Gooseblog: Goosebumps #9: Welcome To Camp Nightmare

One of the settings Goosebumps is often best remembered for is the camp setting. There are several within the core 62, and perhaps the best remembered is the original campfire tale. So pitch a tent and take a hike, it's time for Welcome To Camp Nightmare AKA Survival of the Kiddest.

COVER STORY

After a weak cover last time, Jacobus is back on track with this creepy cover. The colors are vivid with the hazy orange sky, the billowing light from the tent, and the ominous eyes and hand getting ready to attack the unsuspecting campers within. You want a cover that represents the title in spades, then Camp Nightmare's cover does a top notch job.

STORY

The story this time centers around a boy named Billy, who is on his way to spend the summer at Camp Nightmoon. On the bus he meets a bunch of kids including overly cool kid Colin, token chubby kid Mike, sporty Jay, and two girls from the girls camp named Dawn and Dori. After the bus  driver scares the kids with a monster mask, he suddenly drops them off in the middle of nowhere. The kids get to know each other until they get attacked by wolves. It seems like a quick ending for Billy until the sound of gunfire chases the wolves away. The counselors from Camp Nightmoon arrive to pick up the campers, led by the director of the camp, a man named Uncle Al. The kids get situated and meet their bunk counselor named Larry, who doesn't seem to be all that happy to take care of these kids.

Not even a minute into getting situated in their bunk and Mike gets attacked by snakes in his bed. A snake bites hard into his hand, causing a rather nasty wound. Mike goes to find a nurse while the others get rid of the snakes. After that fiasco, Mike returns with his hand still bleeding. It turns out that Camp Nightmoon doesn't have any nurses. It's every camper for themselves. That night, the kids learn about some of the camps urban legends including the forbidden bunk, and a creature that roams the woods known as Sabre. They play a game of base-I mean scratchball and Larry beans Colin in the back of the head with the ball. Maybe if they took a picture beforehand it could have warned them of this. Larry takes Mike and Colin to get checked up. Colin returns, but Mike suddenly vanishes.

The next night, the kids decide to go visit the forbidden bunk, but Billy and Colin (still woozy from the ball to the noggin) opt out. It doesn't matter however, as they soon hear screams from the bunk. They go to the bunk and hear from Jay that a kid named Roger was torn to shreds by Sabre. The other kids manage to escape without any bodily harm.  They try to tell Larry about it, but he just shrugs it off. Things get even more bizarre as Larry tells them afterwards that there's no record of any Roger at all. So clearly there's some sort of conspiracy going on, and Billy is getting more concerned with each passing event. This gets compounded when he runs into Dawn and Dori, who tell him that the exact same thing is going down at the girls camp as well.

Billy tries to call home, only to find out that the camp phone is a fake. The next two to disappear are Jay and Colin, who get taken to an ominous hike. Billy also discovers that all the letters to the parents were never delivered, visitors day is cancelled, and his bunk is already getting new campers to replace the old ones. None of this adds up to Billy, who is convinced that something sinister must be happening. But before he can put two and two together, he goes on a canoeing trip with Larry. Larry, being an idiot (or adding to the conspiracy) stands on the canoe, causing him to get knocked over. Billy manages to come to his rescue before he drowns. In the process, the two new campers are the next to vanish.

That night, Billy gets woken up by Larry who tells him that Uncle Al has ordered a special hike. This turns into The Most Dangerous Game, as he hands the kids rifles with tranquilizer darts and orders them to shoot Dawn and Dori. Billy has had enough of all of this and suddenly points the gun at Uncle Al's chest, ready to fire. He pulls the trigger...

TWIST ENDING

But nothing happens! Uncle Al then gets up and congratulates Billy for passing. Dawn, Dori and all the missing campers suddenly show up and also congratulate Billy. Then Billy's parents show up. It turns out that this whole camp was just a testing ground to see if Billy would be resourceful enough to aid in his parents next expedition... TO THE PLANET EARTH!!! BOOM! SECRET ALIENS, BITCHES!!!

CONCLUSION

Welcome To Camp Nightmare really works. I don't know what it is, but of all the Goosebumps books I've covered so far, I think this may be my favorite. The suspense is built up perfectly with each camper vanishing in different ways and more sinister things happening as the story builds. They do give us interesting antagonists in the Camp Nightmoon staff, managing to be sinister and menacing without it feeling too over the top. Also, Billy may be the best protagonist in the series so far. He's smart, resourceful, actually thinks ahead. He doesn't whine, or do bad things out of peer pressure. He's the kind of kid I wish Goosebumps had more of. But no, Jovial Bob thinks we need more Evans and Gregs than we do Billys. A real shame.

And then there's the twist ending. Now, some will say that it's way too over the top to be taken with any seriousness, or that it doesn't make sense. I disagree. The book never explicitly says anything that makes it seem like this is an Earth-based setting. The kids talk about being from places like Center City, Midlands and Outreach Bay. Those seem more like a series of space colonies than actual towns. They play Scratchball, which is obviously baseball. We don't get much mention of the flora and fauna of the campgrounds (other than grizzlies and tree bears), only giving us enough of the picture to keep us moving along, never really hitting us in the gut until the big twist. This is exactly the type of twist I expect from Goosebumps. Big, bizarre and capable of leaving a memorable impact on you. Add in a well paced camp horror story and a likable protagonist and you have one of the series' true gems. Welcome To Camp Nightmare gets an A+.