Headless Halloween

Goosebumps 2000 #10

by R.L. Stine

Frozen in silence, I squinted into the eerie, pale light. Hands popped up from beneath the ground. They shook off dirt and stretched. A dozen hands poked up, shimmering yellow and green in the moonlight.

And then heads. Human heads. Hair caked with dirt. Skin loose, hanging from their skulls. They stared at me with pleading eyes, faces twisted, mouths hanging open in pain.

"Take me with you," one of them called in a dry whisper.

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Halloween, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Supernatural

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Robert 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...

Reviews

[Zoey De Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was dark. not scary, but very intense as this book touches the theme of death which is not that many present in a lot of Goosebumps books, as usually they are spooky but never touched into the idea of life and death and the thought of the afterlife towards the midway half of the book.

The ending however kinda retreads things that the main character deals with the book and even though it's kinda contradictive and all for nothing, I kinda like it for that reason. it's kinda thematic too, also the journey of how the main character got into his situation is kinda all over the place, it feels kinda rushed for some reason and I think it's all about the whole writing style of the book being flat in here, Stine sometimes can have good prose and sometimes just okayish in his writing style but it's always familiar when it's by him.

In the end, my thoughts is the book has a dark idea, but how the plot plays out is kinda mediocre on the pacing and the whole thing that gives this book enjoyment for me is the ending. there's more darker and intense GB books that is atleast a little bit consistent than this one.

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all 25 Goosebumps Series 2000 books for a 2-hour YouTube video, where I reviewed and ranked them all, which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/VsNwNpeqgLo

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This was a dark one. I have a lot to unpack with this but this was a surprisingly solid revisit from my childhood. Goes without saying I do have one huge drawback with this book. But I’ll get into that towards the end.

The story starts off with a major puke of a kid. He’s into horror. Not in the typical way though, his ego is too tough for him to be scared. So he scares his little sister and his cousin all of the time. He gets sadistic pleasure out of the misery of others. Eventually it backfires for him though, leading to his ego getting bruised. (After 6-7 chapters of building up the story of this mean kid of course).

A teacher punishes him for an act he commits on his cousin and the kid vows revenge on Halloween with his bully friend. They plan to have a “headless halloween”. A night of tormenting kids, playing pranks, and getting revenge on the teacher who bruises the main characters ego.

It comes to Halloween night and low and behold the kid has to take his sister, her friends, and his cousin trick or treating along with his buddy. They find a way to ditch the sister and her friends. As well as the cousin in an abandoned house. They steal some candy and head up to the teachers house for the ultimate revenge.

However, events that transpire backfire and sends the main character into a night of strange happenings, almost grueling events, and a figurative purgatory he must face to make everything go back to normal.

I have to say, the shock value in the book is there. Some of the most unnerving scenes, antagonists, and messages I’ve ever read in a Goosebumps book. You’ll find yourself seeing the metaphor for a purgatory in the afterlife. You’ll see the message that Stine conveys about “life doesn’t give you second chances”. Accompanied with a few gross out bits, the book mainly places the main character in wild events that get progressively more stake filled and more disturbing. The psychological horror and body horror are top shelf for Goosebumps as a whole.

This goes without saying despite the many things amazing about this book. It doesn’t mention the fact of how insufferable the main character really is. And when the story starts to unravel, you’ll get a sense of change within the character. The very last sentence of the book is the big nail in the coffin for me. It completely detracts me from the experience and getting behind the kids experiences. Preventing me from giving this book an A or a 4 1/2 stars or higher. It felt all for nothing. (Even though, if you read the book, it’s kind of fitting but that’s as far as I’ll go with that tidbit).

I highly recommend this one for those who love the darker Goosebumps books. Those a kin to liking books or stories with grit such as Welcome To Dead House, or Ghost Camp will feel at home with this book. Where it excels outweighs where it suffers. A must try for any reader, but I will say if your intention is for a younger reader, I’d say hold off on this one for them. Other than that, have at it. I’d say most would enjoy this one.

[Jason Harlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going into this I knew it was considered one of the darker Goosebumps books, and my oh my did this not disappoint. The story is told from an insufferable kid named Brandon's perspective as he torments his cousin and his little sister. He is obsessed with scaring them, and eventually he takes things way too far and gets caught by one of his teachers. So on Halloween, he and his bully friend decide to cause a bunch of mayhem at the teacher's house. Midway through, I started to get a little bored with this and imagined I'd give it a 3/5, but the climax and ending are super dark, so that bumps it up to a 4. I would definitely recommend this, but don't go in with super high expectations.

[Hussain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the Monster Blood series, this is my favorite book. I even wrote a fan-fiction on this.

[Shadyside Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This is definitely one of the most violent and graphic Goosebumps books I’ve ever read. Usually I enjoy when a book goes off the rails but this one left a sour taste in my mouth…

YouTube Video Review: https://youtu.be/dlrkx0D54ik?si=FO8gM...

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another decent entry in the series, but nothing phenomenal like Cry of the Cat or Creature Teacher. I really liked some of the parts in this book. This might be the darkest / most intense series 2000 book yet. The cockroach scene. The haunted house scene. Not to mention our protagonist is viciously attacked by dogs...
There's some good stuff here, and a pretty solid plot, yet, it just didn't really draw me in for some reason, and the ending itself didn't really make sense. There was one point in the story where it got really serious, and our protagonist was expressing remorse for some of his actions (Won't get into that and spoil too much - but it got pretty heavy) and then by the end, things kind of completely turn around, and his changed attitude doesn't make sense to all of his previous actions and choices... I don't know...
A good goosebumps book that is surprisingly dark and creepy, and has some heavy underlying themes, but kind of fizzes out by the end and left me feeling a little unsatisfied.
3.25 / 5 stars

[Ronja Rüegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ending, but fear street is more my thing

[Doctor Lawrence Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of the darkest goosebumps books by far!

[Aniket Choudhury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I one the best Goosebumps books.
The story is really good.

[Quinn Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main Character Being A Dick Almost Ruined The Book The Ending Too.

[Erica]

slay

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10 Rounded to 5/5

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever written in the series 2000 lineup of outstanding stoy playing. Really recommend to read this one.

[Maïlys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a big fan of this one, Brandon, the main character, is so annoying that i wanted to give up on the book after 5 pages.
The only thing that saves it, is the element of surprise and the really darker tone i didn't anticipated.

[Paola Micheli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks God I didn't know about these books back in time, my mom would be broke!!!

📚📚📚 ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ca fait déjà un moment que j’avais envie de relire certains livres que j’avais lus étant petite, histoire de voir comment je les perçois avec l’œil d’un adulte. Vu que c’est bientôt Halloween, je me suis dit que déjà, ça tombait bien, et que en plus, il y avait une certaine catégorie « Halloween » dans le challenge pot-pourri ! Donc, j’en ai relu un, et je compte en relire quelques autres, mais je ne pense pas avoir le courage de tous les lire quand même ! Bien sûr, je trouvais ces livres presque effrayants quand j’étais petite, mais je suis étonnée de voir qu’ils vont quand même plus loin que ce dont je me souvenais ! (Un peu comme quand Mufasa meurt et qu’on se dit « non, c’est trop pour des enfants ». Mais je n’ai pas été traumatisée étant petite, j’aimais beaucoup. C’est une très bonne collection pour faire découvrir la lecture à nos chères têtes blondes, surtout à l’heure où les histoires qui font peur avant d’aller se coucher deviennent leur passe-temps favori ! Ces livres sont très faciles à lire, tout-à-fait adaptés à de jeunes lecteurs et les histoires sont relativement variées.

La Fête Infernale met en scène Brandon, un jeune garçon qui aime faire peur à tout le monde, et c’est bientôt le soir d’Halloween, autant dire qu’il va se faire plaisir ! J’ai beaucoup apprécié cette relecture, même 13 ans plus tard ! Bien sûr, l’écriture est somme toute basique, mais bon, il ne faut pas oublier qui sont les destinataires de ce livre et contrairement à certains auteurs jeunesse, Stine ne prend pas les enfants pour des crétins finis et insert çà ou là quelques notions ou mots que les plus jeunes ne connaissent pas toujours. J’ai bien rigolé par contre en lisant certains éléments, notamment le fait que le héros fait du babysitting, alors que vu ce qu’il fait, on pourrait penser qu’il a 10 ans et que je ne lui laisserai personnellement jamais mes enfants à garder, mais bon, ça m’a fait sourire, c’est normal aussi que le héros se rapproche un peu de l’âge des lecteurs officiels. Par contre, en comparaison, je trouve que la fin frappe assez fort ! Finalement, cette fête d’Halloween aura été bien pire que ce que Brandon aurait pu penser de prime abord. Comme pour la majorité des contes, il y a certains éléments qui ne laissent pas indifférents et une certaine morale que les héros apprennent souvent à leurs dépens.

[Colton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread 10/23/16

I hated this the first time I read it, but that was probably due to not expecting just how different this is from a regular GB book. This is way more demented and dark than your typical RL Stine, and it wouldn't surprise me if this were ghostwritten. It feels more like a twisted novella than something from under the GB moniker. The main character is still the most unlikable in the whole series, but it works in context. Parts of the plot feel random and unnecessary. The ending is probably the darkest in the series, paying homage to The Ghost Next Door #10 and The Headless Ghost #37. Still, I enjoyed it a lot more this time around, and the Halloween GB books are typically strong. I'm bumping up the score but leaving my original review for nostalgia's sake.

Original review circa 12/05/13

I remember seeing the preview for this one as a kid and trying hard to find this book, but I never got around to reading it, and that was probably for the best. Unlike some people, I don't relish writing negative reviews. However, I also don't enjoy reading junk. The protagonist is simply the most unlikable Goosebumps protagonist out of all 62+ books. Apparently, in an attempt to upgrade Goosebumps from "scares" to "horror" R.L. Stine felt it necessary to insert an obligatory scene involving vomit in every Series 2000 book. It's not frightening, just predictable and unpleasant to read about. Incredibly, the protagonist, Brandon, dies halfway through the book. In order to regain his life, he has to save three people from being scared. Reading about the misadventures of this jerk is just not fun. The story gets some points for being pretty dark and even mentioning beer (!) at one point. However, I just cannot recommend this at all.

[Aaditya Sawant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never read books as a child and developed the interest very recently. Headless Halloween was one of the abandoned books in my bookshelf that I aspired to read this year. As a teenager, I found this book to be a short read but worth all your time.

Stine is indeed a Horror Expert. The plot is full of unexpected kinks and horror. Stine is adept at first person narration and this book is a testimony of the same. The use of present tense and ugly, life-like and explicit descriptions put me in the shoes of the narrator- Brandon. I felt as if the pages turned themselves, owing to the way each chapter ended with a cliffhanger and the way the situation of the narrator kept getting worse. I always wondered if horror books could ever have an impact on the reader and Stine dispels my scepticism through Goosebumps, moreover, Headless Halloween. The book keeps building climax and would keep you hooked on till the very end. The end, however, is depressing. I wish you all the best to deal with the trauma this book proffers to you at the end, for I’m still not able to overcome it.

Nevertheless, If you’re looking out for some crude horror, I would highly recommend this book. It is 115 pages long(roughly) and I spent two and a half hours to read it. I would recommend you to read it in a go and pay peculiar attention to the mottos of Brandon and behaviour of certain characters. It could help you in predicting certain parts of the plot. How could this even be called a ‘children’s ’ in the first place?

Wrong day but I would still wish you a Happy Halloween and not a Headless one🤡

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst Goosebumps books ever written, Headless Halloween features a rotten brat named Brandon who enjoys scaring his fellow children. Within the span of a few pages, he abandons his little sister while trick-or-treating, locks his cousin in a haunted house, steals candy from another kid (who's dressed as a mummy and can't run after him - nice!), breaks into his teacher's home to vomit everywhere (?), then lets his friend get eaten alive by attack dogs (!!!). What a guy! Brandon tries to escape, dies and winds up in the Afterlife, where after some ostensibly spooky, but really just disgusting ghost antics involving worm donuts and Twister (!?!), he's given a chance to win back his life. Does Brandon find a way to redeem himself? Can he save his abandoned friends from awful fates? Will readers even care what happens to this sorry little crap weasel after everything listed above?

[Jess Darlington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, fun Halloween read but it definitely wasn’t my favourite Goosebumps book.. the main character irritated me ALOT and the ending...

[juwitaju · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secara terjemahan, aku harus akui buku inu emang bener-bener jenis bahasa yang kayak percakapan sehari-hari. Jadi ringan banget. Karena memang buku ini salah satu dari bacaan untuk anak-anak. Pembawaannya dibuat seperti orang lagi cerita ke pembacanya. Bacaan ini cocok banget buat mengenalkan bahwa membaca nggak selalu jenis kegiatan yang berat dan membosankan.
•
Tokohnya juga ‘berkarakter’. Arus cerita di buku ini kayak ada 2: plotnya dan penokohan dari tokoh utamanya. Banyak kejahilan-kejahilan yang unexpected buat ukuran anak-anak tapi ya ada juga yang masih masuk akal. Pembawaan dari satu bab ke bab lainnya juga semacam nantangin wkwk, jadi ada pantikan buat ke bab selanjutnya. Selain pembawaan cerita yang acceptable dari gaya penulisan, isi ceritanya juga menghibur.
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Menghibur? Iya. Walaupun isinya memang horor (bahkan semi-thriller), jalan ceritanya nggak horor barbar yang bikin orang nahan pipis karena takut ke kamar mandi. Terlepas dari penilaian ini kembali ke daya takar rasa ‘takut’, tapi aku bisa bilang bahwa Stine nggak memunculkan rasa takut dalam bentuk bendawi. Lebih ke plot dan yaaa kasus-kasusnya. Personal referrenceku emang cinta sih sama Stine, karena tipikal buku misteri yang ga muluk tapi juga bikin kepo.
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For other visual, please visit at instagram.com/reviewgabut. See u there🥳

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark and twisted Goosebumps tale! A look into good and evil, life and death, and karma.

Plot:

This book follows a young boy bent on scaring and taking delight in people's fear and anguish. After deciding to do a "headless" Halloween costume with his friend, his plans to scare as many people as possible are derailed when his mom forces him to have his cousin, his sister, and her friends tag along with him. He hatches a plan to abandon them and use his night to get back at a teacher who did him wrong. However, there are other things in store for him when he goes to his teacher's house. He comes face-to-face with death and karma and they are not a pretty pair.

Brandon:

Honestly, the main character is kind of insufferable. He is one giant brat and bully. He takes delight in making others scared and miserable. And boy does he have it coming to him in this one. He experiences some pretty dark and twisted events that left me feeling a little uneasy. He did experience some growth briefly, but it seemed all for not by the end. He learns his lessons the hard way, but I don't want to spoil anything outright.

Warning (for younger readers):

This one is very dark and has some disturbing/triggering themes including but not limited to death, bullying, mild torture, gore, etc.
Please be cautious!

[Lee Crucefix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is suprisingly dark for a goosebumps book, dealling with death, Bullying, and consequences for our actions. 
The story follows Brandon, a bully who enjoys nothing more than terrorizing those around him in a very mean spirited way. After abandonig the children he was told to take trick or treating him and a friend head to a teachers house to pull a prank. From there things dont go to plan and after abandoning his friend when running from the teachers two dogs he finds himself in a neighbourhood he dosent recognise. From this point in the story, in a manner reminiscent of a christmas carol, brandon is faced with the consequences of his actions and has to try and set things right.
I can see the ending being polarising, but i really liked it.
The Halloween setting is perfect, and made me want october to come around quicker, when i doubtlessly will be giving it another read to get in the halloween spirit.

[Mr · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad book. The target audience is definitely kids, which we all know by now. I remember reading it as a kid and feeling sorry for the main character, however, reading it again as an adult, the main character is an extremely annoying thing, and the ending was a little underwhelming. I'm certain the target audience will like it, but your enjoyment with the book is likely related to your age. Kids will love it, adults maybe less so.

[Imogen Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion Headless Halloween is one of my favourite Goosebumps books out of the 2000 series it has all of the classic grossness of a good scare although I could do without the cockroach scene it made me want to be sick.

[Marco capoverso92 Capi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sulla stessa linea dei restanti Piccoli Brividi, anche questo ha come protagonista un dodicenne, e una storia ricca di azione e priva di punti morti. La suspense è sempre presente senza esagerare, adatta al pubblico a cui si rivolge. Giusto da leggere per Halloween.

[Tim Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all the Goosebumps books I read as a child, this is the only one I’ll ever rate, as this is the one that stuck with me the most. “Dark” seems to be how most others describe it, and it’s true: for children’s horror, there were few other books that hit like this one did.

[Glendy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the darkest Goosebumps book I’ve read so far. It had some very suspenseful moments and some extremely gross scenes including one involving cockroaches. Overall it was fun, creepy and love that it takes place on Halloween so it’s perfect to read in October.

[Dakota Foote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty sure this was one of the few Goosebumps books I actually read as a kid. It needs work. The first half is incredibly boring, the second half is decent, and the last page has a great twist. That cover is 10/10 though