full name is Robert Lawrence Stine.
- The Haunted Mask initially looks very different from its depiction in the book and other adaptations, but once it seals onto Isabella's face, its "troll" form resembles the mask from the cover art of The Haunted Mask II.
- The backstory in the Night of the Living Dummy episode involves someone named Ephraim, a likely reference to Slappy's creator in Slappy, Beware, with the corpse of the Evil Sorcerer whose spirit turns out to be possessing Slappy being named Kanduu, who was a character in I Am Slappy's Evil Twin.
- The name of the eponymous twin, Snappy is what Bratt names Slappy in his book.
- At the end of Night of the Living Dummy Biddle remarks that this narration is still missing the twist. One of the most famous things about the books are their twist endings.
- In You Can't Scare Me, after Nora's conversation with the State Trooper, Slappy comments "I thought he'd never leave!" which was the final line (spoken by Slappy) of the original Dummy book.
- Slappy brings Bratt's dead poodle Fifi to life as a vampire, a reference to Please Don't Feed the Vampire!
- Never My Fault:
- Harold Biddle, while possessing and posing as Mr. Bratt, decides to tell the gang the whole story about their parents, Slappy, and his death, hoping that they will take his side and see their parents for the "awful murderers" they are. However, they ultimately point out that their parents were only trying to help him and the fire that took his life was from his violent attempts to resist them. He still feels he was the victim and the parents were cruel bullies.
- This applies to Biddle far before that, too. While he was bullied at his previous school, which is why his parents moved to Port Lawrence, there's no indication he receives the same treatment at Port Lawrence and it's his own insecurities that cause him to avoid social situations. Even then, Harold at least believes this is his own character flaw rather than active bullying. It only gets worse after he finds Slappy, as he keeps choosing him over his friends and parents, but still acts as if he was the one being rejected, and not the other way around.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- The kids are starting to doubt their parents, due to their secrecy and their discovery that they were involved with Harold's death, and even see a vision of them fleeing the scene while looking guilty, and then Harold comes forward offering them the true story. Which, however, ends up revealing Harold himself as the real villain and their parents as the ones who were trying to help him, instead of some murderers.
- The last James clone's attempt to kill Isaiah and James's parents makes them realize that Nora was right and they have to help her stop Biddle from finding Slappy.
- Slappy demanding that Harold kill the group like he killed his parents makes Harold snap out of his self-centered rage and realize just how much Slappy had manipulated him, prompting him to throw the dummy off a cliff instead.
- No Ontological Inertia: When the spell that healed Kanduu is reversed, it also reverses all the spells he cast, freeing the town from his puppet spell.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: A non-comedic example at the very end of the series as Mr. Bratt sees Kanduu's reflection staring at him from the mirror, realizing another ghost is going to torment him.
- Once More, with Clarity:
- For the first three episodes, each episode begins roughly around the events of the first episode and follows a specific character through the subsequent episode until the present day, showing how the house and its artifacts have affected them and adding a new layer to the story.
- Episode 6 provides additional context to the scene of Harold's death that we saw in episode 1: The pounding on the basement door was done by his friends, who were trying to save him from Slappy. He dropped his candle in terror because he believed they were bullies there to hurt him. This resulted in the fire that ultimately killed him.
- The One Guy: In the original friend group, Ben was the only guy.
- Portal Book: Harold Biddle's journal transports the minds of the readers into the memory depicted on the page. Altering the pages causes those changes to reflect on the memory, such as a high school hallway ripping in half when the page does or Biddle's house melting when the journal is dropped in water.
- Present-Day Past: Harold makes a Harry Potter reference in "Night of the Living Dummy", asking if his father gave him an invisibility cloak for his first day of school. However, this scene takes place in 1993, four years before the first Harry Potter book was published.
- Redemption Equals Death: Played with as Harold Biddle is already dead at the start of the series, but still his atonement is marked by him moving on to the afterlife.
- Romantic False Lead: Allison, James even lampshades how bland she is.
- Schmuck Bait: The magic words to awaken Slappy are kept on a card in his suit, enticing anyone who finds him into reading the card out of curiosity. Both of his owners read the words out loud the moment they find the card.
- Sealed Evil in a Can:
- Slappy, thrice over. First locked in a suitcase that sat neglected on a magic shop's shelf, then bricked up behind a wall in Ephraim's basement and finally dismantled and hidden away by the gang's parents. As it turns out, Kanduu's evil spirit is a case of Sealed Evil In A Dummy.
- Kanduu's ultimate goal is to release all the monsters that once roamed the Earth, now sealed away by a spell that requires a thousand people to be sacrificed in an elaborate ritual.
- Self-Serving Memory: Harold's "murder" was a total accident caused by his classmates trying to get rid of Slappy out of concern that he was corrupting Harold. Harold saw it as their (non-existent) bullying taken too far and that he's the innocent victim. The kids rightfully and unknowingly call him out on this warped perception.
- Sins of Our Fathers: The main characters’ parents had something to do with Biddle’s death, and at the end of the pilot, Nora warns that Biddle will visit “the sins of the father” upon their children. It is eventually revealed that the parents were trying to help Biddle, who ended up causing his own demise. That doesn't stop Biddle from blaming them and looking for revenge on the children.
- Spot the Imposter: Played for laughs in the finale as Isabella is the first of the gang to instantly see through Kanduu's ploys with their possessed parents. How? Because when she got home the very first thing her mom said to her was "nice to see you."
- Temporal Duplication: James gets caught in a time loop at the Halloween party courtesy of the Cuckoo Clock of Doom. He is able to escape eventually but not before creating duplicates of himself from each escape attempt who proceed to gang up on him and impersonate him for the events of the previous two episodes. They're all weak to being hit, causing them to explode into green goo at the slightest tap.
- Troll:
- Isabella has a habit of mocking people online to cope with being overlooked in real life. The plot is even kicked off when she uses her online persona to tattle to Allison's parents about her Halloween party, forcing her to move it to the Biddle house.
- Becomes all too literal in the second episode when the Haunted Mask takes her over and shapeshifts into a troll's head.
- Underestimating Badassery: The last James clone thinks untying and leaving the rope in a pit would stop Ben (Isaiah's dad) from following him and that the real James's mom would instantly be taken out with a small board. He's proven wrong on both counts when Ben manages to escape after a few minutes and she whacks him with the board, causing him to explode and die.
- Unreliable Narrator: Played with. Harold Biddle actually turns out to be an extremely reliable narrator, accurately recounting all the facts that led to his death, to the point that the kids rightly conclude that his murder was an accident and he's a victim of Slappy more than anything. He, however, is stuck believing his Self-Serving Memory and insists his former friends killed him.
- Wham Line:
- In episode 4, Go Eat Worms. "Your father didn't make that jump because he thought he could. He did it because he knew he couldn't!"
- Invoked by Harold Biddle in episode 6, who delivers one in-universe (but not for the audience, who has by then long been aware of him possessing Mr. Bratt).
- Wham Shot: Slappy's body expelling a smoky spirit similar looking to Harold Biddle's that flies into the corpse he had Bratt dig up.
- Wild Teen Party: In the pilot, the main characters hold a party in the Biddle house, coming across the cursed objects in the basement in the process.
- The Worm That Walks: After Lucas vomits the worms out, they join together to form an ambulatory mass that chase Lucas down. The only way to destroy them for good was to mince them with a wood chipper.
- You Can't Fight Fate: The haunted camera shows images of the victim's future, and Biddle will make sure those futures come to pass.
