R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps

By Jennifer Hudock on October 23rd, 2009

• Share
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 3 Comments

From 1995 to 1998, TV turned R.L. Stine’s popular series of Goosebumps books into a creepy series for kids that aired on the FOX network. These days, one of the only times you can catch these creepy shorts is just around Halloween, unless you happen to have a few episodes lying around VHS or DVD. While every episode of this series is sure to spook you and your kids, here are the top five don’t miss episodes of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps.

5. “Welcome to Camp Nightmare Parts 1 & 2“

Billy’s parents have sent him off to Camp Nightmoon for the summer, where the camp counselors are adamant about the rules and lax about the strange happenings that start to go on in the camp. Campers are warned against entering the nearby woods, and absolutely forbidden from entering the “Forbidden Bunk.” What awaits in the forbidden cabin? Supposedly a wild saber with a penchant for the blood of children. As Billy and his friends endure a wacky week at camp, this is one episode that had me questioning that trip to summer camp.

4. “Attack of the Jack O’Lanterns”

When a Halloween prank goes awry, a young girl and her friend find themselves trick or treating with a pair of jack-o-lantern alien teens who come from a place where human flesh is on the menu. Trapped in a neverending cycle of trick-or-treat, one has to wonder if these alien teens are fattening up Drew and her friends for a future dinner visit.

3. “Vampire Breath“

I don’t know about you, but as a kid, I was always looking for secret passages in the basement that led to some weird room with treasures or secrets, but when twins, Cara and Freddy find a strange passageway in the basement while playing air hockey, it leads them to the lair of a vampire. Count Nightwing explains to the twins about vampire breath, a potion young vampires must sustain themselves with before they get their bloodsucking fangs.

2. “Don’t Go to Sleep!”

Nobody likes Matt, and no matter what he does, he can’t seem to catch a break. His mom won’t even let him switch his tiny bedroom for the larger guest room, but one night while mom’s at work he slips in to sleep in the guest room only to wake up the next morning three years older. His older brother and sister are also younger, and for once he finds himself in a place he thought would be easier. It isn’t easy being 16, and so that night he sleeps in the guest room again to try and get his life back. Every time Matt goes to sleep, he wakes up to a new life, but finds with each new experience, there’s no one like the person you were born to be to begin with.

1. “Night of the Living Dummy II”

There is nothing creepier than a ventriloquist’s dummy, and through the years a number of horror stories about “the dummy” have emerged to terrify the masses. When Amy’s dummy loses it’s head, her parents replace it with a new dummy named “Slappy.” Slappy starts using Amy to insult and terrorize her family, getting Amy into constant trouble. Her old dummy saves the day, when a locked-up Slappy escapes and comes back for vengeance. A fight to the dummy death reveals a strange worm inside Slappy’s head, and exposes the living dummies to Amy’s family.

As far as creepy kids shows go, Goosebumps is a Halloween grab bag of delightful terror your little vampires will beg to sink their teeth into. While the series itself is kid friendly, adults beware!

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three: