Publisher’s summary: Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, really. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they… meet… some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies. In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy—and seedy. Is it just part of their father’s “harmless” experiment? Or has the basement turned into another little shop of horrors?
Stay Out of the Basement is just a lot of classic Goosebumps fun. I love how you can so clearly tell this was written very early in the series. It’s in third person, for one, which R.L. Stine more or less abandoned in the later books. A shame, really, since I think it suits his writing style better, making for much more effective storytelling. But I suppose first-person narration is better for young readers, in terms of immersion and all that.
Another way you can tell this was an early effort is by how delightfully deranged Stine still was. It’s a straightforward “Scooby-Doo” premise, really, about a father secretly fashioning some freaky flora, and his kids trying to figure out why he’s being so weird and mysterious about it. Hijinks, of course, ensue. But then things would get intense out of nowhere: kids slashing at parents with knives! (Plant) people getting sliced in half with axes! Green blood! Someone held captive for multiple days and everyone being all “it’s cool no worries” about it‽ You know. Fun stuff.⠀
The television adaptation of this on the original show was also pretty memorable. It’s one of the few I actively recall watching as a child—mostly because of the climax, which I think was more impactful than the book’s.
Also! I picked this up before the trailer for the second season of the new television show dropped, but I thought it was a nice bit of cosmic coincidence, seeing as how it seems to be at least partly based on this story. I really enjoyed the first season’s darker, more mature take on these endearingly goofy stories, surprisingly enough, so I can’t wait to see what they do with this bonkers premise. (Ross is going to get wrecked.)
Goosebumps, kids. It’s always been rad.
ricardo reading 