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Goosebumps #36
The Haunted Mask II
JUST CALL HIM PRUNE FACE!
Steve Boswell will never forget Carly Beth's Halloween mask. It was so gross. So terrifying.
But this year Steve wants to have the scariest costume on the block. So he gets a mask from the same store where Carly Beth got hers. It looks like a creepy old man. With stringy hair. A wrinkled face. And spiders crawling out of the ears!
Steve's definitely got the scariest mask around. Too bad he's starting to feel so old. And so tired. And so evil...
Steve Boswell will never forget Carly Beth's Halloween mask. It was so gross. So terrifying.
But this year Steve wants to have the scariest costume on the block. So he gets a mask from the same store where Carly Beth got hers. It looks like a creepy old man. With stringy hair. A wrinkled face. And spiders crawling out of the ears!
Steve's definitely got the scariest mask around. Too bad he's starting to feel so old. And so tired. And so evil...
144 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1995
97 people are currently reading
3791 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,679 books18.6k followersRobert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews
April 4, 2025
Divertidísimo y con sus momentos tensos 🖤
Muy fan de Stine.
¡Pronto reseña! ⤵️
https://www.facebook.com/LaLocadelosL... 💀🖤📚
Muy fan de Stine.
¡Pronto reseña! ⤵️
https://www.facebook.com/LaLocadelosL... 💀🖤📚
October 5, 2019
#36 "New face. Old nightmare "
Carly Beth's Halloween mask was the scariest around. Steve remembers it perfectly. He is envious of how scary it was and wants to have a mask that's even scarier. So he buys a creepy old man mask at the same shop that Carly bought hers. But when he starts feeling old and tired and evil... something is terribly wrong here.
Carly Beth's Halloween mask was the scariest around. Steve remembers it perfectly. He is envious of how scary it was and wants to have a mask that's even scarier. So he buys a creepy old man mask at the same shop that Carly bought hers. But when he starts feeling old and tired and evil... something is terribly wrong here.
April 29, 2015
But I knew that buying a really gross and frightening mask would instantly cheer me up. Then I could go ahead with my plan to terrify the Hogs, to get my revenge.
Revenge!
What a beautiful word.
When I'm older and have my own car, that's what I want it to say on my license plate.
Yeah, hopefully when you get older you'll have some dang sense and realize that revenge is vastly overrated.
...
This book was excellent. Stine is in rare form here, charging across the children's horror genre with long, easy strides.
This is the sequel to the classic children's horror book: The Haunted Mask. As you well know, in that novel, scaredy-cat Carly Beth purchases a scary face mask from the creepy Halloween store, only to find that the mask has a rather startling effect on her once timid nature. Running around the neighborhood, terrorizing children, stealing candy and scaring the everlovin' shit out of the kids who bullied her - Carly Beth was having the time of her young life. Until she realizes that she can't remove the mask.
Flash forward to now. Stine gives us a great opening paragraph.
I don't know if you have spent any time with first graders. But there is only one word to describe them. And that word is ANIMALS.
First graders are animals.
You can quote me.
Turns out Steve Boswell, 6th grader, is the new coach for the first-graders' soccer team, who call themselves The Hogs.
You might want to know why I chose to coach their soccer team. Well, I didn't choose it. It was a punishment.
Someone set a squirrel loose in the girls' locker room. That someone was me. But it wasn't my idea.
Wow, we are only on page 1 and I love this book. Look at this little cheeky beggar! LOL Turns out it was a joint effort of Steve and his best friend Chuck. However, Chuck weasels out of coaching duty by claiming he has an after-school job. Did I mention this kid is 12? The teacher just accepts this. What a dumbass. A 12-year-old kid can't have an after-school job! That's illegal. I can't believe she doesn't even ask his parents about it!
Anyway. The first graders are nightmares. Not even exaggerating. They tackle him, knock him down, trip him, put gum in his hair, trick him into kicking a lump of concrete (luckily he doesn't break his foot), pour honey and feathers all over his textbooks, etc. etc.
Okay. So at this point I'm feeling sorry for Steve. Not to mention, where are the adults? Am I supposed to believe that the grown-ups just handed a 12-year-old boy who has disciplinary problems a whistle, pointed to the soccer field, said, "Have at it," and left him alone day after day with a pack of wild 6 and 7-year-olds?
Also, this is about the 20th case of Stine writing about a bunch of kids who need their asses beat, and ain't nobody beatin' on their asses. Seriously, I don't know HOW kids get away with this shit in Stine novels. I don't know of a single neighborhood where kids can act like total shits and not get any form of retaliation. It's almost as bizarre as the weird monsters Stine cooks up. No group of kids would act like this. Either other 6 and 7-year-olds who are "nice" or the "good kids" would stand up for Steve, or adults would step in (where are the adults?) or SOMETHING but let me tell you, I have a hard time believing these kids are getting away with this crap and abuse of Steve for so long.
Steve doesn't want to hurt the kids - I mean, they're kids - but he sure would love to seize the opportunity of Halloween to scare the daylights out of 'em.
Then Chapter 3 starts and I realize that Steve deserves none of my sympathy.
For many years, making Carly Beth scream had been our hobby. That's because she was a really good screamer, and she would scream at just about anything.
WTF? These are the little shits who were tormenting Carly Beth in The Haunted Mask! Feeding her worm sandwiches and stuff!
Chuck and I took bets on who could scare Carly Beth the most and who could make her scream. I guess it was kind of mean. But it was funny too.
And sometimes when you know that people are real easy to scare, you have no choice. You have to scare them as often as you can.
Of course, since last Halloween, Carly Beth is now nigh impossible to scare. But Chuck corners Steve and convinces him to attempt to scare Carly Beth and her best friend Sabrina as they are walking home from school. Luckily, due to Carly Beth being through some shit, she's a badass now. Steve and Chuck's attempt to scare her backfires, and she and Sabrina end up giving the boys a good fright. But then Steve asks Carly Beth about her Halloween mask. Where'd she get that scary mask last year? He needs one this year to scare some kids. Carly Beth refuses to tell him anything. So he steals her ceramic head (it's important to her - read her book to find out the whole story) and threatens to destroy it if he doesn't get the information he wants. Charming. He deserves whatever he gets, Carly Beth. Just tell him.
She does. But she tries hard to warn him about the evils of the mask. He laughs at her and refuses to believe her warnings.
When Chuck and Steve go to The Party Place, they find it dark and empty. It has been shut down. But Steve sees that the basement door is open. They sneak inside and start rifling through boxes to find the masks.
Chuck let out a disgusted groan and dropped the mask he was holding into the box. "They feel like real skin. They're so warm."
To the kids' shock, a man bursts in. He is dressed in a black suit with a black billowing cape. Of course, we know who he is. Steve is scared, Chuck has fled. Steve stammers that he's not a thief and tries to purchase the mask he wants.
I jammed my trembling hand into my jeans pocket and pulled out the wad of bills. "Twenty-five dollars," I said, holding up the money so he could see it. "Here. Is it enough for one of these masks?"
He rubbed his chin. "I told you, young man. These masks are special. They cannot be sold. Believe me - you do not want one of these."
He generously offers to call Steve's parents instead of calling the police. Steve, like the little punk he is, makes a run for it, mask stuffed down his sweatshirt. He escapes.
The mask that Steve has picked out is a doozy.
The old-man mask. I took the mask of the creepy old man.
I smoothed out its long strings of yellow-white hair. Holding it by the big, pointy ears, I lifted it in front of my face and examined it closely.
A single white tooth hung down over the bottom lip. A brown wormhole poked through the center of the tooth. ...
The mouth was twisted in an evil sneer. The lips curled like two brown worms.
The long nose had gobs of green dripping from each nostril. A square patch of skin was missing just above the forehead. I could see gray skull bone in the hole.
The whole face was creased and lined. The flesh was a sickly green. The skin appeared to be peeling off the face. Dark scabs bulged from the sunken cheeks.
Black spiders appeared to crawl through the stringy, yellow hair. Spiders poked out of the two ears.
The next day at soccer practice, the kids beat him up as usual. He casually suggests that he meet up with soccer team tomorrow on Halloween - he'll take the whole team trick-or-treating! The kids agree, and make fun of him.
Go ahead and laugh, guys, I thought. Have a good laugh now. Because when you see me on Halloween, I'll be the only one laughing.
He rushes home to try on the mask.
I could feel the skin of the mask tightening around my face.
My cheeks burned. A sour odor swept over me, choked me.
I gagged. I sucked in a deep breath through my mouth. But the mask was so tight, I could hardly breathe.
I grabbed the ears with both hands. The outside of the mask felt normal. But inside, I was burning up!
I tried to tug the mask off. But it wouldn't slide up. The hot rubber stuck to my face.
I groaned as the putrid odor washed over me again.
Soon Steve realizes that the mask has other side effects. Whereas Carly Beth's mask was that of a demon, who filled her with rage, hatred, and a desire to destroy, Steve's mask has a decidedly different effect.
I suddenly felt so tired. So weak.
So totally weak.
Every breath was a struggle. I bent over. My body began to tremble.
I felt so weak. And old.
Old.
The 12-year-old now finds staying awake a struggle. He can't bend down. His arms feel as if they weigh a thousand pounds. He panics and decides he must call Carly Beth. She'll know what to do.
The phone stood across the room beside the computer on my desk. Normally, I'd be over there in three seconds. But it took me three minutes of grunting and straining to get my old body to stand up. Then it took another five minutes to drag myself across the room.
By the time I dropped into my desk chair, I was exhausted. It took all my strength to raise my hand and punch in Carly Beth's number on the phone.
Of course, Carly Beth's dad answers the phone and thinks Steve is some old weird pervert or something. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, Steve falls asleep with his head on the desk and falls asleep.
The next day is Halloween. Steve awakens to find the house empty, his parents having gone to a relative's.
Crumpling the note in my hand, I made the long trip down to the kitchen, holding on to the banister, taking one step at a time. I had a sudden craving for a steaming bowl of oatmeal and a cup of hot milk.
Okay, I am dying laughing right now! This book is funny AND scary! So cool. Anyway, Steve rallies and decides to scare the kids as he originally planned.
I was trembling with excitement as I dragged myself up to them. I stepped into the light, my wormy lips twisted in a frightening sneer.
I stared from one to the other, giving them a chance to see my terrifying face. Giving them a chance to see the spiders crawling through my hair. The wormhole in my tooth. The patch of skull poking up through my rotted scalp.
They grew quiet. I could feel their eyes on me. I could sense their instant fear.
I opened my mouth to let our a frightening growl that would send them running for their mommies.
But Marnie Rosen, wearing a white bride's dress and veil, stepped up to me before I could get it out. "Can we help you, sir?" she asked.
"Are you lost?" one of the Power Rangers asked.
"Do you need directions?"
"Can we help you get somewhere?"
No. No!
This wasn't going right. This wasn't going the way I'd planned - the way I'd dreamed!
Marnie took my arm. "Which way were you headed, sir? We'll walk with you. It's kind of a scary night to be walking around a strange neighborhood."
LOL I am crying with laughter here, Stine! What an excellent turn of events! Oh, gosh, so good. :)
Anyway, things just get better from there - we've still got some great stuff ahead!
...
...
Tl;dr - Excellent, exciting read. Stine is in top form here. This book succeeds in being both scary and hilarious! I loved the many twists Stine throws at you here. Being told from a bully's perspective made the book an extra-fascinating read for me. And I loved the relationship of Steve with his parents - their interactions were pure gold. I recommend this highly to kids and parents who are looking for a smooth introduction into the horror genre. I would read this out loud to the kid (if he or she would let me!) using all the voices for all the different characters - and a special scary old-man voice for when Steve is wearing the mask! You could have tons of fun with this.
Thanks again to Stine for doing the world a huge favor in introducing horror tropes and horror concepts to young children - it's wonderful. They will grow up to enjoy Stephen King books and Romero films. Say what you want about Stine's writing (this is no Series of Unfortunate Events, okay?) but he really opened up a new world to a lot of people. Well done!
Revenge!
What a beautiful word.
When I'm older and have my own car, that's what I want it to say on my license plate.
Yeah, hopefully when you get older you'll have some dang sense and realize that revenge is vastly overrated.
...
This book was excellent. Stine is in rare form here, charging across the children's horror genre with long, easy strides.
This is the sequel to the classic children's horror book: The Haunted Mask. As you well know, in that novel, scaredy-cat Carly Beth purchases a scary face mask from the creepy Halloween store, only to find that the mask has a rather startling effect on her once timid nature. Running around the neighborhood, terrorizing children, stealing candy and scaring the everlovin' shit out of the kids who bullied her - Carly Beth was having the time of her young life. Until she realizes that she can't remove the mask.
Flash forward to now. Stine gives us a great opening paragraph.
I don't know if you have spent any time with first graders. But there is only one word to describe them. And that word is ANIMALS.
First graders are animals.
You can quote me.
Turns out Steve Boswell, 6th grader, is the new coach for the first-graders' soccer team, who call themselves The Hogs.
You might want to know why I chose to coach their soccer team. Well, I didn't choose it. It was a punishment.
Someone set a squirrel loose in the girls' locker room. That someone was me. But it wasn't my idea.
Wow, we are only on page 1 and I love this book. Look at this little cheeky beggar! LOL Turns out it was a joint effort of Steve and his best friend Chuck. However, Chuck weasels out of coaching duty by claiming he has an after-school job. Did I mention this kid is 12? The teacher just accepts this. What a dumbass. A 12-year-old kid can't have an after-school job! That's illegal. I can't believe she doesn't even ask his parents about it!
Anyway. The first graders are nightmares. Not even exaggerating. They tackle him, knock him down, trip him, put gum in his hair, trick him into kicking a lump of concrete (luckily he doesn't break his foot), pour honey and feathers all over his textbooks, etc. etc.
Okay. So at this point I'm feeling sorry for Steve. Not to mention, where are the adults? Am I supposed to believe that the grown-ups just handed a 12-year-old boy who has disciplinary problems a whistle, pointed to the soccer field, said, "Have at it," and left him alone day after day with a pack of wild 6 and 7-year-olds?
Also, this is about the 20th case of Stine writing about a bunch of kids who need their asses beat, and ain't nobody beatin' on their asses. Seriously, I don't know HOW kids get away with this shit in Stine novels. I don't know of a single neighborhood where kids can act like total shits and not get any form of retaliation. It's almost as bizarre as the weird monsters Stine cooks up. No group of kids would act like this. Either other 6 and 7-year-olds who are "nice" or the "good kids" would stand up for Steve, or adults would step in (where are the adults?) or SOMETHING but let me tell you, I have a hard time believing these kids are getting away with this crap and abuse of Steve for so long.
Steve doesn't want to hurt the kids - I mean, they're kids - but he sure would love to seize the opportunity of Halloween to scare the daylights out of 'em.
Then Chapter 3 starts and I realize that Steve deserves none of my sympathy.
For many years, making Carly Beth scream had been our hobby. That's because she was a really good screamer, and she would scream at just about anything.
WTF? These are the little shits who were tormenting Carly Beth in The Haunted Mask! Feeding her worm sandwiches and stuff!
Chuck and I took bets on who could scare Carly Beth the most and who could make her scream. I guess it was kind of mean. But it was funny too.
And sometimes when you know that people are real easy to scare, you have no choice. You have to scare them as often as you can.
Of course, since last Halloween, Carly Beth is now nigh impossible to scare. But Chuck corners Steve and convinces him to attempt to scare Carly Beth and her best friend Sabrina as they are walking home from school. Luckily, due to Carly Beth being through some shit, she's a badass now. Steve and Chuck's attempt to scare her backfires, and she and Sabrina end up giving the boys a good fright. But then Steve asks Carly Beth about her Halloween mask. Where'd she get that scary mask last year? He needs one this year to scare some kids. Carly Beth refuses to tell him anything. So he steals her ceramic head (it's important to her - read her book to find out the whole story) and threatens to destroy it if he doesn't get the information he wants. Charming. He deserves whatever he gets, Carly Beth. Just tell him.
She does. But she tries hard to warn him about the evils of the mask. He laughs at her and refuses to believe her warnings.
When Chuck and Steve go to The Party Place, they find it dark and empty. It has been shut down. But Steve sees that the basement door is open. They sneak inside and start rifling through boxes to find the masks.
Chuck let out a disgusted groan and dropped the mask he was holding into the box. "They feel like real skin. They're so warm."
To the kids' shock, a man bursts in. He is dressed in a black suit with a black billowing cape. Of course, we know who he is. Steve is scared, Chuck has fled. Steve stammers that he's not a thief and tries to purchase the mask he wants.
I jammed my trembling hand into my jeans pocket and pulled out the wad of bills. "Twenty-five dollars," I said, holding up the money so he could see it. "Here. Is it enough for one of these masks?"
He rubbed his chin. "I told you, young man. These masks are special. They cannot be sold. Believe me - you do not want one of these."
He generously offers to call Steve's parents instead of calling the police. Steve, like the little punk he is, makes a run for it, mask stuffed down his sweatshirt. He escapes.
The mask that Steve has picked out is a doozy.
The old-man mask. I took the mask of the creepy old man.
I smoothed out its long strings of yellow-white hair. Holding it by the big, pointy ears, I lifted it in front of my face and examined it closely.
A single white tooth hung down over the bottom lip. A brown wormhole poked through the center of the tooth. ...
The mouth was twisted in an evil sneer. The lips curled like two brown worms.
The long nose had gobs of green dripping from each nostril. A square patch of skin was missing just above the forehead. I could see gray skull bone in the hole.
The whole face was creased and lined. The flesh was a sickly green. The skin appeared to be peeling off the face. Dark scabs bulged from the sunken cheeks.
Black spiders appeared to crawl through the stringy, yellow hair. Spiders poked out of the two ears.
The next day at soccer practice, the kids beat him up as usual. He casually suggests that he meet up with soccer team tomorrow on Halloween - he'll take the whole team trick-or-treating! The kids agree, and make fun of him.
Go ahead and laugh, guys, I thought. Have a good laugh now. Because when you see me on Halloween, I'll be the only one laughing.
He rushes home to try on the mask.
I could feel the skin of the mask tightening around my face.
My cheeks burned. A sour odor swept over me, choked me.
I gagged. I sucked in a deep breath through my mouth. But the mask was so tight, I could hardly breathe.
I grabbed the ears with both hands. The outside of the mask felt normal. But inside, I was burning up!
I tried to tug the mask off. But it wouldn't slide up. The hot rubber stuck to my face.
I groaned as the putrid odor washed over me again.
Soon Steve realizes that the mask has other side effects. Whereas Carly Beth's mask was that of a demon, who filled her with rage, hatred, and a desire to destroy, Steve's mask has a decidedly different effect.
I suddenly felt so tired. So weak.
So totally weak.
Every breath was a struggle. I bent over. My body began to tremble.
I felt so weak. And old.
Old.
The 12-year-old now finds staying awake a struggle. He can't bend down. His arms feel as if they weigh a thousand pounds. He panics and decides he must call Carly Beth. She'll know what to do.
The phone stood across the room beside the computer on my desk. Normally, I'd be over there in three seconds. But it took me three minutes of grunting and straining to get my old body to stand up. Then it took another five minutes to drag myself across the room.
