Gooseblog: Goosebumps #30: It Came From Beneath The Sink!

We've reached the 30 mark. And after a decent run in the twenties, one can only hope we're due for some real high quality stuff. And what an interesting book to start the thirties with. Jovial Bob has given us evil cameras, evil mirrors, evil clocks, and other such assorted cursed items. But it's time for Stine to give us one of his more bizarre cursed objects. It's time to cover It Came From Beneath The Sink! AKA Spongebob Deadpants.

COVER STORY

This cover's all right. Not the most creepy, but it still works to sell the concept of the book without spoiling just what the evil under the sink is. All you see are two sinister looking eyes while looking at all the cleaning products underneath. I do love the shadows in this one, with just the right amount of light pouring inside. Other than that, it's fine. Just not one I'd call one of the all time greats.

STORY

Kat Merton (short for Katrina) and her family are moving into their new house. This one is thankfully not a dead house, but it is pretty spacious, almost as big as a mansion. Kat's family consists of herself, her ten year old brother Daniel, mom, dad, and their cocker spaniel named Killer, who is far from that moniker. Kat gets tasked with cleaning the kitchen cabinets, and after a stock jump scare with Daniel, she continues her work. Suddenly she spies Killer growling at something under the sink. She goes to check, and notices that it's some kind of weird old sponge. She grabs it, and starts to notice that it feels like it's alive. Daniel grabs it off her, then suddenly he falls over and bashes his head into the edge of the cabinet. He blames Kat for it, but she was nowhere near him.

Kat investigates the sponge again, but this time she sees a pair of black eyes staring back at her. She goes to tell her dad about it, who is up on a ladder working on the ceiling light. However, when she gets close, the ladder gives way and he falls, with the light crashing over his head. Jeez, barely five chapters in and this is the most violent Goosebumps book in a while. Jovial Bob's been pent up. Also, again, they're THOSE kind of parents, they believe that Kat must have pushed the ladder on purpose, and also don't believe her stories about the living sponge. Later on, Daniel and his friend Carlo check on the sponge. Carlo wants to take it home with him, but Kat tells them no. As the kids leave her, Carlo suddenly steps on a nail. Reader beware, you're in for tetanus! Kat also notices that the sponge seems particularly happy about what just happened.

All this concern over the recent sponge issues almost makes Kat forget that her birthday party is coming up. A party at Wonderpark. Sounds pretty bitchin'. Still needing to find out what the sponge is all about, she decides to take it to her teacher Ms. Vanderhoff. There's a scene where Kat almost gets crushed under a giant falling tree branch. Stine's out for blood in this one, huh? Ms. Vanderhoff checks the sponge, but doesn't see anything of note. She gives it back to Kat, and then suddenly her hand gets slammed hard in the desk drawer! So far we've had ladder falling, nails through feet and now broken hands. I wasn't kidding about Stine being pent up.

Daniel soon discovers what the sponge might be. A mythical creature known as a Grool. A Grool is a mythical creature that feeds off of bad luck. Whoever holds on to the grool is forever cursed to be with it forever, and should they be separated, the cursed will die within one day. So yeah, Kat's kind of screwed. They also read up on a creature known as a Lanx, a potato with fangs that drains your energy. But that will never be important, so they try to find a way to get rid of the Grool, only to be unable to find an answer. They go home, and since this is a Stine book involving a dog, Killer ends up running away. If he ends up like Petey, so help me Stine...

Tired of the Grool, Kat tries to throw it at the wall and kill it. However, when it hits the wall, she experiences a wave of pain. She was so focused on throwing the Grool that she didn't notice that she slammed her hand on a pair of scissors, cutting her hand wide open. Also, Daniel and Carlo give up on looking for Killer, saying that maybe the police will have some luck. I guess you didn't love Killer that much, huh? Or do I need to replay the Billy Madison clip?  The day of her birthday arrives, but her big party ends up cancelled due to a convenient, Grool-made storm. Pissed, she buries the Grool in the backyard. This ends up causing the lawn to turn brown and die. She digs up the Grool and later, in frustration smashes it to bits. However, that doesn't work either as the Grool just rolls itself back together.

The next day, while she wasn't looking, Carlo steals the Grool away from Kat. Kat and Daniel chase after him, only to see him in a heap on the ground. Major bike crash, his knee getting the worst of it. Somehow though that seems less graphic than the nail through the foot. In the process, Carlo loses the Grool down the sewer, so the kids go down to find it. A bit of padding goes on here as they think they find the Grool, but no luck. Kat fears that it may be hiding on her, to finally finish her off for good. Carlo then realizes that, oh wait, maybe it's not in the sewer, but with some bully kids that were picking on him. And sure enough, that's where it is. The bullies toss the Grool around and refuse to give it back. One of them goes to hit it with a bat, but gets beaned so hard that it knocks him out.

With the Grool back in her possession, Kat bikes back home, however she almost gets hit by a truck and swerves, crashing over a curb. With her bike totaled, she limps home with the Grool. Their next plan is to destroy it through the garbage disposal, but that turns out a bust as yet again, it just pulls itself back together again. The kids are out of ideas, until they think to try one last thing. If the Grool feeds off bad luck and hatred, what if the opposite was done to it? What if you tried to feed it love? Kat begins to tell the Grool how much she loves it, even kissing the thing. So disgusted by this, the Grool eventually shrinks away to nothing and dies. The curse is lifted, and Kat has no more bad luck. Even Killer returns, so maybe we have a mega happy ending.

TWIST ENDING

That is of course, until not too long after when the kids spy Killer holding something in his mouth. They then discover what it is. It's a potato with fangs. So, we're off one cursed object and right on to another. I guess it's true. If it weren't for bad luck, Kat would have no luck at all.

CONCLUSION

It Came From Beneath The Sink!, despite being a really dumb title, actually hosts a rather dark Goosebumps book. I mean, I've done thirty of these damn things, and I've never encountered one that's felt this violent. The closest I can recall is Say Cheese And Die, which gave us everything from a kid being beaned with a fastball to a man dying of fright. But somehow Stine ups the ante big time here. Broken hands, nails through feet, a scene where our protagonist slices her hand open with a pair of scissors. The Grool doesn't appear to be one to screw around. The pacing for the book is fine for the most part, but loses its way when we get to the sewer scene. That just felt like good old Jovial Bob padding. In terms of scares, this one actually delivers when you see how much damage that sponge really does.

I think it's obvious, but I really liked this one. It still feels like light kids horror, but isn't afraid to get violent. And Stine doesn't pull a situation like with other cursed objects where the kids are stupid for keeping it. Here, he makes it clear that the Grool needs to be kept or the owner will die. I'll give Stine credit where credit is due on this one. How he managed to take something like a kitchen sponge and turn it into an item of pure evil is beyond me, but he pulled it off. Maybe I don't give him enough credit. Then I remember the Monster Blood sequels and realize I give him too much already. It Came From Beneath The Sink! gets an A.