The Haunted Mask (book)/TV episode

"The Haunted Mask" is the first and second episode of season one of the Goosebumps TV series. Part one and part two premiered on October 27, 1995, on Fox in prime time.

The episodes were a major hit upon their debut, gaining over 14 million viewers. Kathryn Long, who played Carly Beth, even received a Gemini Award nomination for "Best Performance in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series".

Cast

 * R.L. Stine as Himself / Host
 * Kathryn Long as Carly Beth Caldwell
 * Colin Fox as The Shopkeeper
 * Kathryn Short as Sabrina Mason
 * Brenda Bazinet as Mrs. Caldwell
 * Cody Jones as Noah Caldwell
 * George Kinamis as Steve Boswell
 * Amos Crawley as Chuck Greene
 * Fielding Horan as Trick-or-Treater #1
 * Rider Johnson as Trick-or-Treater #2
 * Anne Marie Loder as Mother
 * Jesse Cairns as Little Boy
 * Jennifer Pisana as Little Girl
 * Quyen Hua as Oldest Girl
 * Alexander Broughton as 1st Costumed Boy
 * Ryder Britton as 2nd Costumed Boy

Blurb
Steve and Chuck are always doing mean things to scare Carly Beth. Whether it's in the cafeteria or the classroom, they constantly humiliate her in public. Sabrina says its Carly Beth's own fault because she's so "scareable". Well, not this Halloween. It will be such a treat when the trick's on them! Carly Beth will terrify everyone with the amazingly lifelike horror mask she got from the creepy man at the novelty store. He warns her not to take the mask, but Carly Beth is determined to shed her old image. Only, what will she do when it turns out the mask has a life of its own?

Differences from the book

 * In the book, The Shopkeeper sells the mask to Carly Beth while also warning her about it. In the episode, he stands his grown and Carly Beth steals the mask.
 * Putting on the Haunted Mask makes Carly Beth's voice sounds like a raspier version of her regular voice, and she is able to revert to her normal voice at will, unlike the book, where it made Carly Beth's voice deeper and completely different.
 * The main characters' introduction is different; instead of taking place in the school cafeteria a few days before Halloween, Carly Beth and Sabrina go to a pumpkin patch the night before Halloween to get a pumpkin to carve, where Chuck and Steve scare Carly Beth wearing large jack o' lanterns over their heads.
 * The science fair scene is removed, and the worm-in-the-sandwich scene instead takes place on Halloween day. After which, among arriving home, Carly Beth destroys her duck costume in a fit of rage before leaving for the Novelty Shop.
 * In the book, Chuck and Steve wear very simple costumes for Halloween night, with Chuck wearing a bandanna and a red eye mask, and Steve dressed as a hobo with his face dirtied. In the TV version, Chuck and Steve both dress up as pirates. Additionally, Carly Beth scares them in a cemetery, rather than outside someone's driveway as in the book.
 * Carly Beth does not pull the plaster head of herself over her Haunted Mask face in an attempt to hide from the Unloved. Instead, she manages to ward off the Unloved faces by showing them the plaster head/
 * Only six of the Unloved masks appear in the episode. There are twelve in the book.
 * While the book does not explain why The Shopkeeper made the masks, the episode explains that he was unhappy with his face, and made new ones to hide behind his faults. It's also stated that his current face is a mask.
 * In the book, The Shopkeeper tells Carly Beth that if she, or anyone else, puts the mask on again after it is removed, it will be stuck there forever. This is not mentioned in the episode.
 * During the scene where Carly Beth scares Steve and Chuck, they reveal that they only scare her because they like her. Steve's possible attraction to her would later be important in the sequel's episode.
 * In the book, The Shopkeeper says other people have come in and taken the mask, while in the episode he says Carly Beth is the first person to ever want it.
 * In the book, Carly Beth simply drops the plaster head and leaves it there after scaring Chuck and Steve. In the episode, she intentionally buries it, giggling evilly as she does so.

Filming locations

 * The store where Carly Beth finds the haunted mask is located on 494 Whitevale Road Pickering, Ontario, Canada.

Trivia

 * Towards the end of the episode, when Carly Beth returns home, she throws the mask on the ground. But a few scenes later, it is back in her hand.
 * Early in the episode, Carly Beth's mother tells her to be careful with the plaster head, since it can break easily. Later, however, Carly Beth throws the stick (with the plaster head on it) on the ground when she "attacks" her friend by grabbing her neck and shirt collar. Then, Carly Beth lifts up the head and it is completely unharmed when it should have been broken.
 * R.L. Stine makes a brief cameo in the background when the children are trick-or-treating.
 * According to R.L. Stine's autobiography, they were going to use a rubber worm in the scene where Carly Beth Caldwell bites into the sandwich and finds a half-bitten worm, but Kathryn Long insisted on eating a real worm to make it realistic.
 * On a separate occasion, he suggested that the scene took twelve takes and twelve worms.
 * In the initial filming of the final scene with the twist ending, the broadcasters deemed the scene too scary, which led to Fox asking for the scene to be reshot to make it milder. The original cut of the scene has yet to be released to the public.
 * In the mask shop, while Carly Beth looks for a mask, you can see a mask of R.L. Stine.
 * Kathryn Short (Sabrina) played Sue in "A Night in Terror Tower", which also aired in season one.
 * Cody Jones (Noah) played Danny Anderson in season four's "The Ghost Next Door".
 * The episode premiered on Fox instead of Fox Kids as a Halloween special.
 * Despite being a popular episode, it has not been released on DVD in North America. It has, however, been released in Europe and Australia in both complete first season and complete series sets.
 * The demo tape version of the VHS is displayed in a cardboard box as opposed to the black clamshell case that the pre-Ultimate Goosebumps tapes would be released in.

Gallery

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