The Stinal Countdown: Goosebumps #31: Night of the Living Dummy II

Halfway point has arrived for this Goosebumps reread. And when you think about it, given how the character has essentially become Goosebumps itself, it's strange that Stine waited this long to go back to Slappy and the Living Dummy books. I mean, two Monster Blood follow-ups, but nothing dummy related. And, of course, this is the book. The one where despite appearing in the first book, Slappy takes the reigns from Mr. Wood. How does that fare? Find out with Night of the Living Dummy II.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DUMMY II

RELEASE MONTH: May, 1995

FRONT TAGLINE: He's still walking. He's still stalking.

COVER STORY

This cover isn't as creepy as the original, mainly due to zooming way back on Slappy compared to the original. As such, it lacks that initial freakiness the original had. But this still works, setting the freakish Slappy in a very comforting and cute place like a girl's bedroom. I will say the cover is a bit hard on the eyes, meshing bright greens and bright pinks together, but given the intent of the cover, it works. I do think the shocked reactions of the plush toys is a bit much, and we got that classic warping, but neither hurt another top notch work.

YOU CAN'T TEACH AN OLD DUMMY NEW TRICKS!

Amy's ventriloquist dummy, Dennis, keeps losing his head... for real. So Amy begs her family for a new dummy. That's when her dad finds Slappy in a local pawnshop. Slappy's kind of ugly, but Amy's having fun practicing her new routine.

Then horrible things start happening. Horrible, nasty things. Just like what happened the first time. 

Because there's something odd about Slappy. Something not quite right. Something evil...

STORY

The Kramer family are an interesting group. The parents have set up a "family sharing night" every Thursday. Sort of a family talent show of sorts, which sounds more thoughtful than most Goosebumps parents, so points there. Don't worry, those points go away quickly. Eldest child Sara is a talented painter, lone son of the family Jed is a goof who just does dumb stuff, and Amy is the ventriloquist. She performs with her dummy, Dennis. However, Dennis is run down and his head is always falling off his shoulders. Frustrated at carrying a broken piece of kindling, Amy asks for a new dummy. Sara shows off her newest painting, only to see it sabotaged by Jed. Despite this attempt at bringing the family together, Jed remains a pain, and Amy is really jealous and a bit spiteful about Sara's talent. 

Two days later, Amy indeed gets a new dummy. The dummy is Slappy. And no, we have no idea what became of Kris and Lindy Powell. My guess is they managed to put him back to sleep and as soon as they could, got rid of him by selling him to a pawn shop. And, I guess they put a sandwich in his head too because when Amy puts her hand into the dummy, she feels something gross, which turns out to be a moldy sandwich. Okay then. She also finds a piece of paper in his breast jacket pocket. The magic words Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano. After she says the magic words, Slappy seems to slap Mr. Kramer in the face on his own.

Amy practices with Slappy, reciting knock knock jokes so bland, they must have come from one of R.L. Stine's jokebooks. "Jane yer clothes, you stink!" and "Wayne, Wayne, go away", that sort of stuff. Next family sharing night comes. Mrs. Kramer talks about a large woman who tried on small clothes, dad plays the guitar, Jed dresses up like Dennis to scare Amy, and Amy performs with Slappy. And, like in almost all of these books, Slappy hurls insults at the family, with everyone thinking it's Amy, which gets Amy in trouble for it. Same case for the next day as Sara's paints are all knocked over. And despite Jed's history of sabotage, he doesn't cop to this one, but Amy was seen in Sara's room, so she gets blamed. Amy also notices some paint on Slappy's shoes, making her even more confused as to what's going on.

Despite two incidents so far, Amy is still allowed to perform with Slappy. Her friend Margo's dad runs an establishment known as the Party House, which celebrates kids birthdays. So Amy and Slappy get to perform. However, Slappy grabs the arm of the birthday girl and won't let go, causing a panic. And yet again, Amy is blamed. The next day, Slappy strikes again in Sara's room, covering the walls with paint, the word "AMY" written all over. Amy tries to plead innocence, claiming it must have been Slappy, but her parents believe that she may need to see a psychiatrist. Although, wouldn't the easier option at first be to get rid of the dummy? If it's supposedly causing Amy to lash out in these odd ways, surely getting rid of Slappy might help? But nope, Amy's craaaaaaaaaazy. 

Amy gets grounded for everything, of course. But that night, she finally sees Slappy move on his own. Paintbrush in hand, he goes to paint over one of Sara's murals. Amy stops him, but gets caught by her family. The parents decide to call for a shrink to see Amy. The next night, Slappy finally speaks to Amy, saying that she'll be his slave. Again, no vague answer as to what being a slave to Slappy actually is, but a threat is a threat. But, given that he's literally just a dummy, she pins him down, but he runs away. In the fracas, Amy runs into Sara, who admits that she knew Slappy was alive and that it was Slappy who painted over her walls, but she still wanted to get Amy blamed for this. Boy, the Kramer family really, really suck.

They do manage to nab Slappy, seeing as despite the slave talk, he's still just a ventriloquist dummy. They throw him in the sewer, but he returns the next day. The parents threaten to get rid of Slappy, but never do. Like I said, this would have probably solved a lot, but nope, weak assessment of their child's mental health is more important. The next night, Slappy once again returns to Sara's room. But before he can do anything, he gets tackled by what looks to be Dennis. The skirmish causes Slappy's head to smash into Sara's bedpost, breaking his head apart. A giant white worm leaves the head and exits out a crack in the wall. Okay then. 

TWIST ENDING

The parents arrive, and since they saw everything go down, they apologize to Amy, now believing what she said. But there's still the issue about what just happened. Amy assumes it was Jed dressed as Dennis again who tackled Slappy, but Jed arrives, not knowing what went on. Amy ends the book wondering if it really was Dennis who tackled Slappy.

CONCLUSION

Night of the Living Dummy II is the most bog standard Slappy book there is. It takes the concept of the original book and just does more of an abridged version, taking out the fake out stuff from the original book and having the mystery focus entirely on Slappy. And if this was your first dummy book, you'd probably have a softer spot for it as it does what you'd want from this story. The problem however is if you had read the first or, like me, read nearly every Slappy book at this point, you'd probably feel underwhelmed. There really isn't much here that makes it feel like its own, fresh take. Not even Slappy, who just feels like Mr. Wood all over again, not having anything that makes him feel distinct or different in any way. Like even the twist, though ambiguous enough, remains the same with the other dummy also being alive the whole time.

I stated the first time I reviewed this, but I do wish part of the story was a swerve. That this was all in Amy's head. Slappy was never alive, she just started doing evil things, as if she was willed to do so by the dummy. It would at least have been a stronger twist, but I'd imagine it would also be hard to continue the dummy saga if that were the case. Amy is an okay protagonist in what is otherwise a rather awful family. Aside from encouraging their kids interests, the Kramer family quickly blame one another for things, or straight up let someone take all the blame for something when they know they didn't do it. And I get the parents wouldn't believe Slappy was alive, but, I dunno, maybe get rid of the dummy that's clearly causing these issues with your daughter instead of more or less threatening to lock her up.

Other than that, the pacing is super quick. Definitely feeling like it really was an abridge job by Stine. The story builds, then just quickly ends, leaving a less than satisfying climax involving Slappy's mayhem. Like, at least there was more of an exciting end to Mr. Wood in the last book. But these could just be nitpicks at the end of the day. I'll call this book more of a middle of the road book, or just a very average one. We'll see Slappy again soon, but for this edition, things felt really wooden.

STORY: GG

SCARES: GG

TWIST: GG.5

ENJOYMENT: GG

OVERALL: 2 Gs