Bride of the Living Dummy

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Bride of the Living Dummy

Author	R. L. Stine
Cover artist	Tim Jacobus
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Goosebumps: Series 2000
Genre(s)	Horror fiction, Children's literature
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	February 1998
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	122 p.
Preceded by	Cry of the Cat
Followed by	Creature Teacher

Bride of the Living Dummy is the 2nd book of the Goosebumps: Series 2000, but the 4th in the 'Night of the Living Dummy Saga'. Once again featuring the recurring Goosebumps character, 'Slappy'.

[edit] Book

A girl called Jillian takes her twin sisters, Katie and Amanda, to a ventriloquist's show, but the dummy (Slappy) treats the ventriloquist (Jimmy O. James) badly and makes jokes about Katie and Amanda, who go on stage. They carry around a doll called Mary-Ellen and treat her like a living being. Jimmy O. James gets rid of Slappy, but Jillian's friend, Harrison, discovers Slappy in a dumpster and takes him out to keep him. He wants Jillian's dad, who likes making and repairing things, to fix Slappy as they think he was broken. Slappy bites Jillian on three occasions in the book. He is seen scribbling "Where Is My Bride" on Jillian's mirror with lipstick, throws food around the kitchen, fixes Jillian and Harrison's clown tricks (for a party), and also has Jillian's pet lizard, Petey in his mouth. Jillian blames the twins, who always play tricks on her, although they say it wasn't them.

However, it seems that Mary-Ellen did all this, as she reveals herself to be living at a kid's birthday party and read out the words "Karru marri odanna loma molonu karrano" beforehand, which makes Slappy alive (James, his previous owner, managed to somehow put Slappy to "sleep") but Slappy wants Jillian to be his wife and a fight between Mary-Ellen and Slappy break out but Slappy pushes Mary-Ellen through a whirling buzz-saw blade. Slappy would've survived but was pulled through by Mary-Ellen. The two dolls presumably died but in normal Goosebumps fashion, the closest human standing near Slappy when he dies gets the evil spirit, this is Jillian who throws up over the twins.

[edit] Episode

Amanda is absent from the TV episode.

In the television show, Jimmy O. James read the chant in the beginning, bringing Slappy to life. Jillian has only one sister, Katie, and they go to the ventriloquist's show, along with Harrison, and Katie's doll, Mary-Ellen. Slappy is seen staring at Mary-Ellen, and later, Jimmy sends Slappy to Jillian. He starts causing a lot of problems in the house, and even steals their mother's wedding ring. Jillian finds out the truth and asks Jimmy about it, who explains that Slappy forced him write a letter and send him away. Jillian rushes back home to warn her sister and Harrison, who is staying over that night, but is locked in the bathroom by Slappy, who stole the key. Mary-Ellen reveals she is alive, and Katie tells Jillian that her doll commands her to do whatever she wants, or she'll hurt the family. It turns out that Slappy wants Katie (instead of Jillian in the book) to be his bride, not Mary-Ellen, causing them to fight and be killed by a saw.

However, since the dolls' souls cannot be destroyed, Slappy's soul goes into Harrison's body, saying, "Harrison doesn't live here anymore", meaning Slappy has completely taken over Harrison's body with no trace of Harrison's soul left. It is unknown of the whereabouts of Mary-Ellen's soul.