Goosebumps Live on Stage: Screams in The Night Review
Goosebumps Live on Stage: Screams in The Night (1998) was a promotional book given free with tickets to see Goosebumps Live on Stage in 1998. The novelisation of the performance was co-written by R. L. Stine and Rupert Holmes, and was not the first novelisation R. L. Stine would be involved in (Ghotsbusters 2). It was also not the last (Goosebumps: The Movie Novel and Goosebumps The Movie 2: Haunted Halloween: Slappy’s Return), however, it is the only novelisation I am aware of Stine has written based on a live performance.
This is one of the rarer Goosebumps books – partly due to that it has never been in stores. As it was a free book, it did not need an ISBN number (to slip a little bit of trivia in). Another fun fact, the lizard on the front cover “was also used in another book by R.L. Stine, The Creatures from Beyond Beyond” (according to the Goosebumps wiki).
Anyway, enough trivia! This is a review, something to help you decide whether it will be worth your time to search for the title on eBay, or if you have already read the book, see what someone else thinks.
Let us raise the curtains, and begin with the blurb!
Blurb
Siblings Jessie, Josh and Jamie, along with their friend “Skate”, have been waiting for almost an hour in the dark. They need the Barton children’s father to pick them up from a basketball game. The 4 kids have no way of contacting anyone to take them home. With no sign of a payphone, they decide to seek out if anyone will allow them to use their phone. But there is no sign of life anywhere!
In their search, they stumble upon the Doomsday Bookstore. Whilst no one seems to be in, thunder starts to crack through the air, and they take a punt at trying the door of the bookstore. It must be their lucky night, as they manage to get shelter from the storm (or is it?). The bookstore is creepy! Mr. Gander, the store owner, surprises them as they look for a phone.
Gander allows them to use the phone. But whilst they wait to be picked up, he thinks it will be entertaining for the kids to show them a slideshow. But this is no ordinary slideshow! This came with a leatherbound, special edition of Goosebumps – of which the illustration in the book looks very similar to the Necronomicon from Evil Dead (1981). They dim the lights, and in anthology fashion, they watch the stories. But the stories seem to become their reality, perhaps too realistic! Will they be picked up and taken safely home? Or will there be a curtain call on their very lives?!
Themes in Goosebumps Live on Stage: Screams in The Night
Easter Eggs
Chock full of references, it was a joy to see the many references and retellings of other Goosebumps in the Stine-verse. Without giving away any spoilers, expect to see references to The Haunted Mask, Monster Blood, The Ghost Next Door, Night of the Living Dummy, Calling All Creeps and Stay Out Of The Basement. If you would like to read another book that has more easter eggs than the great white rabbit himself, I recommend checking out Go Eat Worms!. Not to your taste? There is also the first movie novelisation.
Anthology or Nested Stories
Telling 2 (or 3 depending on how you look at it) nested stories, this book encapsulates these with a warp-around narrative. I imagine this was a way to incorporate as many ‘Goosebumps‘ into one performance as possible. Other works that come to mind that used this technique in the 90s are Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) and The Headless Ghost (1995). The black-comedy 90s franchise League of Gentlemen also used this in their Christmas special episode in 2000.
This is a very different route in cramming all the Goosebumps monsters into a single story. Goosebumps The Movie (2015) did this by having a lot of monsters in a single story, whereas in this instance, the monsters and references are separated by their nested storylines.
Summary
Goosebumps Live on Stage: Screams in The Night is an enjoyable, fast-paced page-turner that is chock full of Goosebumps references and monsters. I was able to read this without a break from start to finish in an evening. This makes me regret never getting to see the real thing on stage. With Stine’s work, you expect thrills, and the unexpected – this novelisation delivers on both.
It was more interesting to see Slappy take a more evil direction, to the point that he is deadly. If you have the book, this will be no surprise before reading. In the blurb we see “Jessie’s heart raced with fear as she realised: Slappy is going to kill us!”. Despite the interest this generates, it is completely out of character for Slappy to have a murderous streak. Slappy’s whole Napolean complex dictates he needs slaves to do his bidding. You can’t command what is dead.
The final act mostly comprises of what can be described as a pantomime. This was disappointing for me, as it did not read like a Goosebumps story. The obligatory twist at the end does somewhat redeem this. However, what cannot be redeemed is some of the dialogue used when Mr. Gander speaks to the kids:
“How nice to see business at this hour. What can I do to you? I mean, what can I do for you?”
Goosebumps Live on Stage: Screams in The Night, p.12
Language like this seems a bit off at best, and at worst predatory. Whilst I am certain this was not intentional, I would have personally edited this line out. Despite this, I would still fully recommend seeking this book out. If you cannot wait that long, however, you can check out our summary of the book. Whilst I do not like to give out spoilers as a rule, there is no decent summary out there. So for those searching to find what this rare book is about, your wish is granted.
