The Haunted Mask (TV episode)

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Episode

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

Kathryn Long as Carly Beth Caldwell
Colin Fox as Tall Thin Man (The Shopkeeper)
Kathryn Short as Sabrina Mason
Brenda Bazinet as Kate Caldwell
Cody Jones as Noah Caldwell
George Kinamis (a.k.a. George Davis) as Steve Boswell
Amos Crawley as Chuck Greene
Fielding Horan as Trick-or-Treater #1
Rider Johnson as Trick-or-Treater #2
Jesse Cairns as Little Boy
Jennifer Pisana as Little Girl
Anne Marie Loder as Mother
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 life-like 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 only warns Carly Beth about the mask. When Carly Beth asks for it, The Shopkeeper sells it to her and even offers her a bag. In the episode, The Shopkeeper refuses to sell her the mask, so Carly Beth simply takes it and tosses her money at The Shopkeeper, calling out "Here's your money!" Once she takes the mask, The Shopkeeper begins shouting at her, not caring about the money thrown at him.
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 back 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 bandana 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 and exclaiming it's a symbol of love and what her real face is supposed to look like.
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.

Home media

Thehauntedmask-vhs-ad — A poster advertising the VHS release.

Title	Release date	Media type
The Haunted Mask	March 12, 1996	VHS

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 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.
A Goosebumps Presents for this book was advertised, but never released. More than likely it would have been the first book in the series.

Gallery

Characters

Scenes

Promos

Goosebumps Promo- The Haunted Mask (1995)

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Haunted Mask TV Commercial

Goosebumps TV series
Season 1	The Haunted Mask • The Cuckoo Clock of Doom • The Girl Who Cried Monster • Welcome to Camp Nightmare • Phantom of the Auditorium • Piano Lessons Can Be Murder • Return of the Mummy • Night of the Living Dummy II • Stay Out of the Basement • My Hairiest Adventure • It Came from Beneath the Sink • Say Cheese and Die • A Night in Terror Tower • The Werewolf of Fever Swamp
Season 2	Be Careful What You Wish For... • Attack of the Mutant • Bad Hare Day • The Headless Ghost • Go Eat Worms • You Can't Scare Me • Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes • Ghost Beach • Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns • The Haunted Mask II • Let's Get Invisible • Scarecrow Walks at Midnight • Monster Blood • More Monster Blood • Vampire Breath • How to Kill a Monster • Calling All Creeps • Welcome to Dead House • Don't Wake Mummy • The Blob That Ate Everyone • Night of the Living Dummy III
Season 3	Shocker on Shock Street • My Best Friend Is Invisible • The House of No Return • Don't Go To Sleep • Click • An Old Story • The Barking Ghost • One Day at HorrorLand • The Haunted House Game • Perfect School • Werewolf Skin • Awesome Ants • Bride of the Living Dummy • Strained Peas • Say Cheese and Die... Again • Chillogy • Teacher's Pet
Season 4	How I Got My Shrunken Head • The Ghost Next Door • Cry of the Cat • Deep Trouble