On the previous edition of The Stinal Countdown, we got through the first part of Invasion of The Body Squeezers. And now for the thrilling (for Goosebumps standards) conclusion. Let's get into Invasion of the Body Squeezers Part 2.
So, now I can fully talk about the full artwork for Invasion of the Body Squeezers, and holy cow, it's one of Tim Jacobus' finest works. Since the story is a two-parter, the decision was made to go with a two-cover mural instead of two separate images. So much detail going on in this one, especially in cover two with the meteors filled with body squeezers coming to Earth and one of the squeezers getting his hands on two of the kids. I usually harp on the goofy kid expressions, but they look fine, even the kid with the sillier face on cover two. Then there's little details like the cracks on the ground, the people running away in the background, the moon, the tinier moon, the general feel of suburbia gone to hell in the wake of the invasion. Everything flows into a masterful piece of art. Just a purely excellent piece of works.
Recap if you didn't bother going through the first book: Jack Archer is a space case. He's had a habit of believing that paranormal events are happening all the time. He comes to believe his neighbor, Mr. Fleshman, is harboring some sort of alien. When he sneaks into Fleshman's house, he learns that Fleshman appears to just be a special effects designer. However, Jack ends up taking a mysterious black box from Fleshman and suddenly he is being controlled by strange voices. While this is happening, a comet appears to be heading closer to earth, with meteorites breaking apart from the anomaly. Jack finds a meteorite and tries to get people to believe him, but they all think it's some sort of rubber ball. Jack tries to get Mr. Fleshman's help, but discovers him conversing with someone. And to make things worse, the meteorite breaks open, with the alien inside growing larger and larger, ready to attack Jack.
The creature continues to grow, taking shape into its finalized Body Squeezer form. Jack tries to communicate with it, but the creature continues to lurch forward, ready to attack him. Jack manages to run out of his house and run immediately into Mr. Liss, his science teacher. He had been concerned about Jack after the whole situation at school earlier. Jack tries to warn Mr. Liss about the giant alien in his house, but of course he doesn't believe him. Mr. Liss goes inside anyway to check. After taking a while, Jack goes in to see what's going on, but Mr. Liss doesn't see anything. That is, until the alien blocks their exit. Jack, obviously wants them to make an escape, but Mr. Liss, suddenly being stupid, goes to look for a camera in hopes of becoming rich and famous.
Mr. Liss' excuse is that the creature looks friendly. Jack says that it's ugly and Mr. Liss is like "Hey! Don't be racist!" He may be dumb, but at least he's not a bigot. Of course, when he tries to actually touch the creature, it attacks him. And we get why these are called Body Squeezers. It wraps its long arms around its victim in a bearhug, then starts to tear into their back, until it opens them up and slides inside of them. The creature enters Mr. Liss and starts to talk with a weird t-t-t stutter. He then tries to give Jack a hug, since that will help the creature spread. But Jack is saved in time as his mother and Billie show up. Jack tries to tell his mother what's going on, but she doesn't believe him because Goosebumps parents. The possessed Mr. Liss makes his leave, promising to see Jack the next day. He then hugs the mailman, causing the alien to spread. Is this some weird moral about hugging spreading disease or something?
Jack needs help, so he decides to go talk to Mr. Fleshman, who at this point he still thinks is a government agent. He enters Mr. Fleshman's house and finds the book with the picture of Mr. Fleshman and the aliens. And he still thinks that this must mean that Mr. Fleshman is an FBI agent and you know, nothing foreboding. He soon finds Mr. Fleshman and brings up everything that happened. Fleshman tells Jack that he's working for the Alien Detection Bureau and that he should go home and relax. As Jack leaves, Maddy, Marsha, Henry and Derek arrive. They try to apologize for their actions at school earlier, but Jack is more focused on the whole alien situation. Of course, they don't believe him because, well, we are only on page 45.
Jack arrives to school the next day and gets stopped by Mr. Liss. The science teacher is still possessed, obviously. When Mr. Liss calls to him, Jack makes a run for it to the office of the principal, Mrs. Berkman. He tries to tell her about everything, but she begins to stutter while green bubbles bob from her ears. Yup. She got squeezed. She then goes to hug Jack. He runs off, only to be chased by both Mrs. Berkman and Mr. Liss. He hides in the auditorium where overhears that a pair of police officers are coming to school for an assembly. This gives Jack the idea that maybe he'll be able to tell the cops what's going on. He sits in the bleachers as the room fills up. When the two officers, Officer Munroe and Officer Tunney arrive, Jack blurts out about the alien invasion. This proves fruitless as Mrs. Berkman grabs Jack and takes him to the side of the stage to hug him. He pretends to faint, then runs off, hiding in a trunk. After the assembly ends, he sees as Mrs. Berkman hugs the cops, possessing them with the Body Squeezers.
