The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

 

When Vivi finds out Rhys knew his father was arranging a marriage for him with another witch, she breaks up with him. She's completely heartbroken, so her cousin suggests they curse Rhys. It's just a joke, right? "I mean...We were just goofing around. None of that was real curse magic. That candle came from Bath & Body Works, I think." Turns out, the curse is very real because 9 years later when Rhys comes back to town, everything that can go wrong does, including unleashing dark magic on the entire town. Together, Vivi and Rhys have to find a way to lift the curse before he dies and any more toy skulls come to life.

The Ex Hex is a hate to love romance, my favorite kind. It's also a second chance romance which really isn't my thing, but it works when the ex couple can't stand each other before getting back together. And one that takes place in October? When everything is decorated for Halloween? Check, check, check. Listen. This book is a little smutty, but most romance novels are, so be aware of that.

One of my favorite things about The Secret Circle series is that they discuss the uses for different herbs and crystals. They talk about the meaning of each colored candle. I wish they had done that in this book instead of keeping everything very surface-level, like making things float and conjuring up whatever they want. Also, cursing people is against the rules, so it's kind of strange that two witches would even jokingly do that. You aren't supposed to harm others (and no, that isn't something that was just made up for The Craft). But we all do stupid things when we're heartbroken and I can see how this mistake could be made.

That being said, there are a lot of good things about this book, too. The characters were really likable, which is nice because I've read romance novels where the main couple is awful and it makes it hard to get through the book. There's a conversation between Rhys and his father where Rhys corrects his use of the word "warlock" and tells him men are witches, too. (This is true, "warlocks" are not a thing.) The ending felt a little rushed, but I still enjoyed the book. Enough to order a copy of it, even (I originally read a library copy on my Kindle). To be honest though, I think the main reason I decided I want to own this book is because it does take place in October and there's a lot of Halloween fun in it. It really put me in a festive mood.

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

 

I watch Bookables on Youtube a lot, mostly to get recommendations for romance novels (her favorite trope is hate to love, so is mine), but since she's also a seasonal reader, when September comes around, she makes video about fall reads. That usually means more suspense novels. I've heard her say she scares easily before so I don't think straight up horror is her thing. Anyway, I heard about this book in one of her videos and it's the first of Riley Sager's novels that I've read.

Survive the Night takes place over the course of one night, in November of 1991. It's about a girl named Charlie who gets a ride home from college with Josh, a complete stranger, after her best friend/roommate, Maddy, is murdered. Charlie blames herself and can't handle being at school anymore, so she decides to leave it, and her boyfriend, Robbie, behind. Unfortunately for Charlie, during her ride with Josh, she begins to notice that not everything adds up with him. She catches him in several lies, his license has a different name on it and she's starting to think maybe he's actually the Campus Killer. To make matters more complicated, Charlie "sees movies" in her head. Hallucinations. How much of what she's experiencing is real and how much of it is her imagination?

The entire premise of this book is terrifying and had me stressed out. I started thinking about how I would never, ever get into a car with a man I don't know. Men scare me. I'm sure most women feel the same way. If I were walking alone after dark (which I rarely do if I can help it) and I saw a man walking towards me...Or noticed them walking behind me...I would panic. I can't imagine any situation where I would willingly get into a car with a complete stranger. And yes, I know not all men are dangerous. That isn't the point.

Here's what I liked about Survive the Night. I loved all the references to old movies. Old movies are my thing, I was happy to see it. I also really enjoyed the first half of the book. It seemed like something that could actually happen, it was realistic. And Josh was likable, for someone who is potentially a serial killer. That's it though.

Because the truth is, I really didn't like this book overall. It was predictable, I had it figured out before 10:00 p.m. (Josh picks Charlie up a little after 9:00 p.m.). Charlie is impossible to feel sorry for, I even wanted her to die at a certain point because every decision she made was illogical and stupid. It was almost like she was trying to get herself killed, I was so frustrated throughout the second half of the book. The motive was ridiculous and I really hated the ending. It was a quick read, thankfully, because at a certain point, I really just wanted it to end. The tension I felt reading the first half was replaced by annoyance. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but none of Charlie's actions made sense. If you're looking for an easy read, this is it, but...You've been warned.

Halloween Night 2 by R.L. Stine

 

After reading Halloween Night, I have high hopes for the sequel. R.L. Stine had better not let me down! In my last post, I made a prediction based on knowing absolutely nothing about Halloween Night 2. I've now read the description on the back of the book and OH MY GOD, I was right. I know R.L. Stine too well. Dina's getting out of the psychiatric hospital right before Halloween! Fun times! To expand on my prediction, I'm going to say the murderer this time is not Dina.

I have nothing else to say (except that I love the cover of this book). OH! And also!! This was the book that had the creepy murder note in it when I ordered it from Thrift Books!

I hope that someone just wrote down quotes from this book and that they didn't actually kill someone or whatever. Let's find out.

Looks like we're back in Brenda's kitchen, and she's arguing with someone named Angela over Larry (who is he?), when Angela picks up a knife and threatens her with it. Randy, Brenda's little brother, runs in and leaps on Angela's back to stop her, when both girls burst into laughter. Traci steps out from behind the table with a camera and Brenda tells Randy that he ruined the scene. The girls wrote a script, Night of the Jack-o'-Lantern.

Looking at the knife, Brenda remembers last Halloween and how her best friend, Dina, tried to murder her. Angela is new to town and asks what happened to Dina. She was sent to "some hospital." Brenda has bigger problems though. Her cousin, Halley, is still around and she's dating Ted, who was Brenda's boyfriend until Halley went after him. So much for those two getting along. Brenda's parents have custody of Halley because the judge decided both of her parents were unfit to raise her. Back to Ted though, why is Brenda even mad? She broke up with him and she has a new boyfriend named Jake. Ted was a jerk, he cheated on her with her cousin, good riddance. The two of them deserve each other. And Jake was seeing Traci first! So Brenda shouldn't be mad about the Girl Code being broken, this is the second time she's broken it herself. (The first time was with Ted, who dated Dina before dating her.)

Brenda goes back to the kitchen, where we'll probably spend half of this book, and she sees Dina standing there with a knife! No worries, she was just picking it up off the floor. She let herself inside when no one answered the door. Dina tells her she's going back to school next week and she's in therapy. She asks everyone what their problem is, she just stopped by to see her best friend. Brenda's like, ummm, nope, you're not my friend, you tried to kill me. Dina is hurt and claims she remembers nothing about the night of the Halloween party last year. She shoves the knife on the counter and leaves. That's not at all unsettling.

With Dina gone, Brenda, Traci and Angela begin discussing their plans for Halloween. Brenda is not interested in a party and Traci says Halloween might be cancelled anyway because there's a "maniac" on the loose. He's already robbed and assaulted two women and two kids. The girls call it a day on filming. After seeing Dina, Brenda isn't in the mood for a knife fight. Then Jake shows up, looking like he's been beaten to a pulp, courtesy of Halley's makeup skills. She's hanging out with another of Brenda's boyfriends? (I also want to note that Traci is still mad at Jake for breaking up with her, so Brenda sucks as a friend, which we already established in the previous book.)

That night, Brenda goes to the mall with Angela and they see Halley and Jake holding hands in the food court. What. The. Hell. Jakes kisses Halley...This cannot happen twice. Maybe they're rehearsing scenes from a play. I refuse to read through this same drama again. Angela convinces Brenda not to confront them when she's so upset. As the girls are leaving, they're chased down by an older man Brenda caught staring at her earlier. He yells to them, but they run to the car and take off. Brenda lost her wallet in the mall, he was probably just trying to return it to her. I sincerely doubt this man is the prowler.

When Halley gets home, Brenda is waiting for her on the stairs. She says she was studying with someone...I still think maybe she was studying her lines for the play and that she's too afraid to tell Brenda that she's studying with Jake because of what she did in the past. I could be wrong, but I'll be so disappointed if Halley is up to her old tricks again. Brenda asks Halley to come upstairs and slips a noose around her neck, scaring the hell out of her. Sadly, no one dies. Brenda was just getting revenge on her cousin by scaring her and having Traci record it for the film they're working on. Halley is furious and asks how Brenda could do that to her. So she confronts her about kissing Jake and Halley says, "It just happened." Like with Ted. Halley, you bitch. I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Brenda accuses Halley of wanting everything that belongs to her: Her clothes, her boyfriends...And Halley bursts into tears, saying, "Maybe I do want what you have, Brenda. I mean, you have everything. And I...I don't even have a family!" That is not a good excuse. Brenda walks away and Halley says, "You'll be sorry." Brenda takes it as a threat, but now I'm back to thinking maybe she really was just running lines and she means that Brenda will be sorry for falsely accusing her of going after Jake, although, "It just happened" sure as hell doesn't sound like that's all they were doing.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. The next day, Brenda runs into Jake and he tells her he still really likes her and maybe they can go out sometime, he just really hit it off with Halley. He's grinning and high-fiving his friends. He's awful and stupid. The universe must hate Brenda because she has science with Halley and Jake, who have partnered up for their lab assignment. Halley has the nerve to ask Brenda for some of her sulfuric acid because she didn't get any. Brenda hands a test tube over to her cousin, but Halley drops it and it spills on Brenda's hand, burning her. Of course, Brenda believes this was done on purpose. Here we go again.

