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The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight!
Our first Goosebumps at 33 review comes in the form of The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight, which aired on November 9th, 1996 during the show's second season. The story focuses of Mark and Jodie, a brother and sister who are spending the summer at their grandparents farm. Something that every kid must dream about…spending time with old people on a farm with no wifi or cable. At least the grandparents are nice and sweet, not bitter, senile and wearing a diaper filled with feces. You know, like our grandparents are.
Almost immediately, there is a clue that something is off when the not-all-there farm hand, Stanley, warns the kids about their plans to catch frogs later on in the day. In fact, Stanley's warning is a fierce one as he tells the kids: "I like frogs. You shouldn't catch them…cause if you do, the scarecrow just might end up catching you!" Oh yeah, Stanley? Great story, guy.
It isn't just the warning that Stanley so rudely spewed out that rubs the young visitors as strange, but grandma and grandpa are a little off too, and I don't think it's because they aren't getting enough fiber. For breakfast, instead of grandma's famous pancakes (famous where? On the farm?), she serves up a bowl of boring old corn flakes. Barfola. To make things worse, later on in the evening the kids get to have some of grandma's yummy apple pie! YAY! Unfortunately for these selfish brats, grandma has decided to go with cherry pie this time around. I actually don't blame them for being disappointed. Cherry pie sucks. 
You know what's funny about this whole cherry pie and corn flake situation, though? Well, it just so happens that Stanley (you know, the one that likes frogs) loves cherry pie AND corn flakes. He also likes making threats about scarecrows, so with there being an inordinate amount of scarecrows in the corn field and the episode being titled The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight, I think Jodie and Mark might be in for some serious trouble. And I'm not talking about having to change grandma's colostomy bag type of trouble either. That would be way worse.
In the end, The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight is an episode of Goosebumps, meaning, it's very much geared towards children of a very young age. Still, after watching this first episode, I do not take any issue with that as it delivers the starter horror in a serious enough way (for the age), showing a respect for the genre by keeping it simple, scary and most importantly, fun. The acting is all decent enough for the type of show it is and there was actually a familiar face to be found with a youthful Kris Lemche, who is probably best known (or, only known) as the Goth kid, Ian McKinley, in Final Destination 3.
I had a good time with this episode - which has a fantastic and totally satisfying ending, I might add - and it certainly gives me promise that I will not be spending this Chucktober with the lights off at nighttime.
HAHAH!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou deliver every time! I love how you channel your inner preteen boy (more so than usual).
Yo, way to rock your first Goosebumps review! If you have this on DVD, I think one of the other episodes on this disc is "Calling All Creeps." If so, check it out - for what it's worth it's among the higher caliber of Goosebumps.
ReplyDeleteChristine: Thanks, Christine! Now if only I could channel my inner preteen girl...
ReplyDeleteJeff: Thanks, Jeff, and that is the one with Calling All Creeps on it! I'm so glad you have seen some of these...you should have Owen read these posts! Well, maybe not.
Not to mention the drug dealer in Ginger Snaps w00t! Obscure GS reference of the day!
ReplyDeleteCorn flakes < ALL
Oh shit, good call, Carl! I love Ginger Snaps and I didn't even see it on his IMBD when I had checked. I knew I recognized him from somewhere and when I saw FD3, I thought that was it. It makes sense with GS, Goosebumps and him being all Canadian and shit!
ReplyDeleteI watched a lot of Goosebumps recently, took me back to my childhood! :D Some of them I actually still found pretty creepy as a 'grown-up' too!
ReplyDeleteI have seen some pretty good use of atmosphere in what I have seen, and I can tell that some of it would've scared the crap outta me if I were a kid!
ReplyDeleteI must admit: I love the poop humor :D
ReplyDeleteCurious to see how many currently working actors you can spot in this series.
And I sure am full of poop, aren't I?!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are a few people here and there to be found in the series. Most of them being Canadian actors, I presume.