Bumping Geese 6: Let's Get Invisible

Did you know 'Goosebumps' was adapted into a TV series in the 90s?

And did you know that the 90s 'Goosebumps' TV series is actually awful? I didn't.

But I do now!

Like the 'Goosebumps' books, the TV series is something I was aware of when I was a child and it was on TV, and I may have even watched an episode of two, if my vague memory serves, but I was never a fan. I never went out of my way to watch it, in the same way I skipped the books.

But also like the books, the 'Goosebumps' TV series is something that, in theory, I should like. As a child I watched the very similar TV series 'Are You Afraid Of The Dark?' and loved that. As I grew older, I discovered I loved similar horror anthology series like 'The Twilight Zone', 'Tales From The Crypt', and 'The Hunger'. And now I'm even a fan of the 'Goosebumps' books. So the show is, in theory, right up my alley.

Except that it sucks.

A lot.

I've only watched a handful of episodes, based on the books I have read so far, and while better books make for better episodes ('Monster Blood' continues its reign of ultimate suckitude right into its TV adaptation), they're still... not good.

In fact, they suck.

A lot.

So while I entertained the idea of repeating this project with the TV show...

No.

I'm not going to do that.

Because the 'Goosebumps' TV series sucks.

A lot.

Book 6 in the series, "Let's Get Invisible" on the other hand, is pretty good.

See this book cover? This is the cover of a book that doesn't suck.
Unlike the 'Goosebumps' TV series. Which does Suck.
A lot.

"Let's Get Invisible" is about Max ERROR 404: SURNAME NOT FOUND and his brother, Lefty, and friends, Zack, Erin, and April. One day, while hanging out with his pals, being the kind of foolish kids who, for some reason, don't want to watch the film 'The Terminator' (yes this is an actual plot point) Max discovers a hidden room behind a false wall in the attic of his home. All that is inside the room is an old, full sized mirror with a wooden frame and a little light hanging from the top.

For a bunch of 12 year olds, this wouldn't be all that exciting apart from the mystery of why the mirror is secreted away in a hidden room, but while Max and his buddies are goofing around with it, they discover that if you stand in front of it and turn the light on, you become completely invisible!

This is obviously kind of terrifying at first, not just for Max, who is accidentally turned invisible, but for his friends who lose track of him. Luckily, when they turn the light on the mirror off again, Max reappears and everybody feels a great relief. Especially Max who, the longer he stayed invisible, the more he began to feel weak and fuzzy, somehow distant from his friends and the attic, as if consumed by the light reflecting off the mirror.

Over the next few days, thoughts of the mirror consume Max. He can't sleep, and instead finds himself compelled to creep into his attic in the middle of the night and stare into it, urged to play with his invisibility but also aware that he has no idea how dangerous it might be, or if there is any danger at all. His brother Lefty, however, feels no such hesitation. After his first turn becoming invisible, he too becomes obsessed with the mirror and takes every opportunity to turn invisible and play pranks on his brother.

Max's friends Zack and Erin suffer the same obsession and, what's more, enter into a fierce on-going competition to see who can be invisible the longest, which really means, who can endure that awful feeling of being pulled away from the world that comes after being invisible for more than a few minutes. Max tries to warn them away from the mirror, and to stop their competition, but Lefty interferes to nudge them on. Max notices that his friends even seem to become somehow physically but subtly changed by their lengthy time spent invisible.

April, who was at first afraid of the mirror, is eventually pressured into trying it, and she too succumbs to its fascinating allure. 

But all their fun and games take a dark turn when, against his objections, Zack and Erin force Max to compete with them, holding him in place in front of the mirror before turning on the light and making him invisible. Even then they continue to hold him there and refuse to turn the light on. Soon enough, Max feels the sensation of being ripped away from the mirror, his friends, and the attic and into the light of the mirror. That feeling escalates until he is physically pulled through the mirror, no matter how he tries to resist. Max tumbles through a strange world of light, shapes, and colours, and then, in a white void, he meets himself - or rather, his reflection.

Max learns that his friends Zack and Erin have been replaced by their reflection, and now they're stuck in this mirror world. Max's reflection now plans to replace him. But Max shows an unusual resistance and is able to escape his reflection and flee the mirror world. But of course, when he escapes, his replaced friends try to send him back. Just when it seems too late, Lefty bursts into the room and accidentally breaks the mirror. The reflections are sucked back into the mirror world and the real Zack and Erin are freed. The nightmare is over.

OR IS IT!?

For we see the return of the 'Goosebumps' twist ending. As Max and Lefty play catch in their yard, and Max explains the terrible adventure inside the mirror, he notices that his brother, whom received the name Lefty because he is left handed, is throwing and catching the ball with his right hand!

