The original Haunted Mask book was a classic. One of the strongest books in the series and remains a Halloween classic. Doesn't hurt it had a great protagonist in Carly Beth Caldwell to take us through the tale. So, two years after the first book's release and Stine now fully on board with sequels, we finally get our sequel. How will it fare? Let's see with The Haunted Mask II.
THE HAUNTED MASK II
RELEASE MONTH: October, 1995
FRONT TAGLINE: New Face. Old Nightmare.
COVER STORY
While it doesn't hit on the scare factor that the original cover does, we still get another winner from TIm Jacobus. I like the perspective, as if someone's looking down at Steve as he approaches the house. Gives us just enough of that weird warped perspective that makes Tim's work so great. I also love the foggy background just behind Steve as well, giving that eerie and cold Autumn night feel. Finally there's Steve's mask itself which is indeed pretty gruesome with its torn flesh, spiders, single tooth and evil looking red eyes. Less menacing than the last mask, but still just as memorable.
JUST CALL HIM PRUNE FACE!
Steve Boswell will never forget Carly Beth's Halloween mask. It was so gross. So terrifying.
But this year Steve wants to have the scariest costume on the block. So he gets a mask from the same store where Carly Beth got hers. It looks like a creepy old man. With stringy hair. A wrinkled face. And spiders crawling out of the ears.
Steve's definitely got the scariest mask around. Too bad he's starting to feel so old. And so tired. And so evil...
STORY
We're one year removed from the original events of The Haunted Mask. It's approaching Halloween once again and Steve Boswell has a problem. It mainly involves a group of first graders he has to coach for the school soccer team. And they are a group of annoyances, but also surprisingly cruel and clever. They get Steve to kick a ball, but when he does, he ends up injuring his foot as the ball was actually a large piece of concrete? Wait, what? Maybe this is all a form of karma as you see, this is the same Steve Boswell who, along with his friend Chuck Greene used to scare and harass Carly Beth Caldwell. That is until the events the previous year involving her freaky mask and plaster head of herself that called for help.
Chuck and Steve have befriended Carly Beth and her friend Sabrina, though they still try to scare her. Keyword being "try" as since that Halloween, Carly Beth is far less easy to scare. She's definitely overcome much of her fears. But again, given the whole incident the previous year, can you blame her? In fact, she scares them by pretending her head falls off her shoulders. Steve asks Carly Beth for help in getting revenge on the first graders. He wants to scare them on Halloween and remembering her mask the year prior, wants to know where she got it. Carly Beth is hesitant and doesn't tell him. That is until they threaten to destroy the plaster head she used for her prank, which is enough to get her to spill the proverbial beans about the party store.
Chuck and Steve head to the party store that night, but find it to be closed. They decide instead to just sneak in through the back. They look around at all the freaky masks, with one weird old man mask getting Steve's attention. They hear footsteps outside and make a run for it, but only Chuck escapes. Steve gets caught. It's the same store owner from the previous book who threatens to call Steve's parents. Steve pleads to just let him buy the mask, but the store owner says it's too dangerous. However, Steve makes a run for it with mask still in tow. He returns home to his mom and his dog Sparky, then admires his new mask. It's weird with a single tooth, wiry old hair and what looks like real spiders attached to it.
The next day at soccer practice, the first graders continue their assault on Steve, kicking balls into his gut, then stomping on his back. You know, in case the whole concrete ball incident wasn't enough proof for the reader on how rotten these kids are. But Steve is more focused on the fun he'll have on Halloween night when he scares them. He returns home and puts the mask on. Immediately things feel weird. He feels far more frail and weak. The mask won't come off. He sees the spiders now coming to life and coming out of his hairy ears. His voice even sounds older, which confuses his mom when she sees him in the mask. But he just tells her that he must be a bit ill. She tells him that she bought his favorite nondescript black and white cookies that she literally drove two miles to get for him, but he declines given his state.
Panicked and getting weaker, Steve calls Carly Beth's house to hopefully get some answers. Instead he gets her dad who thinks he must be either some prank caller, or some perverted old man who is harassing his daughter (It's not explicitly said mind you, but come on). Definitely the funniest moment in the book and props to Stine for adding that. Steve passes out. He wakes up and the mask is now off him, believing that the whole night was just a dream, only no. THAT was actually just a dream. He wakes up with the mask still on him. Not the worst fake out in the series, but okay then.
With his parents gone, Steve has no other choice but to go out and find Carly Beth to get her to help him. But now being so frail, he can barely walk. He manages to get outside and sees the first graders. But instead of scaring them, they think he's just a poor old man and help him cross the street. So they're not that bad after all. They just really hate Steve I guess. Steve finds Carly Beth who is freaked out, thinking he's some weird stalker that's been calling for her. He manages to get her to believe that he's Steve and asks for a way to remove the mask. Carly Beth tells him that her mask came off with a symbol of love. Steve then returns home and hugs his dog Sparky, but that doesn't work. Then he thinks it's the cookies, but when he eats them, that doesn't work either. Maybe this whole act of love thing only applied to her mask, I guess? Or I guess Stine didn't just want to end the book the exact same way?
Steve and Carly Beth head to the party store, hoping there could be some answers there. They find an old tuxedo. Suddenly, the mask comes off of Steve's face and attaches itself above the tuxedo, which comes to life and then shuffles out the door? Okay, what in the actual fu...
TWIST ENDING
After... that... the kids exit the store, only to run into Chuck wearing a strange purple monster mask. He tells them that he got it from the party store, only now he can't take it off. Let's hope there's a monster body in the store that likes to dance, I guess?
CONCLUSION
The Haunted Mask II is one of the better sequels, but I'll admit it has its problems. What I like is that it tries to focus on one of the antagonists of the previous book and does at least make Steve more likable than he was previously. Honestly, it probably serves to have him as the next mask victim instead of going a similar route with Carly Beth again. Speaking of, Carly Beth is great in this book and writing her as more confident and brave after her saga the previous year is a surprisingly good sign of character growth, which does not happen much in Goosebumps. Although Scream of the Haunted Mask does negate this character growth (and this story in general) by having her be more a victim of PTSD and still being compelled by the mask. I think I prefer that characterization over this, but this version is still strong. And both are still better than the abomination that was Wanted: The Haunted Mask.
I also like the effect of the mask itself, going for a different take than what we got before. Instead of turning Steve into a raging monster, it turns him into a frail old man and seems to be killing him at a rapid pace. It does provide for a scary enough scenario. However, the book retconning the whole "symbol of love" outcome for dancing old man tuxedo seems like one of those decisions that just comes off as Stine not knowing how to end this book with a more satisfying ending. Right down to a similar twist from the first book. Speaking of, no we never learn how Noah got the mask off because I guess that would be too hard for Stine to explain as well?
So what we get is a book that isn't perfect and doesn't really reach on the same level of quality the original provided, but still offers its own unique take on the lore and the saga itself. That's more than fair enough to call it a book that isn't a top tier, nor really a middling one, but sits just below the upper echelon of Goosebumps works. And that's just the facts you have to face.
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