Night of the Living Dummy saga
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The horror book Night of the Living Dummy was written by children's author R. L. Stine as one of the first in the Goosebumps book series. The saga spans over 5 books in the Goosebumps and Goosebumps 2000 series. Next to One Day at Horrorland, the Night of the Living Dummy saga is considered the most successful of all the Goosebumps sagas. It is known for introducing perhaps the most famous Goosebumps villain of all time, Slappy, a ventriloquist's dummy that comes to life.
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[edit] Night of the Living Dummy
This first book in the saga, surprisingly, hardly features Slappy at all.
The main character, Lindy Powell, finds an old ventriloquist's dummy in a Dumpster. It is not known why Slappy was in the dumpster, but from this, readers can determine that Slappy has had a history of mischief that began even before the saga.
Lindy names the dummy "Slappy" and begins doing routines with it. Her twin sister, Kris, is instantly jealous and asks for a dummy of her own. Soon, Kris gets a dummy named Mr. Wood.
Soon, acts of mischief begin occurring around the house. They reach a peak when the girls find their kitchen refrigerator emptied of all its food. All of the food, now spoiled, is thrown across the kitchen, as well as the girls' mother's jewelry, with Mr. Wood in the middle of it all. But, Lindy reveals that she was behind all of the pranks. Kris is angry.
Then, while practicing with Mr. Wood, Kris finds a yellow piece of paper in Mr. Wood's pocket. She reads alloud the strange words on the paper. Kris then begins routines with Mr. Wood in public, with disastrous results. Mr. Wood seems to have a mind of his own, putting down the audience cruelly and even spewing foul-smelling green gunk out of his mouth. Mr. Wood then reveals himself to Kris and Lindy. He demands that the two girls play his servants, and if they refuse, he is prepared to kill the girls' family. They try to kill Mr. Wood by various means, including decapitating him and even burying him in a suitcase 6 feet under the ground, but Mr. Wood keeps coming back. Mr. Wood decides to make the girls pay by killing their dog. He begins to crush the dog's neck. The dog yelps in pain and runs out of the house, with the girls in pursuit. They end up in a construction site, and, in the story's climax, Mr. Wood is destroyed by a bulldozer.
But, when the girls return home, they discover Slappy is alive. "Hey, slaves, is that other guy gone? I thought he'd never leave!"
At this point in the saga, attention turns to Slappy. From information found in the novels, we can deduct that Kris and Lindy smashed a sandwich into the hand notch before he could do any serious trouble and donated him to a pawn shop .
[edit] Night of the Living Dummy II
After Amy's dad brings home a new dummy named Slappy to replace Dennis, Amy's old dummy, terrible things happen like Amy's sister, Sara, Sara's mural is ruined. Along with Sara's rug and wall. Amy's parent blame and think Amy is crazy. Although Sara knew along that Slappy was ruin her stuff. After Sara and Amy try a few times to get rid of Slappy once and for all, he is finally destroyed by the real Dennis dummy. (Amy's brother, Jed, was suppose to dress up like the dummy, Dennis. Turnout the real Dennis split Slappy's head into two, finally killing him.)
[edit] Night of the Living Dummy III
Trina O'Dell's father has collected dummies, and has a new addition, Slappy, a nearly-free antique. However, after cousin Zane visits, mischievous things happen. Weird sounds are heard, dinners are ruined, and dummies are found in bizarre places.
Both the TV and the book have different endings. But otherwise, the basic plot and characters remain the same.
In the TV adaptation, Slappy, and another dummy called Rocky, come to life. Eventually though, Rocky throws Slappy out the attic window, then lightning strikes Slappy and demolishes him. The TV adaptation featured an appearance from a young Hayden Christensen.
In the book, all of the dummies come to life and tear Slappy apart, apparently neutralizing him. At the end, however, he is fixed and given to another character, in which Slappy winks before being carried away.
[edit] Bride of the Living Dummy
After seeing the famous Jimmy O' James's performance, Jillian, Amanda and Katie love Slappy. Unfortunately, Jimmy has sent them Slappy. And Katie's doll Mary Ellen seems to have a "crush" on him. But who's doing the evil deeds is up in the air? Who stole the wedding ring? Who wants their bride?
The book also reveals a bit about Slappy's past; he was carved out of coffin wood by an evil magician.
[edit] Slappy's Nightmare
This story begins when Jimmy O'James, a magician, has cold sweat and fears. Among other weird things, his ventriloquist dummy, Slappy, has been committing pranks. But, when Jimmy buys another dummy, Slappy gets the feeling he's going to be "killed" in his sense, and he wants to prevent it from happening...
[edit] More Dummy Books
Other Slappy books include:
Goosebumps Presents TV Episode #5: Night Of The Living Dummy II: Based on Episode 5, this book has eight pages of photos as well as a detailed book about Slappy, an evil dummy who comes to life and wrecks pranks on Amy Kramer's life. Slappy New Year: Third in the called Goosebumps Gold Series, in which Slappy would reappear for the first time since New Year's Day.
[edit] Trivia
- Comparisons have been made between Slappy and Chucky, the main character/villain of the Child's Play horror movies. Both are evil living dolls, both come to life through a magical formula, both have a story called "Bride of ..." and both have appeared in five stories so far. It seems that Child's Play inspired R.L. Stine.
- Slappy looks different on the covers of the Night of the living Dummy series and in the TV Series. In the TV show, Slappy's appearance is similar to the discription of the dummy, Mr. Wood from the original Night of the Living Dummy book.
[edit] See also
[edit] Slappy Gallery