This might be the best twist in the series so far. Not just because it is creepy, but because it is the only twist so far that has been in any way telegraphed. During the scene where Lefty accidentally breaks the mirror and the Zack and Erin reflections are pulled back into the mirror, the narrator notes that Lefty is holding into the door handle, resisting the pull of the mirror. By this time we also have noticed distinct and bizarre changes in Lefty's behaviour, suggesting he was the first to be replaced.

So even though I saw the twist coming, the fact that it was even possible to see it coming, makes it far more satisfying. Too many of the previous twists, even in the good books, have really come out of nowhere and as a result felt forced into the narrative without care or attention to the narrative's cohesion or development.

I dunno. It's really a vibe thing. I don't like twists that have no build up. They FEEL cheap to me. You mileage may vary.

But how about the rest of the book?

Well, like a lot of these books, the middle drags a bit. There's a lot of scenes that feel repeated, a lot of emotional beats that play again and again and don't feel like they go anywhere. But the escalation to the climax happens sooner, which gets you more engrossed as you read and means the slow parts aren't as long as they have been in previous books. So, again, we're seeing a marked improvement in RL Stine's writing as each book passes.

And this book is also creepy. It's not as terrifying as 'Stay Out Of The Basement' but, again, that book was basically custom made to frighten me. While there is really only one big horror moment, when Max goes into the mirror, the book taps into some genuinely frightening ideas and just lets them hover over the entire narrative.

The idea that somebody we know and love could be suddenly replaced is something we've seen before in horror. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' is one of the most famous examples, and, to a lesser extent, this fear of replacement or change can be seen in the zombie genre. But the idea goes back even farther, to ancient legends of Changelings - fae children that are left in place of stolen human babies. There really does seem to be something primal about this kind of anxiety. It has existed within us for centuries.

Another sign that his is so deeply rooted within us is the aesthetic phenomena described as The Uncanny Valley. In simple terms, The Uncanny Valley describes a documented emotional response that all people have to seeing something that is mostly human, but wrong in noticeable ways. An android whose features aren't quite convincing, for example. It makes us uncomfortable to look at. It disturbs something deep within us. It's a phenomena that Max experiences in the book when he sees the reflections that have replaced his friends. They have become reversed and, in doing so, now appear wrong.

"Let's Get Invisible" also works on another level that is perhaps less universal, but one might argue is more visceral. It's another topic that is commonly explored by the horror genre: addiction.

Max, Lefty, Erin, and Zack all become addicted to the mirror. They obsess over it. It keeps them up at night. They stop wanting to go outside, to see other people, to do anything but play with the mirror. Max turns down food to spend more time with the mirror. And Max guards the secret of the mirror zealously. He is terrified of his parents finding it and taking it away from him. He lies about why he and his friends are spending so much time in the attic. Even when he knows his parents don't believe his lies, he keeps lying anyway, keeps going back to the mirror.

And the cost for indulging this addiction is that they literally, physically, become somebody else. It changes them into something... Well, something not quite human. Not quite who they used to be. While also trapping them forever deep inside the mirror, inside their addiction. The mirror completely consumes its users.

Addiction is another very human experience. People aren prone to addiction to varying degrees, but it's something we're all capable of. Our brains and our bodies are just built to be susceptible to it. Some things, once we have them, our bodies will crave them again, and sometimes those cravings become destructive.

And that's frightening. That is a loss of control. That is our ego succumbing to the id, our conscious minds being lost to base drives and animal instincts. One might say it is another kind of replacement. Another kind of inhuman substitution. Except it is all too human, and so all too possible.

I don't know if I've read any other children's books or seen any other media aimed at children that deals with addiction. I thought it kind of odd, while reading it, that RL Stine would take this approach. How relatable is this, as a theme, to the preteen audience?

But that's a foolish thought. Children are people. Preteens are still human. They experience the same humanity that we all do. And addiction is well documented amongst children and adolescents. Addiction to sugar, addiction to video games, there's even been studies into the disturbing trend of young people becoming addicted to pornography. This is absolutely something the intended audience of 'Goosebumps' faces in their life.

So, if anything, it's not weird that addiction is a major theme in "Let's Get Invisible". It's weird that it's not a major theme in more media aimed at young people.

This one dragged a lot more than 'Stay Out Of The Basement' and while I genuinely prefer a quieter, creepier kind of horror, the kind of horror that is more atmosphere and mood, "Let's Get Invisible" doesn't quite reach the heights I'd like of that kind of horror. So, it hasn't dethroned 'Stay Out of The Basement' as my favourite in the series, but it has definitely come the closest. It's creepy, it's engaging, it's thematically layered and complex. I'm glad to have read it.

The next in the series is the iconic 'Night Of The Living Dummy'. I'm eager to see if it lives up to its legacy.