Goosebumps

This article is about the book series by R. L. Stine. For the bumps that form on skin, see Goose bumps.

R. L. Stine with some of his creations.

Tagline:"They're a real scream!"

Goosebumps is a formerly popular series of children's horror fiction novellas created and authored by R. L. Stine. Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997, the last one being Monster Blood IV.

Like the later Harry Potter novels, the Goosebumps series was often challenged in libraries; the novels were 15th on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 1999 [1].

The series spawned a gamebook spinoff, also written by R. L. Stine called Give Yourself Goosebumps. Several of the titles in the series were made into movies; the series also inspired a television series named Goosebumps which ran from 1995 to 1998. The book The Haunted Mask inspired two videos. The series even inspired two board games produced by Milton Bradley; "Terror in the Graveyard" and "Escape from Horrorland".

In December 1997, Goosebumps was relaunched as Goosebumps: Series 2000. However, the new series did not last long due to declining popularity. There are 25 Series 2000 books, including two sequels to an original series (Night of the Living Dummy) and two other sequels, "Return to Horrorland" and "Return to Ghost Camp".

There were two parody books by R.U. Slime called Gooflumps: Eat Cheese and Barf! and Stay Out of the Bathroom.

Front covers and most other Goosebumps related art was done by the artist Tim Jacobus. And in the later Give Yourself Goosebumps books the cover was digitally created by Craig White.

Inspirations and references

A lot of Stine's plots are, by his own admission, based on classic sci-fi/horror movies, TV shows, and stories. For instance, one of the most popular books in the series, Night of the Living Dummy, was inspired by Stine's reading of the original Italian version of Pinocchio, while taking its title from the film Night of the Living Dead. The book It Came From Beneath The Sink! took its title from the fifties sci-fi film It Came From Beneath The Sea, though plotwise there is little resemblance between the two. The two-part Series 2000 book Invasion of the Body Squeezers is an obvious parody of the classic science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Many books also resemble episodes of the original Twilight Zone television series, including Say Cheese And Die, Welcome To Camp Nightmare, Be Careful What You Wish For, and The Haunted Mask and its sequel, to name a few. Many books feature a twist in the end, such as the original Night of the Living Dummy, where the protagonists had spent the book fighting a murderous dummy, only to be confronted with a second creature at the end, or the first book in the series, Welcome to the Dead House, in which a sadistic real estate agent thought dead turned up on the last page, seen in the distance by the main characters. A Give Yourself Goosebumps book, Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum, is based on the movie House of Wax.

Popular books/characters

Stine named the original Night of the Living Dummy as his favorite Goosebumps book. The Night of the Living Dummy series, which features the walking, talking, evil ventriloquist dummy Slappy (who surprisingly played only a small part in the original novel, with the equally villainous Mr. Wood being the main antagonist), are some of the series' most popular books, and Slappy has gained a reputation as Goosebumps' most popular and well-known antagonist. Later books attempted to explore his background and how he came to be created, and the final book in the series, Slappy's Nightmare, was told from Slappy's (third-person) point of view. The Monster Blood series is also very popular among fans, albeit not to the extent of the above.

VHS & DVD

Carly Beth In Her Mask From The Episode "The Haunted Mask".

In 1995 eight videos were released, the videos stopped releasing do to declining sells, and the last one released being: The Bride Of The Living Dummy, But in the fall of 2004 four DVDs were released based on four of the previously released videos, Now there are ten DVDs to date and in September of 2006 five episodes are being released, them being: A Shocker On Shock Street, Click, The Perfect School, An Old Story, and My Best Friend Is Invisible.

Mess-Ups

*Continuity: In "The Haunted Mask", the first time Carly Beth takes off the mask, it falls to the floor, but suddenly jumps back up to her hands when she tosses it to Noah.

Conventions

The books in the Goosebumps series often include a plot structure with normal kids getting involved in scary situations and twists at the end of each story, after the conflict has either been or appears to have been resolved.

Goosebumps Graphix

In September of 2006, a Goosebumps graphic novel based on three Goosebumps books, them being:The Abomnable Snowman of Pasedena, The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight, and The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp.

List of Goosebumps books

see List of Goosebumps books

Goosebumps in other languages

Goosebumps literature was also popular worldwide. In Spanish, it was known as Escalofríos.{{cite news