R. L. Stine

With their father conducting strange experiments with plants in the basement, Margaret and Casey begin to investigate and soon discover that their father has begun to resemble a plant.

Stay Out of the Basement

brie

i laughed more than i got creeped out this was so fun. if my dad had told me to stay out of the basement when i was a kid i’m damn sure going to disobey my unhealthy amount of curiosity and stay out of the basement. especially if he’s a mad scientist.

best spoilery but non-spoilery lines without context:

“i’m trying to build a plant that’s part animal” is where i’d have gotten off the crazy train 

“give me the axe!!”

“margaret, im your father” 

“EAT IT!!” 

my two favorite parts of this were where their  dad  tried to feed them some gross green stuff for lunch in the most insistent, evil, and maniacal way ever. id have thrown that shit in his face and ran the hell out of that house😭.

the other favorite part was when MINOR SPOILER ….. both dads tried to convince the kids they were the real dad because it birthed my favorite line in the book: “give me the axe!” END OF SPOILER 

i just know if i were in their position i wouldn’t have gotten got because i hate anything that should not be moving that moves when it’s not supposed to be moving and that would have been my cue to leave that very first time. 

i love how these end because they’re kind of cliché endings where you know the problem is not really fully solved and some jumpscare is about to happen to spook you out again but you love it anyways because they’re lowkey iconic.

When Margaret and Casey see their father become weedy while working on his botany experiments, they worry that his plant-testing may not be entirely harmless.

Wynter

What is the creepiest place you probably have to brave regularly? Basement of course. The dim, cramped room full of dark corners and dusty old things bound to make even an adult feel uncomfortable. Are you being watched from somewhere just beyond the corner of the eye? No wonder the second Goosebumps book chooses its setting to be in the basement. I love how every volume ends on a happy note, but with a sneaky little “or did they?”. Perfect scary tingles guaranteed.

Amina Madadi (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ)

The two stars are for the last paragraph, its idea is simply awesome!
Maybe the world became scarier than horror stories, that's why I can't enjoy'em anymore

This thriller series is especially designed to appeal to middle-grade readers. Margaret and Casey go down to their basement to peek at their father's new experiments, discover some very human-like plants, and realize that their father is starting to look more like a plant.

Maggie Gordon

In another sibling team-up, Margaret and Casey Brewer are confronted with a chlorophyll-filled nightmare when their father’s experimentations get out of hand in the basement of the family house. After their father was fired from his research position at a biology department, he brought his experiments home, and became a hostile hermit who rarely came up for sunlight or air. He forbids the kids from going to see his lab, but of course they disobey these orders and discover that their father is up to strange and possibly evil things. However, it turns out that their father is not responsible for these terrible acts, but a plant duplicate of him! 

Stay Out of the Basement is an example of a really well constructed Goosebumps novel. The mystery is slowly revealed through creepy and disturbing observations and realizations. The kids are confronted with a difficult choice as to how to figure out who is their real father is when they have two identical duplicates, leading to a suspenseful climax. I was particularly happy to see that mom was not completely oblivious in this story as it’s hard to explain how a wife manages to not notice that her husband has become a terrible, plant monster. The twist ending was also enjoyable, and not nearly as absurd as some of the other Goosebumps novels get. Overall, Stay out of the Basement is probably one of the stronger stories of the series.

Stay Out of the Basement

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