One day after school, Brenda receives an orange envelope in the mail. Inside is a drawing of an angry jack-o'-lantern, sitting in a puddle of blood, with the words "HAPPY LAST HALLOWEEN" written on the bottom. Brenda believes Halley is responsible for this, too, which is kind of surprising since Dina is back and this is exactly the sort of thing she was doing last year. Once again, Brenda's mom doesn't believe her and defends Halley. Did Brenda ever tell her mom about Halley hooking up with two of her boyfriends? Because she should. Maybe then her mom would be more understanding.

Brenda and Traci head over to Angela's house, but when they arrive, no one answers the door, so they let themselves in. The house is covered in cobwebs and dust and there are two coffins sitting there to greet them. (There are also two skeletons sitting on the couch in the den.) Inside one of the coffins is Angela. The girls immediately assume she's dead, instead of checking to see if she's okay, and they get mad when they find out she's fine and it was just a joke. They're so gullible. Angela says her parents are really into Halloween and they decorated the house like this. Brenda and Traci have never met Angela's parents and while that itself isn't too strange, this is an R.L. Stine book and I have to assume that the reason they haven't met her parents is because they're actually dead. They're probably those two skeletons.

When Brenda goes to school the next day, she finds a rotten pumpkin in her locker. How does that happen? Like...How does someone get into your locker? Wouldn't she have had to give them the combination? Which would mean that it's someone she knows? You could argue that her locker belonged to someone else the previous year, but doesn't everyone have the same locker all throughout high school? It has to be one of her friends. Brenda causes a scene in the lunch room and accuses Halley of putting the pumpkin in her locker. She needs to stop. Just because Halley keeps chasing after her boyfriends, that doesn't mean she's evil enough to do all of these other things. She accused her of all sorts of things in the first book and she was wrong then, too.

That afternoon, Angela and Traci are at Brenda's house when they catch Halley and Jake arguing outside over someone named Theresa. Traci decides to film their fight, even though Angela warns her that Jake told her he hates being embarrassed. (When were they talking to each other??) Jake catches her and grabs the tape from the camcorder, throwing it on the ground and stomping on it. How did this guy get Traci, Brenda, Halley and whoever Theresa is to date him? Inside, Brenda asks what they're going to do about Jake. Traci suggests killing him. Why is that always their first impulse?? The next day, they're still discussing it when Traci says they should make him really believe they're going to kill him, while recording it. How embarrassed would he be then? Angela is suspiciously quiet. She did have a conversation, alone, with Jake, about the things that he hates. She's probably interested in him. Maybe she'll take him home and introduce him to the remains of her parents.

Dina continues to stare creepily at Brenda. It's a red herring. It has to be. No way is she the villain in both books. Still, Brenda is unsettled and who can blame her?

Jake approaches Brenda at her locker, saying he wants to apologize and that they had a good thing together. This is the same thing that happened with what's-his-name in the first book, why are we going through this again? Jake kisses her and at first, she wants to push him away, but then she decides to pretend she's still interested in him so that it will be easier to get him over to Angela's house and scare him. He suggests doing something together on Halloween and Brenda agrees. "Something scary," she says.

At home, Brenda finds Dina upstairs. Halley invited her over to study. You know what? I take it back. Halley is evil. Brenda confronts her and she turns the tears on again, saying that Brenda never tries to understand her. What is there to understand?? She went after two of her boyfriends and invited the girl who tried to kill her over to study.

Remember that man from the mall? The one who was chasing Brenda? Well, he's outside her house, knocking on the door. Immediately, she assumes this means he wants to kill her. We all know every murderer knocks before killing their victims, right? So Brenda does what any sensible person would do and calls the police. She then tells Halley that the maniac was outside, but now he may be inside the house. When the police get there, they can't find any signs of an intruder. Brenda is a menace. I'm telling you, this man is trying to return her lost wallet. That's how he knows where she lives, her address is on her license.

When Brenda calls Angela, she tells her about Halley inviting Dina over and Angela says they have to include her in the prank they're going to play on Jake. Brenda isn't sure how to convince Halley to go trick or treating with them, especially with Jake there. Brenda hangs up and pulls down the covers on her bed. Someone painted a jack-o'-lantern on her pillowcase and cut a hole where the mouth should be, filling it with worms. The bed? Again? In the first book, it was spoiled dog food and maggots. She needs to burn that bed. And, just like in the first book, Brenda snaps and attacks Halley, until her father once again separates them. This is why her parents never side with her. She needs to be smarter about all of this. Halley whispers to Brenda, "You want trouble? I haven't even started." Okay, this time, it does sound like a threat.

Traci purchases the last four skeleton costumes the store has. Yay! The cover is relevant again! Is Jake dressing as a skeleton, too? How will they know who to "attack" if they all the dress the same? They don't seem too concerned about it. The plan is for Brenda, Traci and Jake to go trick or treating and stop by Angela's house. The door will be open, so they'll all go inside, to the living room where Angela will be in one of the coffins. When Jake checks on Angela, the girls will grab him and tie him up, making him believe they're going to kill him. Traci will record the entire thing.

On Halloween night, they arrive at Angela's house and Brenda sees a jack-o'-lantern on the porch that resembles the one in the drawing she received in the mail. She rationalizes this by saying Angela had to create the scariest looking jack-o'-lantern possible for their plan. When no one answers the door, they all go inside. In the den, Jake sees the two skeletons and exclaims, " They look real!" That's because they probably are real. (Angela did say they'd been in her family forever.) When they check the coffins, the lids are shut tight and there's no sign of Angela. That's weird. Jake decides to open the coffins anyway, while Traci sneakily picks up the camcorder she hid there earlier. However, both coffins are empty. That was anticlimactic. 

Brenda and Traci decide to search the house for Angela, worried that something has happened to her. Brenda doesn't find her, but she does see Dina, in a witch costume. Dina says Angela invited her and Halley over, telling them everyone in their class would be there. It looks like the rest of the students didn't get the memo. Once Halley finds out that Jake is there, she wants to leave, but then the girls hear Traci scream in another room. They run to find her and see her staring at the previously empty coffins. Now Jake occupies one, but he's dead, with a knife sticking out of his chest. Who cares?

Dina picks up the phone to call for help, but it's dead. There are no neighbors to run to and they're in the middle of the woods. And there's someone making noise upstairs. Halley wants to leave, now, but Brenda says it could be Angela upstairs and they can't just leave her there. She runs up the stairs to Angela's bedroom, where she finds her tied to a chair in her closet. Angela said the maniac from the mall is there and he's going to kill them. Sure he is, Angela. Once she's been "rescued," they're all about to leave when Traci says she left the camcorder running and the murderer must have been caught on tape! Brenda turns back to the front door, where Angela is standing with a knife in her hand. She says, "If it's all on tape, I have no choice. I have to kill you all." Shock, horror. Who ever would have guessed?

Angela says she murdered Jake and then tied herself up in the closet (how?), but she didn't realize the camcorder was on. Traci then admits it wasn't, she just thought that by saying it was, it would force the killer to come forward. Ugh. This is all over a guy. Angela loses her damn mind and tells Brenda that Jake said he wanted to go out with her after they broke up, but Brenda wouldn't let him go. Brenda says she's crazy and then Angela screams not to tell her she's crazy in front of her parents! The skeletons! Angela goes after Brenda with the knife, but Halley steps in and slams a jack-o'-lantern over her head. Like, actually over her head. LIKE A MASK. Night of the Jack-o'-Lantern indeed. This probably isn't supposed to be funny, but it is. Halley saved Brenda's life and they're friends again, until Halley hits on her next boyfriend.

The police are eventually called. From where? Who knows. Jake is dead for real. Oh well. He was a jerk. (Trust me, I didn't even get into a lot of it in this post.) And the skeletons were only plastic and not Angela's real parents, so that's disappointing. Where are her real parents?

The next morning, Brenda goes downstairs and sees the man from the mall outside again and she flips the hell out. WHY? It's MORNING. He clearly wasn't the one trying to kill her. Just see what he wants. Brenda yells for her parents and her father goes to the door to do exactly that. LIKE I SAID, he wants to return her wallet. He's been trying to return it for days. Brenda's father gives him ten dollars as a reward and the book ends with Halley saying, "Next Halloween, let's pretend it's Thanksgiving."

I didn't like this book nearly as much as the first one. It was just okay. It's still predictable, but it wasn't as much fun and Angela's motives weren't as solid as Dina's. I figured she was into Jake, but I don't understand why she blamed Brenda for him not dating her. He broke up with Brenda for Halley, if anyone got in Angela's way, it was her. And what ever happened with the so-called maniac that was going around attacking people? We're just supposed to forget that plot point ever existed? Also, I now know that the murder note I found inside the book was not quoting lines, so...That's creepy. Anyway. I'll be back with more YA horror in December. I have some other things planned for October and November, if I actually stick to my schedule.

Halloween Night by R.L. Stine

 

Disclaimer: If at some point I mistakenly calls this book Halloween Party, it's R.L. Stine's fault for giving all his books similar names.

Good news! After Halloween Night 2 (my next post), I'm taking a much needed break from these books until December. It may not seem like it because I barely put any effort into making these posts interesting, but it actually takes forever between reading the books, taking notes and then typing the whole thing out. So one more post after this and then I'll be back in a couple months with some [hopefully] fun winter-themed horror books.

Keeping with the Halloween theme, it's time for Halloween Night! I'm pretty sure this is a Point Horror novel. I have no idea if I ever read it as a kid, but I'm reading it now and my prediction issss...That not one jack-o'-lantern is mentioned in this book, even though there's one on the cover. Let's see if I'm right!

From the very first page, it's clear that Brenda Morgan has some hard feelings towards her cousin, Halley, when she "jokingly" compares her appearance to a Halloween mask. Her friend, Traci, laughs, while her other friend, Dina, frowns and asks her why she's always picking on Halley. Brenda claims it's because Halley is a monster. Her cousin's parents are going through a divorce and until they work things out, she's living in Brenda's bedroom. (Brenda was moved into a room the size of a closet, too small for even her Luke Perry poster, so I can understand why she's frustrated.) Halley also volunteers to help Brenda's parents with chores and then complains about them when they aren't around. Brenda insists that she tried to get along with Halley at first, but that she's too mean. I understand where Brenda's coming from. Imagine someone acting perfect and innocent around everyone else and only showing their true colors to you. And then when you try to tell people what they're really like, everyone defends them and acts like you're a bad person. And that same person has your Luke Perry poster in the bedroom they took from you. (She also steals Brenda's clothes and textbooks, and she's working on stealing her boyfriend, as well.)

Speaking of Ted, Brenda's boyfriend, guess who Halley comes waltzing in with? That's right. Ted! She asks Brenda if she can borrow her car because Ted offered to give her driving lessons. Brenda reluctantly agrees and Halley takes her care keys without even thanking her. She then uses this as an opportunity to hit on Ted, until he accidentally knocks over her purse and out falls her...Driver's license? Guess she didn't need those lessons after all. The two of them kiss, for a very long time, and I hate them.

Oh! Dina went out with Ted before Brenda did. That's against the Girl Code. I wonder if Dina is going to be behind whatever unfortunate events unfold in this book.

I feel like I missed something somewhere. Or R.L. Stine did. I think Brenda, Dina and Traci are working on writing a murder mystery as an English assignment. They plan on killing Halley and Ted. For the assignment! Not for real. (Not yet, anyway.) The girls decide on a Halloween costume party as the setting, so it's harder to figure out who murdered the victims. Coincidentally, Brenda is having a Halloween Party at her house. How much do you want to bet this story turns out to be more than just fiction?

Dina is defending Halley again, because her parents also went through a horrible divorce and she "freaked out or something." (Either this is a red herring or Dina hates Brenda for being insensitive and also breaking the Girl Code and she's going to try to kill her. Or frame her for murder.) She looks out the window and gasps, so of course the other girls come over to see what's going on outside and there's Halley, in Ted's car. Kissing him again. Brenda says she's going to kill her, but you know what? She should be just as angry at Ted. Kill them both.

At school the next day, Brenda catches Halley flirting with Traci's boyfriend, Noah. (It's going to serve Ted right if he gets his heart broken.) Noah practically begs her not to tell Traci that she saw them together, claiming they were just talking, even though Halley's hands were all over him. Brenda says she won't tell and...I kind of get it because she doesn't want to hurt her friend, but if I were Traci, I would want to know.

When Brenda is ready to go to sleep that night, she sees a man outside her window and screams. It's only a cardboard cutout of a face though, and written on the back of it is, "See You on Halloween." Wonder who stuck that on the window of her second floor bedroom. Brenda believes Halley put it there and while she's the obvious suspect, I still think something is up with Dina.

I was wrong about the jack-o'-lantern, by the way. Brenda and her friends do carve one because she wants to have a lot of them lit up at her party. (I'm glad the cover of the book is actually somewhat relevant to the story.) As they're carving the pumpkin, a giant gorilla walks in and begins waving a knife around. Oh...It's just Halley. Brenda is really bad at deciphering what's real and what isn't. A man looking into her bedroom on the second floor? A gorilla costume? Come on, Brenda. A real gorilla isn't going to just walk into your house unless you're Donald Duck.

Halley's gorilla costume gives Brenda an idea for her story and she starts brainstorming with Dina and Traci. They debate over who the killer should be and how Halley should die (with someone suggesting she gets stabbed in her gorilla costume so no one knows she's dead). Brenda goes up to her room for a moment and stops dead in her tracks. On the wall, in blood (real blood, this isn't Brenda's overactive imagination for once) are the words, "SEE YOU ON HALLOWEEN." Dina is in her house right now. Just saying. Brenda thinks Halley is responsible for her new paint job and tells her parents about her suspicions, but they side with Halley, as usual.

While Brenda is out with Traci, they catch Halley and Noah together, holding hands. What is with this girl? Traci confronts her and Halley acts like she is wrong for being upset. Seriously. I'm pretty sure Halley won't die in this book and they'll try to give her some kind of redemption arc, but she is dead to me. At least Brenda will have someone on her side now. After this, Traci hates Halley, too.

Ted's an absolute idiot and tells Brenda that they still have a date to the Homecoming dance. Really, Ted? After you were sneaking around behind her back, with her cousin? Brenda's an idiot, too, because she decides to take him back and then he declares, " I just think we should see other people, too. You know. Not be so serious." AKA, "I want to date you and your cousin." I've put up with a lot of really awful behavior from guys, so I shouldn't be getting this annoyed at a fictional character for making bad choices, but Brenda is being really stupid right now and she needs to get rid of this guy.

Brenda and Traci are commiserating together over Halley stealing their boyfriends, when Dina yells up from downstairs that she can hear every word they're saying from the vent in Brenda's room. I'm making note of this now because it's the second time the vent has been mentioned and I'm sure it's going to be important later on. The girls go downstairs and work on their assignment. I think they've finally settled on Halley being stabbed in her gorilla costume. They begin discussing their own costumes for Brenda's party. Brenda is going to dress up as a clown, Dina will be a monk and Traci is going as a peacock. They decide that the murderer should be the least likely suspect, and since Brenda and Traci hate Halley for going after their boyfriends, that leaves Dina. As they continue plotting out their story, they realize having Dina convince Brenda to switch costumes with her is a good idea, since everyone will believe Brenda is actually the murderer.

Brenda once again goes to her bedroom and finds a surprise. A lit jack-o'-lantern with a headless bird inside it and a note that says, "YOU'RE NEXT. ON HALLOWEEN." Halley is home, and sure, she could have done this, but Dina excused herself to go get a Coke before, sooo...My money is still on her.

Several times now, Halley has taken Brenda's car without asking her if it was okay first. This time, she got into an accident. She tells Brenda she went through a stop sign because she doesn't know the neighborhood well and the other person was going so fast, so it's not her fault that the car is wrecked. That's the last straw for Brenda and she lunges at Halley and attacks her, until her parents pull them apart. Her mother says they should just be grateful Halley is alive. Should Brenda have tried to strangle her cousin? Maybe not. But would it kill her mother to try to understand her feelings for once?

The next morning, Dina tells Traci what happened between Brenda and Halley the night before and claims she's really worried about her. Tracie shares some news of her own, she saw Ted and Halley making out in his car again, even though he just got back together with Brenda. They both decide it's probably best not to tell Brenda, since she did just try to strangle her cousin.

