The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Halloween Party

With it being the spooky month and Halloween quickly approaching, it only seems right to cover the Halloween themed Fear Street story. It's actually rather interesting that this appears to be the lone book focused around the season, especially in comparison to Goosebumps. Maybe it was easier for Jovial Bob to get ideas when it's centered around kids, I don't know. But I am interested in whatever's in store with Halloween Party.

I like this cover, mostly for the great freaked expression that usually sell these books. That pumpkin skull is really freaking her out. Though given that it's floating, I can kind of see why. Nice details like this clearly being in Fear Street cemetery as well as the mansion in the back which plays a role in the story. I will say, aside from Niki's cape and the skull-o-lantern, it doesn't scream Halloween all that much. but regardless, a solid cover yet again.

We open in Fear Street Cemetery as Terry Ryan and Niki Meyer are observing the tombstones, Niki in particular taken aback by the fact that some really old people are buried here. Speaking of here-err hear, we learn that Niki is partially deaf, stemming from an accident as a kid. So, we know that's going to play a role somewhere in this book. They're headed to the old Cameron mansion for a [[Title of the book]] when someone jumps out and scares them. It's Murphy Carter, who likes to do silly things like, you know, give his friends near heart attacks.

We then travel to two weeks before the first chapter. Terry gets an invitation from Justine Cameron for an all-night Halloween party at the Cameron Mansion, which as we've established is next to the Fear Street Cemetery. Of course, everyone thinks it's haunted, given the history of the strange occurrences on the street. It's also interesting given that Justine is new to Shadyside and, despite being "stacked" as Stine brazenly puts it, barely anyone knows much about her, let alone Terry and his friend Trisha McCormick. Niki gets an invitation as well, but notes she's the only one from her class to get one. 

Lisa Blume tells Terry that maybe Justine is shy and that's why she chose just a few people to the party. We also get some more exposition as there are stories about the Cameron mansion. That the original couple who lived there were murdered and their bodies supposedly haunt the place. So it's weird that Justine, also with the last name Cameron mind you, has moved to Shadyside from Europe with her uncle and the two are now living in the Cameron mansion. They also run into Ricky Schorr, the joker we met back in The Overnight. He had his biology project on frogs and tadpoles but forgot to remove the lid so they're dead. Hey, Stine gets his animal abuse in early.

Terry and Niki soon see the whole list. Alongside the two of them are Ricky, Murphy, Trisha, David Sommers, Les Whittle, Angela Martiner and Alex Beale, who Terry has issues with. Mainly because Niki broke up with Alex and ended up with Terry, so there's some conflict. Just then, Justine shows up and tells them that there's no ulterior motive for the list, just that she wants to get to know some of her fellow students a bit better. Two students, Bobby McCorey and Marty Danforth, aren't too happy about not being invited to Justine's party and make a threat that we'll definitely follow up on later.

Alex arrives and runs his mouth for a bit. Alex, David and Murphy then challenge Terry to see who can stay at Fear Street the entire night. Terry is at first against this, but things get heated and he joins in to Niki's disgust. Mostly because she's worried that Alex may be about to take this "jocks vs wimps" challenge seriously. Also, all of this set up was in chapter two. A Stine chapter lasting 15 pages feels weird, even for Fear Street. 

So, it's the "wimps" consisting of Terry, Ricky, Les and Trisha (Niki not wanting to be part of this) against the "jocks" of Murphy, David and Alex. Which also means that both sides prank each other over the course of the week. Rubber snakes, shaving cream in basketball shoes, that sort of thing. And, as you'd expect, they start to get much worse. Like putting a chicken head on Terry's tennis racket worse. Terry doesn't take that well, nor does he think Niki talking to the enemy is a good idea, which angers her since Terry's getting himself too wrapped up in all of this. 

Terry runs into Justine being hassled by Bobby and Marty again over invites, but she holds her ground. After they leave, Justine apologizes for the whole invitations turning into a contest, and seems to hit on Terry, but he holds his own ground since he's with Niki. However, when he helps Niki with her books, they find a note that says "You'll wish you were blind too". Terry suspects it as Alex and goes to deal with it, despite the fact it literally could have been any of the dozen characters in this book so far. But Niki calms him down and they head to Pete's Pizza, which I haven't mentioned much of in these blogs. But, much like the cemetery, Fear Street in general or the high school, it gets mentioned in most of the books, at least the ones confirmed to be in the general area of Shadyside. I'd like to imagine the pizza tastes pretty mediocre, but good atmosphere. There, they spot Justine, and given that Niki can lip read (which almost feels like the only point for her being partially deaf), she sees Justine saying that "They're all gonna pay". 

And we cut back to where we left off before chapter two, with Niki and Terry following Murphy to the mansion. Niki's costume is an old reveler with a red dress, while Terry went as a 1950s greaser. I'm certain that if Stine could, he'd just call it a Fonzie costume. Like he's even wearing a mask which I can only assume is a Fonz mask. The two kiss before Murphy scares them with a spider on a string, which, like, come on now. They're greeted by Justine who is dressed as a vampire. She also introduces her uncle Philip who is dressed like a clown. The guests check out the large spread of food from around the world. Places that Justine has claimed to have lived in like Greece, Italy, Japan. Niki notes how weird that is. 

