Halloween has always been the holiday that has benefited Goosebumps the most, for obvious reasons. And while The Haunted Mask is the gold standard, I remember liking today's book a bit, save for some issues. Will my feelings change more on this reread? Let's see for ourselves with Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns.
ATTACK OF THE JACK-O'-LANTERNS
RELEASE MONTH: October, 1996
FRONT TAGLINE: Put one head in front of the other...
This is another classic from Tim Jacobus. Everything works, but before I got to the pumpkins themselves, I just have to gush at the sky colors. The red of the sunlight falling behind the pumpkin heads, adding to the eerie, alien feeling coming from them. I love the trees, the owl, and the fall leaves on the street. Makes everything feel so Halloween. And of course, the pumpkin heads themselves, which go for a more silly look over sinister (though there's a sticker with alternate art). And the pumpkin dog is a cute little touch. One of the best pieces of art from the series.
PUMPKIN POWER!
Nothing beats Halloween. It's Drew Brockman's favorite holiday. And this year will be awesome. Much better than last year. Or the year Lee and Tabby played that joke. A nasty practical joke on Drew and her best friend, Walker.
Yes, this year Drew and Walker have a plan. A plan for revenge. It involves two scary pumpkin heads.
But something's gone wrong. Way wrong. Because the pumpkin heads are a little too scare. A little too real. With strange hissing voices. And flames shooting out of their faces...
STORY
Drew Brockman loves Halloween. Especially with her friend Walker Parkes and her friends Shane and Shana Martin. What she isn't too fond of is Tabitha Weiss and Lee Winston, a pair of bratty snob kids that for the past few Halloweens has ruined their night. Tabby is described as having perfect white skin and very pretty, while Lee... well, this is one of the first confirmed African-American children in a Goosebumps book, so Stine says that he struts and acts like a rapper on MTV. This was edited out of later releases, but that ranks high on the "what the hell, Stine" meter.
Their first incident happened at Lee's Halloween party where two men, one in a ski mask and the other in a gorilla mask, scare the kids and tell them to do push ups. Turns out this was all a prank by Lee and Tabby. The two men are actually a pair of teens named Todd and Joe. The next year, Drew, Walker, Shane and Shana planned to invite Lee and Tabby over so they could scare them and pour some kind of green slime over their heads. But before their devious plan can unfold, Drew gets a call saying that Lee and Tabby won't be coming over, screwing over their plans. Might have been a blessing in disguise, as whatever the green slime was made of is strong enough to melt through Drew's couch. Where did Shane and Shana get that stuff,? The dead pool from Mortal Kombat II?
But after eight chapters, we're finally in present time. The six kids go trick or treating. Things go well until the kids are invited into a weird old couple's house. The couple trap them inside and say that they'll keep them in there forever. And then Drew wakes up. Reader beware, you are in for some deluxe padding. 38 pages of this 118 page story. Over a quarter of the book to finally get to present day. Like, after the first disaster we really didn't need that much exposition Bob.
So we're FINALLY nearing the latest Halloween. As Drew comes up with a scheme to get back at Lee and Tabby, her mother tells her that maybe it's not wise to go out this year as there have been reports of missing adults over the past few days. Hey, Goosebumps parents with actual concerns, written to feel like loving parents. Are we sure we're still not in a dream sequence? But after Drew pleads enough, she's finally allowed to go out this year.
So, 51 pages and 13 chapters deep, we've made it to the fireworks factory. Halloween arrives. Drew dresses as a superhero, while Walker is dressed as a "dark and stormy night' complete with black makeup. Not sure if that's worse than the description of Lee, but either way, what's going on, Bob? No sign of Shane or Shana however. The two go trick or treating with Tabby and Lee. Again, things seem to go fine. But they soon run into a pair of strange people wearing dark robes and pumpkins on their heads. Pumpkins carved out like jack-o'-lanterns. Jack-o'-lanterns that shoot fire out of their heads, which, you know, not that concerning.
Lee and Tabby don't react much, thinking it's all just some silly prank. The two Pumpkin Heads tell the kids that there's another neighborhood that will give out tons of candy. And despite, you know, stranger danger, even in 1996, the kids follow them. And sure enough, there's more houses, with people giving them all the candy they could ever want. Too much, in fact. The kids begin to complain, but the Pumpkin Heads begin to shoot flames. They tell the kids to keep going and to visit more houses. Frustrated, Lee and Tabby grab the Pumpkin Heads, but there's no heads underneath!
The Pumpkin Heads force the kids to continue, but their bags fall apart on them. So, now the kids are forced to eat what they got at that spot, regardless of razor blades. The kids get sick, but they're forced to keep eating and to keep trick or treating. They arrive to another house, but the woman at the door is another Pumpkin Head. The other Pumpkin Heads fly off their bodies as others arrive, with fresh heads for the four kids. That's enough for Lee and Tabby to run off screaming.
TWIST ENDING
Drew and Lee begin to laugh. This was all part of their prank. How? Because we learn the truth about Shane and Shana. The twins are actually... BOOM! SECRET ALIENS! That at least explains the acid slime. They kept a low profile about being aliens, but were just as desperate as Drew and Lee to get revenge on Lee and Tabby. Drew offers them some candy, but the two say they don't eat candy... they eat humans! That explains the disappearances. They promise to come back when Drew and Lee gain a few more pounds.
CONCLUSION
Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns is half of a good book and half stalling to build to that good book with middling results. I get the feeling that Stine had a really neat concept in his head, but no idea how to make this story flow into 118 pages, so just pad exposition and a good old dream sequence, then stall some more with even more exposition about mysterious disappearances. And at least there's some interesting moments within, especially the whole acid thing, so it feels less frustrating than it could have possibly been. Although, again, I don't want to believe Stine wrote the whole Lee description with any actual ill intent, and I can chalk the Dark and Stormy Night stuff as just willful ignorance on his part, but clearly that should have been checked up on before publishing. And given that later releases at least toned down some of it, that's a plus at least. Though it keeps Lee's strut, so maybe not?
When we get to the second half of the book, it's a really good Halloween tale. The Pumpkin Heads make for some of the best monsters we've gotten in a long time in these books. Intimidating, freaky, actually presenting themselves as a threat. One that, if they really had the power, would trap the kids in this Halloween Hell forever. And yeah, it feels a bit too obvious that this is part of the prank, but thankfully the twist ending works. Add in the whole mention of the missing adults, and you have an actual creepy feel for the end of the book. That feels like a rare unicorn at this point in the series, but we are getting to the latter fifties sooner and sooner.
Drew is an okay protagonist, not exactly the most dynamic, but you do feel her plight for wanting revenge on Lee and Tabby. Walker's okay for a side character, and Lee and Tabby work fine for the stock snob bullies. Scares work and so do the twist, making this one of the more substantial books in a while. I just wish we didn't have to pad the book so much. We could have done the first flashback, having it be the year prior, while building the Halloween week to Lee and Tabby constantly pranking or scaring Drew and the others to the point that we can build the need for their revenge. Maybe that treads a little too The Haunted Mask for it to feel original, but it would have at least felt like we were making some progress.
I think my feelings on this book are a bit better this time around. My issues with the pacing and other questionable concerns aside, it works as another solid Halloween tale from Goosebumps, proving that the holiday is where Stine really works. It's a recommend, but one that you could abridge, especially the early part, and lose nothing either. It's a book that will really pump...kin you up? I need better end puns.
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