Horrific Hindsight: R.L. Stine and Point

Without Point there would be no Fear Street. Without Point there would be no Goosebumps. 

That might be hyperbole, but everything starts with first steps. And for not just for R.L. Stine but the entire 90s horror wave in general, it might have been a different landscape if things hadn't fallen into place like they did. Point was a book line by Scholastic in the 80s that was focused on a teen market. It also capitalized on the growing popularity of horror and thrillers within said teen market. Which given this was the era of Freddy, Jason and so many other slasher icons, it's not hard to see why it would be a market that would be worth milking. It technically started in 1979 with Arthur Roth's book Avalanche, but by 1985, the series was up and rolling. And in 1986, Robert Lawrence Stine, an author from Ohio who was trying to make his name in the literary world, though namely by doing work for licensed properties like Indiana Jones, G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe, would be on board. Stine was a longtime horror fan, having grown up in the age of the pre-comics code horror comics, B-horror and works like The Twilight Zone. The latter ol' Jovial Bob loved to crib for Goosebumps.

But there was one horror work that I believe shaped Stine's approach to horror more than anything else and that's Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Namely that of the concept of split personalities for the villain. And it shows in much of his work for Fear Street, but especially in much of his work for Point. As early as his first horror novel, 1986's Blind Date. A boy named Kerry Hart is called by a girl named Mandy who asks him out for a blind date. He accepts, but as time goes on, more dangerous things keep happening. Despite thinking it's his brother Donald, who was put into a mental institution after a car accident killed his girlfriend Amanda, it turns out that this Mandy was Amanda's sister, only to THEN be revealed as a girl from the institution who believed herself to be Amanda's sister. This would follow with Twisted, a book about a girl named Abby Wallis who wants to be a part of the Tri Gamma sorority, but also seems to be a bit broken. It turns out that she has a split personality and also believes herself to be a sister she manifested named Gabriella. So yeah, poor mental health and Dissociative Identity Disorder would become Stine's crutches.

But still, Point's success with Scholastic would be attributed not just to Stine but many other authors added to the mix. Christopher Pike, Diane Hoh, Richie Tankersley Cusick, Sinclair Smith, D.E. Athkins and more. And as the series continued to build with more horror works, the series would become Point Horror (namely called that in the UK releases of the books) and run throughout the 80s and 90s, Stine's works being chief among them. He would continue with books like Hit and Run, The Snowman, I Saw You That Night!, The Girlfriend, The Boyfriend, Call Waiting, The Dead Girfriend and more. But the book that would become synonymous with Stine and Point would be 1989's The Babysitter. The story of a girl named Jenny Jeffers who babysits for the Hagen family. However, she gets threatening phone calls and strange things keep happening. She soon discovers the father, Mike Hagen, has been killing babysitters as revenge for one's negligence resulting in the death of his daughter. The book's success would leave to three more sequels which are contentious at best.

In fact, The Babysitter IV would be Stine's final book for the Point line in 1995. It's unclear as to why this was his last work for the Point book series. It would continue on for another decade before coming to an end, followed by a very brief return in 2013. It's not fully clear why Stine stopped with Point, but I think I can guess the main reason for it. See, in the middle of his work for the Point books, Stine had found success with his own horror book series, Fear Street, which in turn led Scholastic to suggest Stine try his hand in horror books for kids and thus Goosebumps was born. And by mid-1995 Goosebumps was entering peak popularity which likely meant it became more of a priority for Stine and Scholastic than his work with Point. Which of course led to good fortunes for the brand, but also what could be looked at as the beginning of the end of the good vibes from both sides as not long after would begin the legal woes over the Goosebumps IP. 

So what are my thoughts on Stine's Point offerings? Honestly, they may be his ultimate mixed bag of quality. Some surprisingly good efforts followed by a lot of mid to horrible offerings. Of the nineteen books by him about half earned somewhere between B- to F. It's the series with three F's to its name, the most I believe I've ever given to any series, though Fear Street and Goosebumps have come close. The reasons mainly come from the plots themselves as well as the main characters. You get a wide gamut of unlikeable protagonists. Either overly love obsessed, or a character who is too much of a jerk to really root for. Or, in the case of one particular book, taking the trauma of the character and screwing everything up to such a degree that it not just ruins that book, but damages the whole series with that character in general. It's also a lot of his crutches. Poor mental health, jilted romances, and a lot of pet murder. Stine loves him some dead pets.

And now comes time to rank all 18 Stine books in the Point series. Now normally I rank them from worst to best. But since this list ended up so bottom heavy, I'm flip flopping, going from the best book I've read from Point all the way to the worst. And there's a trio of F-tier books at the bottom fighting for king of shit. Who will take that crown? Let's get ranking and find out.

#01: THE HITCHHIKER: Stine may not be perfect, but sometimes he gets it right. And that's because the swerve of the story actually works and actually catches you off guard. That for all the time we thought the amazingly named James Dark could be the villain, instead it's Christina and Terri, who in any other situation would be the victims of the story. Stine books live and die by the twist and very rarely does he get in a twist that actually benefits the book. Having a reversal of who the heroes and villains are makes the mystery work so much better. And we get a harrowing finale with a piranha pit that's so cartoony that it turns around into being awesome. Everything works. And the book actually is a fun enough read that never feels too dull or too padded. This might be the best case of Stine trying and it actually working out. 

#02:  THE SNOWMAN: I liked this one more than I thought I would going in. And I think it's because the plot is actually good. Protagonist Heather wants her uncle dead. And in so many other Stine book contexts, this would be grounds for her being a horrible character. But here, that's not the case as her uncle is controlling her inheritance and is really just a piece of shit. So when Heather's mysterious new boyfriend Snowman kills her and then blackmails her, you actually do want to see her get out of this. That Snowman does feel like a threat in the grand scheme. This is a rare example of using these tropes well as I feel Stine has tried similar plots afterward to mixed results. Mainly in Fear Street with books like Final Grade and The Cheater. Thankfully this is a book that didn't melt under pressure, making it one of the better Point Stine books. 

#03: THE BABYSITTER: The Babysitter is far from anything original. A babysitter fearing that someone is out there, ready to hurt her. But I think it still works as Jenny is a likable protagonist, there is some good horror and tension, and the villain is actually well done here. Mr. Hagen being a man obsessed with revenge for the death of his daughter at the hands of a negligent babysitter. I think the tension when Jenny is in the car with Mr. Hagen is some of Stine's best work. And it leads to a strong climax. A situation that you could easily understand why it haunts Jenny for pretty much the entire series. Again, hindsight hurts this entire series, but when it comes to a good first impression, The Babysitter does a good job in at least making you want more, even if it really, REALLY shouldn't have given you more.

#04: THE DEAD GIRLFRIEND: This book doesn't really do anything new, but I do think it's the best handling of Stine's tropes than usual. You have a likable protagonist who you do want to see survive, the mysterious boy turns out to be likable in his own right, the villain twist makes sense given the other characters are way too red herring coded. It has an excuse to kill a pet that is so silly that it makes me laugh. There's some decent horror and it flows quite well. Is it tropey as hell? You better believe it. But it's a rare occasion where said tropes don't completely drag the book down to feeling too bland. It's not a book that will rock anyone's world, but it is a case where I do feel Stine put in the effort and it actually turned out rock solid. Good stuff.

#05: THE BOYFRIEND: This is one of the rare occasions for me where I think the book benefits from having a horrible person as the protagonist. Because the point being made is that she's getting a taste of her own medicine for hurting so many people. It's like if Silent Night had actually stuck to teaching Reva Dalby a lesson for how her actions affect others instead of just hard resetting in the sequels and making her a cu-But what makes Joanna Collier work is that I do think her actions do stick to her. That this experience would hopefully change her. And there are some good horror pieces by Dex constantly tricking her into thinking he's dead. The swerve of Mary as the mastermind is one I actually like and the reasoning makes sense. I also just really like that the "villains" win in the end, that they break Joanna mentally and it may have fixed her.. They live happily ever after while Joanna loses. The right kind of twist for this type of story. Shame he couldn't do that for Reva...

