Hocus-Pocus Horror

Give Yourself Goosebumps #35

by R.L. Stine

In a story where the reader can choose from more than twenty different endings, the reader finds Mysterio's magical bag of tricks, and even though the label on it says "DO NOT TOUCH," explores what's inside

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Childrens, Choose Your Own Adventure, Gamebooks, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

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.

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Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hocus-Pocus horror is a book I've had in my collection for years and I've never really felt drawn to it.I think I tried reading it when i was younger ,but never really got into it.I found this book at a Goodwill,which is insane,because this is a black spine and those are pretty rare now.The story follows you and your friend Zack.You both are at this magic show watching The Great Mysterio perform.Your freind Zack is into magic,but you only came,because you like animals and heard Mysterio uses them in his act,so you wan't to make sure he is treating the animals nicely.Mysterio makes this boquet turn into doves and he asks for volunteers and Zack offers to go up with you and Mysterio accepts.You guys go through a door and now Mysterio looks different.He has red eyes and is ghostly pale.You both see him zapping a dog,trying to make the dog talk,when Mysterio asks for his volunteers.This is your first choice and it's either hide or run.I'm pretty sure I chose to hide first.This leads to you hiding behind a curtian and peeking out and discovering that all of the audience members are phantoms with red eyes.You overhear Mysterio talking to His assistant,Zoltan and he explains this spacetime gate thing opened.The curtian is yanked aside and You meet Zoltan.He explains that Mysterio likes to try out new tricks on people.If you do good and cooperate,Mysterio will send you home with rewards.If you don't,he will turn you into a phantoms.This is where you get another choice.You can either cooperare or not.I think I chose to cooperate first.His first trick is cutting your head off and making it still be alive.This leads to you either pulling zack out of the gullitine or leaving him.If you pull him,it leads to Mysterio doing a card trick with razor sharp cards.You also have some body switching stuff here.The other storyline is,if you decide to run away and this leads to you stealing Mysterio's bag of tricks.You can either chose to open the kit now or at Zack's house.If you chose now,it leads to you sneezing and you or Zack becomming invisible.This storyline also has the monster depicted on the cover,and the genie spelling thing.If you wait until you get to Zack's house,a magician follows you home and it's either Mysterio or another person.You also get a police officer and witch coming over and batteling eachother,which was cool.Overall,I'm kind of mixed on this one.I really liked how zany the police and witch fight was.I liked how Mysterio was just straight up trying to end you for expiriments,but the other stuff wasn't super memorable.The vanishing storyline was pretty weak in my opinion.I also have to point out the magician at the window becoming two different outcomes.If you've been following my reviews for a while you would know how I feel.I give Hocus-Pocus horror a low four out of five stars.

[Kish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! After the flop that was Welcome to Dead House, this one was entertaining, racy and interesting. Maybe not scary so it ranks lower than Escape from the Carnival of Horrors for me. It also has a very cute puppy, who we also need to rescue along with our friend Zack. Guess who's on the cover. Not Mysterio!

[Dianna M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hocus-Pocus Horror starts with you going to a magic show to see the Great Mysterio! You don’t believe in magic but your best friend Zack does. (He’s a big fan) The only reason you agree to go with him is because you are a big animal lover and want to make sure Mysterio doesn’t abuse his show animals. But when Mysterio asks for volunteers…your friend (against your will) volunteers for you both and soon you become the one that will be forced to play a part of the Great Mysterio’s deadly magic show!

As you are about to go onstage you both realize Mysterio is actually an evil magician (that abuses his dog which he tortures (in order to make him obey) and scares him into (acting good) being a part of the his show… and you can only imagine the things he will do to you!) you get scared and decide you don’t want to be any part of it! so then you go through many different storylines in order to escape him and this otherworldly magical dimension (as well as trying to save his dog from his evil grasp)

Along the way you have to encounter and outrun many deadly magic tricks, evil animals, phantoms, evil magicians…even a genie and a witch! (I would have liked the storyline with the witch to have lasted longer though) With that being said I will say that this book was a decent book, it kept me entertained throughout. I liked that it wasn’t totally random and that the storylines and endings were congruent with the plot. (They we’re also easy to follow and the endings were pretty easy and fast to get to …unlike other Give Yourself Goosebumps books where you kind off just want to be over and done with.)

This one was really straightforward and didn’t go all over the place. I really liked the good endings, I especially liked the scenes with Ralph the show dog. There were really not as many scary scenes as I would have liked (There is this one scene about getting beheaded and which was pretty intense) but I think that is the most I would say “scary” scene, apart from that one..the others were not really scary. Overall I would recommend this book! It is worth the read. I liked that it was about magic, something I have always been interested in (a big fan of) .. and I will say it delivered its purpose! so with that being said…I will give Hocus-Pocus Horror 4 out of 5 stars! :)

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presto—I’m speechless. Okay, I have thoughts on this one, but not a lot for a change. Hokey Pokey Eeriness finds a bizarre middle ground between boring/bland and fine/good-enough, and I’m unsure if that’s good or bad… I guess it’s a light positive? Most GYGs with repetition of this kind are usually bad, whilst this one wasn’t for whatever reason, and I was actively dreading this one. The entertainment value helps keep this one sailing, there’s a handful of okay endings and some decent sequences, and some basic but passable concepts that come with the magic theming. However, the book has an abrupt and rough opening, a meandering/directionless plot for either arc, a ton of whatever endings—not really any shit ones thankfully—, and a weak villain (Mysterio). Overall, 7/10. It’s just 137 pages of magical madness (not to be confused with the amazing JakeTheDrake piece). Dig in they magic box twin.

[Griffin C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has two storylines, one where you steal Mysterio's bag of tricks and one where you take part in his show. The bag of tricks storyline is the better of the 2 and is very reminiscent of Bad Hare Day. The other storyline is okay but a little boring. 8.5/10

[Drake Sully · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably the most boring book in the Give Yourself Goosebumps series.

[Nader Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

[fanboyriot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt so random. The plot was everywhere but it was still entertaining.

[Arya Hari · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book that gives you the freedom of choice yet has a nasty twist to each one.