Well, after returning to our old pal Slappy, it's time to take a dive with our old pals Billy and Sheena Deep. That's right, it's another Deep Trouble book as we return to HorrorLand for Creep From The Deep.
COVER STORY
I'm a bit conflicted on how I feel about this cover. It's a neat concept with the monstrous eel smashing through the ship window, and it looks menacing. But I dunno, call me immature, but I just think monster penis eel on a rage. Fine enough a cover I suppose.
STORY
Billy Deep, his sister Sheena and Dr. D are back, baby! Billy still has his delusions of grandeur over his many undersea adventures, now giving himself the moniker The Undersea Mutant. We open the book with him tussling with an electric eel and supposedly being electrocuted by it, but still surviving. Of course, this is all him just pretending while underwater as Dr. D snaps him back to reality. Dr. D feels that it's finally time for Billy to use the ship's spear, which Billy does, and then hits Sheena with it! But of course he didn't as Sheena was just screwing with him.
Dr. D then takes the kids to some deep waters as he has the okay to start on his latest underwater expedition. To salvage a sunken pirate ship called the Scarlet Skull, which was said to have been sunken in the 1780s and contains billions of dollars in treasure. So, how did the pirate ship supposedly sink? Well, in the midst of a battle with another pirate ship, a strange black cloud formed. The Scarlet Skull went into the cloud, but when the cloud vanished, there was no sign of the ship. Reader beware, you're in for some nasty weather.
Then Dr. D talks about the Scarlet Skull's captain Long Ben One-Leg. A particularly evil pirate. He would keep a tub full of rats and throw in any crew mate that made him mad, or whenever he felt like it. Suddenly the boo box from Hook doesn't seem so bad. It's believed that the ship was sunk to stop the evil of Long Ben, but there are also stories that his zombie still guards the Scarlet Skull. Of course, they all scoff at this because there's no such thing as zombies. Mermaids, a plankton that turns people into fish, sure. But zombies!?! What do you think this is, a Goosebumps book? Don't answer that.
He also shows the kids the means of which he'll explore the ocean depths, a tiny submarine called The Deep Diver, just big enough to fit the three of them. Because, you know you're a good uncle if you put your children in imminent danger. Eh, still better than most Goosebumps parents. The sub heads deep down into the ocean, getting closer to the ship remains, when suddenly a black inky cloud envelops the Deep Diver. Then suddenly Dr. D just vanishes, leaving Billy and Sheena on their own inside the ship. They try to use the radio, but they get nothing, so they try to drive the sub, only for it to start going downward, towards the ship. They smash into the ship as the sub starts to break. Even worse for the kids is a bunch of pirate skeletons wake up and start to attack the sub. Luckily, Billy and Sheena get the ship to work and they make it back to the surface. However, they're now stuck with two major problems. Dr. D is still missing, and The Cassandra, their ship is also gone.
The two find an island and exit the sub, only for Billy to hurt his leg smashing it into the hatch. He finds a stick that he uses to help him carry his weight. They then see fresh footprints, believing them to belong to Dr. D. However, they only find another pirate skeleton. And what's worse is there's more footprints showing up. Turns out the pirate skeletons followed them to the surface and are after them. The kids try to hide, only to fall into a sand trap that was set up earlier. They try to escape, but the skeletons show up, singing a rhyme:
The pirate zombies capture the kids and I'll give Stine credit, he details some really creepy looking zombies, with skin barely on their faces and ones with one eyeball left and the other socket being empty and bare. Then another pirate shows up, this one being Long Ben One-Leg, who has Dr. D. with him. He tells the kids that he'll let them go if he gets back what's his. Of course, the kids have no frigging clue what he's going on about, so the captain tells his crew to show them pirate mercy.
Billy and Sheena make a run for it into the jungle, managing to actually fight off a snake in the process. Before they can relax though, they get caught by two men wearing cameras. These men are Roger Baldry and Goldy Munroe, the latter being called that for his gold tooth. When Billy and Sheena mention Long Ben and the pirate zombies, the two seem excited, particularly when it comes to the possible treasure. Then, suddenly the pirate zombies arrive and decapitate the two. Oh wait, they just swung at them and Billy's overactive imagination is at it again. Roger and Goldy manage to throw the two zombies off a cliff.
