Narrator: “Viewer beware, you’re in for a scare!”
Hello my darklings, PushingUpRoses here and welcome to yet another Goosebumps thing.
The first episode I covered did so well that I felt inspired to give it another go, and
who doesn’t love some classic children’s horror?
Much like how I chose an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark to cover, I turned to Twitter
for a late night poll because I’ve clearly lost control of my life and can’t make my
own decisions.
I asked my followers what they thought the scariest Goosebumps episodes were, and even
though I had a couple in mind I was curious if their choices matched mine.
There were MANY suggestions for the Haunted Mask, which I do agree with and I also think
it’s one of the best, but ultimately I decided to go with Stay Out of the Basement, because
PLANT DAD.
Stine: “Hello, I’m R.L Stine.
I write the Goosebumps books.”
You know, I rather like R.L. Stine.
He churns out books every 30 seconds but some of them are memorable and I think he’s good
at making stories just scary enough for young adults - he also knows exactly how to work
with things like body horror so that it’s clearly scary, even gross, but not so much
that you end up with traumatized kids.
Trust me, I saw the 1986 version of The Fly and THAT kind of body horror is fucked up.
There’s nothing more disturbing to me than peeling off your nails lkhsfkjhse;kugsf.
The moderate amount of body horror in Stay Out of the Basement is definitely one of the
reasons I consider it one of the scariest, on top of it being a two parter, which allows
for more suspense, character development, and plant interactions.
Typical run time is about 22 minutes, and sometimes it’s tough to cram an entire story
in that span, so I always liked it when Goosebumps had two-parters.
It also usually meant better quality and special effects.
As we begin our story we see a girl and her mom outside; the Mom appears to be going out
of state to visit a sick relative, and her daughter, Margaret, laments this because she
doesn’t want to be left alone with Dad.
See, he’s been acting kind of weird, spending extended amounts of time in the basement.
“He doesn’t even call me princess anymore.”
Oh boo hoo, does he also not diaper you anymore?
We then cut to some SCIENCE, and Margaret asks her younger brother what their Dad does,
to which he responds.
Casey: “He’s a botanist, he studies plants.”
Margaret:“I know, but all the time?”
Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s code for “he’s building a weed empire.”
The mom, Mrs. Brewer, doesn’t seem to be terribly concerned about her husbands growing
detachment and gets the hell out of there.
I don’t think she’s coming back.
The kids go into the basement to tell Mr. Brewer that it’s time to take their mom
to the airport.
Everything is green.
Kids: “Dad?”
The Philip hues aren’t working again!”
They get a couple steps down before Dad comes bumbling in.
Hey, I forgot, what’s the name of this episode again?
Dad:“Stay Out of the Basement!”
Dad chastises the kids for going down there.
Dad: “I just don’t want you down in the basement.”
I have Super Ghouls and Ghosts paused down there and I don’t want to lose my progress.
While Dad is away, driving mom to the airport, the kids hear some weird shit coming from
somewhere in the house.
Casey: “Maybe it’s the wind.”
Margaret: “That’s not the wind.”
I farted.
They head downstairs and there are fucking plants EVERYWHERE.
Margaret comes across one that appears to be breathing.
I am getting some heavy Nancy Drew adventure game vibes - if you’ve played that game...do
you remember this plant?
It’s scary.
(clip)
Awww, it’s living.
WHO’S A GOOD BOOOOOOY.
Apparently not this plant because it ends up pricking her finger.
As Dad pulls up to the driveway, the kids scramble upstairs, but Casey needs to go back
down to get his sweater.
He manages to grab it, but Dad is suspicious.
“Dad: Did you go into the basement?”
Margaret: “We were scared and the noises were strange, and..”
Dad: “But did you go into the basement?
Did you go into the basement?”
Margaret: “We were scared, the noises were strange, and…”
Dad, remixed: “basement..
Bay-bay-basement… basement… bay-bay-basement…”
After a few minutes he comes around and he’s like, “nah it’s okay, let’s have a chat.”
He says he’s working on something unusual, but he can’t explain right then.
Margaret knows something is wrong so she tries to cheer up her Dad by making him breakfast.
He passes on some eggs and bacon for some plant food.
Now at this point I’d be calling poison control, but Margaret instead calls her mom.
She tells him he was eating some kind of plant food and her mom is like oh pshaw, it’s
prolly just a work thing.
She is CHECKED OUT.
Eavesdropping Dad snags the phone when he hears the conversation.
Dad: “Hi Honey.”
I’m gonna need you to pick up more plant food on the way home.”
Later that night, Margaret hears some weird, heavy breathing.
And I’m not gonna lie, my first thought was, “Is he jerkin’ it to some plants?”
I mean, listen to this.
Either that or this is the weirdest ASMR session.
Turns out, no.
He IS a plant.
So this is where the body horror comes in and it’s pretty effective for the targeted
age demographic.
I would find this terrifying as a kid - the ooze, the weird leaf hair, yeah this would
gross out poor lil baby Roses.
When I was young, maybe 5 or 6, my mom took me to a store and all the Halloween decorations
were up, and I remember this one advertisement with crystal clarity, showing some dudes head
growing out of some weeds like a cabbage.
Totally traumatized, couldn’t eat spinach for years.
The next day, Dad decides to play it cool, make breakfast, and tell the kids what he’s
working on; an experiment which involves taking animal DNA and putting it into plants, which
is impossible by the way as they have fundamentally different cells, but I do like the idea of
it.
Audrey II: FEED ME SEYMORE COME ON FEED ME NOW.
