"Night of the Living Dummy" is the sixth episode of Season 1 of the Disney+/Hulu series, Goosebumps.
Synopsis[]
A story from the past shed light on the teens' current predicament.
Plot[]
Bratt invites the teens to sit down. He says he'll take the scrapbook back if Margot's done with it. Margot gives it up easily. Isaiah sees the case and asks how Bratt has it. Bratt says he'll explain everything to them if they sit. He offers them refreshments, but they just want to get on with it. Bratt says it started with his great-grandfather in 1925. James asks how long the story is. Bratt starts over in 1925 New York.
New York
1925
Ephraim Bratt starts a trick he called "Bird of a feather flocks alone." It involves teleporting a bird from one cage to another. An audience member notices the bird isn't even the same color as the one who disappeared. They start demanding their money back.
Ephraim stands outside Madame Zelda's Magic Shop holding a bird cage with some birds in it. He goes inside, puts money on the counter, and tells Madame Zelda he needs a new act. He needs the stuff she sells to the big boys. She tells him he doesn't have enough money for that. He says there has to be something he can do because he has a wife and a child. She hands his money back and tells him to try the nine-cent store. As he goes to leave, he hears a voice calling to him. He looks up and sees a case. He asks Madame Zelda about it.
Ephraim gets home with the case. Betsy asks if he got paid for the show. He says yes, but he had to invest it in Slappy, the dummy. Betsy is upset that he bought a doll and tells him he needs to get a real job. He says he knows this is what he's meant to do. Betsy goes to take a bath. Ephraim puts Slappy down and finds a card on him. It has some words on it that Ephraim reads aloud. He wonders what they mean. After he walks away, Slappy movies on his own.
Ephraim starts his new show with Slappy. He struggles to do a card trick with Slappy and an audience member says his act is bad. Slappy agrees and continues insulting Ephraim, who is shocked to see the dummy moving on his own. The audience starts laughing. Ephraim tries to tell them the dummy is doing it on his own, but they don't believe him and think it's just part of the act.
Ephraim continues doing shows with Slappy and grows distant from Betsy, who says he never spends time with her and their child. By 1932, he's extremely popular and Betsy gives Ephraim an ultimatum to choose between Slappy and his family. Ephraim chooses Slappy.
In 1950, Ephraim's fame starts to wane and ticket sales go down.
In 1960, Ephraim laments performing to a half-empty theater. The owner/manager suggests adding an opening act, maybe a clown, so they can charge more. Ephraim points to Slappy and says they're the show. The owner/manager says the audience obviously comes to see him, but if he ever wants the night off. Ephraim cuts him off and asks why he'd want to take a night off. The owner/manger says tastes change over time. His assistant comes and says the box office manger needs him. He tells Elphraim he'll be right back. Slappy tells Ephraim he's going to ruin their plans and tells Ephraim to deal with him. The owner/manager comes back and Slappy tells Ephraim it's time for him to use the spell. Ephraim recites the spell, which turns the owner/manager into a dummy.
As Ephraim counts out money, the gravedigger says he's never robbed a mausoleum before. Once he and his partner are gone, Slappy celebrates having the thing they've waited years for. Ephraim says he's having second thoughts, but opens the crate to reveal a box labelled "Kanduu." Slappy tells him to stick to the plan. Ephraim pulls a card out and reads the spell on it. He sees a flash of a tall structure in flames and says he can't do it, but Slappy tells him to read it. He gets angry, saying Slappy used him. He puts Slappy in his case and closes it.
Port Lawrence
Two Weeks Later
The real estate broker shows Ephraim his new house. Ephraim asks if his boxes have been delivered. The broker says yes, they're inside. He offers to hire someone to do the work for Ephraim, but Ephraim refuses. He doesn't want anyone at the house at all. He shuts the door on the broker.
As Ephraim reaches his final days, he taps Slappy's case and says it's the end of the road. He plans to make sure no one ever finds Slappy again and he hides the case behind his wall, then bricks it in as Slappy says someone will find him.
Isabella says she's confused. Margot tells her to let Bratt keep talking and Lucas says she might eventually understand. Bratt says kids these days can't focus on a good story. James says he was listening and Bratt tells them he was about to get to the best part.
