Night of the Living Dummy (1993) ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ by R. L. Stine
I read Night of the Living Dummy as part of a book club.
I finished the ebook of Night of the Living Dummy on May 25th, but have been very busy so I have not been able to write out my mini review.
This was the seventh book in the original Goosebumps run. I love the earlier books in the franchise, because they just have a different quality to them. It seems like he tried a little harder with the stories in the beginning, and they seem a lot more concise. This is one girl’s opinion, though, and you might have a much different one.
Sister Lindy and Kris are the protagonists of this story. They have a dog named Barky. I love the original names that this family gave their dog. He barks a lot, as you can imagine. Anyway, on to the dummies. The one sister got a ventroliquist dummy and named him Slappy.
The other sister is jealous that the other is getting so much attention with the ventriloquism, that she just has to have one herself. She named that one Mister Wood. Again, very original namer. I bet when she has a baby, she will name it Pooper or Cryer.
Soon, weird things start occuring. Some really elaborate mischief is happening, and the girls are blamed for it, of course, despite both of their claims that it was the dummies who did it. How is this even happening? Are the dummies really alive? Find out in Night of the Living Dummy!
What I think is the most interesting about this story is that Slappy is not the main antogonist of this story, Mister Wood is. Therefore, the picture of the dummy on the front cover is not of Slappy, as commonly thought, but Mister Wood. The original cover has the dummy’s head slightly cocked, but I could not find a good image of that specific cover in a good enough quality to post here.
When I think of Slappy, I remember the season 3 episode 33 Twilight Zone installment entitled The Dummy, which has an equally nasty dummy in it. Apparently this was an influence of R. L. Stine, and one inspiration for the story.
Night of the Living Dummy was a big hit, and spawned two sequels.
Unfortunately, there is no Goosebumps episode for this one.