Anyway, breakfast!
This oatmeal’s gone bad!
Ramsay: “It’s MUSH.”
Luckily, before the kids can eat Dad’s plant food surprise, the doorbell rings.
He’s visited by another scientist and they both adjourn to the basement.
The kids snoop around outside and hear them fighting about something, but then BAM!
PLANT ATTACK.
LEAF ME ALONE!
Ahhhhhh…
They manage to fight off the plant right before their Dad finds them, scolding them for being
by the window.
Visibly angry, Dad sends the kids to their room.
As they hurry back to the house, Dad gives the plant a couple high fives.
Dr. Merek, the other scientist, now seems to be missing, leading one to believe that
he’s combining HUMAN DNA with the plants.
Meanwhile Dad’s behavior just gets more aggressive; he even puts locks on the basement
door before running off yet again - desperate, the kids try to find the number to the hospital
room that their mom left them, but it’s missing.
They decide to look at it in their parents room.
While they are looking, the phone rings; it’s Dr. Merek’s wife, saying that her husband
never made it home.
I think that’s another scary concept for a kid; the idea that someone died or went
missing; you don’t necessarily SEE it happen, but the idea is there, and that’s a good
way of making it scary for adolescents.
The atmosphere is also really tense, with the storm raging outside and the dark blue
lighting.
Dad comes back early because he allegedly forgot something, and Margaret ends up hiding
under his bed.
As Dad is fussing around, he sits on the bed and worms start falling from...somewhere.
Presumably his body.
He also drops Dr. Merek’s ID, and I thought, holy shit..
Did he kill that guy?
Again, that’s a genuinely scary idea.
We also get a little gross out moment when Margaret pulls back the sheets on her parents’
bed to reveal a swarm of worms.
Mm, anyone else got a taste for spaghetti?
Armed with weed killer and a crowbar, the kids decide to break into the basement.
Wow, that is the wrong way to use a crowbar.
The plants have basically taken over now, and some of them are...uh… handsy.
Oh god, it’s giving me flashbacks to the weird cabbage head.
Another impressive visual is this face buried within this plant - love it.
The kids hear a muffled voice behind a locked door in the corner and think they found Dr.
Merek, but instead they find… their Dad!....?
He explains that he is in fact, the real Dad and that the other day is a plant copy of
himself.
But then plant Dad arrives and no one knows what the hell to do; he also makes a plea
that HE is the real father and the other guy is the plant.
Will the real Slim Seedy please stand up?
“He’s lying.
He’s a copy.
He’s a plant copy.”
Jonathan Frakes: “We gotcha.”
I dunno, I kind of like the idea of just keeping them both; it’s prime sitcom fodder.
Shrubs.
Coming to Netflix.
After a lot of confusing finger pointing, the previously locked up Dad calls Margaret
Princess, which causes her to spray down leaf hair Dad.
Dad #2: “Princess!”
They find Dr. Merek in a different closet and he’s totally fine, and Dad starts sporting
a new shiny hairdo.
Margaret is still confused as to how this all happened, and to be frank so I am; he
says that he cut his finger on a slide and got some blood into a plant cell, which somehow
made a half plant, half human copy.
That’s a rather weak explanation, even Dr. Merek over here isn’t buying it, but sure,
whatever.
Evil humanoid plants.
Stranger things have happened I suppose.
And it’s a happy ending!
Just kidding.
Apparently there were more Dad copies hiding among the flowers, so as it is common with
Goosebumps, this one has a more ambiguous ending.
Flowers Speaking: “Please help me, I’m your father!
I’m your real father.”
“No, I’m your father.”
“No I’M your father.”
I’m kind of leaning towards the idea that this is their real Dad, but they may have
to deal with a ton human copies.
I was thinking that perhaps the twist would reveal a copy of Margaret, since she pricked
her finger on a plant earlier on, similar to how her Dad cut his finger; I thought that
would have been a better ending.
But overall, this is a great two parter from the Goosebumps show; it has some suspense,
it has gross out moments, body horror, whatever THIS thing is...
I can see why people suggested it.
It’s also pretty accurate to the book with a couple minor character changes, a longer
build up, and a slightly different ending.
In the book, Dr. Brewer burns all of the murderous plants in his own backyard and promises never
to do experiments again.
As both kids are walking back to the house, a single plant beckons them for help, claiming
he is their real father.
I know I referenced the 1986 version of The Fly earlier, but this whole story reminds
me of the original Fly with Vincent Prince, especially with the whole premise of gene
splicing.
I’m thinking R.L. Stine may have taken some influence from that; this was only book #2
in the Goosebumps series, but it’s still a memorable one because Stine really nailed
a sci fi plot and toned it down enough for it to appeal to kids, perhaps even opening
them up to the sci fi and horror genres.
If there is an episode of Goosebumps you are DYING to see me cover, please let me know,
I am open to suggestions.
Until then, stay spooky.
Hey everyone, thank you so much for watching my review of Stay Out of the Basement.
If you are interested in more Goosebumps related content, I will link it at the end of this
video BUT FIRST!
Have you heard about Patreon?
Yes, Patreon, where you, the patron, can support me directly by pledging small amounts of money
so that I can keep this channel going and buy my parrot luxury sunflower seeds.
Don’t you feel better knowing you’ve made this dumb bird happy?
If you’re interested in more television content, I have linked a couple on the screen
and if you’d like to discuss your favorite goosebumps episodes, but sure to leave a comment.
I am always looking for more to discuss on this channel.
Thanks again and I will see you in the next one!