Title: “The Girl Who Cried Monster”
Series: Goosebumps
Season: 1
Year: 1995
Writer(s): Charles Lazer
Storyline: Goosebumps is based on a series of books written for children by R.L Stine (any relation to Franken? I’m here all week, sorry) so you might think this won’t be too scary or adult, but then,
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is for kids too and that… was not too scary. Well then, a girl who delights in torturing her little brother with stories of monsters encounters a real one in the library, but because of her reputation nobody will believe her. So Lucy decides to hide in the library after hours and get a picture of the librarian, who she has seen transform into a monster who eats insects. Unfortunately she rather stupidly uses a flash and so is easily detected when she takes the picture, and now she’s on the run with the monster after her.
As he’s the librarian though, he knows where she lives, and comes to call, but she won’t let him in. He has come ostensibly to return her backpack, which she left behind, and after trying to get in he leaves it on the doorstep. Showing its age now, as Lucy has to get her parents to take her into town to get the film developed (ah tis well I remember it!) but when she comes out with her photographs who’s there but the librarian, who takes the photo when she drops them on the street. Seeing him, her parents invite him over to dinner, to Lucy’s horror. However, in a very clever twist it turns out that her parents are both monsters, and they eat the librarian. Can’t have him spreading rumours about them. Having finished him off, they tell Lucy and her brother that soon they too will grow to be monsters, just like their parents.
Comments: Surprisingly good. I didn’t suss this one at all, didn’t even know where it was going. Not entirely original, but clever.
Rating: A