Attack of the Mutant
The episode is a two-parter that follows Skipper Matthews and his awesome comic book collection. Skipper’s favorite is The Masked Mutant, the story of an evil, power-mad super villain who is out to gain control of the universe. One day, while lost in a strange part of town, Skipper discovers a building that mysteriously resembles the Mutant’s secret headquarters… a building that magically disappears. Has Skipper read one too many comic books? Or does The Masked Mutant really exist?
This particular episode captured and confused my kids’ attention. My oldest (who is nine) was incredibly baffled by what the heck was going on, which was the intention of the episode. You’ve got this poor outcast kid named Skipper who can’t catch a break at home or school because of his comic book obsession. When all these crazy things start happening to Skipper that is in direct relation to the comics he’s reading then it becomes an interesting mystery. The episodes do a great job with concealing the reason behind Skipper’s madness and ends up bringing it all back together. The ending of the story actually made my kids laugh quite a bit. You can tell that this story was well thought out. While I do admit that the characters involved were a bit cheesy (overacting much there, Mutant?), it still very much appealed to my kids and hooked them immediately, even though it was slightly confusing.
Each DVD release has multiple stories from series, and while this first episode took up two slots (typically there are three stories per DVD), it did contain a second story called Phantom of the Auditorium. Honestly speaking, the second story was pretty darn boring. It lacked imagination, drive and creativity. I’m not just saying all of this from my point of view; my kids didn’t take to this one at all. The story follows along the same lines as Phantom of the Opera. Kids are trying to put together a school play and their play keeps getting ruined by a ‘mysterious’ phantom. Sets are painted, people end up getting framed for the vandalism, and the play just starts heading towards a disaster. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in this type of story.
The main problem with Phantom of the Auditorium is that it moves slowly and tries too hard to throw the viewer off the simple trail it creates. There’s just not enough interest in the antagonist for kids to latch onto it for the ‘scare’ value. It’s certainly traditionally scarier than Attack of the Mutant, but it’s regretfully not as creative for kids.
In the end, the Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant release is solid, solely thanks to the first story. It brings enough creativity and drive (and fun characters — Adam West anyone?) to make up for the lack of both in Phantom of the Auditorium.
Regretfully, there are no features on this release.
Moving on to the second Goosebumps release, we have Goosebumps: Ghost Beach.
Ghost Beach
The story focuses on Jerry, who is thrilled by the prospect of exploring the dark, eerie old cave he discovered down by the beach. When he hears the story of a 300-year-old ghost living inside, Jerry must decide if he will believe the legend or dismiss it as a silly made-up tale
Now, this is my kind of story! While I can’t say much for the acting, the story really will scare the ‘you know what’ out of your kids. The creepy setting of the coastal town lends for a great backdrop with the overall story of a ghost wandering around. The best part about this particular story is the climax of it, and the kicker at the end. My kids were absolutely glued to the screen when this was playing and the ending creeped out two of my daughters. I actually was a bit creeped out by it, which is saying a lot.
Anyway, Ghost Beach is a solid story that should lead the way for this Goosebumps release.
As for the other two stories on the DVD, you get one called The Barking Ghost, which will probably help your kids create a solid phobia for dogs. It follows two kids who are investigating barking dogs in the woods. When they finally find the dogs they end up finding far more than they bargained for. The story, while goofy in some parts, has a strong finish and multiple scary mutts. I commend the kids in the episode for not peeing their pants when the dogs were on a full snarl fest. It’s a good story overall, but you have to be careful if you have kids watching who don’t like dogs.
The final story on the DVD set is entitled Be Careful What You Wish For…, which is a basic story about ‘wanting’ something so bad that you would do anything for it. Ultimately, such a request usually ends up with bad consequences, as this does with a class klutz named Samantha Byrd. While It’s much better than The Phantom of the Auditorium, it’s still not quite as good as the rest of the stories on both DVDs. It rightfully belongs in third place on this DVD set.
Much like Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant, Goosebumps: Ghost Beach has no special features attached. I would give anything to hear some commentary from the author or just any sort of featurette about the stories. These shorts are certainly low budget, so it would be silly to expect a featurette on any of them. Still, it would have been nice to see something extra.