The Stinal Countdown: More Tales to Give You Goosebumps

Well, after the first one did well enough, of course Stine and Scholastic would continue with the Tales to Give You Goosebumps series. And almost a year later in July of 1995, More Tales To Give You Goosebumps was released, touting ten more spooky stories. Well, after dealing with evil babies, weird doll makers and imaginary friends, what craziness has Jovial Bob got up his sleeve? Let's dive in. Same as before, general reviews of each story, overall rating and ranking of the book and the stories by the end. Let's do it to it.

COVER STORY

And here we are with Curly proper. And boy, what a debut for the book art rendition of Curly with him telling some scary stories to his fellow spooked skeleton pals. Much like Say Cheese and Die, this cover did get me as a kid, but now I love everything about it. The moonlit sky, the glow of the fire, TIM'S IMMACULATE FOLIAGE WORK! Although, and I get they're skeletons so there's like no genitalia present, but why are they all naked? What kind of nudist pervert camp troupe is this?

STORY #1: THE WEREWOLF'S FIRST NIGHT

Brian's not too pleased about spending the summer at Thunder Lake. Mainly due to the fact that he's going to be at the teen camp for the first time, and he's scared he's not going to make it out alive. Especially considering all the stories he's heard about werewolves in the area. He gets along with a kid his age named Kevin, but is more wary of the older teens named Don, Jake and Phil. First, during a baseball game he thinks he sees fangs in Don's mouth. And another night he sees Phil running like a wild animal outside. Brian tries to tell his parents that the kids must be werewolves, but they shrug it off as just the other kids trying to prank him. Next, he hears Jake making howling noises. He goes to tell Kevin, but sees him downing a piece of raw meat. Brian's convinced. Everybody's a werewolf.

Brian's been keeping track of the moon and knows that it's one more night until the full moon. And unfortunately for him, he's supposed to camp out that night. He tries to beg his parents to stay indoors, but they tell him no because Goosebumps Parents. The night of the full moon arrives and Brian is forced outside. And sure enough, the other kids now have werewolf faces. They start to scare Brian...

TWIST ENDING: Until they remove their masks and start laughing. It was just a prank, bro! One they do every year to the new kid. Then Brian turns into a werewolf and chases them, because I guess he's a werewolf for real. Okay then.

CONCLUSION: Not too bad a short story to kick us off. The twist is yet another "oh, the protagonist was the real monster" ending, but not the worst take. I do think that, while this goes down a route done so many times in Goosebumps, this could have worked if fleshed out a bit for a full book. B-.

STORY #2: P.S. DON'T WRITE BACK!

And we're immediately thrust into another camp. This time it's Camp TIMBER Lake Hills. Totally didn't take Stine a couple seconds on that one, no siree. David Stevenson is having a great time at camp this year. He loves everything about it, except maybe Sam, the miserable camp director. Another thing Dave doesn't like is that his parents haven't sent him any letters this year. That is until a week or so passes and he gets a strange letter from his parents. It says they're not visiting him, and they won't pick him up until August. Also "P.S. Don't Write Back". Dave is confused, but doesn't think too much of it. That is until another one shows up saying that they're sending him to live with his great-uncle instead of bringing him home after Camp. But then he notices something extremely convenient. The letter is addressed to a Dave for Timber LANE Hills, which is the camp conveniently next to this one. Well, ain't that a coinkydink?

Dave steals a canoe and rows the to the other camp. However, when he gets there, it's weird and dark, and the kids look bony and almost dead. Dave tries to give his mail to the other Dave, but gets told to leave. As he does, the other campers start to advance on him like zombies. Dave manages to escape and row back to his own camp. When he gets there he sees Sam is pissed at him for leaving.

TWIST ENDING: Dave tries to mention Camp Timber Lane Hills, but Sam says that it doesn't exist anymore. It burned down years ago. Dave then looks at the envelope's date: July 10th, 1964.

CONCLUSION: I liked this one. Granted the silly misdirect with the name feels like classic Stine, but everything else flowed well. From the mystery of the letters to the actually creepy feeling of the other camp. Though there are questions of course that could have been solved in a longer tale, like the coincidence of two David Stevensons, but it's not much to really hurt this one. Best of the lot so far. A-.

