Since 1992, R.L. Stine has churned out a whopping 182 tales of terror in his popular Goosebumps series. That’s a lot of monsters, more than one movie can handle (which just means others are likely to show up in the sequel). While it’s not necessary to be familiar with the wave of ghouls unleashed in the movie, knowing the backstory of the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena or the Werewolf of Fever Swamp will give you bragging rights. So, in preparation for the onslaught of ’90s monsters, ghosts, and lawn gnomes, here’s a rundown of some of the creeps you can expect to see on screen and their origin in the Goosebumps universe.
Dummies are downright creepy, and the fact that R.L. Stine’s murderous dummy Slappy had three books dedicated to his mischief suggests he could be the boss of this spook show. The eyes of the movie version of Slappy aren’t quit as menacing as those on the cover of the book, but the wooden freak will no doubt be difficult to defeat and likely play a major role in the movie. After all, he did prove unstoppable in the books and simply moved on to a new victim at the end of Night of the Living Dummy III.
Zombies
The zombies in this later Goosebumps book aren’t your typical walking corpses, but the spirits of two little a-holes who returned from the grave. The book centers around two kids, Spencer and Audra, who accidentally knock over a tombstone in a cemetery and unleash the souls of two dead kids. When one of the spirits takes over Spencer’s body and leaves his soul in the underworld, Audra must battle the ghoul. Whether these zombies have the power to jump from one body to the next, we’ll have to wait and see, but they’re certainly going to provide some trouble for R.L. Stine’s kids.
Alien Jack O’ Lanterns
Alien invaders, endless trick-or-treating, this Goosebumps tale provided readers with a Halloween nightmare. The book is a revenge story for pumpkins when alien invaders that look like jack o’ lanterns descend on a neighborhood and force the children to go on an extra long trick-or-treating run in order to fatten them up for consumption. The pumpkin-head aliens made it onto the Goosebumps movie poster, so it’s likely they’ll probably be one of the more heavily featured onscreen monsters.
Lawn Gnomes
There’s really nothing that scary about a foot-tall lawn gnome, but assemble an army of them together and you have a serious problem. The book version lawn gnomes work in packs and are general neighborhood menaces who roam about vandalizing property, because they’re pissed off that they were sold into suburban slavery. (Heavy stuff for a kids’ book.) They’re easily sent into submission with the use of a dog whistle, however. Problem solved.
Giant Insects
Giant bugs are nothing to mess around with, and this mantis is sure to cause some serious havoc for R.L. Stine and his kids. In the book that introduced this bug, two kids visit a popular theme park based on the Shock Street movie series, only to be attacked by the animatronic creatures. While the book’s heroes are able to escape the bugs by simply kicking at them, it’s kind of doubtful this pest will be so easy to exterminate.
Vampires
Of course, the Goosebumps movie has to have a vampire, and R.L. Stine’s bloodsucker of choice is Count Nightwing. Nightwing rocks more of a Nosferatu look than Dracula, and in the book, he’s able to travel through time and is eventually revealed as the grandfather of the story’s protagonist.
Mummies
First off, major props to Goosebumps for pulling off a mummy that looks 10-times better than the one on the book cover. In The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, a kid on an archaeological dig with his parents accidentally summons the dead prince, and whoever is in possession of the mummy’s severed hand controls the walking corpse. This was one of the earlier books in the series and spawned a sequel.
Evil Gypsies
Be Careful What You Wish For… concerns a girl who is granted three wishes, only to have them backfire horribly — in the tradition of virtually every story about wishes ever written. A wish-granting old lady might not be the scariest thing in the world when standing alongside werewolves and vampires, but the wishes she grants are 100 percent nightmare. The book’s protagonist eventually ends up becoming a crow in the end, so any wishes R.L. Stine’s kids make in the movie probably won’t end well.
Murderous Scarecrows
Like many of the titles in the Goosebumps series, The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight features a pair of siblings who are visiting their relatives when they notice weird things starting to happen. In this case, it’s evil scarecrows who comes to life and start terrorizing the farm. The army of scarecrows in the book is eventually defeated with fire, because straw, duh. While the scarecrow on the book cover already looked pretty creepy, the movie version has definitely stepped it up a notch. That is definitely not a character you’d want to run into on a fall hay ride.
Yetis
In The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, two kids who trek to Alaska with their father on a yeti hunt end up with a snow beast tagging along on their return back to California. The book’s creature doesn’t want to do the siblings harm. He’s more of a 600-pound annoyance. It makes sense, then, that the yeti in that screenshot looks rather chill.
Medieval Executioners
The presence of a villain from A Night in Terror Tower suggests there might be some time travel in the movie. In the book, a brother and sister are visiting London with their parents when they’re transported back to medieval times and imprisoned in a tower to be executed. Even if there isn’t any time travel in the Goosebumps movie, a giant executioner lurching around with a battle-ax is scary enough.
Werewolves
The Goosebumps series also had a title called Werewolf Skin, but because Werewolf of Fever Swamp came out first, let’s assume that’s the origin of this movie beast. The book was one of Goosebumps‘ more popular titles, and revolves around a kid named Grady who moves to Florida with his parents and makes friends with a stray wolf-like dog. After a neighbor goes missing and the boy finds a mutilated deer, he and his friend Will begin to suspect either the dog or the swamp hermit is the werewolf. (Spoiler alert: It’s Will.) The werewolf is never defeated in the book and actually transforms Grady into a wolf, so this could be one of the more difficult monsters in the movie to defeat.
