We are now in the forties for Goosebumps. And where the thirties offered some interesting books that ranged from pretty good to kinda crummy, we are certainly entering the dregs now. Including a particular marathon of some of the worst in the series. But can I say the same for today's book? The first dummy book swerved us with the villain, the second book gave us Slappy, but was a paint-by-numbers redo of the original. Can Stine give it the ol' "third time's the charm"? Let's find out with Night Of The Living Dummy 3 AKA Wooden Reception.
COVER STORY
I like this cover more than book II for certain. The colors aren't blinding, the perspective looks a lot better, and it does feel a lot creepier in tone. Slappy looks a lot less freaky than his previous covers, actually looking a lot, for lack of a better term, "cuter" on this cover. Also, if you found dummies creepy to begin with, this cover multiplies that fear by ten, giving us a bunch of uniquely designed dummies to view. And the setting is genuinely creepy. I mean, you wouldn't want to run into these guys in an old, dusty attic. I like that Slappy feels like the leader of this group, sitting in the chair in the center like a king on his throne. Much like how he would become the king of this franchise. Overall, not as creepy as the original, but still a strong cover.
STORY
Trina O'Dell and her younger brother Dan are our protagonists for this book. Their dad is a former ventriloquist and all around dummy enthusiast. He used to be a traveling act, but now his many dummies stay up in the attic for display. One such Dummy being Rocky, a tough looking mannequin with a red and white striped shirt and jeans. So, he looks more like a bad ass Waldo. We get a stock scare where Rocky seems to talk on his own, scaring Trina, but it turns out that it was just dad playing a trick. But Rocky isn't the only dummy that dad wants to show the kids. He found a dummy that was thrown in a dumpster, and he recovered it. This dummy is Slappy. And unlike the last book that just had no explanation to how Slappy would up in the trash, this one at least brings up that he found Slappy broken, which is how he would up at the end of Dummy II when Dennis kicked his ass. Dad repaired Slappy, but decides to call him Smiley, which feels like a real lack of creativity on his part.
But I guess the Kramer family didn't think things ahead and kept the paper with the magic words in Slappy's pocket. And of course, the kids read the paper, which then causes Slappy to literally slap Trina. But dummy antics aren't the only problem Trina and Dan have to deal with. Their cousin Zane is staying for a little while. This annoys the two kids as they hate how Zane is such a scaredy cat. Made no better in the fact that they constantly pick on him. Because it wouldn't be Goosebumps without terrible children. Dad tells the two not to play any tricks on Zane, and they promise. Zane soon arrives and things go well early, until Zane goes into the bedroom and starts screaming. Apparently Rocky the dummy was in there and fell on him, causing him to panic, and putting Trina and Dan on thin ice already, despite both kids saying they had nothing to do with it.
More things start to happen to Zane. One of the other dummies slaps him in the face, he claims to hear noises in the dark. This leads the kids to see Rocky in the kitchen. Dad chews Trina and Dan again, but they continue to claim that they had nothing to do with the dummy-related incidents. However, things keep piling up. Rocky is again in the kitchen in the morning, then Zane's camera roll is filled with pictures of Rocky. Trina, getting paranoid, begins to yell at the dummies about what's going on, but then thinks maybe it's all Dan's fault. He's the one who can't give up the pranking. But the new dummy starts to make threats. That's when Dan comes in. Trina blames him, but he seems genuinely confused as to what's going on. Dan tells Trina that he actually knows who's really causing the pranks. It's Zane, trying to get them in trouble for all their past transgressions.
So the new plan in motion is to try and catch Zane in the act and get him in trouble. They hide in the darkness of the attic to wait for him to come in. Trina then feels what seems to be a small dummy hand touching her, which freaks her out. She falls asleep for a bit, only to wake up to the sound of the dummies moving. But when they flick the switch, it turns out that it was Zane. He was moving the dummies around for his next prank. Instead of just telling their dad, the kids decide to just have a truce on the pranks. Of course, this just means that more strange things happen. Zane's room gets trashed, with Rocky in the room. Trina wakes up in bed to see Rocky put on top of her, which causes her to panic, and making dad furious.
The family hold a party for Zane and his dad, and invite several guests. Trina and Dan believe that Zane must have already broken their truce, and try again to catch him in the act. However that hits a snag when they see Zane in a panic. someone or something destroyed his camera. Trina and Dan believe that maybe this wasn't Zane's doing after all. They all hear a commotion downstairs, as the dinner table has been ruined, with all the food spilled about. And sitting at the table are a pair of dummies. They still think it's Zane whose messing with them. That night however, Trina and Dan catch the real culprit in the act. It's Slappy, of course, whose been messing with them. They try to fight Slappy, but in mid-scuffle, dad shows up with them fighting the inanimate Slappy.
Dad, finally sick of everything, grounds Trina and Dan, and forbids them from touching his dummies, the children he truly loves. Trina grabs Slappy to take him back to the attic, but the dummy winks and makes kissing noises at her, calling Trina his slave. Oh god, I was right about it being a sex slave thing, wasn't I? Ewww. The kids try to pull Slappy's head off his shoulders, but it doesn't work. And then, since this literally happened in the last two books, the kids think that they should just bury Slappy, or in this case, just throw him down their conveniently placed well outside. It doesn't work, and Slappy's back in the house in the morning.
Their next strategy: maybe if the spell paper brought him to life, it can put him back to sleep. Trina tries to grab the paper, but gets bitten by Slappy. Dan manages to get the paper and reads it, but not only does it not affect Slappy, but now all of the other dummies are now alive as well. The kids seem doomed, but instead of attacking the kids, the dummies all grab Slappy and start to attack him. Zane shows up just as the dummies are once again lifeless, as is Slappy.
TWIST ENDING
Zane, being a brat, tells on Trina and Dan, which gets him praise from the parents. Instead of wanting a new camera, Zane asks if he can borrow one of the dummies instead. So Trina decides to give him Slappy. As Zane takes Slappy home with him, Trina looks at Slappy, and swears that she saw him wink at her.
CONCLUSION
Well, it's definitely better than Dummy II, that's for sure, but I can't say that Night Of The Living Dummy III felt like it really needed to exist. Slappy is barely in the book for the majority, so he doesn't get to feel any different than he has in the past, and even then he just feels like a copy of Mr. Wood. And just like in those other books, we get similar beats. Dummy causes troubles, kids get blamed for it, similar beats with the kids trying to get rid of the dummy, book ends with the dummy being beaten by another dummy, lather, rinse, repeat. I'll give this one credit for adding Zane as a bit of a red herring, but that's about the most praise I can give this one. Ultimately, if you've read one of these books (or god help you, if you just read Lawn Gnomes), you've read them all. It's the best example of a safe sequel, so I guess if you just want a creepy dummy fix, then it does its job. Night Of The Living Dummy III gets a C.
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