By the time I dropped into my desk chair, I was exhausted. It took all my strength to raise my hand and punch in Carly Beth's number on the phone.
Of course, Carly Beth's dad answers the phone and thinks Steve is some old weird pervert or something. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, Steve falls asleep with his head on the desk and falls asleep.
The next day is Halloween. Steve awakens to find the house empty, his parents having gone to a relative's.
Crumpling the note in my hand, I made the long trip down to the kitchen, holding on to the banister, taking one step at a time. I had a sudden craving for a steaming bowl of oatmeal and a cup of hot milk.
Okay, I am dying laughing right now! This book is funny AND scary! So cool. Anyway, Steve rallies and decides to scare the kids as he originally planned.
I was trembling with excitement as I dragged myself up to them. I stepped into the light, my wormy lips twisted in a frightening sneer.
I stared from one to the other, giving them a chance to see my terrifying face. Giving them a chance to see the spiders crawling through my hair. The wormhole in my tooth. The patch of skull poking up through my rotted scalp.
They grew quiet. I could feel their eyes on me. I could sense their instant fear.
I opened my mouth to let our a frightening growl that would send them running for their mommies.
But Marnie Rosen, wearing a white bride's dress and veil, stepped up to me before I could get it out. "Can we help you, sir?" she asked.
"Are you lost?" one of the Power Rangers asked.
"Do you need directions?"
"Can we help you get somewhere?"
No. No!
This wasn't going right. This wasn't going the way I'd planned - the way I'd dreamed!
Marnie took my arm. "Which way were you headed, sir? We'll walk with you. It's kind of a scary night to be walking around a strange neighborhood."
LOL I am crying with laughter here, Stine! What an excellent turn of events! Oh, gosh, so good. :)
Anyway, things just get better from there - we've still got some great stuff ahead!
...
...
Tl;dr - Excellent, exciting read. Stine is in top form here. This book succeeds in being both scary and hilarious! I loved the many twists Stine throws at you here. Being told from a bully's perspective made the book an extra-fascinating read for me. And I loved the relationship of Steve with his parents - their interactions were pure gold. I recommend this highly to kids and parents who are looking for a smooth introduction into the horror genre. I would read this out loud to the kid (if he or she would let me!) using all the voices for all the different characters - and a special scary old-man voice for when Steve is wearing the mask! You could have tons of fun with this.
Thanks again to Stine for doing the world a huge favor in introducing horror tropes and horror concepts to young children - it's wonderful. They will grow up to enjoy Stephen King books and Romero films. Say what you want about Stine's writing (this is no Series of Unfortunate Events, okay?) but he really opened up a new world to a lot of people. Well done!
January 28, 2023
The Haunted Mask II was an "okay" Goosebumps book, but definitely a disappointment compared to its predecessor, which is widely considered one of the greatest Goosebumps books of all time. This one was really slow for the longest time, with Steve not even putting on the old man mask until page sixty-eight, over halfway through the book.
On the plus side, this is one of the better written Goosebumps books I've read so far, and the story is mostly pretty plausible. On the negative side, I felt like Steve being turned into an old man by the mask wasn't even remotely scary, and the implications of that weren't explored as much as they could have been. Stine could have made this into a great story about how it's frightening to get old because your body breaks down, how getting old shows you how short life is, etc. But he didn't do that. He basically just made Steve move slower and have an older voice and stupid things like that.
It was very superficial, and wasn't even comedic. It just felt empty. It was a hollow execution, and could have been done better. The ending also left a bit to be desired. It involved the resolution to Steve's problem with getting the mask off, and a minor twist at the very end. The resolution was achieved with a really weak, lazy deus ex machina, but the twist was good and I enjoyed it; it ended the book on a good note. I just wish the resolution to Steve's problem wasn't so weak.
Overall, this one is firmly in "okay" territory for me. It's nothing special, and is definitely disappointing when compared to The Haunted Mask, but it's not a bad read.
CAWPILE rating:
Characters: 6.5
Atmosphere / Setting: 5.0
Writing Style: 6.5
Plot: 6.5
Intrigue: 6.0
Logic / Relationships: 7.0
Enjoyment: 5.0
= 42.5 total
÷ 7 categories = 6.07 out of 10
= 3 stars
On the plus side, this is one of the better written Goosebumps books I've read so far, and the story is mostly pretty plausible. On the negative side, I felt like Steve being turned into an old man by the mask wasn't even remotely scary, and the implications of that weren't explored as much as they could have been. Stine could have made this into a great story about how it's frightening to get old because your body breaks down, how getting old shows you how short life is, etc. But he didn't do that. He basically just made Steve move slower and have an older voice and stupid things like that.
It was very superficial, and wasn't even comedic. It just felt empty. It was a hollow execution, and could have been done better. The ending also left a bit to be desired. It involved the resolution to Steve's problem with getting the mask off, and a minor twist at the very end. The resolution was achieved with a really weak, lazy deus ex machina, but the twist was good and I enjoyed it; it ended the book on a good note. I just wish the resolution to Steve's problem wasn't so weak.
Overall, this one is firmly in "okay" territory for me. It's nothing special, and is definitely disappointing when compared to The Haunted Mask, but it's not a bad read.
CAWPILE rating:
Characters: 6.5
Atmosphere / Setting: 5.0
Writing Style: 6.5
Plot: 6.5
Intrigue: 6.0
Logic / Relationships: 7.0
Enjoyment: 5.0
= 42.5 total
÷ 7 categories = 6.07 out of 10
= 3 stars
September 28, 2018
UPDATE: Realizing I have an cassette-player in my car, I decided to give the old audiobook of The Haunted Mask II a listen. I've read the book a couple of times but had never listened to it before. It was really cute. The old audiobooks have a full cast narration with sound effects and music. Walt Disney Records did a great job! The Haunted Mask II isn't as good as the first book, but it was still a lot of fun, especially experiencing it this way. Recommended if you still have a cassette-player floating around.
OLD REVIEW:
The Haunted Mask books are seriously the best books in the Goosebumps series. They've got such a nice breezy Autumn vibe which makes for perfect Halloween reading. The Haunted Mask II takes place a year after the first book and holds up well. It's spooky, funny, light, and a book you can pick up and read in a day flat.
The TV episode of this book is also great. Honestly, it might even be a little better. It takes the first Haunted Mask book/episode and deepens it, adding another layer to the story. It takes a pretty dark turn which the book does not do, but it works either way. The book and episode are excellent and I recommend both. And of course the first Haunted Mask is classic! You have no choice but to read it.
