The Goosebumps universe makes its way to Disney+ & Hulu. Here are the R.L. Stine books that inspired the stories for the show.
When it comes to childhood memories, the Goosebumps books probably were the first contact many children had with the horror genre. The books manage to keep a nice balance between creepy and consumer friendly, so even little kids were able to enjoy the stories written by R.L. Stine back in the early 1990s.
| The Goosebumps books are an anthology series of standalone stories that always revolve around spooky and supernatural incidents, often featuring a surprising twist at the end. |
Throughout the years, the widely acclaimed stories of R.L. Stine have been adapted in various ways, crafting a legacy that lasted all the way into the present.
As of October 2023 we can watch a whole new cast of characters, experience some of the most terrifying stories from the books for themselves on Disney+ and Hulu.
Here is which stories from R.L. Stine's books made it into the show, although they took some creative liberties in their adaptations.
Say Cheese and Die!
Why not go through the adapted stories the way the showrunners intended. Starting things off with the iconic story about an old camera that makes the worst photos imaginable.
The very first episode of Goosebumps features the classic tale of Say Cheese and Die! .
| The synopsis for the book reads as follows: Greg thinks there is something wrong with the old camera he found. The photos keep turning out . . . different. When Greg takes a picture of his father's brand-new car, it's wrecked in the photo. And then his dad crashes the car. It's like the camera can tell the future--or worse. Maybe it makes the future! |
Let's just say, while the character in the book, Greg and the character in the show, Isaiah, might have found the same camera, the story goes very differently.
In the show, Isaiah finds the old camera during the Halloween party at the Biddle house that kick-started the events of the show. After he realizes that the camera seems to either predict the “deaths” of the people it takes pictures off, or actually makes them happen, Isaiah tries his best to protect his friends and himself.
The Haunted Mask
The second R.L. Stine story we got in the show was The Haunted Mask , a creepy story about a mask that helps Isabella become more extroverted and confident, but as time goes on ends up making her more aggressive and violent.
| The book description is a little different: How ugly is Carly Beth's Halloween mask? It's so ugly that it almost scared her little brother to death. So terrifying that even her friends are totally freaked out by it. It's the best Halloween mask ever. With yellow-green skin and long animal fangs, the mask terrifies the entire neighborhood. Before long, it has a surprising effect on Carly Beth, too. She tries to take it off . . . but it won't budge |
As you can already tell, there are some key differences between the show and the book, but that's to be expected. I personally like the idea of the show a little better, as it really dives into the alluring powers of the mask first, that help Isabell break out of her shell, before it starts taking control.
Making the mask genuinely useful at the beginning of the story makes it all the more terrifying once Isabell finds out she can't take it off and is turning into something she doesn't want to be.
The Cuckoo Clock of Doom
The next story has Isaiah's friend at the center. After colliding with an ancient clock at the Biddle house (same night, Isaiah picked up the camera and Isabella stole the mask), he finds himself trapped in a time loop, unable to leave the house or night of the party. Once, he does manage to escape the loop, he is confronted with a huge amount of doppelgängers, that every one of his previous attempts to leave the house created, and they're evil!
This one's definitely a nod to The Cuckoo Clock of Doom , with a little bit of I Am Your Evil Twin thrown into the mix to spice things up even further.
| The plot of the book reads as follows: Tara the Terrible. That’s what Michael Webster calls his bratty little sister. She loves getting Michael in trouble. [...] Then his father brings home the antique cuckoo clock [...]. Seems like the perfect opportunity to finally get his little sister in trouble for a change. But when Michael fiddles with the clock, hoping to make it look like Tara has damaged it, he unlocks a strange spell [...] that causes Michael to get younger and younger and younger... Poor Michael [...] if he doesn’t figure out how to stop traveling back in time, he might have bigger problems than an annoying sister. . . |
You can easily tell they've switched things up for this one, but the mix of a time loop and gooey doppelgängers kinda works, like really well! Especially Isabell's character development comes through in this episode, and it's a lot of fun to see the group working together to stop James' evil twins.
Go Eat Worms
You've seen Lucas do some crazy shit before, but when he finally decides to eat one of the worms (he's been teasing that for a while), things escalate to a whole new level! Sure, he didn't really eat the worm voluntarily, but once it enters his body through his nose, the rest of the rest, came slithering at night. This is a quite literal adaptation of R.L. Stine's story Go Eat Worms, and we're not even mad.
| The story of Go Eat Worms goes as follows: Todd loves his basement worm farm. Worms are fascinating creatures--it's just a convenient bonus that they happen to gross out his family. But when Todd starts to find worms in unlikely and unwanted places, like his bed, his toothbrush, and his spaghetti--the tables have turned. Now Todd is the one running scared! |
After being taken over by the worms, Lucas becomes even more risky with stunts, as he can't feel pain anymore and the worms regenerate his body whenever he gets injured. Sure, the showrunners took some creative liberties again, but if you didn't realize by now, they do so to fit the overarching story and add their own spin.
Slappy, Beware!
Well here we go with the biggest star of Goosebumps returning to wreak havoc once more. Slappy is back, baby! There was no way they made a Goosebumps show, adapting some stories from the books, and not include the iconic evil puppet. While you could argue that the Disney+/Hulu show takes it inspiration for the story from the Night of the Living Dummy book which first introduced Slappy into the franchise, it seems like that's not all there is to the story of this evil doll.
In fact, it looks like they took more inspiration from the Slappy, Beware! special edition, which provided readers with a more in depth look into Slappy's origins.
| This is Slappy's world-- you only scream in it! But where did he come from? And can he ever be destroyed? Slappy the ventriloquist’s dummy has only one mission in his tiny, deranged mind: do evil every day, all day. His creator, powerful sorcerer Darkwell the Magician, has warned him that should he fail to cause chaos before the sun sets each day, he will sleep FOREVER. Normally, this is a piece of poisonous cake for Slappy―but he may have met his match in the Carlton family. |
In the show, we get our first hint for Slappy's return quite early, but dedicated fans of the books probably became certain once they noticed the subtle hint with the title of episode 5, “Reader Beware”.
For episode 6, the showrunners decided to blow any subtlety out the window and just take the title of the book which first featured the evil doll, literally naming it "Night of the Living Dummy ".
Considering not all episodes are out at the moment, there's bound to be more stories that we can add to our list but for now, that's all there is.
If you need some more spooky content for the Halloween season, here you go: