Prolific author R.L. Stine has many YA horror series under his belt, from Fear Street, to Mostly Ghostly, to The Nightmare Room, but none are more iconic than Goosebumps, with over a hundred in number and 350 million copies sold worldwide. Columbia Pictures will release the Goosebumps movie this October 16, with Jack Black playing Stine to ghoulish perfection, and we had the chance to ask Stine himself what he considers to be the ten most essential entries in the series. Check them out in the gallery below!
“They’re just the best books,” Stine said of his personal selections. “They’re the cleverest, they’re the best stories and they have the biggest surprises.”
We were also lucky enough to get young actors Dylan Minnette (Let Me In, Prisoners) and Ryan Lee (Super 8, This is 40), both veterans of the Goosebumps movie, as well as R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, to give us their two-cents on some of Stine’s picks.
“I grew up with Goosebumps books and watched all the Goosebumps marathons,” Minnette admits. “I was obsessed with all of it. Just doing The Haunting Hour I was like, ‘This is this generation’s Goosebumps!’ I never thought I’d be in the actual Goosebumps movie.”
“I was a fan,” Lee concurs. “I remember being at the book fairs, we’d buy the books, trade them around. I’ve read Say Cheese and Die! and now I’m on Night of the Living Dummy, so I’m becoming a fan and it’s a fun experience.
Click Full Screen to read all of Stine and the actors’ quotes!
10 Most Essential Goosebumps Books
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Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
Original Blurb: "Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they...meet...some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies. In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy-and seedy."
Stine: I was a very fearful child, which is a horrible way to go through childhood. I was afraid of a lot of things and very shy, and it's turned out to come in very handy because I have a good memory and can remember what that feeling was. That feeling of panic of being a child and then I can try to get that into the books.
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The Haunted Mask (#11)
Original Blurb: "Carly Beth thinks she's found the best Halloween mask ever. With yellow-green skin and long animal fangs, the mask terrifies the entire neighborhood. Before long, it has a surprising effect on Carly Beth, too. She tries to take it off . . . but it won't budge!"
Minnette: I loved "The Haunted Mask" I and II on the show and in the books. In the movie there's some pretty iconic "Goosebumps" characters just in the mix, like if you look really closely there's a lot of practical monsters.
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Monster Blood (#3)
Original Blurb: "Evan visits an eerie old toy store and buys a dusty can of Monster Blood. But then he notices something weird about the slimy green ooze. It keeps growing. And growing. And growing. And all that growing has given the Monster Blood a monstrous appetite. . . "
Minnette: I don't know how to describe it. There's literal monster blood and it has to do with monsters. It's mentioned in the "Goosebumps" movie, and I hope "Monster Blood" can make it into a sequel.
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Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
Original Blurb: "Greg thinks there is something wrong with the old camera he found. The photos keep turning out . . . different. When Greg takes a picture of his father's brand-new car, it's wrecked in the photo. And then his dad crashes the car. It's like the camera can tell the future--or worse. Maybe it makes the future!"
Lee: I remember going to the library and this image being burned into my mind, the cover with these skeletons grilling. It made an impression on me for sure. I read that while we were filming, it was a page-turner. Right after I read it I watched the TV show and it was awesome. Once they find the camera, that guy living in the house really scared me.
Minnette: It felt more mature, edgier. The concept of this kid taking a picture and the Polaroid comes out of the camera and something in the picture is about to occur. I remember this guy playing a baseball game and he falls, breaks his neck or something. I was like, "Wow, that's crazy!" Or even when she's not in the picture and she disappears, there's just so many cool things about that book that I loved.
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Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
Original Blurb: "The fan-favorite thriller and chiller that first introduced the world to the wooden face of fear. The puppet who pulls all the strings. None other than Slappy the Dummy!"
Minnette: "Night of the Living Dummy" is classic because Slappy is like a family-friendly Chucky, it's just so scary. It's a kids show with a talking ventriloquist's dummy, it's the coolest thing to me.
Lee: It's just fun to read. I don't know if I get scared to the point of when I used to read these, but it's still fun and easy. I like how the sisters both want to do the ventriloquist thing, I remember doing that with my sister. I always did whatever she wanted to do.
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The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (#28)
Original Blurb: "Tara the Terrible. That’s what Michael Webster calls his bratty little sister. She loves getting Michael in trouble. Things couldn’t get any worse. Then Mr. Webster brings home the antique cuckoo clock. It’s old. It’s expensive. And Mr. Webster won’t let anyone touch it. Poor Michael. He should have listened to his dad."
Stine: I hear about kindergarten kids who couldn't read but would carry "Goosebumps" around. They had to have them for the covers, just to have them. It's a wonderful thing, it happens to a lot of book series.
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Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes (#34)
Original Blurb: "Joe Burton's dad loves tacky lawn ornaments. But then he brings home two ugly lawn gnomes. And that's when the trouble starts. Late at night, when everyone's asleep. Someone's creeping in the garden. Whispering nasty things. Smashing melons. Squashing tomatoes. No way two dumb old lawn ornaments could be causing all the trouble? Is there?"
Stine: People like series! I do! My wife says I'm a Pringles reader, I've read every P.G. Wodehouse novel, I've read every Agatha Christie novel. I like to read the same thing over and over again and I think that's what happens with "Goosebumps."
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The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (#33)
Original Blurb: "Camp Jellyjam is no ordinary sports camp. The counselors seem a little TOO happy. And why are they so obsessed with winning? It might have something to do with the hideous, slimy discovery lurking in the darkness…"
Minnette: I remember we got this read to us in library class, and I always loved "Goosebumps" and the show was so scary and creepy. It's just fun to be scared.
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Calling All Creeps! (#50)
Original Blurb: "In an attempt to get back at the bossy editor-in-chief of the school paper, ex-staff member Ricky Beamer plays a prank that backfires and results in him getting phone calls from local bullies who are really lizards in disguise."
Stine: There's definitely a comfort. For kids with "Goosebumps" you know that it's not going to go too far, you know it's gonna have some surprises, it's going to be comfortable, though, and there's going to be a happy ending. You know all that before you start! Well, there's always a happy ending and then a little stinger. (laughs)
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Attack of the Mutant (#25)
Original Blurb: "Realizing that he has become lost in a strange part of town, Skipper Matthews, a ravenous comic book collector whose favorite character is an evil super-villain, discovers a building just like the secret headquarters of his idol."
Stine: Here's my favorite letter of all-time: "Dear R.L. Stine, I've read forty of your books and I think they're really boring,"