FINAL VERDICT: 5 stars!
OLD REVIEW:
The Haunted Mask books are seriously the best books in the Goosebumps series. They've got such a nice breezy Autumn vibe which makes for perfect Halloween reading. The Haunted Mask II takes place a year after the first book and holds up well. It's spooky, funny, light, and a book you can pick up and read in a day flat.
The TV episode of this book is also great. Honestly, it might even be a little better. It takes the first Haunted Mask book/episode and deepens it, adding another layer to the story. It takes a pretty dark turn which the book does not do, but it works either way. The book and episode are excellent and I recommend both. And of course the first Haunted Mask is classic! You have no choice but to read it.
FINAL VERDICT: 5 stars!
July 12, 2024
What another fun read in my quest of reading all of the Goosebumps and R.L. Stine books!
This is the sequel to The Haunted Mask, an earlier book in the series. Yet again, a middle grade child wants to wear a spooky mask... And these masks aren't just creepy, they are nearly impossible to get off.
This book is definitely a good, scary read for a middle grader. It has cliffhanger chapter endings which make it fun to continue reading. It is repetitive if you've read the first book, but if you haven't it's a great read. Horror tropes for middle graders can be really tough to tackle, but R.L. Stine makes these scary enough but not too scary for the age group. Anywho, it's tough to follow one of the greatest early Goosebumps read, so I give this a solid 3.
Three out of five stars.
This is the sequel to The Haunted Mask, an earlier book in the series. Yet again, a middle grade child wants to wear a spooky mask... And these masks aren't just creepy, they are nearly impossible to get off.
This book is definitely a good, scary read for a middle grader. It has cliffhanger chapter endings which make it fun to continue reading. It is repetitive if you've read the first book, but if you haven't it's a great read. Horror tropes for middle graders can be really tough to tackle, but R.L. Stine makes these scary enough but not too scary for the age group. Anywho, it's tough to follow one of the greatest early Goosebumps read, so I give this a solid 3.
Three out of five stars.
September 8, 2021
The Haunted Mask was one of my favourites in the series and this may even be the best Goosebumps sequel!
Switching the narrative to Steve (the guy that used to trick Carly Beth) in this follow-up explores how the events of the previous year has effected those who were involved.
I really like Carly Beth’s character progression as she’s a lot more confident and won’t be scare easily.
Of course Steve ignores her advice and still visits the shop where she got that creepy mask last year.
Some of the sequels up until this point feel slightly contrived, but it would make sense for Steve to be so focused on getting a mask for Halloween.
It might not be as creepy as the first book, but I like how the mask instantly effects Steve the moment he puts it on.
Switching the narrative to Steve (the guy that used to trick Carly Beth) in this follow-up explores how the events of the previous year has effected those who were involved.
I really like Carly Beth’s character progression as she’s a lot more confident and won’t be scare easily.
Of course Steve ignores her advice and still visits the shop where she got that creepy mask last year.
Some of the sequels up until this point feel slightly contrived, but it would make sense for Steve to be so focused on getting a mask for Halloween.
It might not be as creepy as the first book, but I like how the mask instantly effects Steve the moment he puts it on.
November 1, 2024
A great sequel, that was unfortunately made non-canon with all the newer Haunted Mask entries...or canon, if you disregard all the newer entries, depending on how you look at it.
And that cover! I was lucky enough to meet the artist, Tim Jacobus a few weeks back at a Comic Book Convention and got a few things signed (and a Haunted Mask print)! Such a cool dude...
Recommended
And that cover! I was lucky enough to meet the artist, Tim Jacobus a few weeks back at a Comic Book Convention and got a few things signed (and a Haunted Mask print)! Such a cool dude...
Recommended
March 17, 2024
Rating: 3.5
I had a feeling the sequel wouldn't be as good as the first book, given the pattern of that happening. I guess because I set myself up for disappointment, it didn't impact me as hard. Not to say this sequel was bad in any way, but it was very much a been there done that sort of story.
We are now witnessing the teens in the first story's friends, who do the same exact thing as the first set of teens, using the same shop's haunted masks, despite their friend's warnings. The only differences being: the mask is different and the resolution was different. I didn't mind the ending, but it left me with more questions than answers about the origins of these masks. I guess we'll never know, huh?
There wasn't as much annoying stretching out the tension in this one, but there was an awful lot of repetitive descriptions (of the mask more specifically), that got a bit annoying to the point of me skimming past the descriptions.
Overall, it was okay. I wouldn't recommend it, but I also wouldn't say to avoid it if you're interested in more Haunted Mask story.
I had a feeling the sequel wouldn't be as good as the first book, given the pattern of that happening. I guess because I set myself up for disappointment, it didn't impact me as hard. Not to say this sequel was bad in any way, but it was very much a been there done that sort of story.
We are now witnessing the teens in the first story's friends, who do the same exact thing as the first set of teens, using the same shop's haunted masks, despite their friend's warnings. The only differences being: the mask is different and the resolution was different. I didn't mind the ending, but it left me with more questions than answers about the origins of these masks. I guess we'll never know, huh?
There wasn't as much annoying stretching out the tension in this one, but there was an awful lot of repetitive descriptions (of the mask more specifically), that got a bit annoying to the point of me skimming past the descriptions.
Overall, it was okay. I wouldn't recommend it, but I also wouldn't say to avoid it if you're interested in more Haunted Mask story.
December 31, 2021
I spent a month re-reading all 62 original Goosebumps books to see if they still hold up today, you can check out my 3.5 hour vlog here: https://youtu.be/2C73xc1FS5o
You can also check out my entire ranking of the original Goosebumps books from worst to best here: https://youtu.be/lBfaxCOwAnA
You can also check out my entire ranking of the original Goosebumps books from worst to best here: https://youtu.be/lBfaxCOwAnA
October 21, 2024
I love that the same characters are back, just a new main pov we are following!
While the story is much the same as the first book, this mask is a LOT more disgusting and scary, so that boosts the stakes.
In my mind, this is a bully getting his karma, and he's lucky Carly Beth is so forgiving.
While the story is much the same as the first book, this mask is a LOT more disgusting and scary, so that boosts the stakes.
In my mind, this is a bully getting his karma, and he's lucky Carly Beth is so forgiving.
May 6, 2020
And Carly Beth returns! She is not the main character in this one, but she does play a vital role. We have a new mask and a new evil motive - but from the same shop! A lot of sequels do not live up to the original, but this one sure did. Fun for all and really enjoyed! Definitely set up to have a third... 4 stars!
