The Stinal Countdown: The Definitive Ten #03: Stay Out of the Basement

"The search for the truth is the most important work in the world and the most dangerous." - Vincent Price. The Fly, 1958. 

Science and horror go hand in hand. The general question of the unknown being solved in horrendous fashion has been a part of horror from the age of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to the B-Horror era of the fifties and sixties. Mad science gone horribly wrong. In 1958, the first film adaptation of The Fly was released to theaters. The story of how scientist André Delambe created a matter transmitter, but when an arrant fly makes it way into the transmitter with him, he and the fly's DNA are mixed together. In 1986, David Cronenberg would also adapt The Fly, going for a heavier focus on the twisted and grotesque transformation of Seth Brundle as the fly DNA overtakes his own, turning him into a monster.

One year prior to that, Stuart Gordon directed Re-Animator. A horror comedy based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Another focus on science gone mad, in this case bringing the dead back to life. I bring both of these examples up as much like the focus of this Definitive Ten blog, the idea of science gone wrong and a DNA-mutilated scientist weren't new concepts when R.L. Stine started Goosebumps in 1992. And you can tell that much of those examples, along with many others were the skeleton that put together the book we've picked this time, Stay Out of the Basement. A book that not only is one of Stine's best works, but also perhaps his best book on the concept of science gone wrong.

What sets Stay Out of the Basement apart from most of the original series is its cover. Mainly due to not being an original Jacobus work. Horror artist Jim Thiesen was tasked with drawing the cover for the book. And thus it's the rare OG series book to feature a more black gradient for the shadows over Tim's blue-purple. It also feels so much its own thing, devoid of what you think of when it comes to Goosebumps, selling the horror with a more realistically detailed piece of art. No warping, less of a focus on more sillier imagery, but a realistic looking door and a very creepy looking hand gripping said door. It is an amazing work.

So let's compare with Tim's cover from 2003. I'm not as much of a fan of it as some are. I think it's a case of being a bit too over the top and way too busy. But I've warmed to it more over time. I do love the detail of the branches and leaves on Dr. Brewer's head, and the weird face on the tree head. It makes for a freaky image that stands out. This was also Tim's first digitally painted work and you can definitely tell as it lacks the detail often seen from his airbrushed style. Everything still works to create the image of Goosebumps I've mentioned bore. Absurdist concept with morbid implications. Pleasing to the eye and intriguing to the mind. 

The story is about Margaret Brewer and her younger brother Casey. Things have gotten weird lately. See, their father, Michael Brewer, was a botanist who worked for a lab called Polytech. But apparently his experiments were too much to handle and he was fired. Ever since then he's taken his work to his basement and is down there for hours on end. Not only that, but Dr. Brewer seems to have changed. He's been colder and more distant with his family, uncharacteristically angry if the kids so much as come near the basement and seems to be even more secretive about what he's doing down there. 

But while Mrs. Brewer is off in Tucson, things get weirder. Margaret spots her dad eating plant food, he has strange green leaves in his hair, he serves the kids a strange mulch-like slop, his arm bleeds green blood and he sleeps on a bed of dirt and worms. It soon becomes evident what Dr. Brewer was doing. Trying to create a creature that is part-plant, part human. However, we also learn that this Dr. Brewer, the one who the family have been living with, is actually a plant clone. Brewer's experiment made manifest. And when both Dr. Brewers come face to face, who truly is the real deal?

What works in Stay Out of the Basement's favor is that it ultimately is a story about trust. What happens when the people you've known your whole life suddenly become untrustworthy? And what if that person is a family member? Both this book and Monster Blood hit on this concept quite well, handling it in two unique enough ways. For Monster Blood, it's about trusting a family member you live with to have the best intentions for you, and isn't out to hurt you. Evan's major issue with Kathryn is that her brash demeanor and cruelty makes Evan think that she hates him. That at really any time, she could kill him. It's a good sense of tension and fear that I do think is lost as Goosebumps goes on. 

In the case of Stay Out of the Basement, it's a case of a parent completely changing to the part that his children don't know who he is anymore. Which for a kid that is some compelling horror. What if your family wasn't who you thought they were? What if the same people you knew your whole life changed in an instant? And what if it wasn't for the better? You can definitely tell this is a case with early Goosebumps as much of that "too real" horror element disappeared over time. So when you come back to this book, or read it after some of the later works, it becomes super noticeable and makes this book stand out among its contemporaries. 

