YMMV / The Haunted Mask

• Accidental Innuendo: Chuck and Steve "love making Carly Beth scream" because she's "the best screamer" in the school.
• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: One could interpret the story as a parable about bullying, and how it can often lead to victims becoming crueller and hurting other people; Carly Beth arguably has to learn that she shouldn't let Chuck and Steve's bullying change her from being the Nice Girl that she is at heart.
• Angel/Devil Shipping: Judging from the amount of fanart they both get online, Carly Beth/Steve seems to be really popular.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Steve's Jerkass traits are generally downplayed in the fandom and especially among shippers, possibly aided by the TV series Adaptational Heroism.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Sabrina is very popular with the fanbase due to her kind, talkative and sociable nature coming off as very endearing to many fans. Her being one of the very few people who don't make fun of or tease Carly Beth only boosted her popularity.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • The moment when Carly-Beth is freed from the mask. The shopkeeper tells her that a symbol of love may be what can save her from the mask. The symbol in question is the sculpture her mom made.
• Jerkass Woobie: The Haunted Mask. A sentient, albeit disembodied creature who spent years locked away in its creator's basement, and desperately wants a human body. It also acts much like an immature, angry child when possessing a host, and it can only be defeated by an act of true love.
• Moe:
  • Carly Beth is a Shrinking Violet with messy brown hair (blonde in the TV adaptation), blue eyes and is so easily scareable, that it makes her come off as a very lovable character.
  • To some extent, Sabrina and (debtably) Noah are also pretty cute as well.
• Narm Charm: In the TV episode when Carly Beth is able to scare Chuck and Steve while wearing the Haunted Mask and they run off in terror, she starts literally howling with laughter - high pitched "Awooooooooo"s in between her maniacal giggling. It's more silly than disturbing, but it's also quite infectuous to watch Carly Beth having that much fun at her tormentors expenses.
• Self-Fanservice: Carly Beth receives this from time-to-time. In the book, she has a "short snip of a nose" and short hair but some fanartists (mostly Carly Beth/Steve shippers) will often give her longer hair and a curvier figure.
• Ship Mates: Some Carly Beth/Steve shippers like to ship Chuck/Sabrina.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The titular Haunted Mask itself is supposed to be a monstrous, violent parasite that corrupts innocent hosts and needs to be sealed away. However, the thing is also a sentient being created without a body, who was viewed as a disgusting failure by it's creator and sealed away in his basement. Considering this, the mask's "evil" tendencies come off more as lashing out at a world that rejected it, and the Shopkeeper as an abusive creator. What's more, the sequel suggests that these masks would be happier if one could create a makeshift body for them, and Scream Of The Haunted Mask has the original mask helping Carly-Beth against a sadistic ghost and going back into storage quite gracefully.
• The Woobie: Poor Carly Beth. A girl who's very nervous and scares easily, leading to her being the local Butt-Monkey. Even her attempts to get revenge just lead to her being terrorized by the mask.