June 20, 2018
This was great but The Haunted Mask was better.
October 1, 2015
R.L. Stine has a good ability to take his previous story ideas and fashion sequels based upon them that feature new, exciting twists to keep the original concept fresh.
"The Haunted Mask II" is a germane example of this. Rather than just settle for a book that could be nearly identical to the first one, R.L. Stine sets off on a familiar (still highlighting the creepy terror of these living masks) but new story, and the results are satisfyingly suspenseful. The idea to switch the narrative from third-person perspective of Carly Beth Caldwell to first-person perspective of her friend Steve Boswell works nicely, too. This is a good, scary story. I do wonder something, however...How did Carly Beth's brother Noah get her mask off after the end of the first book?
"The Haunted Mask II" is a germane example of this. Rather than just settle for a book that could be nearly identical to the first one, R.L. Stine sets off on a familiar (still highlighting the creepy terror of these living masks) but new story, and the results are satisfyingly suspenseful. The idea to switch the narrative from third-person perspective of Carly Beth Caldwell to first-person perspective of her friend Steve Boswell works nicely, too. This is a good, scary story. I do wonder something, however...How did Carly Beth's brother Noah get her mask off after the end of the first book?
July 16, 2024
Η πρωτότυπη ιστορία είναι από τα πλέον αγαπημένα μου βιβλία της σειράς, έτσι ίσως να γίνομαι κάπως άδικη με το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο, αλλά δεν μπορώ να κάνω διαφορετικά. Και έχω μεγαλώσει για να προσπαθώ να διατηρώ την αντικειμενικότητά μου για πράγματα που έχουν σημαδέψει την παιδική μου ηλικία, αλλά και δεν προδίδω τις πρώτες μου αγάπες. Παρ' όλα ταύτα, και σε σχέση με άλλα sequels του Stine που ήταν μέχρι και τραγικά, το συγκεκριμένο είναι πέρα για πέρα αξιοπρεπές.
February 27, 2023
The Haunted Mask II by R. L. Stine is a sequel to the original The Haunted Mask. This is Goosebumps book 36 in the original series order. It has Carly Beth back as one of the most rememberable human characters from Goosebumps, but she is just a supporting character and one of her friends that would scare her in The original The Haunted Mask is the lead protagonist in The Haunted Mask II. It has 5 character in total it brings back from the first which is the most recurring characters so far, after Monster Blood brought back 4 characters. The story which I will give credit is not a retelling of The Haunted Mask but has it's own idea, the set up is the same but thing go differently. Where in the first one Carly Beth turned into the haunt, Steve is kind of haunted by his own mask. I liked the first half but the second half fell apart. The story is different but not that good, the reason to put on the mask and scare people is good, but when that story has a twist and diverts the story has no direction going forward. The endings to goosebumps always have a final twist and this one is one of the worst, I rolled my eyes pretty hard. This story isn't all that scary unlike the first, but the way Stine described the mask is really good and quite scary. The Haunted Mask 2 was published on October 1 1995.
Plot Summary: Steve, 12 got in trouble at school and he had two options multiple detentions or to coach a first grade soccer team after school. He chose coaching and is now the coach of the Hogs. The Hogs are filled with terrorizing first graders that torture Steve and he wants revenge in the form of scaring them. For this to work he will need a terrifying mask, he remembers the one mask his friend Carly Beth scared him for last year's Halloween. Carly Beth doesn't want to tell him where she got it since the mask possessed her last year, but she eventually does and the store is closed but Steve finds a way in, before he can find the right one the owner comes back and Steve barely escaped, but Steve stole a mask as he was fleeing an Old rotting man. When he puts the mask on their is something wrong he can't take off the mask and embodies the characteristics of the mask. Will Stave be able to escape the mask?
What I Liked: I loved the Hogs and how they were described and I love the twist when Steve meets them with the mask. I like that the story isn't a remake of the first one it has the same premise but goes in a different route, I might have not liked the way it went but give credit for it being different. I loved seeing Carly Beth at first I thought it would just be a cameo but she ended up impacting the story and was in a quarter of the overall story.
What I Disliked: The second half of the book was just not good, it felt that it just wasn't focused. I felt there was no payoff where the story went with the Hogs. Does Steve still want to scare them still after everything happened? The final twist made no sense since Halloween was over, why would this character hide this, it made this sense.
Recommendations: This is the 36 Goosebumps book that I have read and I love them all this book is okay far from the worst but not the best. The original The Haunted Mask is one of my favorites and my favorite television episodes (since it is a two-parter) from the original series. I rated The Haunted Mask 2 or II by R. L. Stine 3 out of 5 stars. Here's my full ranking of the 36 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) Ghost Beach, 4) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 5) The Haunted Mask, 6) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 7) One Day At Horrorland, 8) Night of the Living Dummy, 9) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 10) A Shocker on Shock Street, 11)The Phantom of the Auditorium, 12) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 13) The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, 14) Say Cheese and Die, 15) Let's Get Invisible, 16) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 17) Welcome to Dead House, 18) Monster Blood II, 19) The Girl who Cried Monster, 20)Deep Trouble, 21) The Ghost Next Door, 22)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 23) My Hairiest Adventure, 24) Be Careful What You Wish For... , 25) Return of the Mummy, 26) Why I'm Afraid of Bees, 27)The Haunted Mask II, 28)Attack of the Mutant, 29) Go Eat Worms!, 30) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 31)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 32) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 33) Monster Blood, 34) The Barking Ghost, 35) You Can't Scare Me!, and 36) Monster Blood III.
Plot Summary: Steve, 12 got in trouble at school and he had two options multiple detentions or to coach a first grade soccer team after school. He chose coaching and is now the coach of the Hogs. The Hogs are filled with terrorizing first graders that torture Steve and he wants revenge in the form of scaring them. For this to work he will need a terrifying mask, he remembers the one mask his friend Carly Beth scared him for last year's Halloween. Carly Beth doesn't want to tell him where she got it since the mask possessed her last year, but she eventually does and the store is closed but Steve finds a way in, before he can find the right one the owner comes back and Steve barely escaped, but Steve stole a mask as he was fleeing an Old rotting man. When he puts the mask on their is something wrong he can't take off the mask and embodies the characteristics of the mask. Will Stave be able to escape the mask?
What I Liked: I loved the Hogs and how they were described and I love the twist when Steve meets them with the mask. I like that the story isn't a remake of the first one it has the same premise but goes in a different route, I might have not liked the way it went but give credit for it being different. I loved seeing Carly Beth at first I thought it would just be a cameo but she ended up impacting the story and was in a quarter of the overall story.