The horror also stands out when we see the true dark creations inside t he basement by Dr. Brewer. Tomatoes with human faces, plants with human features. Almost a museum of failures until Dr. Brewer created his masterpiece. However, that masterpiece came with accidentally mixing his DNA with his plant creature, creating a perfect copy of himself. Only more evil and more leafy. And that's what makes for a really great villain in general. While maybe the clone Dr. Brewer wasn't smart enough to maybe just keep the basement door locked or bolted shut, he still managed to almost get away with the scheme. While The Fly is a great reference, it also feels a lot like Dr. Curt Connors, AKA The Lizard from Spider-Man. How an experiment gone wrong turned Connors into the Lizard and both minds trying to control the other. 

While it may not have been Stine's intentions or maybe they were, what I feel this book nails is the fallibility of science. How despite the advancements the human race have achieved, anything can and could go wrong. Maybe not in a "turn you into a tree man" way, but you get the idea. The best science fiction horror comes from that concept. To bring back my quote from earlier, "The search for the truth is the most important work in the world and the most dangerous." Was what befell Dr. Brewer truly an accident, or was this an inevitability? The costly toll of going too far in the name of science. 

So now that I've discussed a lot of what works, I'll now get into this book's problems. And while they aren't as blatantly bad as Say Cheese and Die's, they stick out like a sore green thumb. The biggest issue I have is just the pacing in general. We have the kids end up in the basement four times throughout the story. And each time, while Dr. Brewer gets more and more suspicious and more threatening, it's also on him for not locking the door well enough that two kids could easily access it. There's also the climax, where the book started by mentioning how Margaret is surprised her dad doesn't call her "Princess" (or "Fatso", what the hell Stine?) anymore. So when we get to the inevitable "who's the real one and who's the clone" scene, for the Princess line to just be thrown away and not important just feels weak. 

Though I'll at least forgive it for still feeling like a heat of the moment issue. How can you be certain that the clone doesn't know the exact same nicknames that the original knows? He is an exact copy of Margaret's father, save for the plant DNA, so he may have his memories intact as well. Just not his demeanor. It still feels really goofy though, to make it feel like it's the big thing that matters only for it to be a super early screw the audience bit from Stine. So less the worst thing ever, more just a conflicted issue. Aside from that and the pacing issues, everything else works perfectly well.

As for the twist, it's not bad. Yes, it's very goofy to think that Margaret somehow noticed a flower touching her shoe and saying he's her dad, but for a creepy visual to go out on it works. The episode version though is overkill, going from a generally freaky idea to going full "I'm Spartacus" with other flowers chiming in. Definitely a case where Stine succeeded far better than the episode. As for the episode, it's also solid. It's a two-parter that, save for certain scenes and character changes, stays in line with the book as perfectly as possible. And it still retains the creepy vibe that Dr. Brewer gives off. Props to actor Judah Katz for bringing in enough of the intended creep factor from the book.

As for the legacy of the book, this has surprisingly never been given a sequel. Although there was a similarly thought out idea in the Goosebumps stage show. Only it's an attic not a basement, and it's alien lizards, not plant-based science run amok. More of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers take than even Stay Out of the Basement felt like. Dr. Brewer has still appeared in a few video games including the most recent Dead of Night, so the series has never forgotten about this book. It honestly feels refreshing that we have a book that didn't get an unnecessary sequel. R.L. Stine and Scholastic showing restraint. Now that's a real plot twist.

And yes, I'll once again bring up how a lot of this plot feels like both a midlife crisis and a "late blooming homosexual" allegory. I mean, Dr. Brewer starts acting weird, the wife leaves, he's trying new foods, his hair changes color, he's trying a new sleep method, and the climax of the book features him in his underwear tied in the basement with Mr. Martinez, his partner at Polytech. Like, it's super plain as day. Probably one of the more notable takes on either allegory from these books. Again, that's me reading a lot into these books, but it's also my blog so if ever there was a place to present my crackpot crack theories, then look no further. Wrestling references and gay theories are pretty much my bread and butter at this point.

I look at the concept of the Definitive Ten as the ten books that stand out above the others to offer something fresh and unique enough to be considered super memorable. And few books land that mark as well as Stay Out of the Basement. Giving off a setting and idea that would be scary to kids, while offering enough of an entry into the bizarre to also be unforgettable. And few do it as well as plant dad. And while the tropes and concept are nothing new, it's a rare case where Stine's take feels all its own. So much so that it stands as a time capsule of the embryonic days of Goosebumps as Stine was trying to find what worked. And this, more so than Dead House, nails a better thought out and paced horror story. Even in 1992, when horror and mad science had seemingly been run into the ground, somehow Stine managed to make a book that blossomed into a certified classic. Just, if you're creating a weird human plant hybrid in your basement, perhaps invest in a good lock.