At school, Brenda notices conversations halting whenever she walks by and wonders if Halley told everyone about their fight. Ted is awkward with her at lunch and when Dina and Traci come over that night, they're visibly uncomfortable, too. They give up on working on their project for the night and go home. When Brenda is ready to go to sleep, she finds rotten meat, covered with maggots, in her bed. The chapter ends with Brenda thinking to herself that she knows what she has to do, but I want to know how she got rid of that mess. And did she tell her parents about it?? How can you end a chapter like this?

Brenda goes to the homecoming dance with Ted and he disappears at some point. When she finds him, he's kissing Halley. This is why everyone was acting strange around her at school, she thinks. To make matters worse, Noah also sees Ted and Halley together. The two boys end up outside in the parking lot and begin fighting each other. Brenda catches a glimpse of Halley and she's smiling like she enjoys seeing them fight. Brenda runs home and calls Traci, saying, "Let's really kill her!"

Dina and Traci go to Brenda's house, where she tells them she wants to put their murder plot into action. She plans to switch costumes at the party and shows them a Frankenstein's Monster costume she bought at the store. Everyone will think she's dressed as a clown, but she'll actually be in that costume. She says Traci can wear her clown costume and Dina can wear Traci's peacock costume. Once they're all in different costumes, Brenda says she'll stab Halley and no one will notice because the gorilla costume is so heavy and thick, the blood won't seep through. When that's done, she'll change into Dina's monk costume and discard the Frankenstein's Monster costume. (For the record, R.L. Stine calls it a Frankenstein costume, but the monster is not Frankenstein, so I'm correcting him.) Dina refuses to be a part of this plan, but she says she won't tell anyone what Brenda is going to do. Isn't that just as bad? Brenda makes some adjustments to her scheme, since Dina is no longer involved. And Halley hears the entire thing through the vent in Brenda's room.

Brenda runs into Ted at the mall and she's done giving him chances to not be a screwup. She tells him he's still invited to her party though and says he can do her a favor by coming dressed as Frankenstein's Monster.

We're given more evidence to support my theory about Dina. When Dina's parents were getting divorced, Brenda "couldn't bear" to be with her or see her. "It was just too sad." How do you think she felt, Brenda? This girl really sucks as a friend.

When Brenda gets home, Halley is waiting for her in her bedroom. And she's crying. She asks Brenda if she's been so hateful that Brenda wants to kill her. She says she really wanted to be friends with Brenda, but she made her feel like an intruder. So that gave her the right to go after other people's boyfriends? What did Traci ever do to her? Brenda agrees to forgive Halley, thinking, "What a shame that I have to go ahead with my plan anyway."

The night of the party, everything goes as planned. Frankenstein's Monster approaches the gorilla and stabs them. No one notices as the murderer sneaks away from the scene of the crime. Not at first, anyway. Eventually, they notice a puddle of blood near the gorilla. The clown (who is the clown, I don't even remember anymore) runs over to the gorilla, crying, "Halley?" But Halley isn't in the gorilla costume. Brenda is. The clown is Traci and everyone wants to know why she's wearing Brenda's costume. Dina, in her monk costume, exclaims, "You killed her, Traci! You and your stupid murder plot!" Traci denies this and Halley comes forward, saying Brenda forced her to switch into the peacock costume, after switching costumes with Traci. (This is getting convoluted.)

Everyone is throwing accusations around. Dina is yelling at Traci, Traci is yelling at Halley. Halley screams at Traci, saying she heard her plotting to kill her. Traci claims there's no way she could have changed out of the Frankenstein (I'm sorry, I'm tired of correcting Stine's mistake) costume that quickly, to which Dina replies, "Then it was Ted!" She's really eager to pin the blame on someone, isn't she? The two Frankensteins at the party step forward, but neither of them are Ted. Noah informs everyone that Ted was never at the party, he stayed home with the flu. Suddenly, Brenda begins to move. "Happy Halloween," she says bitterly. She picks up the plastic puddle of blood from the floor (are you telling me people can't tell the difference between real blood and plastic blood) and tells her guests that the party is over. She asks Halley to escort everyone out. 

Brenda heads into the kitchen, with Traci and Dina trailing behind her. Brenda says it's over, she knows which one of them tried to kill her, and she lunges at Dina, pulling her monk robe open to reveal the green costume hidden underneath it. DINA! I WAS RIGHT! And Dina stupidly says, "I stabbed you, Brenda! Why aren't you dead?" You just admitted you tried to kill her, Dina.

Brenda isn't dead because she's a good seamstress (her words, not mine) and she sewed a "double-thick pad of foam rubber" into her costume. Would that really make a difference if someone stabbed you? Dina asks how Brenda knew it was her, she was supposed to believe Halley did all those awful things to her. Brenda says the blood on the wall had to be animal blood and there was also the headless bird. And the meat in her bed was actually spoiled dog food. Dina works for a vet. (Oops, sorry, forgot to mention that earlier.) Brenda already knew Dina was to blame before the party.

Dina overheard Brenda and Halley switching costumes with each other through the vent that everyone uses to eavesdrop in this book. She says Brenda wasn't her friend when she needed her during her parents' divorce. Dina saw her doing the same thing to Halley and it brought back all those emotions and she apparently decided murder was the best way to deal with her feelings. She tells Brenda that when she was talking about killing Halley, that gave her the idea to murder her. Brenda never planned to actually kill Halley though, it was all a trick to draw Dina out. The cops arrive and take Dina away and Brenda and Halley drink hot chocolate and laugh together. (Okay, so I'm taking this a little out of context.)

I liked Halloween Night! A lot! Out of all the YA horror novels I've read so far, I think this was the most enjoyable, even though it was predictable. It's nice that Brenda and Halley made up at the end, I hope this carries over into the next book. I'll make a prediction for the sequel now: A year after Dina tried to kill Brenda, she comes back and Brenda begins receiving threatening messages again. Find out next time!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

 

We all know about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, right? Even if you've never actually read it. To be honest, I've owned this book for years and this was my first time reading it. I know the legend. I saw parts of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, the Tim Burton film, an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? and The Hollow (which I watched because Joseph Mazzello, my first ever celebrity crush when I was 8 years old, was in it). But I never read the story. I'd come across some reviews that said The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is boring, so I kept putting off reading it. But, if everything goes the way it's supposed to, I'm going to visit Sleepy Hollow at the end of the month, so I wanted to finally read the story before going there.

This will show you how little I know. I didn't realize The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story. I thought it was a full length novel. It's only 34 pages long (in the Barnes & Noble version I own). 

I wanted to read this on a chilly, rainy day, but we don't really get those in September anymore and I can't keep putting it off if I'm going to read it before I go to Sleepy Hollow.

The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow was said to be a solider during the Revolutionary War, whose head was taken off by a cannonball. He roams the woods each night and has to make it back to the churchyard where he's buried by daybreak.

Ichabod Crane left Connecticut to teach the children of Sleepy Hollow. He would move week to week, alternating between the homes of the children he taught. While staying with their families, he would assist them with various tasks, such as helping on the farm and with the children. Eventually, he took an interest in Katrina Van Tassel, the only child of a rich farmer. However, it seems his real interest was in everything Katrina stood to inherit one day. Unfortunately for Ichabod, several other men were also interested in Katrina, including Brom Van Brunt, who was arrogant and good at everything he did. (You know...I already mention it, but I saw parts of Disney's version of this story and I'm going to say that their inspiration for Gaston was probably Brom.) Once Brom learned of Ichabod's interest in Katrina, he began to torment him.

Ichabod received an invitation to the Van Tassels' home one night and borrowed a horse in an attempt to make himself more appealing. When he arrived at the farm, he saw many other people gathered there, including Brom, who rode over on his horse, Daredevil. (Of course he would name his horse Daredevil. Of course.)

These people knew how to throw a party, because their idea of a good time was to stand around telling ghost stories, including the tale of the Headless Horseman. He once chased a man through the woods, until they came to a bridge the Headless Horseman couldn't cross. He turned into a skeleton and ran off. Brom also told of his own encounter with the apparition, saying he experienced the same thing when they reached the bridge.

Some time later, the party broke up and we can only assume Ichabod's advances were rejected by Katrina and honestly...I don't blame her. Ichabod is self-serving and unlikable. Are we supposed to like him? Because I don't.

On his way home, Ichabod recalled the ghost stories he heard earlier that night and his imagination began to get the better of him. Eventually, he spotted another horse and soon realized the person riding it had no head. Actually, that's not true. They were holding their own head, as it was no longer attached to their body. The other person gave chase and Ichabod panicked, until he caught sight of the bridge. If he could cross it, he would be safe, right? Wrong. Once he was on the other side, he stopped to look back as the Headless Horseman threw his severed head at Ichabod, knocking him off his horse.