What I Disliked: The second half of the book was just not good, it felt that it just wasn't focused. I felt there was no payoff where the story went with the Hogs. Does Steve still want to scare them still after everything happened? The final twist made no sense since Halloween was over, why would this character hide this, it made this sense.
Recommendations: This is the 36 Goosebumps book that I have read and I love them all this book is okay far from the worst but not the best. The original The Haunted Mask is one of my favorites and my favorite television episodes (since it is a two-parter) from the original series. I rated The Haunted Mask 2 or II by R. L. Stine 3 out of 5 stars. Here's my full ranking of the 36 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) Ghost Beach, 4) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 5) The Haunted Mask, 6) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 7) One Day At Horrorland, 8) Night of the Living Dummy, 9) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 10) A Shocker on Shock Street, 11)The Phantom of the Auditorium, 12) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 13) The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, 14) Say Cheese and Die, 15) Let's Get Invisible, 16) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 17) Welcome to Dead House, 18) Monster Blood II, 19) The Girl who Cried Monster, 20)Deep Trouble, 21) The Ghost Next Door, 22)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 23) My Hairiest Adventure, 24) Be Careful What You Wish For... , 25) Return of the Mummy, 26) Why I'm Afraid of Bees, 27)The Haunted Mask II, 28)Attack of the Mutant, 29) Go Eat Worms!, 30) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 31)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 32) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 33) Monster Blood, 34) The Barking Ghost, 35) You Can't Scare Me!, and 36) Monster Blood III.
July 24, 2023
This book is almost entirely different from its TV counterpart, other than the fact that it includes Carly Beth, Sabrina, Steve and Chuck. The story is told from Steve's perspective as he now coaches a first-grade soccer team (that consists of nothing but downright terrible kids). With Halloween approaching, he wants to scare the soccer team in order to get revenge for all the mean stuff they do to him. So he goes to Carly Beth, and as you can guess, ends up with a really scary mask in time for Halloween. This was a pretty lazy sequel for the most part. Steve as the protagonist just doesn't hit the same, and the book has almost none of the things that made the TV episode so epic. I would recommend this to fans of the first book, but go in with relatively low expectations.
October 25, 2023
Hilarante
Si la historia anterior me había gustado está la superó. Es muy divertida jajaja todo le sale mal a nuestro protagonista Steve compañero de Carly Beth que le encanta asustarla. Ahora un año después del drama de halloween de Carly, Steve se encuentra en una encrucijada similar sin embargo su historia toma otro camino, siniestro para él pero muy muy divertido para el lector.
Recomendable.
Si la historia anterior me había gustado está la superó. Es muy divertida jajaja todo le sale mal a nuestro protagonista Steve compañero de Carly Beth que le encanta asustarla. Ahora un año después del drama de halloween de Carly, Steve se encuentra en una encrucijada similar sin embargo su historia toma otro camino, siniestro para él pero muy muy divertido para el lector.
Recomendable.
March 5, 2021
3.5*
One thing about R.L. Stine is that you can always count on him to leave you with a good cliffhanger - and that's also part of what makes the Goosebumps series so interesting. I really enjoyed this book.
One thing about R.L. Stine is that you can always count on him to leave you with a good cliffhanger - and that's also part of what makes the Goosebumps series so interesting. I really enjoyed this book.
February 5, 2023
Rating: 2.5
Having rated now over ten Goosebumps books, I feel fairly immersed in the R.L. Stine/Goosebumps world, and I think I have a fairly accurate working understanding of its mechanics. The Haunted Mask II is quite interesting in that it breaks away from the precedent set by your Monster Blood, Mummy, and Deep Troubles to have the same protagonist experience the same horror in a slightly different form. But it isn't like Night of the Living Dummy either where the same horror is experienced by different protagonists.
Here we have a side character, indeed, a bully, from The Haunted Mask return as the first person protagonist of its sequel. Alright, I'm intrigued. Seeing the bully get his just desserts is something I think many would be on board with.
The set-up is quite good actually. Getting to see someone who cruelly teased Carly Beth get brutalized by a group of seven year-olds is Schadenfreude at its best. And on top of that, he has to break into the store to steal the instrument of his own comeuppance--great irony.
Even the idea of the mask itself forcing him into feeling like an old man is a creepy one. And I was pleased not to get just a rehash of the exact same mask horror from the original book.
But that was where the joy stopped. After getting the mask and having it adhere to his face, nothing else really happens. Just pages and pages of him feeling old and trying to figure out what to do.
His pranks are ruined, true, and there was something satisfying in that, but enough to hold up the rest of the story? Not really.
Carly Beth isn't much help, and the ultimate resolution feels rushed and uninspired. The twist ending got me to crack a smile, but it wasn't groundbreaking either.
All in all, The Haunted Mask II is neither the bottom of the barrel nor at the front of the pack.
Having rated now over ten Goosebumps books, I feel fairly immersed in the R.L. Stine/Goosebumps world, and I think I have a fairly accurate working understanding of its mechanics. The Haunted Mask II is quite interesting in that it breaks away from the precedent set by your Monster Blood, Mummy, and Deep Troubles to have the same protagonist experience the same horror in a slightly different form. But it isn't like Night of the Living Dummy either where the same horror is experienced by different protagonists.
Here we have a side character, indeed, a bully, from The Haunted Mask return as the first person protagonist of its sequel. Alright, I'm intrigued. Seeing the bully get his just desserts is something I think many would be on board with.
The set-up is quite good actually. Getting to see someone who cruelly teased Carly Beth get brutalized by a group of seven year-olds is Schadenfreude at its best. And on top of that, he has to break into the store to steal the instrument of his own comeuppance--great irony.
Even the idea of the mask itself forcing him into feeling like an old man is a creepy one. And I was pleased not to get just a rehash of the exact same mask horror from the original book.
But that was where the joy stopped. After getting the mask and having it adhere to his face, nothing else really happens. Just pages and pages of him feeling old and trying to figure out what to do.
His pranks are ruined, true, and there was something satisfying in that, but enough to hold up the rest of the story? Not really.
Carly Beth isn't much help, and the ultimate resolution feels rushed and uninspired. The twist ending got me to crack a smile, but it wasn't groundbreaking either.
All in all, The Haunted Mask II is neither the bottom of the barrel nor at the front of the pack.
March 4, 2024
The sequel mainly follows Steve who is a side character in the first who is now the main character and reintroduced the other main characters and I did like that, especially how it was flipped on this one and Carly Beth is more of the side character now and that was really cool seeing her in a different perspective.
Anyways on the main part of this book and this is probably why I did liked this book a little bit than the original Haunted Mask where it kinda gives you Jekyll and Hyde syndrome while the new mask version in here has a lot more scary implications like getting old and that is a dark thought for a kid and it also relates on anxieties and it was consistent up until that resolution. if there is one thing that will slightly ruin an almost perfect Goosebumps book. it's mainly an okay scenario but it just comes off easy and kinda far fetched compared to how the resolution is dealt in the first Haunted Mask which is more clever, also how it happened in here are kinda confusing and made me read that paragraph two times and how the characters react to that is kinda unbelivable and I think should atleast added depth as it is presented in a lackluster way.
Anyways on the main part of this book and this is probably why I did liked this book a little bit than the original Haunted Mask where it kinda gives you Jekyll and Hyde syndrome while the new mask version in here has a lot more scary implications like getting old and that is a dark thought for a kid and it also relates on anxieties and it was consistent up until that resolution. if there is one thing that will slightly ruin an almost perfect Goosebumps book. it's mainly an okay scenario but it just comes off easy and kinda far fetched compared to how the resolution is dealt in the first Haunted Mask which is more clever, also how it happened in here are kinda confusing and made me read that paragraph two times and how the characters react to that is kinda unbelivable and I think should atleast added depth as it is presented in a lackluster way.
May 13, 2015
This book was really good. It starts off with Steve who is coaching the first grade soccer team. Well, they make him really mad and he wants to get back at them for what they did. So he goes to his enemy who is Carly Beth and asks her where she got the incredibly scary mask. When she tells him where, he gets one but when he puts it on, he realizes its not just a mask; it was a creature.
I was amazed by the writing so I would rate it 4/5 Stars!
I was amazed by the writing so I would rate it 4/5 Stars!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2022
8/10: I really like the lead up expecting the mask to scare the kids but it didn’t. Subverted my expectations.
June 23, 2021
For a sequel, this wasn’t so bad. Same characters, different scenario. Love the return of Carly Beth. And once again, leaving us with a cliffhanger.
September 2, 2022
This one is also great. I liked it slightly less than the first Haunted Mask book because I liked Carly Beth more, but it's still a great story.
November 2, 2022
The Haunted Mask II managed to give a unique spin on its predecessor. It ultimately fell short, but I appreciated that it had its own charm. I like that the original cast of characters is all here but still gave us a different protagonist. Instead of Carly Beth, we got to go inside the head of her friend and occasional bully, Steve. Steve is determined to get his hands on a mask like the one Carly Beth had worn last Halloween, but instead of trying to prove himself he just wants to scare the first-grade soccer team he’s stuck coaching. Instead of the scary, claustrophobic themes of the first book, The Haunted Mask II is more comedic in nature. Steve is a bro dude though and through, which often makes him difficult to empathize with. I definitely got the sense that I was laughing at him and not with him. My biggest gripe is that it took way too long to get to the mask itself, and then the ending felt like a bit of a cop-out. I also would have liked to get a deeper understanding of the Unloved, but maybe that was hoping for too much. So far as Goosebumps sequels go, The Haunted Mask II holds up fine alongside others like Return of the Mummy and Night of the Living Dummy II. It also blows every Monster Blood book out of the water, but that’s a very low bar.
Score: 3
For my snark-filled, spoiler-laced, deep-dive review; check out my blog:
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Score: 3
For my snark-filled, spoiler-laced, deep-dive review; check out my blog:
Blog Review I Instagram I Twitter
April 30, 2024
honestly, steve deserved this. i love that it’s a continuation from the haunted mask, just from a different character’s POV. i would love so much for the goosebumps books to have been connected like this (like babysitter’s club? lmao).
i thought steve & chuck were absolute douche canoes in the first one, so i was well pleased with all steve’s misfortunes in this sequel. i don’t know why sabrina and carly-beth put up with this dude.
i liked that his “mask” gave him a different side-effect than the first one that carly-beth had. i’d like to know more about this mad scientist guy making faces and running a costume store and wandering around dressed in a cape? in my dirk gently way of searching for inter-connectedness i reckon he’s dr brewer from stay out of the basement (#2) - and after finishing one day at horrorland (#16) i want to say the horrors are just people that got caught in these masks? 😎
i thought steve & chuck were absolute douche canoes in the first one, so i was well pleased with all steve’s misfortunes in this sequel. i don’t know why sabrina and carly-beth put up with this dude.
i liked that his “mask” gave him a different side-effect than the first one that carly-beth had. i’d like to know more about this mad scientist guy making faces and running a costume store and wandering around dressed in a cape? in my dirk gently way of searching for inter-connectedness i reckon he’s dr brewer from stay out of the basement (#2) - and after finishing one day at horrorland (#16) i want to say the horrors are just people that got caught in these masks? 😎
January 21, 2025
I’m doing a full series reread and this story was just as good as I remembered it. Steve, Chuck and Carly Beth are back! Except this time Steve is the one in trouble.
The Haunted Mask II follows Steve as he’s becoming more irritated by the day coaching these first graders in soccer. They play pranks on him and are complete animals. He wants to get back at them by finding a scary mask like the one Carly Beth had last Halloween. Carly Beth frantically tries to warn Steve to not go to that mask shop but of course he ignores her warning and he becomes the mask he picks up at the shop much like Carly Beth in the first story.
I had a lot of fun with this one!
The Haunted Mask II follows Steve as he’s becoming more irritated by the day coaching these first graders in soccer. They play pranks on him and are complete animals. He wants to get back at them by finding a scary mask like the one Carly Beth had last Halloween. Carly Beth frantically tries to warn Steve to not go to that mask shop but of course he ignores her warning and he becomes the mask he picks up at the shop much like Carly Beth in the first story.
I had a lot of fun with this one!
September 29, 2023
The old man did bite him and since he couldn’t walk he had his “friend carry him. When chuck put the Barnie Mask on I knew he had something to do with the fact that there not making a new barnie movie
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2023
Buena continuación al primero de la mascara maldita, aunque me gusto más el primero.
Esos si, que pobre Steve, no por la àscara, sino por el horror de tener que entrenar a chiquillos de primero, si que sufre con tremendos monstros pequeños.
Si me hizo reir varias veces
3.5 stars
Esos si, que pobre Steve, no por la àscara, sino por el horror de tener que entrenar a chiquillos de primero, si que sufre con tremendos monstros pequeños.
Si me hizo reir varias veces
3.5 stars
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