TITLE-Goosebumps 3 pack Thriller
SOURCE-Schoolastic DVD
When Goosebumps hit TV back in the fall of 1995 I watched it a few times. But that was a period of time when I didn't watch much TV. What I saw of the show I enjoyed. And the few times I caught reruns of the show on the Fox Family channel I really enjoyed the show. But it is a show that I kind of forgot about. Which is odd cause I have always loved horror anthology TV shows.
Over a year ago I was at a junkstore in town that I hit up every month. This place had at the time a great selection of VHS and a decent selection of DVDs. I was looking through the VHS and the owner of the store came over to tell me that he had a box full of DVDs he had just got. "The ones with red paint on the spine I am asking $1.50 each. Or if you buy 6 or more you can have them 2 for a buck." I dug through the box and found a bunch of stuff. But the highlights are dvd pack pictured above.
This pack is a repackaging of the older Goosebump DVDs. So you get 2 to 4 episodes of the TV show per DVD. Earlier today I was wanting something to watch. And I wanted it to be something short. That way I could watch an episode or two between doing laundry and taking care of cleaning the house.
The first DVD I put in my blu ray player was the Night of the Living Dummy DVD. This was one of the discs that only has 2 episodes on it. They are two of the most popular episodes. What I don't get is from what I can find there is 3 episodes of the Goosebump TV show dealing with Slappy,Who is a evil ventriloquist dummy,but this DVD is missing the first episode where Slappy appeared. The disc starts with Night of the Living Dummy II.Amy's dummy,named Dennis,keeps literally losing his head. So her parent gets her a new dummy. This new dummy is Slappy and of course all kinds of crazy things start to happen once Slappy is in the house.This isn't a bad episode and it is one I have not seen before.
The other episode on the DVD is Bride of the Living Dummy. In this episode 3 kids and one of the kid's doll,named Mary-Ellen, see a show with famous ventriloquist Jimme O'James. Jimmie's dummy is of course Slappy. At the show Slappy sees and falls in love with Mary-Ellen. Not long after the show Slappy shows up at Mary-Ellen's owner's home and of course strange things start to happen. Both episode are pretty good. But I do wish they had included the first appearence of Slappy.
The next DVD was titled Say Cheese and Die. Like the first DVD this is another disc with just two episodes on it. I did some research and when these DVDs first came out they were retailing for 20 bucks each. That is a bit high for what amounts to a bit over 40 minutes of programming.
Like the Night of the Living Dummy DVD this DVD has two episodes that are connected. Up first is the titular episode. Greg Banks and his friends Doug and Shari sneak into an old abandoned house. They find an hidden cabinet and in this cabinet find a odd looking very large old fashioned camera. They take a picture using the camera and learn that the camera not only takes pictures of the future but also causes bad things to happen. I remember an episode of the Friday the 13th TV show that had a similar premise. Of course that show was a bloody show made for adults. But this Goosebumps episode is actually a bit scary. And is one that I bet frightened a few kids.
The other episode on the DVD is the sequel to Say Cheese and Die.This episode is titled ,and I love how much thought and effort was put into this title,Say Cheese and Die...AGAIN!!! LOL Greg does an oral report on the evil camera he found in the previous episode. His horrid teacher, Mr Saur,gives Greg a F on this report cause he doesn't believe Greg. So Greg has to find the camera. And like before bad things start to happen. This episode isn't nearly as good as the other one on the disc. A big part of that is Mr Saur isn't a good actor.
The final DVD in this pack is titled Monster Blood. Thankfully unlike the other two DVDs this one has 4 episodes on it. So you get 1 1/2 hours of Goosebumps goodness. The first episode is titled of course Monster Blood. Evan is forced to visit his odd Aunt Kathryn. In her home Evan finds a dusty can labeled Monster Blood.The green and slimy goop in this can is starting to grow. Will Evan be able to stop the Monster Blood from taking over the home? This episode is one I remember seeing back when Goosebumps was airing on Fox Kids afternoon line up of shows.
Our next episode is a sequel to Monster Blood,and it is titled More Monster Blood. Gotta love how creative the show is with their titles.Evan is heading to Atlanta Georgia to meet up with his parents. Having thought he took care of the monster blood in the previous episode,he is shocked when he finds out the monster blood is on the plane he is traveling on. Overall this is a way better episode than the first monster blood episode.
Up third is the episode How to Kill a Monster.Clark and Gretchen are visiting their elderly grandparents. The grandparents are mostly harmless,but a bit forgetful. So the elderly couple forget to warn their beloved grandchildren about the monster locked in the upstairs part of the house. Now I haven't seen that many episodes of Goosebumps.I am guessing I have seen maybe 15 or so. But this episode is the worst I have seen. The premise is pretty decent. But the two kids are horrible actors. And unlike most episodes of Goosebumps the effects in this one are really bad. They look like the FX work in a really bad Chris Seaver film. I kept expecting Teen Ape to show up. I would say skip this episode.
The final episode on this last DVD in the pack is The Girl Who Cried Monster.Our lead,Lucy,loves to tell monster stories. Then she encounters a real monster,Mr Mortman the local librarian. And to make it even worse her parents invite this monster to dinner.I wasn't expecting much from this episode. Then was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Lucy is a fairly good actress. And Mr Mortman is really really creepy. The Girl Who Cried Monster is a great way to end this DVD.
So I got 10 episodes of Goosebumps. Spread across 3 DVDs. Out of the 10 there is only one episode that isn't worth watching. And besides that episode the only other major complaint I have is not getting the episode with the first appearance of Slappy. Really for how cheap I got this set these are minor complaints. I looked on Amazon and you can get this set brand new for under 10 bucks. Which is a good deal. If you have kids that are into horror this is a great affordable DVD set to get. There is nothing so scary in any episode that would frighten a kid. But the episodes are creepy and worth seeing.
Goosebumps 3 pack thriller DVD set gets a solid B.
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