The next day, the horse was found, but no one could locate Ichabod. They began to search for him and actually found his hat near the bridge, along with a smashed pumpkin, but his body was missing. Brom married Katrina and any time someone told the story of Ichabod Crane, he would have a good laugh when they got to the bit about the pumpkin. Did Brom play a trick on Ichabod that night, to scare him off? Or did he actually encounter the Headless Horseman?

Honest opinion? The Legend of Sleepy Hollow isn't as boring as some of the reviews said it was. I do think though, that just knowing what the legend is about is more entertaining than reading the story. It's a bit longer than it needed to be. I can't really sympathize with Ichabod because I don't like him. If you're interested in the story, I actually just went back and watched The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Disney's adaptation is pretty true to the story, so I would suggest giving that a watch.

Halloween Party by R.L. Stine

 

"Terrible things had happened on Fear Street--murders, mysterious disappearances. It seemed like the perfect spot for a Halloween Party."

I read a lot of Fear Street books as a kid. Almost all of them. That being said, I barely remember most of them and going into this, I had no idea if I'd read ever read Halloween Party before. I didn't read what it was about, I just saw "Halloween" in the title and decided to go for it. I've been feeling extra nostalgic lately (probably because I want to go back to a time when my job and relationships weren't ruining my life), so I bought a bunch of books I read when I was younger. If there are a ton of YA horror posts on here within the next few months, that's why. (Surprise! There are already a lot of them on here! I wrote this post months ago and then held off on publishing it until it was a little closer to Halloween.)

Niki and her boyfriend, Terry, are invited to a Halloween costume party at Justine Cameron's mansion behind the cemetery on Fear Street. No better place for a spooky party than an old mansion by a cemetery, right? Nothing bad could ever happen in a place like that, right? RIGHT??

"Wasn't that house supposed to be haunted?" Terry asked.

"Everything on Fear Street is supposed to be haunted," said Trisha.

Justine is a transfer student and even though she recently started school in Shadyside and all of her classmates are practically strangers, she still invites Niki, Terry and Trisha to her party. I would be slightly suspicious if I were them, but then again, I've read enough of these books to know you can't trust anyone.

There's a brief reference to Jade and Deena from The Wrong Number and I have no clue how I remembered those characters were from another book. I like that Fear Street books are connected in little ways like this.

"Maybe I'll get a hot dog from the vending machine." I don't know who said this, but I imagine I took note of it because it's weird. Has anyone ever actually heard of hotdogs being in a vending machine? 

Back to the story. The previous owners of the Cameron mansion were killed in an accident and supposedly their spirits still haunt it. Justine claims to be a distant cousin of the original owners and that her uncle inherited the mansion and decided to fix it up. To celebrate, I guess, she invites nine people to her super exclusive Halloween party: Niki, Terry, Trisha, Ricky, Murphy, Angela, Les, David and Alex. (You won't ever hear most of those names again.) Niki used to date Alex, who was very good friends with her current boyfriend, Terry. Guess what? They're not friends anymore. Spoiler: There's drama between them for most of the book, but it doesn't move the plot along in any way, so I'm not talking about it anymore.

Even if those three didn't have their own issues, Justine's other guests are going to start more trouble. The guests divide themselves into two groups, with Terry, Ricky, Les and Trisha on the "wimp team" and Murphy, David and Alex on the "jock team." Each team decides to pull pranks on each other and at first it's pretty harmless, but then Terry finds an eyeless chicken head in his locker. Listen, if you want to prank each other, fine, but WHAT KIND OF PSYCHOPATH does that? Whatever. The two school bullies, Bobby and Marty, threaten Justine because they weren't invited to her party. They should be grateful. Do they really want to hang out with a chicken murderer?

I guess so, because they show up at the party and attack Philip (Justine's "uncle" and I'm putting that in quotes because I don't know if I believe it), Terry and Alex. David and Terry are able to get them to leave by threatening their precious motorcycles (that they drove into the mansion). Once those imbeciles leave, it's time for hot apple cider and cookies! Okay, I didn't drink or go to parties in high school (I have social anxiety, I didn't go anywhere if I could help it), but I went to high school and I had friends in high school and I know they weren't drinking hot apple cider at parties. Once snack time is over, they play the game I talked about a few posts back, from The Scary Book! You know, the book aimed at 5 year olds. They're asked to put their hands in a box and touch brains (aka spaghetti)! What did R.L. Stine do for fun in high school? I'll be honest, as much as I'm going to mock every Fear Street book I post about, I like that they're just innocent fun compared to some of the books being released these days.

Play time is over and the next activity is a treasure hunt. While searching Justine's bedroom, Niki finds a photo of Justine and an older man whom she seems to be romantically involved with. She also finds a secret closet filled with designer clothing. Justine is living her best life. In the bathroom, there's a prescription for sleeping pills for Enid Cameron. Who could that be?

While Terry is looking for treasure, he finds Alex's lifeless body hanging in the attic. David comes across them soon after. Terry gathers the others together and tells them what happened and Justine says not to call the police yet, she wants to see the body first. (That's not suspicious at all.) Upon going back to the attic, Alex has disappeared. While investigating the rest of the house, they find a dummy, dressed in Alex's costume, on Justine's bed. Alex jumps out of the bathroom, yelling "Gotcha!" and pissing everyone off. He tells David, "Nice work." What the hell, David?

I'm assuming something led to this, but it's not in my notes, so I don't know what it was. Justine falls from the second floor landing because the banister is loose. Who cares. Apparently someone used a saw on the banister and uncle Philip is furious. It makes no sense because who even knew anyone would lean against the banister? Unless Justine did it herself. (10 year old me wouldn't have put that together.)

Soon after, the lights go out and the party guests decide to play Truth - a game where you say the worst thing you've ever done and everyone votes on whether or not you told the truth. If they think you're lying, there will be a penalty. Terry can't be bothered with this game and goes to look for Niki (who went off on her own after they argued), but instead finds Les, dead inside a closet. David meets up with Terry and learns about Les, so he asks to see the body...But now that one has disappeared, too. And of course David thinks this is payback for his part in Alex's prank earlier, until they notice the puddle of blood on the floor. The trail leads from the closet to a window. They find Les' body on the roof below and decide to retrieve it. Instead of calling the cops. Instead of questioning each other about what they were doing in the attic and if they had anything to do with the murder. It's fine though because as it turns out, they couldn't have called the cops anyway, as someone has cut the phone line.

Outside, they find uncle Philip's clown costume in the mud, with blood on the arm. David says he'll go to a payphone and call for help, it will only be "a few minutes." When David reaches his car, however, he notices the tires have been slashed. The same goes for the cars belonging to all the other guests. To make matters worse, Bobby and Marty come back, acting like drunken fools, and chase David through the cemetery, where he falls and hits his head on one of the gravestones before blacking out.

Terry once again begins his search for Niki, with Justine offering to look upstairs while he takes the basement. He finds Niki in a closet with a bruise on her head. She believes someone knocked her out. Before that, she had found a newspaper clipping is Justine's secret closet about a deadly car crash that killed the parents of Enid Cameron. Two cars were drag racing and one hit the Camerons' car. Niki believes Justine is actually Enid. As proof, she pulls out a license with Justine's picture and Enid's name on it. She also points out the names of the people involved in the accident - the parents of everyone at the party. The article is from 28 years ago, so Justine is pulling some Never Been Kissed scam and hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers.

After confronting Justine about her murderous tendencies, she tells them how great their acting skills are on the trick they just pulled on the rest of the guests. 😉 Terry asks if this is just another trick and if she was really just talking to Les (I guess she said she was talking to him at some point?), where is he? In the dining room, of course! Setting up the final surprise! Justine walks into the dining room and begins talking to Les so everyone can hear her...It's all very Norman Bates.

Everyone enters the dining room and sees Les sitting at the end of the table with sunglasses on his face. Nothing weird there. They say how glad they are to see him and what a great trick he played...No answer. Terry notices he isn't moving and touches his shoulder, causing Les to fall from the chair and once again confirm to Terry and everyone else that he is, in fact, dead. Justine takes this as an opportunity to run from the room and lock all of her guests inside. From outside, she tells everyone to sit at the table and open the gift boxes she left for them. She says they'll play one more game of Truth, but this time it's her turn and they will pay the penalty. Inside the boxes are a picture of Enid's parents. She begins telling them the story Terry and Niki read about in the newspaper article. Les was killed first because his father was driving the car that killed her parents. The rest of them will receive a different penalty. She's going to set the mansion on fire and let them burn in it, the way her parents burned in their car.