STORY #3: SOMETHING FISHY

Eric is having a rough summer. His family can't afford a trip to the lake house, so he's at home melting from the heat. After being pretty bored for a while, he looks at his fish tank, sticks his finger in, and then through some unexplained reason, shrinks to ant-size and falls into the fish tank. He swims around for a while, which really seems to piss off one of his goldfish, to the point that it attacks him. The ensuing brawl leaving the fish dead. Before he can process this, his mother and sister show up and see the dead fish. Eric's mother scoops the fish up in a net, trapping Eric in the process. Eric, realizing she's taking the net to the toilet, begins to panic about being flushed. But as soon as she gets ready to dump it, he just ends up back in his normal size, because.

TWIST ENDING: Eric, not learning his lesson, learns how to shrink again and returns to the fish tank, just as his sister arrives and puts a pair of Siamese fighting fish in the tank.

CONCLUSION:

Granted, there's a germ of an interesting idea with the shrinking concept. Hell, the whole fish tank thing could have been a neat set piece for a bigger story involving shrinking. But really Stine? Just random shrinking magic with no explanation? Like it at least seems that touching the water at a certain time frame seems to be the answer, but regardless. It's definitely memorable, and there's something very comedic about a kid screaming "don't flush me mom, I'm your son!" but otherwise, this one was a mess. C-.

STORY #4: YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!

Stanley opens the story saying that he's told everyone how he single handedly saved Earth from flying saucers, but nobody will believe him. It all started when he was forbidden television from his parents out of fear that his brain will rot. He still watches it at his friend's places, but regardless. He did get a telescope to stave off the boredom, to which he ends up seeing something that looks like a UFO in the sky. But of course no one believes him. Not his parents, nor his older sister Laura or little brother Dan, who dunks on Stanley by calling him a geek. The next night, he sees what appears to be a flying saucer in the cornfield of Mr. Tribble, the next door farmer. But despite now assuming something about Tribble, no one even gives Stanley the time of day.

But it turns out that Stanley does see aliens, who manage to speak English, and reveal their master plan out loud. They've been working on a subliminal message program for years and in 20 hours, they'll finally enact it and take over Earth. Stanley takes some pictures, but sneezes, catching the attention of the aliens, who kidnap him and try to hypnotize him. He fakes it to get himself freed. He tells everyone again, but of course no one believes him. So, Stanley buys a whole batch of aluminum foil and uses it to deflect the alien signal, sending them off.

TWIST ENDING: And still no one believes him.

CONCLUSION: Not a bad story honestly. Again, the short story format hurts it, but this is one that I do feel could have been worked into a longer story. Yes, it's similar tropes, but in this case, it's not the worst offender. B

STORY #5: SUCKERS!

Ashley, her younger brother Jack and their cousin Greg are visiting Black Island for the summer. This unfortunately means they're being accosted by a pair of fourteen year olds named Alex and Jimmy. They have an affinity for picking on the kids, and a sweet tooth for gummy candy. They steal some of the kids candy and leave them be for a while. Ashley and the others argue over the supposed grossness of gummy worms, when they spot a chest wash up on shore. 

They open the chest, only to be immediately attacked by a strange green blob monster. As they wrestle with it, they use some of the candy they have left to try and distract it. Greg gets caught, but tells the others that there's more candy in his room. Ashley and Jack look around, but can't find any more, so they go instead to the general store to buy more. However, they get accosted again by the bullies. After almost running Alex and Jimmy over with their bikes, the kids escape and manage to use the rest of the candy to distract the blob long enough to stuff it back into the chest.

TWIST ENDING: Alex and Jimmy arrive and look in the chest, seeing the gummy candy. The kids tell them to go ahead and take them.

