Goosebumps: The Horrors of the Witch House: Nostalgic Does Not Equal Good

Before we begin this review, I want to be clear: I wanted to like this book. I’m a simple person when you get down to it: I see a new variation of R.L. Stine’s record-smashing Goosebumps franchise, and I want to read it. As a former elementary school teacher, I am a huge supporter of children’s graphic novels. I read them for fun still, as an adult. However, Goosebumps: Horrors of the Witch House is just…disappointing. The fact that Stine didn’t write this gave me hesitation, but then again, Stine’s hand isn’t directly on a lot of Goosebumps spin-offs these days. However, I was tragically correct in my original misgivings.

While this closely follows the Goosebumps formula–and make no mistake, there is a formula to all of them, even the originals–, it fails to capture the magic of the original books. Too much time is spent focusing on and explaining the villain, which unintentionally made me like and understand her more than the protagonist child characters. The characters we should relate to are mere cardboard stereotypes and empty shells for the young reader to project upon. While this may be beneficial in some works of kid lit, it does not work here. Part of Stine’s original charm was that he allowed his characters to be defined, to be unique, to be outright obnoxious. While Tipton and Smith try to make their characters individuals, the extra time spent on explaining the motives and backstory of the villain would have been better used to humanize the protagonists. 

There’s also the glaring fact that Goosebumps: Horrors of the Witch House is not scary. At all. Now I’m not saying that the young readers of today need to experience the sheer emotional trauma that the Goosebumps books put me through in elementary school, but they are called Goosebumps books for a reason: they should be, at least, a little bit scary. There was nothing scary about this book; rather it seemed to be walking a line of trying to keep the target audience of kids, while giving winking nudges to adults. Yet these winking nudges aren’t funny or clever, and the humor for the children falls flat as well too.

I realize this might seem a lot to ask of a children’s graphic novel; however, not only can things be done better, they have been done better my a myriad of other writers. Overall, I’m disappointed in Goosebumps: Horrors of the Witch House, and I likely will have more hesitation in picking up further Goosebumps IDW products from now on.