#06: THE BABYSITTER II: Stine's sequels are usually not very good. More often than not because there's really no need for a sequel to many of these stories. The Babysitter really didn't need a sequel, but this is still okay. The story does a fine enough job with Jenny and building her constant fear of Mr. Hagen returning somehow from the dead. Of course, hindsight being what it is, that becomes regrettable in the grand scheme, but here it's fine. That being said a lot of it does tread familiar ground. She babysits a kid, creepy things happen, but at least here it's far from the worst use of the tried and true formula. The villain and their reasonings are a bit of a stretch, as if Stine tried for the most out there choice for the villain of this one, but he's done far worse when it comes to that. If this series were a two and done, it would have been fine.

#07: TWISTED: This one has a neat premise involving the Tri Gamma sorority and the big test to see who's worthy of joining. I even like the multi-layered twist of the robbery failing and Mrs. Driftwood faking her death. That this is just how the initiation always goes and usually without incident. What makes the book interesting is Abby because I feel the split personality twist does feel tacked on. Not in a "completely destroys the book" sort of way, but in a way to give Abby much of anything aside from her desperate need to join the Tri Gams. Because I guess Stine figured the whole mystery being a ruse from the get go wouldn't be enough of a twist. It's also a better handling of the split personality than most, so it at least gets points for that. As just good enough as a book can get. 

#08: THE GIRLFRIEND: There's a decent book in this, but it does fall into the formula. Girl with bad mental health, scary threats and stuff of that ilk. And not one, but TWO pet murders. Oh how Bob spoils us. But where The Boyfriend gives us an ending that actually feels beneficial all around, this just feels lame.  Scotty, the protagonist, is a whiny rich boy who wants to go to Princeton, still ends up winning in the end when honestly if Shannon had finished him off, I would have cheered. He falls into that Reva category, only less a snotty bitch to everyone and more an asshole who messes around with relationships and whines when his world of bullshit may be about to crash down on him. This plot honestly was done so much better in Fear Street with Double Date. And that one came with free tattoos! 

#09: BEACH PARTY: There's a party and we're barely invited. Because despite the title, the actual beach party doesn't matter that much to the plot of the story. But what you do get is a book that feels like so many other Stine books. Girl falls for mysterious boy, strange things happen, she almost gets killed, she keeps getting threats to stay away, and the big reveal is, you guessed it, the boy has a split personality. This time with the boy thinking he's his dead brother. It all fits in a package that by all means is far from the worst read out there, and if it was your first Stine book it would probably come out fine for you. But I read a good chunk of Fear Street and Point to know I've heard this story over and over and over again. 

#10: BLIND DATE: The first Stine horror book is a decent effort, but it is very much his first book. Chapters are paced weirdly, there's a real sense of plot padding and it definitely drags. And it's where he starts to find some of his most notorious tropes, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The swerve of who Mandy really is feels like Stine being stuck in a corner and decided "eh, screw it. Girl from a mental institution, that's good enough." I will say the mystery is at least decent up until the big reveal and I can't fully hate on what was his first work. Just judge it as a case of something that definitely needed a lot more work to be great. 

#11: BEACH HOUSE: Sometimes weird Stine can really work to make for a fun book. And sometimes, it's a convoluted mess that feels like an asspull. That's what this book ultimately is. Because it's about a killer teen who finds a beach house that has, of all things, a time traveling closet. Why? How is there a time traveling closet? I don't know and the book does a piss poor job in doing so. But even with the allure of a time travel closet, there really isn't much that makes this one stand out all too much from most of his other works. It's also a book I feel fits more in line with a Fear Street plot than with his Point works which (for the most part) are more grounded in some form of reality. Yes, I think this is a plot too goofy for even the works of R.L. Stine.

