Retro Book Review

In this Retro Review, I will be binge reading more R.L. Stine books starting with the series that scared the pants off of all middle schoolers around the world since 1992: Goosebumps. I will start with the original series then move on to the numerous spin off series, and boy there is a lot!

This is the review for Goosebumps #1 Welcome to Dead House.

Welcome to Dead House begins with sister and brother, Amanda and Josh, traveling with their parents to their new house located in the town of Dark Falls. Both kids are upset about the move since they are leaving all their friends behind. Apparently, their father inherited the house they are now moving to after a distant uncle passed away and left it to him in his will. As soon as the family arrive at the house they notice how old and creepy the house looks. They also notice how eerily quiet the neighborhood is and it seems almost abandoned. They are greeted by the realtor, Mr. Dawes, who enthusiastically shows them the property. After much complaining and whining by Josh, the family (minus Josh) enter the house to take a look around. Amanda finds a room on the second floor she calls her own and is subsequently scared when she sees a little boy in the hallway. She runs down and out of the house and tells her parents, which of course they don’t believe her. Meanwhile, Josh lets the family dog Petey out of the car and the dog promptly runs away with Josh trailing behind trying to catch him.

The family along with Mr. Dawes search the quiet neighborhood for the lost pup and boy and find them running in the local cemetery. Once captured, Josh rejoins his family and they notice that Petey is going apeshit at Mr. Dawes. They apologize to Mr. Dawes explaining that Petey is normally a good quiet dog.

Eventually, the family moves into the house and Amanda begins to experience weird things. She hears whispers in her bedroom and it is always so cold in the house. She has been having awful nightmares too. The brother and sister do run into a group of local kids in the town, but they seem off. Though the other kids seem “weird” Amanda and Josh begin to hang out and play with them. Then the night after Petey runs off again, Amanda and Josh decide to check the local cemetery at night for their beloved pooch while their parents are at a block party. At the cemetery, the kids uncover the horrible secret of Dark Falls.

The first book in the series starts out strong enough. In true R.L. Stine fashion, the story begins with the family (kids) moving to a new town. I like how the story throws you into the creepiness and doesn’t lag on. In most all of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books the parents are aloof to their kid’s problems and are kind of dumb. This Stine trope isn’t one of his worst, but I wish it didn’t make the parents that clueless. Having the parents be scared along with the children a little more would have been a little creepier in my opinion. I hate the little brother. He was awful and I wouldn’t have blamed the family if they would have just left him at the cemetery.

The ending is fine, though for older people (like me, rereading this as a 35 year old haha!) and maybe the kids nowadays the ending will be easy to figure out. I would have liked it to be a little less apparent on who the townspeople were. I think the twist at the end was an interesting choice, but it leaves more questions than answers.

All in all, I would give Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House a 4 out of 5.

Check back soon for my next Goosebumps Retro Review when I discuss the 2nd book in the original run, Stay out of the Basement!