User Reviews

It has been about ten years since the last time I watched this, but I certainly remember it. It began with an opening shot of Amy Cramer's house. Amy receives a new ventriloquist dummy named Slappy from her father. Strange happenings ensue, and the story escalates to a rather chilling but classic climax.

This episode is possibly the signature of the Goosebumps series. It is definitely a classic in the series. The content is actually quite creepy, especially for a young child but does not go over the top by any means.

Even though I'm an adult now, I would actually enjoy watching it again after all this time.

I was a big fan of Goosebumps in grade 6 to grade 9; I had all 62 original Goosebumps books and copies of all the episodes (nerdy, eh?) but this one was never one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, the dummy is funny and creepy as hell, right up there with Fats from Magic (1978) and Chucky from Child's Play (1988). The soundtrack goes good with the episode (who agrees with me that a Goosebumps background soundtrack CD should be released?) and the Canadian scenery looked great.

My problem in this particular episode was the unrealistic dialogue and the acting. Yeah yeah, I know it's only a kids' show. But in grade 6, this was one episode that never stuck with me because of the bad lines and monotone voices. The actors weren't the problem, but come on, the dummy comes to life, sits up on its own, asks the older sister if she "wants to play" and they both scream, very fake, in unison. Amy's lines were pretty pathetic. After the dummy nearly beats her dad's head in with his guitar, in the morning she says in a casual tone, "Slappy's not a doll, he's a dummy. I can't help it if he's haunted, why won't anyone believe me?" It's really too bad this episode has this issue, because its sequel episodes featuring Slappy were great, I loved Bride of the Living Dummy and NOTLD 3.

I'm not against Goosebumps, it was one of my favorite shows as a kid, but personally my favorite episode was Welcome to Dead House, it was original and creepy and has the best soundtrack in the background.