So let's open R.L. Stine's brief case one more time this year and take a look at Season 4 of...
NEW INTRO
I'm not going to waste too much time talking about the new
intro since it's mostly just showing a compilation clips from most of the episodes from the
last 3 Seasons just done at a faster pace, with an added lightning effect, and
Slappy's voice telling "Viewers to Beware". However, I will say that
while being far from a bad opening for how energizing and quick it is in terms
of pacing and visuals being thrown at you, it’s nowhere near as memorable
as the original intro since it's iconic and gave us time to look at some
fun visuals made for the intro, before giving us a clip montage.
HOW I GOT MY SHRUNKEN HEAD
Mark is a kid who wishes to one day explore the jungle, finally gets his chance when he's invited to go an expedition with his Aunt Benna after receiving a package with a shrunken head inside it that carries supernatural powers. Upon arriving to the Pacific Jungle Island of Baladora, Benna has mysteriously disappeared, and Mark suspects something strange with the other doctors that partake in the expedition.
When the episode began, I was invested and find myself constantly interested in what was going to happen next as it moved on. But when knowing the show's formula at this point, you can pretty much tell who's going to be the bad guy, and if the Aunt is still alive and well, which is kind of disappointing that the episode doesn't offer that many unique twists and turns. Not to say that the story itself isn't engaging because it is thanks to its jungle setting, the mysteries surrounding the supernatural powers of the shrunken head, and the characters.
Mark is a likable character where you enjoy his passion for exploring and finding his Aunt, but the kid who plays him while not terrible since he does do a good of enough job at keeping you attached to his character, is very off most of the time in terms of his delivery sounding unnatural and a bit rehearsed. Aunt Benna is quite an interesting character where you find yourself wanting to know a bit more about her character for how adventurous she is, and what other ancient artifacts that she's collected in the past, that's held by a fine performance from the actress playing her. However, the characters who stand out to me the most are the Hawling family, particularly the Father and the daughter. They too are just as interesting and well performed as Aunt Benna is, and for you fans of the series you may recognize the actors from previous "Goosebumps" episodes. The actor who plays Dr. Richard Hawling played the Father in "Night of the Living Dummy 2", who gives his character here a British accent so cool that I never suspected that he was played by the same guy. And the actress who plays his daughter Karen is Beki Lantos, who played Margret in "Stay Out Of the Basement", and despite having no British accent like her parents, I'm quite surprised how well she pulls off the bratty and selfishness of her character, since she previously played a character who was the complete opposite. Though the main characters are good, the supporting characters aren't. The subplot with Mark's Mother and her boyfriend is pointless. The pilot who dresses up like Elvis and wants to be a movie star is a weird and awkward character, who feels out of place with the rest of the characters in the episode. And there's this weird guy at the airport that appears in-front of Mark and then just mysteriously disappears when Mark turns around, who we never see or hear from again.
As for the effects, they're nothing incredible, but for a kids TV show they aren't bad. You can definitely see that this episode has more of a budget when compared to most "Goosebumps" episodes from the show for the locations, and effects. The design for the shrunken head for instance is a cool design, and the effects of it floating, glowing its eyes, and even moving its face are good, if not jaw-dropping amazing. The green-effects such as the use of making the actors to appear to be small are pretty good as well. But as good as most of the effects are, there are indeed some incredibly bad ones, that really stand-out in the climax. The head chasing after Karen looked like that it was added in at the last minute where it never seems like it was actually there when compared to many other scenes before that; and the blue-screen effect of Mark floating was so obvious that it just kind of ruins the ride.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Though the episode does have its problems with its predictable story-line, the hokey acting from our lead, some of the supporting characters being pointless, and the effects looking awful at the climax, there's still plenty of good in it. The story's setting, and the myths revolving around the shrunken head is intriguing. The characters are likable and interesting. The acting for the most part is good. And the effects and the episode's overall look are fun and at times cool to look at. It's not one of the greatest episodes from the show, but it's not a bad or mediocre one either.
THE GHOST NEXT DOOR
Hannah discovers that she has a new neighbor named Cody who lives next door. But the house next to hers is an old abandon house that no one has lived in for quite some time. Curious to why he's living there, and not ever seeing him or his family move-in, she suspects something strange about him. And upon almost every time that she encounters Cody, she seems to be haunted by a mysterious shadowy specter when he's not present.
Not too long ago, I was watching a video of the "Top 5 Best Goosebumps Episodes" from Channel Awesome's very own Walter Banasiak, and when I found out that one of the episodes from this season was on the list, I was quite curious to see this episode for the first time, wondering if its as good as he made it out to be. When the episode began though I was interested, I knew or had some kind of idea of what the first part was building up too. And while watching the first 19 minutes of it, I kept thinking to myself “when is this episode going to wow me”, it's so predictable! But when we got to the end of the first part my jaw dropped as I reacted with awe. And when the second part started, I was hooked and eager to learn about what everything going on in the first part was all about. Granted I'm not going to act like that this is the first horror anthology kid’s show to pull off this kind of twist, and there are a few things that I'm not quite clear about in terms of logic, but overall it's still all executed brilliantly!