Niki realizes she can get out of the dining room by using the dumbwaiter and tells Terry to help her. In the basement, she finds Philip, bloody and tied up. With Philip's help, they manage to escape outside, leaving everyone else for dead. Just kidding. Of course they help the other guests. Using a crowbar, Philip manages to pull the bars off the dining room window so everyone can get out of the burning mansion. Then David conveniently appears from the woods, safe after escaping from Marty and Bobby and calling the police.

Philip apologizes, saying all he wanted to do was scare them. Justine's father was his older brother (wow, he really is her uncle) and this party had been his own idea. He blames himself for how Justine turned out, even though she manipulated him into thinking this plan was totally okay. When Philip found Les' body, he confronted Justine and said he was going to call the police (rookie mistake) and then she knocked him unconscious and tied him up in the basement. Justine hears all of this, screams at Philip for betraying her and then runs into the burning house. Alex pulls her out and the police arrive to take her away.

I honestly still have no idea if I read this book when I was a kid or not. I knew everything that was going to happen, but I think it may just be because Halloween Party is really predictable. This wasn't a bad book, but there are much better Fear Street novels and I can't wait to get to them once the holiday season is over.

Horror Books/Movies/Shows for Kids

 I never really post about horror aimed specifically at kids because I don't have kids, so I never really think about it. But I figured since we're approaching Halloween, I would make a post about the Top 3 horror books, movies and TV shows for children. This is a very 80's/90's list. I have no idea what's out there for kids today. If anything. I feel like the 90's kind of treated kids like little adults, people weren't worried about scaring us. Whereas now...Things are a little different. The parents I know seem way more concerned about what their kids watch/read/eat/wear/etc. than my parents ever were. I mean, I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was three years old. (And clearly, I'm a totally well-adjusted adult who consumes so much horror that I decided to start a blog about it and I decorate for Halloween in August. Completely. Normal.) Anyway. Here are some of my favorites from when I was a kid.

Top 3 Books:

The Scary Book by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson

This is a great book for young readers who aren't quite ready for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The illustrations are cute and not likely to traumatize your children. The Scary Book is separated into several chapters, consisting or stories, poems, tricks/games and jokes.

Some of the stories included in this compilation are silly. The scariest story in this book, for sure, is Taily-po. And the only reason I say that is because I've read another version of Taily-po, as an adult, that absolutely terrified me. The version included here has a much happier ending.

The tricks and games chapter of the book would be a lot of fun if your kids are still kids by the time this pandemic is over and you're throwing a Halloween party for them. You're taught how to create a headless man, trick your friends into believing you found a severed finger in a box, make your friends believe they're being touched by a ghost and you learn how to play the Dead Man Game, which is where you make everyone close their eyes and touch things like peeled grapes and spaghetti while making them believe it's actually someone's eyes and brains.

Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark (Series) by Alvin Schwartz

This series was the only thing thing I knew about the Dewey Decimal System until I started working in a library. 398.2 SCH is the area you're likely to find it around, in case you're ever looking for it. When I was a kid, I used to borrow these books from the library constantly. I would return them and then check them back out again. It was always Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Short & Shivery.

As with The Scary Book, some of the stories here are silly. But unlike The Scary Book, others are downright horrifying (I'm looking at you, Harold.) I think my fear of looking out my window at night actually stems from reading The Window as a child. There are times, to this day, when I'll have my window open on a rainy afternoon and I'll forget to close it before the sun sets and then I'm too afraid to close it because what will I see outside my window? There's a good mixture of folktales and urban legends in these collections. The stories aren't the selling point of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark though...

The illustrations are. The only way to read these books is with the original drawings. Several years back, the series was rereleased with new illustrations because the originals were too scary for kids. And I completely understand why. I still can't look at whatever that thing is from T-H-U-P-P-P-P-P-P-P. It's not even a scary story, it's supposed to be funny, but I'll be damned if that thing isn't one of the creepiest images I've ever seen. I remember being afraid to sleep with the lights off after I read that one as a kid. I urge you to really gauge your child's tolerance for horror before presenting them with these books because they probably won't sleep for days and then you're going to be stuck checking under their bed and in their closet and you never know what you'll find hiding there.

Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine

I was really into Goosebumps for about a year before I moved onto Fear Street. Originally, I wanted to include that series in this post, but I think Goosebumps is more appropriate.

This hit series from R.L. Stine has been around since the early 90's and kids still love these books today. There were several spinoffs, including Give Yourself Goosebumps (a Choose Your Own Adventure series), but the original books were the best. Some of the most popular titles were The Haunted Mask, Night of the Living Dummy, and my personal favorite, Say Cheese and Die! (a story about a camera that takes pictures of future misfortune.)

Goosebumps was so popular that it was even turned into a TV show and as recently as 2015, there was a film about the series, starring Jack Black as R.L. Stine. There was also a sequel released in 2018, which I have not seen, but the original film was cute and Jack Black makes anything better.

This is a fun series that probably isn't going to scare your kids too much. If they're too old for The Scary Book, but you don't think they're quite ready for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, give Goosebumps a try.

Top 3 Movies:

The Halloween Tree

This animated film is based on Ray Bradbury's novel of the same name. The movie is also narrated by him. It originally aired on ABC, but Cartoon Network added it to their lineup around Halloween.

I have a post about this movie already, if you want to read a bit more in depth about it, but I really enjoyed it. The movie takes place on Halloween night and follows four children who go on a journey to save their friend, Pip. They travel across the world (and time), where each of them learn the meaning behind their costumes, as well as the true meaning of Halloween. It also shows what people are willing to sacrifice for their friends.

Personally, I do think this movie could be a bit scary for a younger audience, so keep that in mind if you know your children scare easily.

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters

I know Looney Tunes has its issues. A lot of them. But I loved these cartoons as a kid and I especially loved Daffy Duck's Quackbusters.

In this film, Daffy Duck receives an inheritance and is forced to start a legitimate business where he treats his employees with caring and kindness. No, I'm not kidding. Every time he treats Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig badly, we see the money in his safe dwindling down until he starts behaving nicely again. Daffy's "legitimate" business is a group of paranormal investigators, tasked with everything from exorcisms to dealing with an abominable snowman. Fun shorts are strung together to create a full length movie.

Some of my favorite Looney Tunes shorts included in Quackbusters are Hyde and Go Tweet, Claws for Alarm and Transylvania 6-5000. This movie isn't scary at all and can be enjoyed by children of all ages.

The Monster Squad

Okay, parents. Be careful with this one, it's a bit inappropriate and extremely politically incorrect (it was released in 1987, if that tells you anything) and parts of it are frightening. If your children are under the age of 12, I would hold off on this one.

A group of young kids belong to a monster club and it's all fun and games until they realize monsters are actually real and Dracula is about to open a portal that will plunge the world into darkness. Featuring an all star monster cast of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and "Gill-man" (aka The Creature from the Black Lagoon), this is the best monster mashup film since Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (also a great movie for kids).

There's one standout scene where the kids go to "Scary German Guy" for help translating Van Helsing's diary. Horace says, "You sure know a lot about monsters," to which the older man replies, "Now that you mention it, I suppose I do" while the camera is aimed at the numbers tattooed on his arm. It's a horrifying moment that I didn't understand when I was younger, but every time I see it now, I'm struck by it.

Top 3 TV Shows:

Tales from the Cryptkeeper

We've all heard of Tales from the Crypt, right? But did you know that in the 90's, there was an animated version for kids called Tales from the Cryptkeeper? I remember watching this on Saturday mornings (when I was actually home and not forced to go to religion classes and miss all the awesome cartoons that aired on Saturdays) and thinking it was the best cartoon ever. I still think it's one of the best animated series ever.

The premise is the same as the live action show, in each episode, the Cryptkeeper tells the audience a scary tale, but these ones are appropriate for younger viewers. There are all kinds of stories, ranging from people who are actually plants, monsters inside a mine and a train full of vampires.

My favorite Tales from the Cryptkeeper episode is Uncle Harry's House of Horrors. There's something so unsettling about carnivals, don't you think so? That's why so many horror movies and books take place there.

Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery

Say whatever you want, tell me Tiny Toon Adventures is a non-horror TV show and this was just a one time special and it doesn't count, but it's staying because it was awesome.

Inspired by Night Gallery (a horror anthology series), Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery features shorts inspired by classic horror tales and movies. It's not actually scary, but it is a lot of fun, especially when you know what each segment is referencing.

In this Halloween special, you'll find spoofs on The Tell-Tale Heart, Duel, The Devil and Daniel Webster and more, including one that references Abbott and Costello films like Hold That Ghost and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

And finally, I couldn't have written a post about horror for kids without talking about Are You Afraid of the Dark? at some point. This was a horror anthology show in the 90's and it's still so popular to this day, that Nickelodeon brought the show back (although now, instead of being an anthology series where different stories are told weekly, each season tells one long story). Each week, the members of the Midnight Society would sit around a campfire in the middle of the woods and one person would tell a scary story that they wrote.