1993
Rhonda greets Georgia Biddle as the Biddle family arrives at the house, ready to move in. She apologizes for taking so long to track them down. Ephraim Bratt left no family contacts. Perry Biddle says that's obvious, since it took her ten years to find them. Georgia never even met her grandfather. Rhonda says he was a bit eccentric. Beside them, Harold Biddle, their son, carries a terrarium with worms in it. Rhonda says she got their faxed paperwork, which resolved everything. They're now the full owners of the property. She welcomes them to Port Lawrence. Perry says the wanted a fresh start. Rhonda takes them inside to show them around. Perry tells Harold he'll like it there, but Harold thinks kids are the same everywhere. Perry promises they aren't.
As they look around, Georgia and Perry find a lot of stuff that isn't their taste. They see a garage sale or a fire in their future. Harold finds a mask on a shelf and picks it up. Georgia calls Harold to check out the basement. She says they could make it a hangout spot for him and his new friends. Harold says he'll need a TV and a heat lamp for the worms. Georgia would rather he get a different pet, but Harold doesn't want that. Perry sends Harold to pick out his new room. As they go upstairs, Harold hears something and pauses for a second before following.
Perry checks on Harold, asking how he's feeling about his first day of school. Harold doesn't want to go, but Perry says no one will bully him there. The kids at his last school were really bad and it won't happen at Port Lawrence. He even got Harold something to help. It's a Polaroid camera. Harold doesn't know how that's going to help. Perry says he can join the photo club to help him make some new friends. He takes a picture of his dad.
Harold arrives at Port Lawrence High School and goes inside. He looks at the booths for several clubs and finally finds the photo club, where Nora is sitting. He goes to her and she tells him they take photo club pretty seriously. She asks how long he's been doing photography. She's been doing it for quite a while herself, since the beginning of summer. Harold shows her his camera and she says he's in and they introduce themselves. Sarah soon joins them and asks if his camera is vintage. He says it's new. They just charge more for it if it looks old. She asks to look at it and he hands it to her. She tries it out, taking a picture of Harold, and introduces herself. She asks if Harold is new because she doesn't recognize him. She says they'll see him at the next meeting. They start right on time so they can make it home to watch The X-Files. Harold's never seen that show, but says that's good to know. As he walks away, Nora teases Sarah.
Sarah says Harold's photos are all too dark, but he likes the contrast. He doesn't want his photos to look like anyone else's. He sees the world differently and wants his photos to reflect that. Sarah says he can say whatever he wants, but the film has been fogged because he didn't load it into the camera correctly. He says she loaded it, but she doesn't think that's true. He says they should take it to Mulder and Scully, revealing that he watched The X-Files. She tells him it's Eliza's birthday this weekend and invites him to a party for her at Ben's. Harold declines and says it's because her friends are cool. Sarah says he's cool, too. He says he's not, but she says not being cool can be cool. He says Ben's the quarterback, Victoria's going to be valedictorian, Eliza's a cheerleader, and Nora is scary. Sarah tells him never to tell Nora that because she'd get too much satisfaction out of it. She tells him to come to the party anyway.
Harold tries on several outfits and dances in front of the mirror. He finally gives up and throws out the present he bought.
Perry asks Harold how the party was. Harold sarcastically says it was great and now he's everyone's best friend. Perry realizes he didn't go. He thought Harold liked Sarah. Harold says he does, but she'll never like him back. Harold knows he must be disappointed that his son is a loser. Perry tells him he's in high school and everyone's a loser. He's sure Sarah will come around. Harold doesn't believe it'll happen. He throws something at the wall, breaking some bricks, and hears Slappy encouraging him. He looks through the hole and sees the case.
Georgia startles when she comes into the kitchen and finds Slappy on the table. Perry comes in when he hears her and Harold jumps up and laughs, saying he found Slappy in the basement. He thinks Slappy is pretty cool and tries it out. He leaves to practice his technique.
Harold finds the card in Slappy's vest and reads the spell. He thinks it did nothing, but when he steps away, Slappy blinks.
Harold leaves for school. Georgia questions him taking Slappy to school. Perry suggests leaving it at home. He wants to use Slappy for his performance art piece in theater class, but Georgia says he could sing instead. He tells his parents no one cares what he does anyway. He leaves. Perry tells Georgia to let it go if it makes him happy. Georgia's worried he'll get bullied over it. Perry wonders what the worst that could happen is.
