R.L. Stine Talks Haunted Masks, Vengeful Dummies, And Why “Goosebumps” Still Gives Us Chills

Are there any Goosebumps books you feel are underrated?

Well, there’s a Goosebumps 2000 book, one of my favorites, that no one ever mentions. It’s called Brain Juice, and it’s about these kids who drink a purple liquid, and it turns them brilliant. They get smarter and smarter. They get too smart for school! They lose all their friends because they’re so smart, and then they’re kidnapped by aliens from another planet. It’s a favorite of mine, but no one ever mentions it. I don’t think it was a big hit.

Another childhood staple for me was the ’90s Goosebumps TV show, which turns 30 this year. What was it like seeing your stories come to life for the first time?

It was exciting for me. I didn’t have that much participation at the time when the show started coming on. I was writing a Goosebumps book every month; I was doing 12 a year, so I didn’t have time to write TV scripts. It really was fun for me to see what other writers would do, taking my work and then going off in their own direction.

I was recently in St. Augustine, and we showed The Haunted Mask to kids, which was the very first prime-time Goosebumps show that we ever filmed. It was great to see it again! People don’t realize this, but the Goosebumps show was completely a Canadian production. The Goosebumps episodes were filmed in an old Molson brewery up in Toronto. We used every kid in Canada! I think 11-year-old Ryan Gosling is in Say Cheese and Die.

I hadn’t seen The Haunted Mask in a long time, and it was cheap special effects, but it holds up pretty well. That’s really one of the best shows we ever did. I think it’s my best Halloween story.