As with any anthology series, some episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark? were better than others. A couple of my favorites are The Tale of the Pinball Wizard (after ignoring a warning from his boss not to play a pinball machine, a boy is trapped inside it, where he has to battle zombies and a witch to save the princess) and The Tale of the Midnight Madness (a struggling movie theater receives a vampire film, from recurring character Dr. Vink, that's almost a little too real).

Again, I would say to use your judgment before letting your children watch this show. Some episodes are genuinely scary. I still have nightmares about my grandmother's basement and I'm convinced it's because of The Tale of the Dark Music. Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a fun show, but some episodes might be too much for younger viewers.

Funhouse by Diane Hoh

 

Here we are, with another Point Horror novel, but surprise! This time, it's not written by R.L. Stine. When I think of a funhouse, I think of the street fairs we used to have every year in May and October, pre-Covid. And that's going to be my reasoning for posting about this book now, right in the middle of both.

Totally unrelated, but if there are typos in this post, it's because I just got done "playing" Ring Fit and my arms feel like they're no longer part of my body. They're just dead. Whoever came up with Aerochute is the devil and should be punished.

I've never read this book before, so I'm basing my predictions on the description on the back cover of the book. Actually, you know what? I don't even need to read that. I bet you the main character's best friend/boyfriend/favorite teacher/parents are trying to kill her. Basically, anyone who is close to her is a suspect. That's usually how these things turn out, right? I'm excited to read this book, the cover is a lot of fun and it's completely new to me so I won't be bored knowing how things turn out. Let's see what happens.

This book begins at The Boardwalk, an amusement park along the coast of Southern California. Immediately, we're introduced to 200 different characters, but our main character is Tess and her BFF is Gina. Gina is interested in a guy named Doss, but apparently she's already dating someone whose nickname is Beak. She justifies two-timing him by saying, "How would you like to date a guy named Beak?" LIKE DOSS IS ANY BETTER?? Really, Gina? All that aside, Tess is way too opinionated about who is or isn't better for Gina when she's got her own guy problems with Sam. Listen, I'm seven pages into this book and I already think Tess is a pretty miserable protagonist so I hope she sorts her attitude out soon.

Funhouse wastes no time getting into the action. The Devil's Elbow rollercoaster derails and crashes to the ground, crushing a young child and their mother. Okay, so it's that kind of book. (Please don't let any animals die.) In the chaos, a figure dressed in all black and a SKI MASK (totally subtle, not the least bit suspicious) sneaks away from the rollercoaster. Looks like this was no accident. Who would want to derail a rollercoaster though? Tess notices this creep and even she thinks it's strange that they're walking away from the scene of the "accident" instead of trying to help.

Whoever this person is, they think the people on the rollercoaster deserved to die. If I had to guess right now, based on the limited information I have, I'm going to say the killer is Beak. The kids gave him that nickname because they were mocking his appearance, it kind of makes sense, if you're totally unhinged. (Bullying is wrong, killing people in retaliation is also wrong.) Three people were either killed or badly injured in the "accident" and the murderer thinks, "Three out of eight." So we'll have five more victims? If the killer is Beak, is it safe to assume Tess, Gina, Doss and Sam are next? Let's throw Mr. Dart, the history teacher who makes inappropriate comments to his students, in there, too.

Here's the thing...These kids are all standing around, thinking there's something they can do to help the paramedics, when all they're really doing is being nosy and getting in the way. Tess, Sam, Gina, Doss and Beak are all accounted for. I'm still sticking with Beak as the killer though. He could have circled back around after ditching the ski mask. There are more characters...I guess I'd better just list all of them in case they end up being important at some point.

Sam has a sister named Candace. Tess has a brother named Guy Joe Jr. (no, I'm not kidding). Guy Joe Jr. lives with their father, Guy Joe Sr., and Tess lives with their stepmother, Shelley, who recently separated from her father and is about to leave for a two week vacation to Europe, meaning Tess will be alone at their condo located deep in the woods. A+ parenting. The three [main] victims of the rollercoaster sabotage were Dade (dead), Sheree (disfigured) and Joey (lost his left leg). If this book introduces ONE more character, I'm going to pretend they don't exist. It's only 163 pages long, how many characters does it actually need? Apparently one more! Trudy, the daughter of the chairman of the board of The Boardwalk. There have been three more names mentioned in the next paragraph and I'm officially moving on.

Tess tells her friends about the shadow she saw running away from the scene of the crime and, even though she doesn't know who it is, she thinks the way they moved looks familiar. Nothing about how they moved, but it's different enough to be noticeable without being different enough to help her identify the person. Thanks for nothing, Tess.

We learn that the killer found a diary in their attic, written by Lila O'Hare, a person they don't know. Lila was married to a man named Tully who used to own The Boardwalk...Before the killer's father and his friends bought it. The O'Hares were in danger of losing The Boardwalk and were going to see a man named Buddy about a loan. That's all that's revealed through the journal entries for now. It would be too obvious if the killer is Trudy, since she's the only character we know of so far whose father is involved with The Boardwalk, but it's not like it would be the first time the most obvious suspect turned out to be the killer. For now, Beak is still my main suspect.

Tess goes home, and through a phone call with Gina, we find out that Tess and Gina's fathers are also on the board of the amusement park. Tess asks her if there was ever an accident like this at The Boardwalk before and Gina tells her that something happened in the Funhouse. After the girls hang up, Tess notices a piece of paper has been slipped under her door. There's a poem about Dade, Sheree and Joey, hinting that Tess could be next.

Through another series of journal entries, it's revealed that Buddy turned down the O'Hares because he and his friends decided they wanted to take The Boardwalk away from them. This is all an assumption on my part, but I have a pretty good feeling that the killer is going after the families who stole The Boardwalk from the O'Hares, even though their own father was part of it. What makes no sense is killing the children of those families when they weren't responsible for any of this. And! They sent an ENTIRE ROLLERCOASTER flying off the tracks. Other people who had no involvement in this entire thing were injured, too. Taking The Boardwalk away from the O'Hares was a nasty thing to do, but maybe this person should take a look in the mirror because what they're doing is worse.

The next day, Tess brings the note to the police, only for one of them to make sexist, condescending remarks and completely dismiss her concerns. On top of that, when she asks for her note back, he refuses to give it to her. I hate this man. Even Gina, her best friend, doesn't take her seriously. Still, Gina tells Tess that she asked her father about the incident at the Funhouse. Years ago, a man committed suicide in there. That would be Tully, who killed himself thinking that his wife and unborn child would get the insurance money. (He was wrong.)

Gina's dad asks her to get her friends together and go to The Boardwalk, to show everyone it's "safe." God forbid he should lose money after the tragedy that occurred there a couple nights ago. Tess reluctantly agrees and Gina thanks her by saying she's so "uptight," they can skip the rides and hang out inside the Funhouse. You know, where she just told Tess someone died. This girl is an absolute idiot. Sidenote, Beak and Sam's parents are also on the board of directors.

The entire group of kids (I refuse to list them all, there's too many) make their way through the Funhouse and when they exit, Tess realizes her car keys are missing. Gina volunteers to go back inside and look for them. She's either going in there to die or she's the killer. Why do I think she's the killer? Because she hasn't been considerate towards Tess once in the fifty-six pages I've read so far. Why start now? Doss and Trudy keep complaining about Gina having to look for Tess' keys until she finally goes back inside the Funhouse to help search for them. Hmm. If Gina is the killer, now would be the perfect time for her to get rid of Tess.

Okay, so it isn't Gina. Tess hears a scream and runs through the Funhouse, where she sees part of the flooring has been removed and Gina fell through to the sand waaaaay down below. The actual killer is mad. They slipped Tess' keys out of her back pocket so she would go back inside and look for them, she was supposed to be the one who fell. Another journal entry is revealed, where Buddy offers to give Lila's baby away to another family. He says Lila will never be able to get a job and support her baby, but his friends, who want a child more than anything, can. This is starting to make sense. Whoever the killer is must be Lila's child, which is why the journal is in their house (even though that's so stupid, it's evidence of what these people did to the O'Hares). That's why they're after revenge.

Good news? I guess? Gina isn't dead, she's just unconscious and her leg is broken. Can we talk about something? The part of the floor that was missing was there the first time the group walked through the Funhouse. Which you would think means whoever came out last was the person to remove it. Beak, Sam and Guy Joe followed Tess out of there, but I have a hard time believing it was one of them because they still would have had to move pretty quickly to remove the floor. (It's kind of troubling that it's that easy to remove part of the floor in the Funhouse. That place definitely isn't safe.)

