The Stinal Countdown: The Un-Bumped Six: Zombie Town

Another book to cover for The Un-Bumped Six, the six standalone R.L. Stine books released shortly after his exit from Scholastic and the end of Goosebumps. And this is definitely one I'm very intrigued by. But oh how so many covers let me down. Though Stine's decent enough with Zombies, we might be in for something decent. Lets go take a trip to Zombie Town.

COVER STORY

This cover is bad ass in every aspect. It is top tier Tim Jacobus. I love the design of the ticket booth itself and the great yellow glow bouncing off the glass. Even the cute little touch of adding Zombies to the pricing there, but really? Making the dead pay more? Tsk tsk. And then there's the zombie. Wild hair, decayed teeth, the eye hanging from the socket, trying to break free from the booth. It's one of the best zombie designs we've ever gotten from Tim and really makes this one perhaps the book from the Um-Bumped Six that I'm most excited to go through. 

STORY

Another Stine intro. This time he mentions how when he was a kid his house and school were between a graveyard. He opted to not cross through the graveyard just in case. He also brings up the history of zombies in folklore and media. From Draugrs to Night of the Living Dead. In fact, it's the idea of a dark movie theater that was the inspiration for this book.

Mike and his friend Karen are about to go to the movies. Well, Mike would rather play Diablo III, which wasn't even out yet, especially in the mid-2000s, though it did come out around the time this book got a rerelease so maybe it was an add-on? Karen really wants to see Zombie Town, a major horror movie coming to theaters. Mike, not so much. See, Mike's scared of everything, especially zombies, but Karen tells him not to wimp out since zombies aren't real. So, Mike decides to go through with it, though he already regrets it. 

They arrive at the theater, but nobody else is there. Odd, considering this was such a hyped movie. Mike and Karen go inside and take their seats and the movie begins. No previews, no commercials, not even any trivia questions. Just on with the show. The film begins as two kids are just about to be attacked by a zombie. Suddenly, the lights go out in the theater and things get eerily silent. Mike thinks this means they can leave, but Karen believes it might just be a projection issue. But when they go to leave, the aisle door is stuck. As if someone locked them in.

The kids head for the closest exit, but then smell something foul. As if it's something decaying. They then hear shuffling noises. They soon see that it's a zombie. Not just any zombie, but the one that was in the movie and had just eaten the two kids. Mike and Karen panic and try to escape, but now more zombies are in the theater, ready to catch them. They try the balcony, but the door handles to the exit straight up just break off in Mike's hands. As the zombies corner them again, Mike wails on one of the zombies with the handle. They then finally find an emergency door and finally escape.

Karen then says she's figured out what's up with the zombies. It's all definitely a publicity stunt for the movie. Mike says that was going pretty damn far for a publicity stunt, but then realizes the zombies didn't follow them out of the theater. Suddenly, a bus starts driving erratically and almost hits the kids. They stop at a Kwikee-Mart (a Simpsons reference from Stine? Have I died and gone to heaven?) to use the payphone. But they don't get an answer. In fact, they don't see anyone around. It's as if this town became some sort of living dead town or something.

They head home as another car speeds off erratically. But as they head to their neighborhood, they see things strewn about as if everyone just vanished. Oh god, I better not be reading R.L. Stine's Left Behind. Karen, still the skeptic, thinks there's some logical explanation. The two head to their homes as Mike notices his parents, his brother Zach and their dog Zipper (definitely the best dog name in a while) watching an infomercial. However, when Mike takes a look at them, he notices they're all dead. All zombies. Like in some gory detail to the flesh hanging off their faces and drooping eyeballs. Actual effort in the details. And then Dad's ear falls off like he's Van Gogh.

Mike then figures it out. Everyone in town is a zombie, even his parents. He runs out of the house and tries to warn Karen. But he's too late, she's a zombie now too. All of the zombies begin to advance on Mike, with nowhere to go. 

TWIST ENDING

We then go to film director Martin McNair talking to a focus group of kids about his new movie. They like it, especially the special effects. Though they didn't care for turning Karen into a zombie, nor how the movie ended with Mike being killed either. So yeah, we were going through the movie all this time. As they talk, they hear the noises of a zombie nearby and worry if maybe there are zombies after all.

CONCLUSION

This one was fine. Again, it feels like this was also planned for a Triple Header book, giving us the three likely candidates for the cancelled Triple Header 3 book (The 13th Warning, My Alien Parents and Zombie Town). What makes it work is the very gory designs of the zombies, as well as some tense moments. And the big reveal of Mike's family being rotting corpses is an actually freaky moment. Some actual horror that actually works to be creepy. That feels rare for Stine's stuff, but when he nails it, he really nails it. 

The pacing of the book is fine, but again is rushed due to just being about sixty pages long. Though that also means we don't spend a lot of time spinning wheels to pad us into over 100+ pages like many a middling Goosebumps book. As for the twist, it's probably the best way to end this book. I got worried for a moment that this was all going to be a dream, but having us follow the events of a movie is a more fun outcome, even having it end somewhat like The Blob That Ate Everyone. Although I do feel there's a meta element to this, with how it's kids criticizing a horror work. Definitely some Stine projecting here. But that's far from bad as it leaves with a book that's pretty standard fare for zombie stories, but still fun enough for a quick read. Zombie Town gets an A-.