#12: I SAW YOU THAT NIGHT!: This is as bog standard a Stine story as you can get. Your basic story about a girl witnessing a murder and trying to survive the mystery. It's nothing new, which doesn't quite help it stand out too much. But it's low for a reason and that's the random as hell R-slur early in the book. You rarely if ever get much swearing in a Stine teen book. He's as safe a teen author as you could ask for. So him randomly belting out a slur still caught me off guard. And I don't really care if that word has been reclaimed, or that you're cool with it, it still feels way off base for what Scholastic and Stine are usually known for. Though his decision to give main character Roxie a pet turtle only for it to almost immediately be killed via hammer is so over the top it made me laugh.

#13: THE BABYSITTER IV: So Stine shit the bed bad with The Babysitter III which we'll get to. And this all feels like an attempt to make good. Him saying "I'm sorry I committed character assassination on Jenny." "I'm sorry I keep hinting supernatural stuff and not delivering". And thus we get this book where now suddenly ghosts and the undead DO exist in this universe. So two whole books of Jenny's trauma of Mr. Hagen returning could have been founded and her reputation not fucked with. But even with the supernatural shark jump, it doesn't make for a book that's all that fun to read, still feeling like the mess of the third book never really went away, but not being able to do much to salvage the tarnished feeling of the series. Yes, book three's ending really did that much damage. 

#14: HALLOWEEN NIGHT: If this was a one and done, it probably wouldn't have ranked so low, but the sequel ends up dragging it down with it. It doesn't help that the protagonist Brenda comes off rather unlikable and her obsession with getting back at Halley and constantly thinking Halley is the one sending evil threats to her doesn't exactly make me want to root for her. When she goes for the elaborate scheme to murder Halley legit that doesn't help either. It makes me want to root for this book finishing early. Unfortunately we can't all be so lucky. Even with the frustrations to the plot, the rest of the book is standard fare Stine. Why this needed a sequel is beyond me, but man I wish he didn't.

#15: HIT AND RUN: So this book can easily be summed up in two words: Fuck Winks. Fuck everyone else for that matter, but Winks, oh fuck him the hardest. This book doesn't really do too much original in a story that is straight up done to death. A group of kids run over someone and try to hide the fact from everyone. Only here it was a corpse of a homeless man used by Eddie, the kid that the main characters mainly bullied and mocked for being so scared. The homeless man corpse belonging to his cousin Jerry who just plays around with body parts like a sick fuck. So ultimately the wrong characters win and the book just has this gross air of "homeless people are worthless and you can play with their corpses for fun, who cares?" I'd say it's Stine's most tone deaf book, but there have been far worse cases than this if you can believe it.

#16: CALL WAITING: The first of three books I gave an F to, this one might be the most insufferable book from Stine that I've ever read. The protagonist Karen sucks so much. An unlikable, overly jealous, overly paranoid girl who fears her boyfriend being taken by anyone, so she lies about getting threatening calls to garner sympathy. The villain reveal sucks because we have to turn the best friend character into someone also obsessed over a boy who has to lose in the end despite nothing in the book making me want to see Karen win in the end. The book really should have went with the idea that the later calls are in Karen's head. Her guilt for her actions getting the best of her. But nope! Awful person gets to win in the end and I guess we're supposed to be happy about that. Add in that the plot really doesn't start rolling until halfway into the book and this being rife with Goosebumps-esque chapter stingers and you have yourself a bad time. 

#17: HALLOWEEN NIGHT II: God this book annoyed the hell out of me. First off it's a sequel, which never bodes well. But it's also a sequel to a book I didn't like so that definitely doesn't bode well. Brenda is even more unlikable and somehow even more stupid. Still blaming Halley for all of the new creepy things happening to her, which are all just rehashes from the last book. There's this plot with a strange man after Brenda but, like, the book makes the reasoning so super obvious that it's just annoying as hell. And the villain's motivations are the gamut of some of Stine's shittiest go to's. Jealousy over a boy and because she's fat. Because it's either mental health, jealousy, weight issues or all three. And so rarely does he get any of them to work for a satisfying conclusion. Stine's tropes are so fucking bad. 