Ms. Dietrich tells the girls to start whenever they're ready. Victoria says they're performing a scene from Glengarry Glen Ross. Eliza adds that due to the school board's censorship, they'll replace the F word with flipping. Soon after they start the scene, Ms. Didtrich cuts them off. In the audience, Ben, Nora, and Sarah watch and clap for them. As they exit, Ms. Dietrich calls Harold up. He brings out Slappy. He starts the act by talking for Slappy, but Slappy quickly begins speaking for himself and Harold can't get Slappy off his hand. Slappy continues the act and people start applauding. Slappy tells Harold that with him, Harold won't be a loser.
Harold tells a story in the cafeteria. Sarah laughs and puts her hand on his. As the bell rings and people file out, Sarah asks if Harold's going to the winter formal. He says he hadn't thought about it and asks if she's going with Ben. She says no, Ben's not her boyfriend. She leaves to go to class. Harold picks up Slappy and leaves, too.
Nora hears something and goes into a classroom, where she sees Slappy and Harold talking about Sarah. Slappy says he's the only one Harold can trust, that Sarah just feels sorry for him. Nora gasps and leaves. Slappy says there's something different about her.
Nora goes to Sarah and says she heard Slappy talk on its own. Sarah says it's just a doll, but Nora knows what she heard. There's something evil about it. Sarah hugs her.
Harold wakes with a start, remembering Sarah pulling away from him.
Harold goes to leave for school, but Perry and Georgia stop him. They heard him up late talking to his doll. They think he should sleep Slappy at home. Harold says his name is Slappy and he has to take him to school. Harold needs him. Perry says he seems to have gotten to know Sarah pretty well and they think he should spend more time with her and her friends. Harold says they weren't his friends until Slappy. He understands that now. He snaps at Georgia when she calls Slappy it again. He tells his parents he hates them. Slappy is right about everything.
Georgia and Perry burn Slappy in the fireplace. Dummies freak Georgia out and she thinks she saw Slappy blink. Either way, Harold has been different since he found it. He's going to freak out. Perry plans to tell him it was an accident. Then they'll buy him a car. It's for his own good. Georgia realizes Slappy isn't burning. They don't understand it. Harold comes in and rages at them for killing Slappy. He says that Slappy is magic. Harold hears Slappy tell him it's time to use the spell. He says the spell that turns his parents into dummies.
Margot says Harold killed his parents. So he's the murderer. Lucas says she was right about that, but Bratt says she wasn't right. Harold's not a murderer. James asks how he figures that. Bratt says it's complicated. Isabella doesn't understand how it's complicated. Bratt tells them to shut up and let him finish.
Some students finish their performance and Ms. Dietrich introduces Harold and Slappy as the next act. The act starts and Slappy reveals, to Eliza's horror, that Eliza hit the principal's car and fled the scene. Next is Ben, the start quarterback. He asks Sarah if Ben is a sloppier kisser or her golden retriever. Then Slappy asks if it's more pathetic that Victoria still thinks people believe he's a virgin or Nora hiding that she is a virgin. Ms. Dietrich comes on stage to stop the act, sending Harold to the principal's office as Nora asks if Sarah really told Harold all those things. Sarah confronts Harold as he gets off stage, telling him those were secrets. He asks why she told him then. Her friends are also upset that she told Harold. Victoria says she is a virgin. Harold says maybe they shouldn't have trusted Sarah. Sarah tells Harold she can't be his friend anymore. Harold says being nice to him just made her feel good about herself. She asks why he would say that. Just the other day, he told her he was scared and needed help. She asks what happened. He says he just didn't understand the plan yet, but doesn't elaborate. Eliza blames Sarah for everything, but Nora says it's the puppet. She saw it talk on its own. She thinks they're in serious danger. Sarah says Harold changed when he found the dummy. He told her he was scared. Nora says that's because the dummy is evil. They need to get it away from him. Ben doesn't know about the dummy, but he knows taking it will upset Harold, so he's in. They all agree to get the dummy tomorrow night.
Harold is drawing in the basement when the doorbell rings.
