Thoughts on Ghoul Games

Well, the latter end of the two 2027 Goosebumps House of Shivers releases has been revealed. It was known for a while the the book's title was going to be Ghoul Games, but we didn't have much of a concrete answer as to what exactly a title like that would entail exactly. But now we have both a synopsis and the official cover artwork (dropped on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 of all days, but whatever), it's time to gather my thoughts on this book. I mean this has been a recurring segment of the blog since Camp Bigfoot, and since we have like eleven months before we can review this one, it's only fair to give some early thoughts on this one as well.

I'll start with the cover this time. I don't hate this cover to be honest. But it's definitely a case of being the most "it's a cover" that I've felt in a long time for a Goosebumps cover. I don't mind the designs of Retch and Heeve, even if the male ghoul (I'm guessing that's Retch) has a weird Frankenstein's monster-looking head to him. I do think the female ghoul (Heeve I'm assuming, watch me be wrong and it's the other way around) is the more better designed, giving her a much more creepy and intense face over the male's. I will say it's odd that the male is dressed more normally for a kid in the 2020s and the female's wearing a dress that almost looks out of Little House on the Prairie. The dress also looks weirdly off, like it's more airbrushed in comparison to everything else in the art. But those nitpicks aside, I do think they feel just right as far as cover monsters go. 

What I don't like is the color scheme. Why yellow? Why a very piss yellow? It's definitely a color I feel doesn't get used much for cover art, but here it really clashes with the art. It also makes everything too bright, which doesn't work when you have two ghouls as the monsters of the cover. I guess it's to represent putting something dark and creepy in a bright and normal setting, but I just don't think it works. I think this could have been something looking much better with a darker purple or blue to really make the ghouls pop and feel creepier in a creepier looking area. 

The most important thing I hope comes out of this cover art is that we finally put to bed the AI allegations. I look at this cover and it's clear that Robert Ball has been paying attention to the criticisms over the recent few covers. Nothing in this art really gives off the feeling of AI that could be suspected in covers like Camp Bigfoot or How to Train Your Dummy. In fact, this feels closer to his early works for House of Shivers, giving me the more artistic vibe of a cover like Goblin Monday. I also see the easy criticism that this cover is not scary and I definitely agree. I think Goosebumps, especially with this set of covers, is leaning more into horror comedy, which is fine. That's what Goosebumps is in the grand scheme. I see a lot of people attempt Goosebumps covers but forget the key element that the art first and foremost has to be more scary fun than just scary. Ball has definitely been trying to find that happy medium with his works, regardless if his content has or hasn't been as good as the likes of Dorman or Jacobus. But I do feel we've lost so much of the more scary elements of the covers, especially in this run, that you can tell it's been tricky to get that medium just right.

Now for my thoughts on the plot itself. The synopsis given right now is that a girl named Cindy Smith has to deal with her creepy new neighbors, mainly the two kids, a pair of ghouls named Retch and Heeve. The ghouls go to Ghoul School and must pass their test of scaring humans in order to graduate. So, in other words, this feels like a redo of sorts to You Can't Scare Me! Only instead of mud monsters, it's ghouls and instead of one perfect unscareable girl, it's a girl who has to deal with two goofy ghouls. And as a premise, I don't hate it to be honest. Seeing a lot of people mixed on it, but I think if it's done right, this could work. Provided Stine puts good work into how Retch and Heeve attempt their scares. I think you can provide some fun comedy with a premise like that. Two monsters who fail badly at their mission until they likely succeed by the end. It's not a wholly original idea, hell, a similar idea exists in Ghosts of Fear Street with Why I'm Not Afraid of Ghosts, but if Stine tried with this one it does at least have a chance to be good. 

My concern is with the twist mostly. What is going to be the ending to this story? What is going to be the big reveal at the end? That Cindy's also a monster or a ghost or something supernatural that isn't afraid of Ghouls? We've treaded on that ground a lot, hell, What We Do At Night ends with an out of nowhere "Oh Noah can transform into a cat" ending. And it's not like Stine's never been keen to just redo the same twists ad infinitum. I think the best way to end this would be a twist where Cindy manages to do something so simple and mundane that it still scares Retch and Heeve. The book's route clearly is going for comedy, so end on a fun comedic twist. Something unique or out of the box. Just don't end the book with "and then the vampires moved in". 

Overall, I think this is a rare case of a House of Shivers book that I'm actually intrigued by and kind of can't wait to read. It's modern Stine, so I'm not exactly expecting it to be any incredible classic, but Camp Bigfoot this year at least proved that he can still give us something solid if he puts his heart into something. 2027's going to be an interesting year when it comes to the two books we're getting out of the series. Another dummy book sounds like the absolute shits to have to read through, but the book that follows at least shows more promise. Not sure how much longer House of Shivers is planned to run for. By all accounts this very well could be Stine's last series depending on how long this goes and how much longer we have him for. Dude turns 83 in a month's time and hopefully we got him for another decade or more, but you know, cherish him while we got him. Doesn't mean I'm not going to shit on a bad book, but I'll at least be appreciative we're still getting stuff from him period. And at least we're still getting some fun premises like Ghoul Games. It's just fully down to how passionate he was in making this one good. We'll see in August '27.