CONCLUSION: Another interesting one, but super rushed. Hell, this didn't even make the 13-page quota. With a little tuning it could work, but even as a short story, this was super rushed out the gate to the point that it's definitely the most forgettable story here. C+

STORY #6: DR. HORROR'S HOUSE OF VIDEO

Ben is a kid who considers himself a horror movie aficionado. To the point that his parents worry for his own mental stability, because SENSIBLE parents. While shopping with his mother, Ben spots a strange video store he's never seen before called Dr. Horror's House of Video. While exploring, he meets the strange, near-toothless man named Dr. Horror, who tells Ben about how he makes his own horror movies in his garage. Ben watches a horror movie called Lizardman from a TV in the store until his mother shows up and drags him away. Ben returns to the store later, only to see it's closed. So he does what all kids in these books do and break in. He watches the rest of the movie, then goes to leave, only for the front door to be closed. So, Ben tries the back way, as he suddenly sees a bunch of monsters.

Turns out he's in Dr. Horror's garage where he films all his movies, and he just happens to be getting ready to film a sequel to Lizardman. And since the movie needs an extra, Ben is the right kid for the job. He heads to set the next day and starts filming. He's impressed by how real the makeup is, until he notices that all the monsters look a bit too real. As in they're real monsters!

TWIST ENDING: Lizardman grabs Ben, ready to eat him, when Dr. Horror tells them to stop. Ben thinks he's safe, but Dr. Horror just fixes Ben's hair and starts production again.

CONCLUSION: STRANGER DANGER! Other than that, it flowed well enough, even if it's very similar tropes overall, right down to the twist. Not too bad. B-.

STORY #7: THE CAT'S TALE

Marla is easily scared by everything, to the point she can't even stand hearing her little brother's scary stories. While up in her room, she opens her window, only for a cat to jump in her rooms. It has no tags, so she decides to keep the cat and call it Misty. But things go downhill at a breakneck pace as Misty sits on her face and tries to smother her. At the pool, Marla suddenly feels a slashing sensation while on the diving board and she falls off. She soon sees that it was Misty who was the culprit. She also continues to hear a strange whisper:

Nine lives, nine lives. I will have thy body before I've used my nine. Thy life is mine, and nine is thine. 

Marla also seems to be acting more like a cat, attacking a mouse in front of her friends. This makes her think that Misty must be trying to take over her body. She gives Misty away, but the cat came back the very next day. The cat came back, she thought she was a goner but the cat came back. She just couldn't stay away. Eventually Marla stuffs Misty in the cat carrier and gets ready to throw it on a bus. As she sets the carrier on the sidewalk to go get a drink, she hears a screech of tires and the sound of a dying cat. Yep, turns out Misty got run over by the bus. But, of course Marla's not upset. She's just happy to be over this.

TWIST ENDING: But as she goes to sleep that night, she hears whispers. Eight lives, eight lives left.

CONCLUSION: This one actually works pretty well. Again, shackled by being so short, but if given enough time it could have worked as an actual... hey, wait a sec. Stine actually does go back to this concept. Yeah, back in Series 2000 with Cry of the Cat. So we at least know it worked well enough for a full book.. As for this, it's aces. A-.

STORY #8: SHELL SHOCKER

Tara Bennett likes to collect seashells. However, she also has to deal with her annoying brother Tommy who likes to believe that if you put a shell to your ear, you can hear the ocean. Tara thinks that's all bunk, until she actually does it for herself. She then hears something inside the shell screaming for help. It tells Tara that there's something in the nearby cave that can help it escape. Tara then thinks to just exploit the creature for riches and fame, but the shell creature says that there's treasures in the cave that will give her more fortune than she ever dreamed of. The most beautiful shell in the world, the creature exclaims. Tara, against her better judgment presses ever forward, dealing with the many creepy crawlies in the cave until finally she spots the gigantic shell.

TWIST ENDING: As Tara thinks of how famous she'll be for the find, the little shell tells her that it's actually the home to the world's largest hermit crab. The giant crab emerges from the shell. Then a tiny hermit crab pops out of the tiny shell, telling it's mom that it caught another human for her. Before Tara can react, the giant crab grabs her.