Harold steps out onto the porch, but there seems to be no one there. Ben sneaks into the house. He goes down to the basement.
Harold goes back inside.
Ben puts Slappy into the case, saying goodbye. Slappy says goodbye to him, calling him an idiot. He makes the house shake, which results in the power going out. Ben realizes that Nora was right about Slappy. He closes the case and carries it out with him. Harold lights a candle and passes Ben on his way to the basement. Once he's gone, Ben tells the others that the dummy really is evil. Sarah wants them to help Harold before they leave. They knock on the door, calling to Harold that they want to help. Harold yells for them to stay away. Harold falls down the stairs, starting a fire in the basement. The others are forced to leave without Harold as the house fills with smoke.
Once they're outside, Sarah says they have to get Harold out, but Ben holds her back. As a plume of fire breaks out a window, Nora tells her Harold's gone. Sarah starts to breathe heavily as Nora says she told them and they didn't believe her. Victoria wants to call someone, but Eliza says not to because Harold's already dead and there's no reason to ruin their futures. She tells Ben to grab the case. The case pops open and Slappy asks if they thought it would be that easy. Ben slams the dummy, breaking it into pieces, then closes the case. Eliza wants to throw it in the fire, but Nora knows it won't burn. They have to bury it where no one will ever find it. Her family has a cabin in the mountains that would work, but Eliza suggests her dad's old mine instead. It's closed down, so no one will ever find it. Ben says they can never, ever talk about what happened again. He emphasizes this to Sarah. They leave as they hear sirens approaching.
Margot says their parents went in to get the puppet because it was evil. James says that's valid. Lucas says that's good because then they're not really murderers. Bratt says no, they were real murderers. That's the whole point of his story. Their parents were the evil ones. Isabella says that's why Harold's ghost is getting back at them by haunting the kids. He's making Isabella want to kill her family and having Lucas listen to worms and leaving James for dead. Bratt thanks her for getting it. Lucas says Harold Biddle seems kind of messed up. Their parents were probably trying to help him. Isaiah and Isabella want him to explain more, over Bratt's objections. Bratt insists that their parents bullied Harold. Then they broke into his house, stole his best friend, and ended up killing him in the process. So they're murderers. He asks if they were even listening. Margot asks how Bratt knows all of that. Bratt says that's the twist. He knows all of this because he's actually Harold in disguise. The teens scream as he turns into Harold.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Zack Morris as Isaiah Howard
- Isa Briones as Margot Stokes
- Miles McKenna as James Etten
- Ana Yi Puig as Isabella Chen-Lopez
- Will Price as Lucas Parker
- Rachael Harris as Nora Parker (credit only)
- Justin Long as Nathan Bratt
Guest starring[]
- Jonathan Silverman as Perry Biddle
- Gillian Vigman as Georgia Biddle
- Eddie Jemison as Ephraim Biddle
- Ben Cockell as Harold Biddle
- Alex Felix as Young Sarah
- William Chris Sumpter as Young Ben
- Taylar Hender as Young Nora
- Michelle Mao as Young Victoria
- Samantha Blaire Cutler as Young Eliza
- Christine Willes as Madame Zelda
- Chris Geere as Slappy
Co-Starring[]
- Kaylah Zander as Betsy
- Andy Thompson as Owner/Manager
- Kathleen Keatings as Owner/Manager's Assistant
- Craig Haas as Real Estate Broker
- Lisa Durupt as Rhonda
- Natalie Moon as Ms. Dietrich
- Shawn Bordoff as Audience Member #1
- Will O'Brien as Audience Member #2
- Jeff Gladstone as Audience Member #3
- Abdulmalik Ali as Random Kid
- Anthony Demare as Rough Looking Guy
Trivia[]
- Creep by Radiohead is played when Harold Biddle and his family move into the Biddle House.
- The title of this episode is a reference to Night of the Living Dummy.
Music[]
| Song | Performer | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "Play It Again Sam" | Sam Fonteyn |
|
| "Devoted To You" | APM Music |
|
| "Where or When" | The Flamingos |
|
| "Creep" | Radiohead |
|
| "Connection" | Elastica |
|
| "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" | The Proclaimers |
|
| "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" | En Vogue |
|
| "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" | The Smashing Pumpkins |
|