There's also a scene where it should be obvious to everyone that Angela was the villain. The most obvious fucking calling card ever, but Brenda ignores it. And ignores the idea that one of her friends could try to hurt her, despite, you know, THE ENTIRE FUCKING PLOT OF THE LAST BOOK BEING THAT HER PREVIOUS BEST FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HER. This is pure "Why Stine is bad at sequels" in that so much of the important plot points from the first book get brushed aside only for the book to do similar variants to less than stellar results. And I don't buy the ending. Brenda tried to hang Halley at one point, like fuck she's suddenly all "maybe Halley's not to bad after all". Probably the worst Stine Point book from start to finish. But not the one that made me the most angry.

#18: THE BABYSITTER III: From start to finish, Halloween Night II is a far worse book than this. But like I said earlier. Stine's books live and die by the twist. If the twist is strong it can elevate the book. If it's bad, it can damage it immensely. A bad twist is bad enough, but when it's in the third book of a series and does catastrophic damage to the whole series in general, then you have a problem. Because nothing I've covered has had as catastrophic a twist as The Babysitter III. We spent two and three quarters of this series focusing on Jenny Jeffers and since book two focusing on her trauma when it comes to Mr. Hagen. Something that she fears so much that she thinks that Mr. Hagen could somehow return despite falling to his death in a rock quarry. So what does Stine do with that trauma, you might ask? Why he just turns Jenny into the villain of the series and has her start to think she IS Mr. Hagen, that's what. 

I have done a whole side blog on why this twist is damaging and why it represents the worst when it comes to how Stine portrays mental health. When I say Psycho was a definite inspiration for how he writes, I mean it. He wants his own big split personality moment to shock people like how he probably was the first time he saw the ending to Psycho. He wants his Norman Bates moment. The problem is that every time he tries a split personality, it feels gimmicky, like the only way he can turn around a story that's falling apart. Make the villain have a split personality. And sometimes he gets it right enough that it doesn't hurt the overall package. Here though, he took the main character of the series, the character you're supposed to sympathize with, whose trauma and fear are serious and horrific and just decides to make her the villain. Not just the villain, but to twist the knife in oh so roughly, make her think she's the man who tried to kill her. Deny Jenny any possible happy ending because fuck you for reading these books, I guess. 

Very few books make me legitimately angry. Most just annoy me. But there are rare cases where the experience just angers me. This angered me. This is hands down the worst twist ending he's ever done and he's had some bad ones. Here it's just a rotten fuck you to the reader and a horrible disservice to the main character who he wanted us to spend all that time caring about. And like I said, I think he knew he fucked up. That's why The Babysitter IV tries to move from the Hagen stuff, and adds supernatural elements. A make good that didn't make anything but a big mess. And even if The Babysitter IV was a good book, it doesn't change the fact that this book exists and the damage it did to the series. If the series gave us Zombie Mr. Hagen after teasing the idea, honestly, too little too late. The Babysitter saga are easily the books Stine is best known for from Point, for good and definitely bad reasons.

Point is the most important series when it comes to the history of Stine and the horror book boom that came. It is where Stine started out, and where he found his writing style. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it led to Fear Street and Goosebumps. Bad because the tropes he found he stuck to like glue. And because of those tropes, a lot of his work feels too samey for the most part. There are examples of him bucking those tropes which actually deliver his best works, and also cases where those tropes can lead to his worst ideas. It's an interesting 18 books to be sure. I will say I feel it's his weakest stuff, especially as the works progressed and Stine was already deep into the Fear Street and Goosebumps eras because he started adding tropes from those books into these as well. They are a mess of a batch of books. Important to the grand scheme, but still a mess regardless. 

But now that I'm done with Stine I can actually start talking about the other writers who worked for Point. We dabbled so little into them, so now I have no excuse. Mainly to see how the works of others contrasted to how Stine handled his horror. Point's an interesting era for teen horror books and we just scratched the surface.