If you’re a millennial, you’ll likely have fond memories of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps book series, as well as the late 90s adaptation for television that packs a powerful dose of nostalgia. Now Disney is hoping to rekindle this pastime for Halloween 2023 in a new series.
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With most of the live-action adaptations staying faithful to the author’s source material, many Goosebumps episodes were memorable for their eerie atmosphere, low-budget props and effects, and the occasional scaryhorrorscene that gave the series its edge. Here are 10 of the best Goosebumps episodes ranked.
10Revenge Of The Lawn Gnomes
The first Goosebumps episode on our list is the perfect example of how creepy inanimate objects can be, and gnomes were always on the ones-to-watch list. Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes saw Joe Burton’s father hellbent on trumping his neighbor in the annual lawn contest by bringing home two charismatic gnomes to bag first place.
This episode is the perfect entry to kickstart this list for its slow build of tension, its ability to instill the fear that your mother’s quaint ornaments are watching you, and for making the episode ten times scarier than the book.
9Scarecrow Walks At Midnight
When two siblings go to stay with their grandparents on their farm, they’re excited to embark on the fun activities they’re used to. However, unbeknownst to them, a bunch of scarecrows are running the show, and they’re about to give chase around the remote setting.
Scarecrow Walks at Midnight is not the most memorable episode, nor the most impressive, but what was noteworthy was how terrifying the scarecrows looked, and the premise tapped into that fear we all have towards the stagnant field guards.
8Say Cheese And Die
When you take a picture of your friends, you hardly expect the photo to predict their future and possible death, but Say Cheese and Die introduced Final Destination for kids after a magic camera is taken by a man named Spider.
Not only is the premise of this episode particularly intriguing, but this entry also featured a young Ryan Gosling in one of his first roles, and he was still “Kenough” to lead the episode even back then. This is one of the more memorable episodes but not as scary as some of the entries still to come.
7A Night In Terror Tower
This two-part episode saw two siblings travel to London for their parents' business trip, only to travel back in time to the Middle Ages whilst visiting the titular 15th-century prison and torture chamber museum and get hunted by a mysterious man in black with wax figures.
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This episode gave plenty of haunted house vibes merged with a fever dream intensity of being separated from your loved ones or trapped in a different time. This is a worthy low-rank entry and a faithful adaptation of the source material.
6The Haunted Mask
One of the more beloved and memorable episodes in the Goosebumps series is The Haunted Mask, where Carly Beth encounters a Halloween mask she can’t take off after wishing to possess the power to scare others instead of being the target all the time.
Reminiscent of The Mask starring Jim Carrey, the prosthetics team certainly outdid themselves when it came to the irremovable mask, enough to make it a lasting image in our memories and a worthy middle-ranked entry on this list.
5One Day At Horrorland
As the title suggests, the Morris family takes a trip to Horrorland, after siblings Luke and Lizzy demand to go. But instead of the theme park being run by humans, the staff is entirely made up of monsters that run the show.
One Day at Horrorland is another two-part tale that definitely tapped into the nightmarish quality of being trapped in the past or mocked within a scare house. It has an essential vibe for Halloween, and it takes a respectable fifth place in our ranking.
4Night Of The Living Dummy III
Forget parts one and two, Night of the Living Dummy III is the best of the series and arguably one of the best Goosebumps episodes out there. Returning Slappy the Dummy and his friends, and even featured a young Hayden Christensen before the dark side took over.
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R.L. Stine once again tapped into another fear of ventriloquist dummies and the terror they can wreak with their lidless eyes. James Wan later explored the premise in the movie Dead Silence for grown-ups, but this episode did the job for younger audiences.
3Stay Out Of The Basement
Our top three Goosebumps episodes begin with this classic entry and the second book that Stine wrote in the series, Stay Out of the Basement. Two siblings grow concerned for their mad scientist father who begins acting strangely after working in the basement. Turns out he’s been replaced by a plant-like clone and the basement is harboring some disturbing experiments.
Nobody likes going down into the basement on their own, and this episode capitalized on the urge children have to investigate when feeling adventurous and the set design really brought this B-movie story to life.
The first of Stine’s novels was Welcome to Dead House, and served as one of the final episodes in season 2. The Benson family moved to Dark Falls where they encountered undead residents who met their end during a chemical fallout.
Not only was the eerie atmosphere captured in the novel, but the episode also did this story justice and left kids with the irrational fear of moving to suburbia. This episode is faithful to the brilliant short story and a quintessential Goosebumps watch worthy of second place.
1The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp
Taking that number one spot is The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, following Grady Tucker who’s out to prove to his family that his dog, Vandal, is not the one behind attacks on the livestock, but a savage werewolf instead.
Noted as being one of the scariest episodes of Goosebumps, so much so that the entry was later given a 12 certificate in the UK—the first of its kind—because of its supernatural threat and themes of animals being hunted and killed. Seeing the werewolf for the first time is forever imprinted in millennials' minds and harnessed the right amount of chill that gave Goosebumps its accolade.
