Goosebumps is a horror franchise, that's pretty obvious. And deep down I think Stine always wanted to franchise Goosebumps into several things. Merchandise, a television show, a series of movies perhaps? Which is why today's book feels a bit like that in motion. It's A Shocker On Shock Street AKA R.L Stine wants his own theme park.
COVER STORY
STORY
Erin Wright and her best friend Marty are our protagonists. They're massive fans of the horror movies series Fear Stree-I mean Shock Street. It seems less like a horror franchise with one set villain like a Freddy or Jason, but more based around different creatures like the wolf-crab or the Toxic Creep. The two kids finish watching Shocker on Shock Street IV, the latest film. They're among the first in the world to witness it. That has a lot to do with Erin's dad, Mr. Wright. He helps develop theme parks, as he's an expert in robotics. They visit Mr. Wright in his office and he shows them a model of the tramcar that's been set up for the Shocker Studios tour. And Erin and Marty will be the first two kids to test it out. Erin's so excited, and hopes that mom can come too, which leaves Mr. Wright a bit confused.
Regardless, the two kids arrive at Shocker Studios and see the tram. A red haired woman named Linda exits the tram and greets the kids, handing them strange looking toy laser guns. And then a blast from one of the lasers hits her. But, it's all just a joke as the lasers are just for show. The kids hop on the tram, are told by Mr. Wright that they must provide a full report on how the ride went, and the tram speeds off. The first spot for the tram is a haunted house. They crash through the door, and wind up in darkness. Then Marty disappears! No wait, he's still there, and it's too dark for the kids to see each other.
They eventually make it out of the haunted house and find themselves in a wooded area. But before they can relax, they get attacked by Monsters. But it turns out that these are all people playing famous Shock Street monsters like Ape Face, The Toadinator and the Toxic Wild Man. They then gives the kids some autographed photos before the tram continues on its tour. Next stop is the Cave of the Living Creeps. They get attacked by bats, which seems to be slowly becoming one of Stine's new staples for stock scares. As they go through the cave, giant white worms drop from the ceiling, which again feels like something Stine's been doing more of lately. Remember what went out of Slappy in Dummy II for example? Then they get attacked by spiders, which seems a bit too realistic for what's supposed to be a fun tramcar ride. Oh, then Marty disappears again, only for it to be another stock scare. Now you're just getting lazy Stine.
The tram gets stuck, so the kids have to look around for some sort of exit. However, they end up running into a giant robotic praying mantis, much like on the book cover. Despite Erin's concerns, Marty laughs it off as obviously just part of the tour ride. He assumes that the tram intentionally breaks down so that the tourists will end up running into the insects. Another mantis shows up, and the kids try to get back to the tram, but the creatures stop them. More mantises show up and surround Erin and Marty. With no other way to stop them, the kids stomp on the feet of the mantises, causing them to fall over in pain, and allowing Erin and Marty to escape back on the tram. Then Marty jokes that he's being eaten by the mantises to trick Erin. Jeez, at this point, just leave him there.
The tram then takes the kids to Shock Street, or what looks to be the actual set used in the movies. Despite being told by Mr. Wright not to wander around on the sets, Erin and Marty decide to anyway. They wind up at a cemetery when suddenly hands shoot up from out of the ground and start grabbing at them, trying to drag the two kids down to the ground. They manage to escape by taking their shoes off and make it out of the cemetery as the zombies rise out and lurch closer to them. The kids are now lost from the tram and worried that the robots on the set are out of control. They try to find a wall to climb over, but end up getting caught in a mud pit and quickly start to sink in. They get saved by two characters named Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl. But unlike the pack of actors from earlier, these two seem to be real werewolves, intent on tearing Erin and Marty apart!
