For many who enjoy horror, it started from childhood. The first introduction into the genre could have been extreme with films like John Carpenter’s Halloween, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, or Stephen King’s Carrie, but I was introduced to horror on the milder side with Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stores to Tell in the Dark books and R.L. Stine’s iconic Goosebumps franchise.
From 1995-1998, R.L. Stine’s books came to life in the horror anthology series Goosebumps as viewers were in for a scare. Stine’s work can easily be considered a staple in horror writing so when I heard an updated Goosebumps series was coming to Hulu and Disney+, I had some apprehensions, but I’m glad to say that the show was able to take concepts of the original series and update them in a way that translated for a new audience.
Developed for television by Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller, the first five episodes of Goosebumps premiered on Friday, October 13 and weekly episodes dropped until the season one finale on November 17. The series takes some of R.L. Stine’s most popular books and sets them in the fictional town of Port Lawrence. In the show, high schoolers Isaiah (Zack Morris), Margot (Isa Briones), James (Miles McKenna), Isabella (Ana Yi Puig), and Lucas (Will Price) band together when they stumble upon items cursed by an incident that killed teen Harold Biddle (Ben Cockell) decades ago and soon discover their parents’ involvement. Rachel Harris, Justin Long, Rob Huebel, Leonard Roberts, Lexa Doig, Françoise Yip, and Laura Mennell also play key characters in Goosebumps.
The Hulu and Disney+ Goosebumps series surprised fans of the original series by being a worthy reboot, but the fate of a second season is still up in the air. While news of a second season is pending, let’s look back on five memorable episodes of Goosebumps and compare the original concepts with the new.
Readers beware, spoilers ahead.
“Say Cheese and Die!” season 1, episode 1 (2023)/”Say Cheese and Die!” season 1, episode 15 (1996)
In the premiere episode of the 2023 Goosebumps, “Say Cheese and Die!,” star quarterback Isaiah discovers an old camera during a Halloween party at the Biddle house, a once abandoned house with a dark history. He soon discovers that the camera has the power to take snapshots of terrible misfortunes of the future. The concept is almost exactly like the 1996 episode. Greg (Ryan Gosling) finds a camera and takes what he thinks are simple photos but results in his dad’s car being totaled and his friend disappearing.
The main difference between the 90s Goosebumps and the updated version is that the 90s had standalone episodes that didn’t always link together while in 2023 the episodes are interwoven to tell an overall story. The characters are the same throughout all 10 episodes of the Hulu/Disney+ show, and each episode is needed to push the plot forward.
“The Haunted Mask” season 1, episode 2 (2023)/”The Haunted Mask: part 1 and part 2″ season 1, episodes 1 and 2 (1995)
“The Haunted Mask” episodes took on a similar approach in that they dealt with hiding behind a mask. In 1995, Carly Beth (Kathryn Long) falls for every prank and is tired of being scared so on Halloween she buys the scariest mask she can get her hands on to get back at her bullies, but the mask has something else in store. The mask gets stuck on Carly Beth’s face and causes her to treat her best friend Sabrina (Kathryn Short) poorly and act out of character in general. An act of self-love frees Carly Beth from the mask’s evil.
In 2023, a slightly different path is taken for Isabella. Isabella is a loner and feels invisible to her classmates, so she takes to the internet to troll them from an anonymous social media account. Isabella attends the Halloween party from the first episode and hears something calling to her from the basement. She stumbles on a creepy mask telling her she deserves to be seen and places it on her face. At first the mask gives her confidence, but then turns her into a literal troll wreaking havoc. The original “The Haunted Mask” episode is one of my favorites, but I liked how the updated version played on how people often hide behind masks on social media and are more likely to do and say things they usually wouldn’t if the person behind the mask was exposed.
“The Cuckoo Clock of Doom” season 1, episode 3 (2023)/”The Cuckoo Clock of Doom” season 1, episode 3 (1995)
Time travel is still a major theme in “The Cuckoo Clock of Doom” episodes. Again, we revisit that doomed Halloween party from the 2023 premiere. James bumps his head on a vintage cuckoo clock and begins to relive the night of the Halloween party over and over. Once he realizes it James using the opportunity to perfect an exchange with his crush Sam (Aiden Howard). James gets it right but the repeated night results in multiple versions of James on the loose with a sinister agenda.
In 1995, Michael (John White) is annoyed with his younger sister Tara (Kristen Bone) constantly bullying him so to get Tara in trouble with their parents he plans to break a vintage cuckoo clock his dad recently brought and blame it on Tara. The issue with this is by turning the head of the bird on the clock he turns back time. At first a few days before and then until he’s a toddler and Tara doesn’t exist. This is one of the bleaker episodes of Goosebumps because by the end Michael is happy with his new reality and plans to move forward without his sister. In 2023, this episode further proves something is off with the Biddle house and pushes the narrative forward.
“Go Eat Worms” season 1, episode 4 (2023)/”Go Eat Worms” season 2, episode 6 (1996)
Lucas wants to be just like his daredevil dad and often does reckless stunts to follow in his path in “Go Eat Worms.” During the Halloween party Lucas finds a cup of worms and takes them home. While spending time with Margot at his house he ingests a worm and begins to take on the properties of the creepy crawlers like being able to withstand broken limbs. When Lucas regurgitates the worms, they form a monstrous creature that attack him, Margot, and Luscas’ mom Nora (Rachel Harris).
In 1996, Todd (FourTee) is working on a science project to prove what worms can survive. He’s obsessed with worms as they line the walls of his bedroom in poster form, and he has a huge case of them in the basement of his home. Soon the worms begin to invade his life and it’s a sort of a people vs. prey aspect that follows the rest of the episode. The worms begin to experiment on Todd. Both episodes of “Go Eat Worms” weren’t on the top of my list when it comes to favorite Goosebumps episodes. The plots weren’t interesting and served as filler episodes for me.
“Night of the Living Dummy” season 1, episode 6 (2023), “Night of the Living Dummy: Part 2″ season 1, episode 9 (2023)/”Night of the Living Dummy II” season 1, episode 10 (1996)
One of the most notable figures from Goosebumps must be Slappy. The ventriloquist’s dummy first appeared in the 1996 episode “Night of the Living Dummy II.” In the episode, Amy (Maggie Castle) is gifted a new ventriloquist’s dummy named Slappy (voiced by Cal Dodd) by her father. Slappy literally has a mind of his own and brings terror to Amy and her family until the evil possessing Slappy is released.
In 2023, Slappy gets an entire backstory that answers a lot of questions that have been brewing throughout the season so far. Nathan Bratt (Justin Long), a new teacher in town and descendant of the Biddle family, has been possessed by the ghost of Harold Biddle (Ben Cockell) thus far in the show. In “Night of the Living Dummy,” Bratt, secretly Biddle, sits down with Isaiah, Margot, James, Isabella, and Lucas to tell them the history of the Biddle house and the origins of Slappy who we later find out is Kanduu (Chris Geere), a villain in the series revealed later. Slappy never had an arch in the original TV series, so it was interesting to watch where he came from and what his agenda was in this version of the show.
For those going into the 2023 Goosebumps thinking you’re getting what you know and loved from the 90s, you’ll be sorely mistaken. But if you forgo that mindset and step into the new era with an open mind and curiosity for a new interpretation of R.L. Stine’s work, then you’ll be on the edge of your seat hoping for a second season like the rest of us.
Goosebumps is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+
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