But before he can do anything else, Henry and Derek drag Jack to swim practice. Jack is forced to swim, but Henry and Derek oddly aren't interested in doing the same. It's not until soon after that he learns that, oh crap, they're squeezed too. Jack makes yet another run for it, and makes it home. However, he can't find his family, only strange green clumps on the floor. Oh no! They're dea-oh, never mind, Billie just had to go to the doctor to deal with her tonsils, and the clumps on the floor are Jell-O. Well, that was anticlimactic. Maddy and Marsha arrive, and they seem to be acting normal, but after another meteorite crashes, they let down their poker face. They're squeezed as well. Jack's father calls. Jack tries to tell him about what's going on, but he doesn't believe him because... Well, if I keep saying it, it's gonna get redundant.
The aliens begin to emerge from the meteorites and start invading and hugging their way into total control. And then Jack's dad calls again in what really feels like we're padding a page there, Jovial Bob. Jack heads upstairs and looks into the window of Mr. Fleshman's house. He seems to be just sitting there, watching television. Jack then decides to sleep on this whole alien invasion thing, which again feels like a weird thing to do, but okay. He wakes up the next day to once again see a note from his parents saying they left early. Reader beware, you're in for a lot of notes. The parents return home with Billie, who despite having her tonsils taken out, still tries to play up that she had more tonsils taken out than humanly possible. Oh, and she claims to have seen a blue alien.
Jack decides that maybe he should go see his dad, since he works at the mayor's office. Despite the fact that, for the majority of the book, his dad doesn't believe him because Goosebumps parents. He arrives and speaks with his father, but what a surprise! He's been hugged too! He starts to hug Jack until Jack suddenly knocks over a water bottle, causing the aliens to panic. He makes it back home again, then decides to finally talk to Mr. Fleshman. Suddenly, black uniformed guards show up to block his path. He runs into the basement where he finds his super soaker. Then it finally hits him. Henry and Derek not wanting to swim, the whole water bottle incident. The aliens are afraid of water. And also that M. Night Shyamalan is totally gonna rip off R.L. Stine in four years. He tries to squirt the aliens, but nothing happens, so that was also quite pointless.
Then Mr. Fleshman shows up. Jack is at first relieved to see him, but then Fleshman reveals the truth. He's the leader of the aliens. He then pulls off his face, revealing a gigantic brain. He is the power source of the aliens. They're planning to return to their home planet with these new bodies, but Jack is the only one left who hasn't been hugged. With no other option, Jack then hugs Mr. Fleshman, tearing into his back and possessing him, somehow. It manages to work as he kills Mr. Fleshman, effectively ending the invasion.
The people start to come back to their senses and they thank Jack for saving them. Jack then talks to his sister Billie who congratulates him for killing the green creatures, but what about her blue creature? At first Jack thinks she's boasting again, when suddenly a giant blue creature bursts from her closet, wanting a hug.
Invasion of the Body Squeezers is a two parter that really didn't need to be two parts. I do like the first part more as its buildup does work a bit better, and things in that part feel like they matter more than the rushed second part, which feels like a lot of padding. Jack runs into a possessed being, runs off, runs into a possessed being, runs off, runs into a possessed being, runs off, goes to sleep, wakes up, runs into a possessed being, runs off... It kills the interest of having to sit through an extra 130 pages for something that could have been cleaned up into its own contained story. And maybe then, things that feel like they should matter would still matter. Like, in part one, they seem to build up this whole Saucerman nickname for Jack, to which you think maybe that will play a part in the second book, but it's mentioned once without any actual importance. Like an element Stine came up with but had no exit strategy, so he removed it in hopes that no one would notice, then gave us a far weaker end twist. Not to mention pointless stuff like the whole water issue and the confusing possession ending with Jack and Mr. Fleshman. Like, what was that about?
I think this book could have worked much better as one book simply by removing things like all the build up over Mr. Fleshman in the first part, the whole buildup over the comet, about 40% of the alien scenes. It could have been a book that, while a bit longer than usual, still would have felt better contained. Now, I'm being negative, but it's just that I really thought with this being a two part story, as well as one of the best pair covers in the series, this would have been one of those rare sleeper hits that Goosebumps provides. Sadly, this was a story that squeezed itself way too dry by the end. Invasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 1 gets a B- and Invasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 2 gets a C+.
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