So, we're finally fifty books deep into the original series, with only twelve more to go. Even with this being a reread series, it still feels like a herculean feat. And we have one of the most interesting Goosebumps books of all time to meet us. Does that interest stay strong with this revisit? Let's see with Calling All Creeps!
CALLING ALL CREEPS!
RELEASE MONTH: December, 1996
FRONT TAGLINE: Just dial 5-5-5-CREEP!
COVER STORY
I love this cover. I think what makes me love it is how much color is in it. The purple of the creeps, the eerie yellow-green glow of the phone booth, and yet another sunset in the background. Despite the silver border, the actual artwork pops. I also love how 90s this cover feels, from the clothing of our creeps to, well, a phone booth. And the creeps are designed well giving off an alien reptile vibe that really works. A cover that screams what I want from Goosebumps. The seemingly normal mixed with the frightening and unique.
REACH OUT AND SCARE SOMEONE...
Ricky Beamer is furious when he gets kicked off the school paper. So he decides to play a joke on Tasha, the bossy editor in chief. Just a little joke. Harmless, really.
After school one day he sticks a message in the paper. If you're a creep, call Tasha after midnight, it reads.
But somehow Ricky's message gets messed up. And now he's getting calls. Strange calls from kids who say they are the creeps. Creeps with scaly purple skin. And long sharp fangs...
STORY
Ricky Beamer, our protagonist, starts the story by sneaking out of his house at night while his parents are watching the weather channel. The book mentions Nova Scotia, which means it's the closest this book will get to mentioning the Maritimes, I guess. Why is Ricky sneaking out and where? Well, he's sneaking to Harding Middle School, his school for some revenge. Ricky's got a bad reputation. He's the most hated kid in school, often called "Ricky the Rat" or "Sicky Ricky" by the other students. But his focus is on Tasha McClean, the head of the school paper. The same school paper Ricky was kicked out of. When she leaves her computer, Ricky sneaks over and writes "Calling all creeps. Calling all creeps. If you're a real creep, call Tasha at 555-6709 at midnight". So, our protagonist wants "creeps" to call some girl at midnight to harass her. Maybe that hatred isn't unwarranted.
So how did Ricky get canned? A few days prior to these events, he was showing new girl Iris Candler around school, only to end up being tripped by a group of bullies named David, Brenda, Jared and Wart and falling into Jell-O, which everyone laughs at him for. Later, the bullies push Ricky, causing him to spill his Pepsi and more or less blue screen Tasha's computer, which he gets yelled at for. Despite, honestly, that not being his fault, but as we learn pretty quickly, this entire school kind of sucks. Like, it's middle school, which is already hell on earth, but Ricky feels singled out and mocked and bullied often for no reason. But Iris seems to at least stand up for him, so he's got one friend at least.
The bullies pick on Ricky some more, making him sing the Star Spangled Banner out loud for more humiliation. Tasha then decides to give Ricky another chance if he can get pictures for the school's car wash. A car wash that cost five dollars. Yes, like one great scribe wrote, the car wash cost five dollars. However, when Ricky tries again, the bullies once again get a hold of him and cause him to break the camera, which gets him kicked off the school paper despite, again, this really not being his fault, but since everyone in this school sans-Iris is an asshole, what can you do?
We return to present time where Ricky finishes his editing, then returns home. He gets a call from Iris, but her father yells at her to hang up which comes off as concerning. At 2AM, Ricky gets another phone call, but it's from someone saying they're a creep who is ready to meet and ready to plant. Ricky hangs up and the phone calls keep coming. The next day he sees that his prank was pretty weak given that Tasha managed to edit it, putting Ricky's number there instead. More derision, more bullying. Ricky also sees a note on his locker asking when the creeps will meet. He gets more phone calls that night.
The next day, the bullies grab Ricky and take him off to the woods. They reveal that they were the ones making the phone calls. They are the creeps and he must be their commander, the one who will help them plant their seeds to make more creeps. They apologize for all the bullying. Had they known he was their commander, they'd have treated him better. Ricky thinks this is all another prank until the four actually start turning into reptile monsters. Then Wart eats a squirrel in front of Ricky. Ricky makes a break for it, telling them he'll find a way to totally get their plan in motion.
Ricky tries to get people to believe that the creeps are real. His parents, being Goosebumps parents, just mock him for it, while Mrs. Crawford who runs the school paper thinks he's just delirious. The creeps find Ricky and give him the bag of seeds to plant, but he just spills them on the floor instead. Unfortunately for him, they have a spare bag, which they tell him to put in the school macaroni. But, unfortunately for the creeps, nobody eats the school macaroni. Brenda then comes up with an idea. The school bake sale is coming up, so why not put the seeds in some cookies?
Ricky would prefer they just bury the seeds, which angers the creeps. They tell him to change into his creep form, but Iris saves him in time, pretending to be a creep. Turns out Iris was aware of all of this as she followed Ricky and the Bullies and saw the transformation. She wanted to tell Ricky, but never had the chance. But unfortunately for the two of them, they have seeds and cookies to bake. The bake sale arrives and the creeps have the seeded cookies ready to give away. Ricky tries to warn the school one more time, but they just mock him and throw food at him instead.
TWIST ENDING
Ricky then gives up, and tells the students to enjoy the cookies. Ricky finally realizing that maybe things will be much better when he has a creep army to control.
CONCLUSION
Calling All Creeps! is a strong book. And I think a lot of that has to do with our protagonist for once. It's rare, especially in these late stage books, to really have a relatable protagonist, but Ricky Beamer definitely feels like the most relatable in a while. A generally decent kid who is bullied constantly and treated like a burden for reasons against his control. Aside from adding the ad in the paper, everything that happens to him doesn't feel like it's fair to him. But then again, this is middle school and they usually are the hell years. I stated in the first review that there's a feeling that this book could only work pre the age of school shootings. That in any other scenario, the bullied kid would be written to get revenge in a more horrific way than sci-fi cookie reptiles. I didn't intend that to be insulting, but there definitely is that feeling with Ricky, especially given how much he's bullied. Thankfully that's not the case here.
The creeps are also great antagonists. Freaky in design and actually intimidating. That feels rare in late stage Goosebumps too. I like the concept that they're these aliens loyal to a commander, which they mistake Ricky for. Although I do wonder, given the ending, how long Ricky can keep up this ruse. Will the creeps follow him forever, or will they turn on him once they realize he's not one of them? It's one of the best open ended twists in Goosebumps, especially so late in the original series. I also like Iris, but wish she had more of a character than she was given. And the scares and twist do work well enough. Story flow is fine as well, using backstory to build the plot much better than Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns did.
In the end, I think this is still one of the stronger books in the series, and a surprisingly strong start into the fifties. It's a very cruel book that does make you feel for the protagonist, which feels so anti-Stine at this point, and it flows for one of the most memorable books in the series. It's a high recommend. It's a book that you shouldn't sleep on, but feel free to creep on.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.