CONCLUSION: I really liked this one. It actually feels like it works as a short story format, and while you know there's some kind of catch, you still didn't expect that. Plus we get easily one of the darkest endings these short stories has provided us so far. Granted, I don't think this is fully original, as I swear I've heard concepts like this before, but Stine's aped a lot of takes before, so I can't hold him to that. Overall, I think we have this book's winner. A+

STORY #9: POISON IVY

Third camp story of the book, but this time it's Camp Wilbur. Matt's not having a good time. He doesn't mind some of his bunkmates, Vinny and Mike. It's Brad who he has issues with. He's this affluent preppy type with a blond ponytail and fancy aftershaves. As Matt goes to play softball, he's warned to stay out of the poison ivy. Later that night, Matt hears scratching sounds outside and goes to investigate. He sees the poison ivy patch growing and stretching all over the softball field. So, what do these kids do? Roll around in it like idiots, because Goosebumps Kids. And, of course it gives them all rashes. Two random kids go to get rid of the poison ivy, but they never return. The patch gets worse. Eventually it's down to the four kids from earlier as the patch starts to invade their bunker. They soon learn that there's one thing that can kill the poison ivy, and that's Brad's aftershaves. They spray it on the ivy, causing it to finally retreat.

TWIST ENDING: But then a tornado of mosquitoes shows up. Turns out they really love the smell.

CONCLUSION: Worked well enough, but nothing too incredible. Twist was pretty neat as well. I wouldn't fully let this one be, but it's middle road. B-.

STORY #10: THE SPIRIT OF THE HARVEST MOON

Jenny and her parents are spending the summer at Pine Mountain Lodge, a mysterious lodge they never heard of until recently. It's Wood Lake's best kept secret, don'tcha know? They arrive and are greeted by the Bass family, the strange owners of the lodge. Mr. Bass is very Frankenstein's monster like, the son tyler looks like his eyes are bulging out of his tight skin, and the mother looks like a "laundry pile" on a couch. They do have a dog named Bravo, which seems to be the only normal looking being among the Basses. She heads to her room, which is icy cold, then, with nothing fun to do, eventually tries to sleep, only to hear someone saying "Jen-ny" all night. She talks to Tyler the next day about it, and he says that it's true. It's the sound of a spirit who haunts the lodge. It tries to possess someone once a summer. It's why they keep the doors locked and the windows shut every night. If you let it in, it will take over your body.

That night, she stars to hear the voices again saying "Jen-ny, it's cold outside". She tries to tell her parents that they should leave, but Goosebumps Parents. The next night, she hears a bang at her door. It's Tyler who says he needs to get in because he got locked out. Jenny, being paranoid, says that he must be the ghost. Bravo attacks him, sending Tyler tumbling down the stairs.

TWIST ENDING: Jenny, thinking Bravo must have chased Tyler off, lets him in her room, where the dog then speaks to her saying that it's cold outside.

CONCLUSION: Another one that feels like it could have been something if it didn't feel so rushed out the gate, especially with the ending. And honestly, for the last story of the book, it doesn't end with as solid an end as the last book. Super duper middle road tale. C+

CONCLUSION

This was definitely a case of shedding the growing pains from the original book. Stine has learned on  how to better structure the short stories to the point that they don't mostly feel like failed drafts for full Goosebumps books. That's not to say this one doesn't have its flaws. Very few of the stories have enough time to breathe for them to feel like they have any lasting impact. The best examples of ones that did were You Gotta Believe Me! and Shell Shocker, which both fit well into short story concepts. Ones like Spirit of the Harvest Moon and The Werewolf's First Night feel like they start to ramp up and then the story is over. Gotta make that 12-13 page quota. And then there's Something Fishy which feels like Stine literally picked ideas out of a hat (the words shrinking, fish and toilet must have been the three words grabbed). But thankfully that one was the exception other than the rule. Overall, while this improves on things, it doesn't feel as super amazing a step up. So, a B rating is fair.

STORY RANKING

10.  Something Fishy

9. Suckers!

8. The Spirit of the Harvest Moon

7. Poison Ivy

6. The Werewolf's First Night

5. Dr. Horror's House of Video

4. You Gotta Believe Me!

3. The Cat's Tale

2. P.S. Don't Write Back!

1. Shell Shocker