The killer said three out of eight earlier, right? Let's do a check of who we know is related to the board. Tess, Gina, Sam, Beak and Trudy. They're all potential victims. Who is our killer then? There must be a ninth board member. Whose family is it? Doss? Just because we know that Tess, Gina, Sam, Beak and Trudy all have family on the board, that doesn't necessarily mean one of them isn't the killer. It just means we don't know who the last person is yet. Earlier in the book, Gina said Doss "used to be one of us," but his father lost all his money. I'm betting Doss is the ninth person, but I don't think he's the killer.

Getting back to the story, Tess leads everyone through the Funhouse to show them where Gina fell, but of course, the floor is back to normal, nothing is out of place. Clearly Tess isn't crazy though, Gina fell through the damn hole, everyone saw her. RIGHT? No. They think Gina fell over the railing. No wonder Tess has a bad attitude, I would, too, if I was constantly having to deal with people who didn't take anything I said seriously.

Somehow, Tess comes to the conclusion that the person behind these incidents is either 1. Trying to slow business down at The Boardwalk or 2. Targeting the families of the board members. Very perceptive. Here's what I'm having trouble with. Tess says there are seven people on the board of directors and that there used to be eight, until Doss' father was forced to resign. Let's go through the list again. The killer said three out of eight were taken care of after the rollercoaster derailed. They also acknowledged their own father was on the board. It's confirmed that Dade, Joey, Sheree, Gina, Sam, Beak, Trudy and Tess are all children of the board members. That's EIGHT. Not seven. And Doss' family would have made nine. So why is Tess saying there are currently seven people on the board of directors? Did I misread something or was this an editing oversight? I need to move on so I can finish this book, but just know, I'm extremely bothered by this.

When Tess goes to visit Gina at the hospital, she learns that Gina doesn't remember anything that happened when she fell. That means she can't corroborate Tess' story about the missing floor. All of Gina's friends arrive to see her, except Doss. Tess is suspicious of him. His father was fired because of his drinking and she thinks Doss might be angry about it. I don't buy it. Who knows though. Maybe Doss is the killer. Maybe his father drank so much because he has a guilty conscience over taking someone else's child away from them. Doss eventually shows up, but now there's like, fifty kids in Gina's hospital room and the nurse tells her only two can stay. She chooses Tess and Doss and Beak is not happy about it.

Trudy is having her birthday party at The Boardwalk because she's a self-absorbed brat who doesn't care how many people were hurt there. Strangely enough, Doss tells Gina he won't go unless Tess is there. Those two aren't close, Tess doesn't even like him. This must be a red herring. If Tess goes to the party and something happens to her, she's going to be suspicious of Doss because he wanted her there. Tess agrees to go (WHY?) and says her goodbyes. 

Outside, Tess finds that all four of her tires have been slashed. Rather than go back inside the hospital and ask for a phone so she can call someone to pick her up, she decides to walk home. In the dark. Through the woods. Alone. Alone? Not alone. She can hear footsteps behind her. She tries to run, but the person chasing her knocks her off balance and she falls into a muddy hole.

Another journal entry. Buddy took Lila's baby, threatening that if she ever tried to get it back, she would go to jail. He left a check for her from the people who bought her baby. Lila tore the check up and taped the pieces to the back of the journal, along with a list of names of everyone involved. Then she killed herself...I'm starting to wonder if maybe the killer is Guy Joe, Tess' brother. He stayed behind to live with his father when Tess left to live with their stepmother, even though he doesn't like his father. It would make sense if he stayed to get revenge on him. Why try to kill Tess though? I don't know. EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT.

Tess is rescued by Trudy's father. She was pushed into his unfinished pool and had to be pulled out. He invites her inside, telling her Trudy isn't home. Tess wonders if Trudy was the one pursuing her through the woods. Who hasn't she suspected yet? Sam and Gina? Let's say the killer is one of them. (Although, if it is Gina, Diane Hoh is going to have a hell of a time explaining how she pulled that off.) The problem is, with such a large cast of characters, I feel like none of them have gotten much time in this book so they all feel too underdeveloped to be the killer. Anyway, Tess declines the invitation and asks to be taken home. I spoke too soon because when Tess gets  home, Sam is waiting for her. And he's covered in mud. Did he chase her through the woods?

It's confirmed: The killer put the pieces of the check back together and they are Lila's child, it's their father's signature on the check. Now we just need a name.

At Trudy's party, Sam asks Tess to take a walk with him and she does, even though she thinks he might be trying to kill her. She even tells him her theory about the kids of the board of directors being targeted. Why waste her breath? Either she just told the killer she's onto him, or she's given Sam another reason to think she's overreacting. Why did she even date this guy? He's the least supportive boyfriend ever. They get into another argument and Sam storms off, leaving Tess alone. And instead of going back to the party, she decides to stay by herself for a little while. Wasn't she terrified just two seconds ago? Now she's hanging out alone when someone has already threatened her? Where is the logic? In the sand, she finds a stone that looks like the ones in the high school's class rings and decides to hold onto it. Somehow, she comes to the conclusion that it fell out of the ring belonging to whoever tampered with the rollercoaster, since she found it in that area. Okay, whatever. I don't care what the stone means, I just want to know who the killer is.

When Tess rejoins the party, she sees everyone except Sam and Trudy on the ground, clearly in pain. Could it be the brownies they ate earlier were poisoned? Sam says the same thing, telling Tess he didn't eat any and neither did Trudy because she's on a diet. When the ambulance arrives, Sam hands them what's left of the brownies, telling them all the sick guests ate them. No one knows who the brownies were from, Trudy found them sitting on a picnic hamper. A doctor, who pumps the kids' stomachs, confirms the brownies were poisoned. Another theory: I think the killer probably knew the brownies wouldn't kill anyone, but they were trying to throw suspicion off themselves, so they ate one to make it look good. When Tess hears that Doss can go home since he didn't consume as much as everyone else and he's okay, she thinks exactly what I thought. Except I still don't believe Doss is the culprit. (You know, considering Dashiell Hammett is one of my favorite writers, I really suck at solving mysteries.) The doctor says none of the kids ingested enough poison to kill them and that the person responsible either didn't know what they were doing, or their intent wasn't to kill, they just wanted to make the kids suffer.

After everything that's happened, Tess finally decides to go stay with her brother and father until Shelley comes home. Who knew it wouldn't be safe out in the middle of the woods? (That's sarcasm, by the way.) Guy Joe Sr. tells Tess that he's going out and she can borrow his car, so she wants to take some yearbooks over to Gina at the hospital. While she's searching for them, she finds a class ring that's missing its stone. And her car keys. Along with a napkin from Trudy's party. Lastly, a purple marker, the same kind used to write the note she received after the rollercoaster derailed. Guy Joe Jr! I did say, at one point, that it could have been him. That maybe that's why he stayed in that house with a man he doesn't like. Granted, it's not that impressive when I suspected almost every other character in the book, too, but I'm going to consider this a win. In true "I'm a psychotic murderer" fashion, instead of just killing Tess, Guy Joe has to tell her his entire backstory.

Guy Joe drags Tess with him, telling her that they're going to see his real parents. Oh boy. This whole thing is ridiculous. I get being furious at the people who stole The Boardwalk from his parents and ruined their lives. I get wanting revenge. But his idea of revenge was to hurt their children. His friends. The girl he thought was his sister. You don't just stop caring about people because their parents did something awful.

They arrive at the amusement park and Guy Joe leads Tess to the Funhouse. On the way there, they pass by Doss, but he barely acknowledges them. (Maybe Tess should have been a little nicer to him.) Tess can't call out for help because Guy Joe threatens her. Inside the Funhouse, he tells Tess he plans to hang her and then himself. She manages to escape from him, running to where Gina fell through the floor. Removing the bit of flooring, Tess then smashes the light, casting the area in darkness. When Guy Joe comes looking for her, he falls through the floor, just as he had intended Tess to do last time. Karma.

Sam comes running into the Funhouse, telling Tess that Gina called him after receiving a package at the hospital, from Guy Joe. Inside were two journals. (Why would he send them to Gina, of all people?) Doss also called and told Sam he'd seen Tess and that Guy Joe seemed strange.

In an epilogue, Guy Joe pretends to be unconscious while listening to a conversation between the doctor and his "father." It turns out, "Buddy" is Trudy's father. And Guy Joe is going to make them suffer...

Closing thoughts? Too many characters. More suspenseful than scary. I hate the name Guy Joe. I'm glad no animals were harmed. The cover is the best thing about this book. That's all I've got.