R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series of books has provided some kid-level scares and thrills for years and Scholastic and FoxKids brought the franchise to American television audiences in a series of generally well-produced shockers that offer above-average special effects and kid-centric storylines that are often quite scary, if never over the line for the average 7-12 year old. This DVD includes:

Monster Blood and More Monster Blood. These episodes introduce one of Stine's signature entities, green gloop known as monster blood, a growing organism that subsumes everything in its path. These linked episodes unfortunately feature some of the most annoying kids in the entire series, tots who could be poster children for a national campaign on "do what your elders tell you to do." Young boy Evan comes to stay with his Greataunt Catherine while his parents are looking for a new house in Atlanta. Catherine warns Evan to stay out of a cloistered room on the top floor of her house, so of course he immediately starts poking around in there, interested by the magickal circle and burnt candles. When a neighborhood girl named Andi shows up, she joins him and urges him to open a sealed Ball canister labeled "Monster Blood." Havoc ensues, spread over two episodes with Evan and his cohorts doing one frankly stupid thing after another. If the ultimate punchline about airline food at least brings a little humor into the enterprise, this is one of the least satisfying "Goosebumps" stories out there based on the ridiculous and repetitively idiotic behavior of the children.

How to Kill a Monster is marginally better, this time positing two kids who are dropped off at their grandparents' home while their parents search for a new house in Atlanta (sensing a theme here?). The kids notice Grandma and Grandpa taking loads of food up to a third floor room and of course explore, discovering a hideous monster. Grandma and Grandpa soon leave, locking the kids in the house (ostensibly for their own safety in the book version, which is not made explicitly clear here), whereupon of course the monster strikes. This episode has a neat little twist at the end, something akin to H.G. Wells' solution for the Martian invasion in "War of the Worlds," as well as a sort of Twilight Zone-esque denouement at the every tail end of the episode which will probably leave kids both amused and slightly freaked out.

The best episode by far in this set is The Girl Who Cried Monster, a charming and funny story about a girl who sees her librarian transform into a monster. The show sets up a typical "no one believes me" scenario, with her younger brother and parents pooh-poohing her idea as she continues her investigation into this dour turn of events. When her parents invite the librarian over for dinner, there's a great little twist with some nice special effects, this time more akin to Rod Serling's other major television enterprise, some of the comedic vignettes found on Night Gallery. This episode finds just the right balance between scarifying and comedy relief.

The DVD

Video:
This late 1990s television series boasts a pretty average full frame image, with decent if unexceptional color and acceptable (barely, if you're a real videophile) sharpness. There are no instances of damage or degradation. A completely average television presentation all around.

Sound:
Similarly, the DD 2.0 soundtrack is typical television fare, though there is some attention paid to good use of sound effects, especially in some of the shock sequences. Fidelity is excellent, separation is adequate. Nothing fantastic, but nothing to complain about. No subtitles are available.

Extras:
None are offered.

Final Thoughts:
This particular volume of Goosebumps offers two annoying episodes ("Monster Blood"), one marginally better one ("How to Kill a Monster"), and one exceptional one ("The Girl Who Cried Monster"). That's not a great average, so I recommend you Rent It to see if you like it well enough to buy for repeated viewings.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet