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Freddy Krueger's Tales of Terror #6
Deadly Disguise
It's Halloween in Springwood and the place to be is the old Appleby mansion where the lord of the manor is none other than Jack Spyder, himself.
Born John Appleby, Jack Spyder changed his name when he was eight, right after he was discovered in a national talent search and landed a role on a hit television sitcom. But like many child stars, Jack rose to fame too fast, and when he lost his parents suddenly in a terrible accident, he returned home to the mansion they owned in Springwood.
Then teen idol Jack throws a Halloween bash--the party to end all parties. Not only has the local boy-made-good returned home, but it has also been rumored that the accident which Jack himself had been in had ruined his clean-cut good looks. Will he be as hideous as the gossip papers have suggested? Will the party be beyond Springwood's wildest expectations? Everyone is literally dying to find out.
Born John Appleby, Jack Spyder changed his name when he was eight, right after he was discovered in a national talent search and landed a role on a hit television sitcom. But like many child stars, Jack rose to fame too fast, and when he lost his parents suddenly in a terrible accident, he returned home to the mansion they owned in Springwood.
Then teen idol Jack throws a Halloween bash--the party to end all parties. Not only has the local boy-made-good returned home, but it has also been rumored that the accident which Jack himself had been in had ruined his clean-cut good looks. Will he be as hideous as the gossip papers have suggested? Will the party be beyond Springwood's wildest expectations? Everyone is literally dying to find out.
- GenresHorrorYoung Adult
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 15, 1995
117 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 30, 2019
First off - I like how the different books of the series are interconnected, with various characters appearing in multiple tomes, referencing incidents in previous pieces or talking about events that will figure prominently in future ones. They all exist on the same timeline, and as far as I can tell the books' sequence is chronological so one ought to read them in the established order, from 1 to 6.
I recommend going through them the way I did too, in one glorious guts-n-gore-spattered fiesta. The stories themselves are pretty short, diverse, and yes, entertaining enough not to cause indigestion even if you plow through them in quick succession. Thefoodbook coma I got after devouring this sextet had me smacking my lips and burping (metaphorically that is) in eminent satisfaction. Can't help it!
As for this one, well it was a fitting finale to the series. The only surviving heir of Springwood's premier family has come back to reclaim his legacy, and what better way to herald his return than by staging the Halloween party to end all parties. Things do not exactly go as planned and by the end, a few unfortunate guests were dropping like flies.
That said - poor John. After all the tragedies that beset him, he didn't know that he was sleeping in a den of wolves, all raring to get a chunk out of him. We can only hope that he gets through the night in one piece.
I'm rating this 7/10 or 4 stars out of 5.
I recommend going through them the way I did too, in one glorious guts-n-gore-spattered fiesta. The stories themselves are pretty short, diverse, and yes, entertaining enough not to cause indigestion even if you plow through them in quick succession. The
As for this one, well it was a fitting finale to the series. The only surviving heir of Springwood's premier family has come back to reclaim his legacy, and what better way to herald his return than by staging the Halloween party to end all parties. Things do not exactly go as planned and by the end, a few unfortunate guests were dropping like flies.
That said - poor John. After all the tragedies that beset him, he didn't know that he was sleeping in a den of wolves, all raring to get a chunk out of him. We can only hope that he gets through the night in one piece.
I'm rating this 7/10 or 4 stars out of 5.
October 23, 2022
Surprise! Yep, I have thrown in an extra Halloween review. When I planned this Halloween read month out, I wanted to fit in a couple bonus ones outside of Thursday and forgot to say this may happen. I don't think I'll do another bonus since there's stuff I wanna possibly do. But I hit up the ranomizer and got this.
Some of the 80's slasher had YA book series in the 90's while their films were laying low for a bit. Jason and Micheal Meyers had some so Freddy got his due as well. Most were by David Bergantino, who did some Bone Chillers. I covered one a bit ago and here we get see him let loose more. He previously did a novelazation of New Nightmare for them which lead to this gig.
The thing with this series is that they were barley allowed to use Freddy, as they didn't want to risk contradicting the mythos. Way to have faith in your writers. Thus, he mostly does this book ends, and only appears in the story near the end as they go back to the Nightmare 2 ish well of him using someone as a vessel.
That means these have to do more standard YA stuff for most of them which I can deal with. This is the last one and it's something. Jack Spyder is a former child star who let things get to his head and his show got canned. He failed to get more work and his parents died in a car crash. Not a super happy life.
Now he's returned and is throwing a Halloween party, hoping to show he's not too bad a guy. And maybe get back together for his ex Racheal Chan. Of course, things start going wrong, with almost everyone there maybe having their own beef with Jack and maybe something is even bigger is going on here.
This one is hard to describe if you haven['t read it. I'll say off the bat that I don't know if I can call it "Good" per say but I really enjoyed it. It was the kind of cheesy fun stuff I like seeing from these. It's flaws aren't even too bad until the end. First, the Halloween element is a bit,
We get a decent spooky mood and a party with costumes but they don't do much beyond a few lines. This could have been done anytime. I mentioned Racheal and she's kind of sort of the protagonist, fills the expected role, but we barely focus on here as we jump through others.
She is the POV we get at the end so she is more of the lead than Jack but there's not much to her. The main flaw in the story is the ending. This builds up some deeper elements, some mild commentary on child stars as well as how egotistical Hollywood folks can be. There's others with beef with him and we get both sides to certain things regarding his big rich family.
That goes out the window with the ending, which gives us a standard action climax and wrapup. We don't get much of a wrapup. There was a thing with Jack dealing with her in the past and she wonders if he's changed. I guess as any teasing of him being bad is ignored by the end. This is way shorter than usual for these, as it's under 120 pages and this is where that hurts it.
Pacing is mostly good, not feeling too dull or anything like that, and then it rushes itself by the end. Th reveal of who the mastermind is was unexpected but a bit random and she has the weakest motive of anyone. I do like how Freddy ties in to it though and he's fun when he appears.
Before all that went down, it's fun. The writing is...interesting. I said when I reviewed Night of the Living Clay that David says some of that was re-written, and after reading this, I believe that. There's quite a bit of vocab stuff of course (been a bit since I said that i think?) but it can be rather cheeky. I don't know if it's all good but it was certainly fun.
It has a more unique voice than I'm used to and I liked that. The deaths sometimes end on jokes or bits that are trying to be poetic but are just goofy. I know at least one other in this series did a bit of that so it may be his style.
It worked for me. We got a bunch of people who have their individual plans to screw over Jack, with some being more connected. This is where it got fun, as we get tons of backstabbing that was enjoyed. It's all super cheesy and it's in a way I like. The stuff with these two criminals wasn't as needed tho, it was less connected and like like padding.
The kills are standard when we see them but the aftermath is described in gross ways. Content wise, it's mostly typical, there is more for swearing but it's just hell and damn. So, no Freddy saying bitch for you.
There's fun stuff with the characters and their back and forth. There's an alpha bitch type, Vanessa, who keeps saying things in italics, I don't know those words are meant to be said but they do comment on it being a weird thing she does. I read those bits outloud for affect lol.
It's balanced enough with cheesy stuff and some decent qualities, with the tension ramping up nicely as they get picked off. On a side note, there's actually continuity with a previous one, Help Wanted. The leads of that have a minor role here, not being super important but they are there. I didn't expect that, it's a good thing Getting_GB reviewed that one or I wouldn't have caught onto that.
Sadly things again fall apart in the end. The climax and such is okay, although the Freddy defeat is weak. The reveal could be better and any deeper stuff goes out the window. It's a shame but at least we had fun before then.
Overall, if you want a legit good book, this isn't for you. But if you're into these cheesy 90's YA books, this has everything you could want. The writing is distinct and there's a cheeky-ness that makes it fun. It's an odd ride but it keeps you on your toes, even if the story gets messy and weak by the end.
I'll totally read another one just based on what we got here. It's not super Freddy filled, infact before the end this could have been under any other name but on its own it is fun. As long as you don't expect too much, you'll have fun. Even if it's weak as a Halloween book.
Whew, that was fun. I wanna maybe do something for Tuesday, we'll see. I do know that I'll have the Halloween finale on Thursday so that should be fun.
See ya then.
(Side note, this had a Racheal saying "let's do it!" a few months before Animorphs, neat.
Some of the 80's slasher had YA book series in the 90's while their films were laying low for a bit. Jason and Micheal Meyers had some so Freddy got his due as well. Most were by David Bergantino, who did some Bone Chillers. I covered one a bit ago and here we get see him let loose more. He previously did a novelazation of New Nightmare for them which lead to this gig.
The thing with this series is that they were barley allowed to use Freddy, as they didn't want to risk contradicting the mythos. Way to have faith in your writers. Thus, he mostly does this book ends, and only appears in the story near the end as they go back to the Nightmare 2 ish well of him using someone as a vessel.
That means these have to do more standard YA stuff for most of them which I can deal with. This is the last one and it's something. Jack Spyder is a former child star who let things get to his head and his show got canned. He failed to get more work and his parents died in a car crash. Not a super happy life.
Now he's returned and is throwing a Halloween party, hoping to show he's not too bad a guy. And maybe get back together for his ex Racheal Chan. Of course, things start going wrong, with almost everyone there maybe having their own beef with Jack and maybe something is even bigger is going on here.
This one is hard to describe if you haven['t read it. I'll say off the bat that I don't know if I can call it "Good" per say but I really enjoyed it. It was the kind of cheesy fun stuff I like seeing from these. It's flaws aren't even too bad until the end. First, the Halloween element is a bit,
We get a decent spooky mood and a party with costumes but they don't do much beyond a few lines. This could have been done anytime. I mentioned Racheal and she's kind of sort of the protagonist, fills the expected role, but we barely focus on here as we jump through others.
She is the POV we get at the end so she is more of the lead than Jack but there's not much to her. The main flaw in the story is the ending. This builds up some deeper elements, some mild commentary on child stars as well as how egotistical Hollywood folks can be. There's others with beef with him and we get both sides to certain things regarding his big rich family.
That goes out the window with the ending, which gives us a standard action climax and wrapup. We don't get much of a wrapup. There was a thing with Jack dealing with her in the past and she wonders if he's changed. I guess as any teasing of him being bad is ignored by the end. This is way shorter than usual for these, as it's under 120 pages and this is where that hurts it.
Pacing is mostly good, not feeling too dull or anything like that, and then it rushes itself by the end. Th reveal of who the mastermind is was unexpected but a bit random and she has the weakest motive of anyone. I do like how Freddy ties in to it though and he's fun when he appears.
Before all that went down, it's fun. The writing is...interesting. I said when I reviewed Night of the Living Clay that David says some of that was re-written, and after reading this, I believe that. There's quite a bit of vocab stuff of course (been a bit since I said that i think?) but it can be rather cheeky. I don't know if it's all good but it was certainly fun.
It has a more unique voice than I'm used to and I liked that. The deaths sometimes end on jokes or bits that are trying to be poetic but are just goofy. I know at least one other in this series did a bit of that so it may be his style.
It worked for me. We got a bunch of people who have their individual plans to screw over Jack, with some being more connected. This is where it got fun, as we get tons of backstabbing that was enjoyed. It's all super cheesy and it's in a way I like. The stuff with these two criminals wasn't as needed tho, it was less connected and like like padding.
The kills are standard when we see them but the aftermath is described in gross ways. Content wise, it's mostly typical, there is more for swearing but it's just hell and damn. So, no Freddy saying bitch for you.
There's fun stuff with the characters and their back and forth. There's an alpha bitch type, Vanessa, who keeps saying things in italics, I don't know those words are meant to be said but they do comment on it being a weird thing she does. I read those bits outloud for affect lol.
It's balanced enough with cheesy stuff and some decent qualities, with the tension ramping up nicely as they get picked off. On a side note, there's actually continuity with a previous one, Help Wanted. The leads of that have a minor role here, not being super important but they are there. I didn't expect that, it's a good thing Getting_GB reviewed that one or I wouldn't have caught onto that.
Sadly things again fall apart in the end. The climax and such is okay, although the Freddy defeat is weak. The reveal could be better and any deeper stuff goes out the window. It's a shame but at least we had fun before then.
Overall, if you want a legit good book, this isn't for you. But if you're into these cheesy 90's YA books, this has everything you could want. The writing is distinct and there's a cheeky-ness that makes it fun. It's an odd ride but it keeps you on your toes, even if the story gets messy and weak by the end.
I'll totally read another one just based on what we got here. It's not super Freddy filled, infact before the end this could have been under any other name but on its own it is fun. As long as you don't expect too much, you'll have fun. Even if it's weak as a Halloween book.
Whew, that was fun. I wanna maybe do something for Tuesday, we'll see. I do know that I'll have the Halloween finale on Thursday so that should be fun.
See ya then.
(Side note, this had a Racheal saying "let's do it!" a few months before Animorphs, neat.
August 3, 2025
Very fun little ya slasher!
August 29, 2017
This is the hardest book of the line to find, and it's a bit disappointing to see that the story itself is only 112 pages where the rest of the line is forty pages longer. The rest of the book is filled out with sections of the first five books in order to boost the line which, of course, didn't really work out that well. So what about the story?
The book gets kudos for using a 'has-been actor comes back to Springwood and remakes his old house into an awesome haunted house' but the plot itself is wasted because of the short nature of the book. A few characters from Book 5 reappear along with some characters related to a victim from Book 1/2, which was a nice bit of continuity that this series really does well with. Unfortunately, this book is short and not that sweet and could have been fleshed out a lot more. Best to end with a real story instead of 2/3rds of one along with marketing as a Hail Mary to save a tie-in line that, in all honesty, would have ended if it was successful or not.
If you find it cheap, it's worth a read. But by no means should you pay any real amount of money for 2/3rds of a book that was, in all honesty, probably rushed out to cash in before the series went kaput. And the less said about the intro/outros and their cheesy, awful humor the better. And the horror imagery is down right laugh-inducing and not in a good way, either.
The book gets kudos for using a 'has-been actor comes back to Springwood and remakes his old house into an awesome haunted house' but the plot itself is wasted because of the short nature of the book. A few characters from Book 5 reappear along with some characters related to a victim from Book 1/2, which was a nice bit of continuity that this series really does well with. Unfortunately, this book is short and not that sweet and could have been fleshed out a lot more. Best to end with a real story instead of 2/3rds of one along with marketing as a Hail Mary to save a tie-in line that, in all honesty, would have ended if it was successful or not.
If you find it cheap, it's worth a read. But by no means should you pay any real amount of money for 2/3rds of a book that was, in all honesty, probably rushed out to cash in before the series went kaput. And the less said about the intro/outros and their cheesy, awful humor the better. And the horror imagery is down right laugh-inducing and not in a good way, either.
August 18, 2023
Full review at:https://www.jackreacts.com.au/freddy-...
Snippet: This is definitely my favourite in the series, I think because it plays out exactly like a slasher movie, complete with a final girl circuit, and that’s my favourite subgenre of horror. There was a lot of jumping around in the book between characters, which was kind of annoying because there were a few separate plots to follow, but I guess that sort of added to the slasher vibe as well. The story was well-paced too because...
Check out my full review linked up top for an in-depth recap :)
Snippet: This is definitely my favourite in the series, I think because it plays out exactly like a slasher movie, complete with a final girl circuit, and that’s my favourite subgenre of horror. There was a lot of jumping around in the book between characters, which was kind of annoying because there were a few separate plots to follow, but I guess that sort of added to the slasher vibe as well. The story was well-paced too because...
Check out my full review linked up top for an in-depth recap :)
December 13, 2023
Wasn't all that bad, especially compared to the other book in the series I listened to. The story felt more engaging, the characters felt more fleshed-out, and it definitely took a couple of turns I wasn't expecting.
Once again as always, a huge thanks to the 80s Slasher Librarian on YouTube for uploading his fan-made audiobooks of this and other OOP horror books, as that's how I was able to listen to/go through this book in the first place. Check out his channel when you get the chance!
Once again as always, a huge thanks to the 80s Slasher Librarian on YouTube for uploading his fan-made audiobooks of this and other OOP horror books, as that's how I was able to listen to/go through this book in the first place. Check out his channel when you get the chance!
December 13, 2020
I don't know what to make of this...on one hand, I love me some Freddy Krueger, I love old school horror Freddy, I love cornball new Freddy....love them all.
But a Shining reference, really? And more and more characters added till you're not sure who's who? Plus promising more to come WHEN THIS IS THE LAST BOOK?! DA HELL?
I wonder what was planned for more.
But a Shining reference, really? And more and more characters added till you're not sure who's who? Plus promising more to come WHEN THIS IS THE LAST BOOK?! DA HELL?
I wonder what was planned for more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2024
Halloween in Springwood, a group of people, hide and seek in an old mansion... the feeling changes when Freddy Krueger appears. Can you get rid of this everlasting monster? It was a very fast read but it falls flat if you expect a true Freddy Krueger adventure. This one was more teen horror than the real deal. Cover is great though and to hear something from Freddy too. For fans only!
February 2, 2025
Silly, fun and short. Had a great time honestly.
February 12, 2026
Deadly Disguise is a short slasher. Nothing special. The ending was interesting though.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews