With Halloween upon us, we rely on scary stories to make the season terrifying. When I was young, back in the 90's there were two things that would scare children. Well...not all Children. A TV show called Are you Afraid of the Dark and a book series called Goosebumps. Which one is better? Well....let's talk about them first.
Goosebumps was started around 1992. Created by children's horror author Robert Lawrence Stine. Or R.L. Stine for short. He was like a kid friendly version of Stephen King Horror books. What were they about? Well some stories were about ghosts, haunted ventriloquist dummies, blood from a monster. They even had a haunted mask that would stick to your face.
Sometimes, some of the books are choose your own story. You are the person in the story and you would have to choose how it ends. I would enjoy these books, I almost got all of them. I even got ideas from my stories from Goosebumps as well as Stephen King. No joke.
Soon, around 1995, Goosebumps became a hit tv show that involved his books. With stories like "Nightmare of the living Dummy", "Monster Blood", "Say Cheese and die" and much more. Even some unknowns who played the kids would end being famous in their future. Like Hayden Christiansen, AKA Aniken Skywalker.
R.L. Stine is still writing today. No more Goosebumps, but more stand alone novels, some based on true stories, and a few Fear Streets. It was ok. I don't remember much of his new work. But I will always remember my teen years and my fascination with Goosebumps. Especially the cover of the book where the Goosebumps logo was all bumpy.
Back in the 90's, Nickelodeon had really good shows (unlike today of course). One show they would call SNICK that was on Saturday Nights. One show they had on was a show that would have kids tell stories about haunted cabs, frightening clowns, deadly ghosts and much more.
A few kids go around a campfire, pour something on the fire (dust I guess) and tell their story, then we are transported into the story. One where there would be kids, one a troublemaker and another a good kid doing something bad. The bad kid would end up in danger and it's up to the good kid to save the day.
Not every story was like that, sometimes it would involve some magicians or wizards or whatever.
This show also had a share of celebrity guest stars in some episodes. Ryan Gosling was in one (he also was in an episode of Goosebumps as well) This episode had him portray a big brother of a kid obsessed with death. He has to save him. Gilbert Godfried is in this episode as well.
Different actors changed within the series. Later it ended for good, but recently came back....and NOT for the better. It seems the whole story revolves around the Midnight Society as they were called in a one hour episode. They would go to a haunted carnival or a haunted house. One of them would disappear and there was this haunted magician or something. Wasn't the same. The acting was ok, but I felt the story was not how I remembered. The midnight society telling stories.
So, which one is the far superior one? The one I called the best? Well....for me it's a tie. Why? I grew up watching both shows, but with Goosebumps, I read most of the stories. With Are you Afraid of the Dark...I watched it. Now Goosebumps became a movie with Jack Black (more hit and miss to me) while Are you Afraid of the dark...went their own path.
I'm an adult now and I guess these new show adaptations and movies are for a different generation. I will always remember reading Goosebumps and watching Are you Afraid of the dark. They give me ideas on my stories, well not till I got older, and I always remember the haunting tales they would tell. I hope one day generations of today will remember our generation, because it is worth a Nostalgic look.
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