They mingle with the others, Ricky dressed like a frog, Trisha a cheerleader, David just in his basketball gear with a skull in his hands due to lack of any ideas I guess. Alex arrives, dressed in all silver, calling himself the Silver Prince. Part of me expects Stine wanted to make him like The Silver Surfer or something. They mingle some more when a loud crash sound and some smoke scares them. Justine enters the room (Or as Horndog Bob puts it, her sexy body enters the room) and says it's a flash pot her uncle used when he was a stage manager. The teens dance for a bit before the power goes out. When the lights come up however, the group are startled by a dead body that just appears on the ground before them.

But, of course, this was a ruse. It's just Les Whittle pretending to be dead to screw with the jocks, giving us a point for the wimps. Niki talks with Alex a bit, which makes Terry jealous. Niki then dances with Alex which makes Terry even more jealous, so he ends up dancing with Justine. All goes well until suddenly two motorcycles show up at the front door. Bobby and Marty have shown up to crash the party. Justine and Uncle Philip tell them to leave, but they clearly have no intention, shoving Philip into a table. Terry tries to intervene, but ends up tripped by Bobby. The pair make a mess of the place and continue to threaten Justine and Philip over not being invited. David and Terry manage to get on the bikes of our assailants and after some more brawling, they manage to send the bikes driving off on their own, with Bobby and Marty following them, but promising to be back later.

So after all of that, and even despite, you know, the threats of coming back, Justine tells Terry and the others not to call the cops. Just try and enjoy the party. And since this whole wimps/jocks thing is still happening, it can get the whole incident off their minds for a while. After Ricky scares them with the old "spaghetti brains" trick, Justine tells the guests that she and Philip set up a treasure hunt within the mansion, so they all split up and search for what's on the hunt list. Niki still seems confused about this whole party and some of the odd items to collect like a mummy's hand or a stuffed cobra. Stuff Justine claims to have gotten in her worldwide travels, which still confuses Niki as to how a senior could have travelled the world. I mean, she is rich and white...

Niki ends up in Justine's bedroom and finds it odd that there's nothing that a normal teenager would have like stuffed animals, pictures of movie stars on the walls, clothing, any sign of it being lived in. That is until Niki finds another room in the closet filled with expensive clothing from different parts of the world. She then sees a picture of Justine in the arms of an older man and wonders if she's having an affair, which like, settle down Stine. The next find is a bunch of prescription bottles for an Enid Cameron, who Niki suspects might be Philip's wife or something. 

The treasure hunt continues as Terry makes his way to the attic and spots a closet. Inside is Alex. Or seemingly Alex's corpse which is bleeding. David and Terry gets the others, but the body just up and disappears. They then discover that it was just Alex using a dummy to scare them again because these kids keep forgetting about the stupid contest and falling for every scare in the book. Niki tries to tell Terry about he suspicions but he doesn't believe her because we're surprisingly still just in the middle of this book. This one seriously feels heftier than it has any right to be, huh? The contest ends and Justine, on the stairs, offers Alex, the winner, a prize of chocolates in a golden box, when she suddenly the banister breaks and she falls to the floor below. No, wait, she conveniently crashes into the sofa below.

Justine is fine, though injured her wrist. She's more confused as to how the banister broke. Ricky claims it was the jocks that may have sawed it, which just has both sides sniping at one another again. Terry gets angry about Justine being near Alex, and also feels that Niki's suspicious of Justine because she's jealous, which, like, come on now. And, since this book is hitting all of the predictable bumps in the road, a thunderstorm takes out the power. The game is to tell the worst things you've done to which Ricky starts to bring up The Overnight and then stops before we get to anything from that book so he has to stand on one foot. 

As they tell their truths, Terry notices that Niki's disappeared, so he goes looking for her, taking him back to the attic. He finds Les in the closet, not moving and devoid of a pulse. Only unlike Alex's prank earlier, this doesn't appear to be a prank. Especially with a big knife in his chest and all. David shows up, but once again the body disappears. Only this time Les' corpse is crumpled on the roof by the window. So now Terry's at least believing some of Niki's suspicions. It seems someone at this party wants them all dead, but who?

Terry opts not to tell the others just yet at first about the possible murderer in the house and decide instead to find Philip, even though maybe the concern should be about where Niki would up. The party goes on only for them to soon find one of the motorcycles outside of the house belonging to Bobby and Marty. And, more concerningly, is Philip's clown jacket with blood on its sleeve. Angela panics and makes a run for it, but injures her ankle. As the others start to work together to find Niki, David heads to his Corolla to get help, only to find that whoever's after them has been busy slashing every single tire to every car the guests arrived in. He suspects Bobby and Marty and sure enough, the two arrive and they are sloshed. He tries to get away from them, running in the cemetery, but trips and smashes his head on a tombstone. And then he gets possessed by Sarah Fear. No, but he's out cold as the two bullies grab him to make things more inconspicuous.