The kids they got to play our leads are very charming and how they work off each other is quite believable. It's definitely some of the show's acting at its finest. You do have some pretty goofy supporting characters like the clumsy mailman and the two generic bullies, but you also have some other good supporting characters as well, that I can't go into detail on who those characters are, but you'll know who they are when you decide to watch it. The sets and the effects are some of the best effects that the show has brought. I love how old and dusty and drenched in shadows the old house is that creates such an ominous vibe, and the ghost effects are not bad for a TV show aimed for kids (especially how we see the actors go through each other).
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This is an episode that I dare not talk too much about because I don't want to spoil it for newcomers, but trust me when I say that it's an episode worth seeing if you haven't seen it yet! It's suspenseful; it's charming; it's well-written; it has some fun gags that the kids can enjoy; it's just an overall great episode that I feel is criminally overlooked.
CRY OF THE CAT
Movie star Allison Rogers is staring in a horror movie about an evil cat, but little does she know that the film's subject matter is going to become reality for her after she accidentally hits a cat with her bike. The cat turns out to still be alive, but is now coming after Allison for taking away one of his nine lives.
When the episode started out, I had no idea where it was going. There's a demonic cat that's attacking two kids in a dark house, and they hire some kind of Exorcist to get rid of it, but gets killed by the cat off-screen as the kids are then left to fend for themselves. I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a previous encounter with the cat before meeting our real main characters, or if the episode was starting out in the middle of the events to then giving us a flashback leading up to everything that we just witnessed. But once I found out that this was a film that the characters are in, I was kind of disappointed that everything I saw was fake, but quite intrigued to see the series take a different route. Usually with a premise like this, the story would be set in some kind of suburban neighborhood with a bland kid that just gets in the middle of it. But instead it mostly takes place on a studio lot with our lead being an actor, which I was not at all expecting in an episode like this. It's true that when I see the characters shoot scenes for the movie, I was curious to know the full plot, and frankly would love to see it as a whole entire episode for how foreboding, intense, and a tad bit silly it is (I mean really a pet Exorcist). But the actual story that we're given for this one is still good enough, where I became just as engaged in the premise as I did with the previous two episodes.
The acting here is just as good as it was in the previous episode, and it's once again nice seeing some actors from older episodes of the show to play new characters. Playing the lead of Allison is the same girl who played Iris in "Calling All Creeps!" from Season 2, and she does a solid job of playing off the characters fears and diva side, while still making her come across as likable and remorseful. She's pretty much one of the fewest well rounded characters that the show ever comes close to getting right. Playing her co-star in the picture Ryan is the kid who played little Eddie (or Prince Edward if you want to get technical) in "A Night in Terror Tower", and while giving a good performance, the character himself is rather forgettable and seems kind of there. But the most memorable character that the episode has is the director Larry for how childish, weird, and over the top snobby he is. One minute he's talking sweetly to Allison, but once she's out of sight, he frowns and says nasty things about her. There's just never a boring moment with this guy, and his performance never gets exaggerated to the point where it becomes obnoxious. The only performance in the episode that wasn't as good when compared to the others is the actress who plays a strange girl named Crystal. She does a decent job at playing the strange factor to her character, but her performance is so dull for how one note it is that it gets irritating, especially when she tries to emote her concerns for Allison's encounter with the cat. It's pretty much a soulless performance until her last scene in the episode where it's almost as if she's a totally different person.
Our monstrous feline named Rip (Gimmicky, but a cool name for a beastly cat) is a frightening creature for how he never stops stalking his prey, and viciously attacks Allison when he gets a chance. The effects for the cat are quite scary for how grotesque and savage looking they make him out to be, however I will admit that the design while not goofy or even bad, he looks more like a rat than he does a cat. Almost like how the "Werewolf of Fever Swamp" looked more like a gorilla instead of a wolf. And speaking of werewolves, much like how you can become a werewolf from a physical wound by one, the same happens to Allison, except that she's becoming more like a cat. As silly as it may sound, it was done well enough on both a fun and suspenseful level. But for some strange reason midway through the second part, her cat-like abilities seem to be forgotten. And since a part of that premise involves people turning into cats, you expect them to use make-up effects, and they do, but once I saw the half human and half cat make-up design I began to chuckle at how silly it looked. I mean the fur does look like that it's consuming a person's body, but having a human eye on one side, and seeing a giant cat eye that doesn't blink on the other side just looks ridiculous. It's almost as if the effects team was running out of time and took a part of some cheap Halloween mask and stuck it to the actors face!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Much like "How I Got My Shrunken Head", this is a good if not great or memorable episode. It has a nice change of setting, some good performances, mostly cool effects, and a scary monster. It does have its flaws in terms of clunky writing, a few forgettable or dull performances, and some odd designs and effects, but it's far from being a bad one. And if you're curious to see "Goosebumps" take on cats, chances are that you'll be satisfied at their attempt.
Join me next year as I review the final episode to the show and share my overall thoughts on its 4th and last Season. I may possibly sum up my overall thoughts on the entire show on a separate post next year, BUT I make no promises concerning that.
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