Erin and Marty try to escape the werewolves, but they're too quick for them. Erin thinks that maybe they should use the laser guns from earlier, but since the guns were just toys, they do nothing as the werewolves continue to claw at them. They spot a tram rolling by them and manage to climb on, only to see the tram is now filled with laughing skeletons. But that's not the only problem as the tram appears to be ready to crash into a castle wall at high speed. They manage to jump out just in the nick of time. The kids wind up back on Shock Street, and right in the middle of a movie being filmed by a man named Mr. Denver. He tells the kids that they can find Mr. Wright by going through Shockro's House of Shocks. Took some time on that name I see. Marty begins to run to the house when Erin sees a power cord sticking out of Mr. Denver's back. It's a trick! Marty runs into the building, and gets electrocuted.
Erin goes to the unconscious Marty and is in a panic. Mr. Wright arrives, trying to understand what's going on. Erin begins to yell at him, saying he's not her real father, that he put them in danger on purpose and that something must have happened to her mom. But suddenly her voice begins to slur and she shuts down. Mr. Wright looks on confused, wondering why the two robots he made to test the ride have been acting so strangely, and why the girl robot's AI was mentioning a mother. Regardless, he grabs the Erin and Marty robots and takes them off to get repaired.
I really liked A Shocker on Shock Street. In terms of story, it's much like Horrorland in that it's a ride book, where we go quickly from set piece to set piece without much time to really get our bearings in. But there are a lot of great set pieces within. From the mantis attack to the stuff with the werewolves, and the scene with the zombies in the cemetery, you get some real quality scares in this book. The kind you expect when you think of Goosebumps. And then there's the twist which I feel is brilliantly executed. Again, Stine doesn't just throw this out at the last minute, but he does foreshadow it all early on to make you think that they might be robots. From the confusion over Erin mentioning a mother, to a quick line about Mr. Wright saying that Marty will blow a fuse from all this excitement. But what about when they mention feeling pain, you might ask? Well, I assume the AI for these robots was so advanced that they literally were able to feel certain sensations. For down points, I do think two chapter stingers of Marty disappearing, only to be a fake out felt lazy, and Stine recycles a lot of other stock scares, but nothing was bad enough to hurt this one too much.
Also, I look at the concept of Shock Street and think that this may also be a fantasy of Jovial Bob's. To make his own park with all his Goosebumps monsters and ideas in one place. Where kids could take a tramcar ride to ride through dead house, get attacked by monsters like the Horrors and the Masked Mutant, get their picture taken with a haunted camera that makes a creepy skeleton filter, among other interesting concepts. Honestly, that actually doesn't seem too bad. A Goosebumps ride would have been a cool thing to have as a kid. Who knows, with the franchise's new surge in popularity, that could be a real thing. Honestly, that would be more interesting than Horrorland to me. In the end, this is an almost perfect book, and a much needed bounce back in quality after some middling editions. A Shocker On Shock Street gets an A.
Regardless, the two kids arrive at Shocker Studios and see the tram. A red haired woman named Linda exits the tram and greets the kids, handing them strange looking toy laser guns. And then a blast from one of the lasers hits her. But, it's all just a joke as the lasers are just for show. The kids hop on the tram, are told by Mr. Wright that they must provide a full report on how the ride went, and the tram speeds off. The first spot for the tram is a haunted house. They crash through the door, and wind up in darkness. Then Marty disappears! No wait, he's still there, and it's too dark for the kids to see each other.
They eventually make it out of the haunted house and find themselves in a wooded area. But before they can relax, they get attacked by Monsters. But it turns out that these are all people playing famous Shock Street monsters like Ape Face, The Toadinator and the Toxic Wild Man. They then gives the kids some autographed photos before the tram continues on its tour. Next stop is the Cave of the Living Creeps. They get attacked by bats, which seems to be slowly becoming one of Stine's new staples for stock scares. As they go through the cave, giant white worms drop from the ceiling, which again feels like something Stine's been doing more of lately. Remember what went out of Slappy in Dummy II for example? Then they get attacked by spiders, which seems a bit too realistic for what's supposed to be a fun tramcar ride. Oh, then Marty disappears again, only for it to be another stock scare. Now you're just getting lazy Stine.
