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Attack of the Childhood Nostalgia Beast: 10 Best Goosebumps Books

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I was going through a thrift store by my house the other day looking for horror VHS tapes like I do in my free time, and I came across a goldmine. No, not a VHS goldmine; they had nothing good this day. Instead, on a table in the center of the store, there was about 40 different Goosebumps books. It hit my nostalgia nerve, and it hit it hard. My mind was taken back to a time when I was in elementary school, reading R.L. Stine’s delightfully horrifying books during library time. This is a list of 10 of my favorite books from the Goosebumps series. Hopefully, it will bring back fond feelings of innocent nostalgia for you as well. That, and the fond feelings of being absolutely terrified out of your tiny developing mind.

 

10. A Night in Terror Tower

“All locked up and no place to go!

Sue and her brother, Eddie, are visiting London when they run into a little problem. They can’t find their tour group. Still, there’s no reason to panic. No way their tour guide would just leave them. All alone. In a gloomy old prison tower.

No way they’d get locked inside. After dark. With those eerie sounds. And a strange dark figure who wants them . . . dead.”

 

9. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight

“Jodie loves visiting her grandparents’ farm. Okay, so it’s not the most exciting place in the world. Still, Grandpa tells great scary stories. And Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies are the best.
But this summer the farm has really changed. The cornfields are sparse. Grandma and Grandpa seem worn out. And the single scarecrow has been replaced by twelve evil-looking ones.
Then one night Jodie sees something really odd. The scarecrows seem to be moving. Twitching on their stakes. Coming alive . . .”

 

8. The Curse of Camp Cold Lake

“Camp is supposed to be fun, but Sarah hates Camp Cold Lake. The lake is gross and slimy. And she’s having a little trouble with her bunkmates. They hate her. So Sarah comes up with a plan. She’ll pretend to drown — then everyone will feel sorry for her.

But things don’t go exactly the way Sarah planned. Because down by the cold, dark lake someone is watching her. Stalking her. Someone with pale blue eyes. And a see-through body. . . .”

 

7. The Horror At Camp Jellyjam

“Two kids in a runaway trailer careen down a steep hill and end up at the weirdest sports camp ever–where winning isn’t everything–but staying alive is!”

 

6. Monster Blood

“Soon after he purchases a dusty can of monster blood at the funky old toy store near his great-aunt Kathryn’s house, Evan begins to notice some strange things happening to the people around him.

While staying with his weird great-aunt Kathryn, Evan visits a funky old store and buys a dusty can of monster blood. It’s fun to play with at first, and Evan’s dog, Trigger, likes it so much, he eats some!
But then Evan notices something weird about the green, slimy stuff. It seems to be growing.
And growing.
And growing.
And all that growing has given the monster blood a monstrous appetite…”

 

5. How I Got My Shrunken Head

“What has two eyes, a mouth, and wrinkly green skin? Mark’s shrunken head! It’s a present from his Aunt Benna. A gift from the jungle island of Baladora.
And Mark can’t wait to show the kids at school!
But late one night the head starts to glow. Because it’s actually no ordinary head. It gives Mark a strange power. A magical power. A dangerous power…”

 

4. Night of the Living Dummy

“When twins Lindy and Kris find a ventriloquist’s dummy in a Dumpster, Lindy decides to “rescue” it, and she names it Slappy. But Kris is green with envy. It’s not fair. Why does Lindy get to have all the fun and all the attention? Kris decides to get a dummy of her own. She’ll show Lindy. Then weird things begin to happen. Nasty things. Evil things. It can’t be the dummy causing all the trouble, Can it?”

 

3. Say Cheese and Die!

“Greg thinks there is something wrong with the old camera he found. The photos keep turning out . . . different.
When Greg takes a picture of his father’s brand-new car, it’s wrecked in the photo. And then his dad crashes the car.
It’s like the camera can tell the future–or worse. Maybe it makes the future!”

 

2. Stay Out of the Basement

“Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, he says. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they… meet… some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plant like tendencies.”

 

1. The Haunted Mask

“A young girl purchases the most frighteningly lifelike Halloween mask and then, to her horror, discovers that she is unable to remove it from her face.”
I think that most of the scare factor comes from the relatable age, as the characters in the books were all as old as I was. That, mixed with the frequent twist endings, proved to be very disquieting. The covers helped a lot as well.Much of the nostalgia factor from these books can be attributed to their awesome cover art, which was illustrated by a man named Tim Jacobus.

R.L. Stine produced a very large catalogue of books under the Goosebumps name. I’m absolutely positive that many of you will not have your favorites in here; there are just so many! The original Goosebumps series contained 62 titles and ran from 1992-1997. 

If you’re feeling really nostalgic, you can watch the entire series on Netflix.

Which ones did I miss? What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments!

All synopsis are courtesy of Goodreads.com, with the exception of # 9 and # 5, which come from Amazon.com.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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