Based on The Girl Who Cried Monster, book #8 of the original Goosebumps series.
Lucy Dark loves monster stories, but soon finds out her habit of telling tall tales can backfire when she finds a real monster and can't get anyone to believe her about him.
The episode provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: A minor case in that the episode extends the ending of the book.
- Adaptational Explanation: In the episode, Mr. and Mrs. Dark explain that they didn't believe Lucy about another monster being around at first because it had been twenty years since they'd seen one in town besides themselves.
- Bait-and-Switch: After their parents finished killing and eating Mr. Mortman, Lucy and Randy spot what appears to be another one outside the window. As the monstrous head gets closer, Mr. and Mrs. Dark bare their fangs again and prepare to attack it. But then the "creature" reveals himself to actually be Aaron wearing a monster mask. This then leads into...
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: The Dark parents hastily keeping their composure before Aaron notices that they're monsters. He asks them what they're doing, and Mr. Dark replies that they were just finishing up dinner, to which Aaron then asks what's for dessert. Mr. Dark then replies with this:Mr. Dark: You... (Beat as Lucy suddenly looks stunned) like cherry pie? (holds up a cherry pie)
- Body Horror: While the book merely describes Mr. Mortman's monster transformation, we get to see it here in all its glory. His head swells and becomes scaly, he grows a mouthful of fangs, and his eyes turn black and stick out on stalks.
- Cat Scare: A distinct example. Lucy forgets her roller blades at the library and goes back to get them, but as she's going up the stairs to the front entranceway, a black cat suddenly leaps over her feet out of nowhere and startles her.
- Demoted to Extra: Aaron was a major supporting character in the original book, ultimately backing up Lucy in telling Mr. and Mrs. Dark about Mr. Mortman being a monster and becoming a Secret-Keeper for the family after they reveal their true colors. Here, Mr. and Mrs. Dark simply come to the conclusion that Mr. Mortman really is a monster during an encounter with him at the mall, and Aaron never learns the truth about Mr. Mortman or the Darks being real monsters.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The whole Dark family starts laughing in amusement after the Bait-and-Switch Comment shown above, with even Aaron chuckling in amusement yet in a slightly confused manner. This does get interrupted by Mrs. Dark hiccuping and excusing herself after eating Mr. Mortman.
- Exact Words: Aaron shows up at the end, and asks the Dark family what's up. Mr. Dark replied that they just finished dinner. Considering that their said dinner was Mr. Mortman, he wasn't lying.
- Foreshadowing: Mortman tells Lucy, "Maybe we all have a little monster in us". Lucy's family turns out to be monsters, so he's right.
- Race Lift: Aaron, who is described as red-haired in the book, is black in the TV adaptation.
- This Is Reality: As Lucy is getting Frankenstein at the library, Aaron comments how it would be cool if monsters occur in real life, and Mr. Mortman replies that people would react like that in the movies, not in real life. But then it's revealed that Mr. Mortman himself is a monster. He most likely said to deflect suspicion away from him. He's also not wrong - there's no Frankenstein's Monster (what they implicitly meant) in Goosebumps canon.