The tram gets stuck, so the kids have to look around for some sort of exit. However, they end up running into a giant robotic praying mantis, much like on the book cover. Despite Erin's concerns, Marty laughs it off as obviously just part of the tour ride. He assumes that the tram intentionally breaks down so that the tourists will end up running into the insects. Another mantis shows up, and the kids try to get back to the tram, but the creatures stop them. More mantises show up and surround Erin and Marty. With no other way to stop them, the kids stomp on the feet of the mantises, causing them to fall over in pain, and allowing Erin and Marty to escape back on the tram. Then Marty jokes that he's being eaten by the mantises to trick Erin. Jeez, at this point, just leave him there.
The tram then takes the kids to Shock Street, or what looks to be the actual set used in the movies. Despite being told by Mr. Wright not to wander around on the sets, Erin and Marty decide to anyway. They wind up at a cemetery when suddenly hands shoot up from out of the ground and start grabbing at them, trying to drag the two kids down to the ground. They manage to escape by taking their shoes off and make it out of the cemetery as the zombies rise out and lurch closer to them. The kids are now lost from the tram and worried that the robots on the set are out of control. They try to find a wall to climb over, but end up getting caught in a mud pit and quickly start to sink in. They get saved by two characters named Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl. But unlike the pack of actors from earlier, these two seem to be real werewolves, intent on tearing Erin and Marty apart!
Erin and Marty try to escape the werewolves, but they're too quick for them. Erin thinks that maybe they should use the laser guns from earlier, but since the guns were just toys, they do nothing as the werewolves continue to claw at them. They spot a tram rolling by them and manage to climb on, only to see the tram is now filled with laughing skeletons. But that's not the only problem as the tram appears to be ready to crash into a castle wall at high speed. They manage to jump out just in the nick of time. The kids wind up back on Shock Street, and right in the middle of a movie being filmed by a man named Mr. Denver. He tells the kids that they can find Mr. Wright by going through Shockro's House of Shocks. Took some time on that name I see. Marty begins to run to the house when Erin sees a power cord sticking out of Mr. Denver's back. It's a trick! Marty runs into the building, and gets electrocuted.
TWIST ENDING
CONCLUSION
I really liked A Shocker on Shock Street. In terms of story, it's much like Horrorland in that it's a ride book, where we go quickly from set piece to set piece without much time to really get our bearings in. But there are a lot of great set pieces within. From the mantis attack to the stuff with the werewolves, and the scene with the zombies in the cemetery, you get some real quality scares in this book. The kind you expect when you think of Goosebumps. And then there's the twist which I feel is brilliantly executed. Again, Stine doesn't just throw this out at the last minute, but he does foreshadow it all early on to make you think that they might be robots. From the confusion over Erin mentioning a mother, to a quick line about Mr. Wright saying that Marty will blow a fuse from all this excitement. But what about when they mention feeling pain, you might ask? Well, I assume the AI for these robots was so advanced that they literally were able to feel certain sensations. For down points, I do think two chapter stingers of Marty disappearing, only to be a fake out felt lazy, and Stine recycles a lot of other stock scares, but nothing was bad enough to hurt this one too much.
Also, I look at the concept of Shock Street and think that this may also be a fantasy of Jovial Bob's. To make his own park with all his Goosebumps monsters and ideas in one place. Where kids could take a tramcar ride to ride through dead house, get attacked by monsters like the Horrors and the Masked Mutant, get their picture taken with a haunted camera that makes a creepy skeleton filter, among other interesting concepts. Honestly, that actually doesn't seem too bad. A Goosebumps ride would have been a cool thing to have as a kid. Who knows, with the franchise's new surge in popularity, that could be a real thing. Honestly, that would be more interesting than Horrorland to me. In the end, this is an almost perfect book, and a much needed bounce back in quality after some middling editions. A Shocker On Shock Street gets an A.
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