Then Roger and Goldy reveal that they're just photographers who aren't after the treasure, just pictures of The Scarlet Skull that will make them rich. And if they go find the ship first, they can salvage the treasure to give to Long Ben and maybe this will all blow over. They get underwater to the ship as Roger and Goldy dive off to find the chest. Not long after however, Billy accidentally opens their duffel bags and sees rifles and bullets. Yup, t'was all a ruse. Roger and Goldy return and soon reveal that they were indeed out for the treasure, specifically a red skull jewel. They pull the diving gear off, and their faces rip off too. Yup, they're zombies too. And the kicker? They were the pirates from the other ship who saw The Scarlet Skull disappear 200 years ago. They literally stole the clothes and skin from a pair of fishermen years ago. Well, this book got dark fast. Roger thanks the kids by giving them a two finger salute. Did-did he just flip the kids off?
They throw the kids out of the sub and examine the treasure. Suddenly Roger grabs at the red skull, but it bites his hand and the two burst into flames, becoming total dust. The kids make it back to the sub, just as they see The Cassandra and board it. Suddenly, The Scarlet Skull rises from the depths as Captain Ben and his crew arrive, once again asking to return what is his. It's then that they learn that Captain Ben was looking for his leg, which Billy was using for a crutch. He wants it back and the treasure, but doesn't guarantee the safety of the three Deeps. Billy, remembering the spear throwing lesson from earlier, throws the leg right through Long Ben. In the process, it causes the pirates and the ship to sink into the ocean again. Billy and Sheena reunite with Dr. D and take the treasure with them back to The Cassandra.
The cloud arrives again and surrounds the ship, but seems to only take the treasure. All except the red skull, which Billy pranks Sheena with. Dr. D tries to get an answer from the boat's radio, but just hears the song of the pirate zombies once more. But that doesn't matter because it's time to...
When we last left this story, Britney Crosby and Molly Molloy had made it to HorrorLand with Britney's parents. Britney won a free trip to HorrorLand somehow. The four of them made it to the Stagger Inn, only for Britney's parents to vanish and the last picture on Dad's camera had Slappy the dummy sitting on their bed.
So now it's Billy and Sheena's turn to make it to HorrorLand and quickly run into Britney and Molly. They tell the two girls that the whole missing parents thing is just a trick the horrors like to do with guests and that surely they're still around. Britney then tries to show them the picture of Slappy in the camera, only for the picture to be gone and instead a picture of the four of them are inside instead. They shrug it off as once again just another HorrorLand joke and head off to see the attractions. They head to Quicksand Beach, and are given special shoes for treading.
As they trudge through the quicksand, suddenly they begin to sink. What a shock! Billy and Sheena swear they can hear the rhyme of the zombie pirates as they sink down into the sand and suddenly go through a glass chute. Turns out it was just a ride after all. Only problem: Britney and Molly have vanished. And the two can swear that they still hear Long Ben. They make it to the midway as they see a blond kid constantly win at the games, while tapping a gray card. Two horrors chase after him as he hands Billy the card. Turns out it's a key card. The two horrors then start chasing after Billy and Sheena.
They evade the horrors and make it back to the inn and examine the card, but only see the letter P on it. They then bump into the kid who introduces himself as Matt Daniels, our protagonist for the next book bee tee dubs. The three head out and see a cafe where they spot Britney and Molly. But despite their best efforts, the two can't hear them. They use the key card to enter the cafe, but suddenly it ends up empty and the kicker, Billy and Sheena have turned invisible. Let's get... answers in the next book!
CONCLUSION
The Deep Trouble series has never really been super relevant to my interests, but Creep From The Deep turned out pretty decent. Unlike our last book, it doesn't take too long to get to some decent action and horror. From the drama involving the mini-sub underwater, to everything involving the pirate skeletons, right down to even more pirate skeletons pretending to be living people. It all leads to a story that feels a bit more focused and a lot more adventure heavy. Revenge of the Living Dummy felt like Stine coming back with safe Goosebumps, while this book feels more like Jovial Bob trying to get his mojo back after eight years off. Doesn't lead to a perfect book, with Billy's whole Undersea Mutant stuff grating pretty quick. But fair dos to the Deep Trouble series that actually feel like they improve with each iteration. I thought this one would bore me, but It turned out surprising me. Not in a way that I think it'll stick with me, but still a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Creep From The Deep gets a B+.
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