Back at the mansion, Terry checks the basement for Niki. He doesn't find a mad botanist's lab or a slime monster with a personality disorder, but does find Niki. She has no clue how she ended up there. Last thing she remembers is finding an old newspaper clipping. It mentions that twentysomething couple Edmund and Cissy Cameron were killed by a 16 year old boy named James Whittle when his car collided into them. Turns out that Whittle had been challenged to a game of Chicken by another boy named John McCormack. In the midst of the race, James' car collided into the Cameron car where it then burst into flames, killing the couple instantly. The couple left behind a one year old daughter named Enid, which Niki confirms by finding Justine's license.

But the smoking gun itself comes from the clipping itself. The names of all of the kids driving in the cars that night who were involved in the Chicken game, it's the parents of the kids who were invited (including some maiden names so it wouldn't be super obvious. Oh man, Stine may have actually tried with a mystery here). James Whittle is the father of the now late Les, so that checks out. And, to add one more creepy little piece to this puzzle, the accident happened 28 years prior, so Justine is almost thirty. Holy 90210, Batman! Well that explains Stine's hornier than usual writing.

So now it's starting to fall into place. How Justine/Enid would have lived all over the world, all of the strange happenings. She planned to get revenge on the parents of Shadyside who killed her parents by killing their children. They try to tell the others about Justine, but she pretends like this is just another prank so no one buys it just yet. And, wouldn't you know it, it's getting late, so it's time for the last game of the night. She leads them to the dining room where Les is there, propped up like this book is about to take a Weekend at Bernie's turn. Sure enough, the others soon realize that, oh crap, Les really is dead.

Justine exits the room and locks the others in. She peers through the security window and tells them to look at the packages in front of their seats at the dinner table. Each containing a picture of Edmund and Cissy, her parents. She then tells them about the accident and everything we knew up to this point. And, as we already established, she's behind everything. She even did the banister thing to try and make herself less suspicious. Yeah, but pratfalling on a perfectly set couch makes it more suspicious though? So now that she has them all there, she'll finish her revenge. First by playing a tape of car wreckage and screaming, followed by setting the mansion on fire. Speaking of which, smoke begins to fill the room. 

As the kids panic, Niki notices the dining room dumbwaiter and realizes this might be their only chance to escape. She gets inside, but gets stuck for a moment before being able to escape into the basement. She finds Philip tied up and frees him. The two head outside and help the other kids out of the mansion. Also David's there now too. The bullies just left him by a storage shed, so when he woke up he called the cops. Philip tells them that after his brother and sister-in-law died, he raised Justine. But his bitterness over what befell them poisoned her mind. He was starting  to get ill and decided to move to the Cameron mansion. Justine soon arrived and with her now being in Shadyside plotted her revenge. 

So Philip and Justine sent the invitations, though Philip believed the worst this would go is a prank. When he realized she was going too far, he tried to intervene, only for Justine to attack him and tie him up. Justine shows up, furious that her revenge scheme failed. She begins to run at them, then changes course for the burning mansion. Terry and Alex manage to grab her and she's subdued in time. This brings some respect back between the two of them. The sun soon comes up and the group are happy that they survived Halloween, though it's always Halloween on Fear Street.

Halloween Party is good, but kind of a mess all told. What works is that Stine actually crafts a solid mystery. And for once doesn't drop every shoe super early. Aside from the mention of a lack of parents for Justine, the book does a fine enough job moving on from it and going into the eventual murder mystery. One with a logical enough reason to happen. Granted that yes, Justine's taking revenge on the innocent teens of the adults who killed her parents, it still makes sense when you consider her need to make them suffer like she's suffered her whole life. Terry and Niki are solid leads as well, though the "FunnyFace" nickname for Niki is a bit weird. Didn't bring it up in the run through, but yeah. Also, as I figured, the partially deaf stuff barely plays much into the story aside from the lip reading. Feeling more like a gimmick than a character's disability.

But where I feel this suffers is there are way too many characters. More than really needed. Characters like Les, Trisha, Angela and even Murphy sort of just fall into the background when the book gets going. Even the whole jocks vs wimps gimmick kind of just dies once we actually start moving into the actual mystery. We have interesting antagonists in Bobby and Marty, but Stine clearly didn't know how to bring them back into the plot after the first encounter. We get the fight with David, then we just move on to an "oh, they got tired and left" ending which even for Stine is super lame. The scares are also fine, though most feel pretty stock for this type of horror story. Though none ever make the book a chore to read through.

Overall, I'd call this one a positive and enough for a recommend. It feels like it spins its wheels in the middle, and feels too overstuffed with ideas, most of which never get any satisfying resolution. But, I still think it's a decent mystery, some solid horror, and an example of Stine actually trying, even if there's a bit too much trying for its own good. It's a Halloween treat bag filled with bars, but just like the really tiny fun-size ones. Still tasty, but not as satisfying as a fuller, more well built one. Halloween Party gets a B. 

It Was Acceptable in the 90s: Mr. Wizard references, Really rad CD sound systems, CDs, Aerobics classes, "Pump up the Jam"