Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns Retrospective | (Goosetober)

[00:00:01] The most thrilling, spitingly series ever! From the pages of R.L. Stine's best-selling books, our screens go on forever and ever. We now return to Goosebumps.

[00:00:19] What is up, Goosebumps Crew? It's your boy Shawlin.

[00:01:02] And my boy Hayden Graham. We are back with yet another video for you. This time, we're in Goosetober. We always try to do all the Goosebumps spookiness. With Tales to Give You Goosebumps, we're going to have a couple of those this month too. Because it is another set of horror stuff. We'll have a video going out to you soon about my trip at Sheboygan Haunted Asylum with Kathryn Long. And 90's Kids Throwback and their new podcast, Millennials After Dark.

[00:01:32] That does premiere on Halloween. So be on the lookout for that, because that's going to be pretty sick. I've seen some of the stuff they're doing and it looks awesome. Stuff I wish I had that TikTok money like he does to do some of that shit. Because it's so cool. But, you know, someday maybe we'll get that production money going. Because we got some ideas, but we just got to get the cash flow. But that said, we are in Goosetober. It is my favorite time of the month.

[00:02:02] And the shirt is not Attack of the Jack-O-Lanterns by 7th Inc. But it is on theme for today, ironically enough, as we're going to be taking a look at and doing commentary over the episode, Attack of the Jack-O-Lanterns. And why are we doing that, Hayden? It is the 30th anniversary of not only the episode, but the book, too. The book came out on October 1st, 1996.

[00:02:26] And the episode came out just a couple days later on October 26th, 1996. So we've heard a lot about the production time being a quick turnaround. And I think that this is probably the first time I'm hearing about it being this quick for an episode like this. So definitely excited to take a look. This is personally one of my favorite episodes. I grew up watching this episode nonstop. The there was a DVD.

[00:02:55] I don't know if you remember it, but it was like a two pack and it was like a paper sleeve. And it had like spider webs and stuff on it. I would I would pick that up almost every weekend at a blockbuster and watch it repeatedly. I'm pretty sure that I was just returning the same copy and getting the same copy over and over again. But definitely one of my favorite episodes for sure. Oh, yeah, definitely one of mine, too.

[00:03:24] We've talked about the episode in the book on here. Quite a bit. I was going to say just a little bit, but it's been quite a bit. Yeah, mostly because Bjorn really loves that nightmare scene in the episode and he always mimics the old man. Yep. So shame he's not with us tonight. We waited as long as we could for him. I'm not really sure if he's working or what, you know, reach out to him. But we miss you, buddy. So hopefully, you know, you can join us for another Goose Topper episode later this month.

[00:03:54] But sadly, we're not going to hear the Bjorn do the old man tonight when it gets to that point, which is really unfortunate. But yeah, we're looking forward to watching Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns. It's definitely a Halloween staple for me every year, obviously, along with the Haunted Mass, Haunted Mass 2. Welcome to Dead House. Really, any Goosebumps episode because guess what? They're all scary.

[00:04:13] But I'm mainly going with the ones with the Halloween theme, which is why it's a shame they never really did any more of the series 2000 episodes back in the 90s. Headless Halloween would have been really good. Yes. So maybe that's a future fan film if I can convince Bjorn to keep doing them anyway. So let's get this ball rolling as we will start doing a little bit of commentary because we did this with Haunted Mass previously.

[00:04:43] So we probably won't redo it for Halloween this year. We kind of have another special idea to do for our Halloween episode this year. Sadly, no guests, at least not as of yet. That could always change. But a pretty good idea for something fun to do. Mm-hmm. Yep, that works.

[00:05:12] I'd love to find some of these old 90s Halloween props I used for these episodes. Yeah. I've actually been able to find a couple. Okay! Not terribly priced, but still kind of pricey. Dollar Tree has a couple of the kind of more like the cute pumpkin look to it. Oh no, I'm talking about like an exact... Oh, exact replica? Oh yeah.

[00:05:37] Like I found the Scarecrow that appears in the Haunted Mass 2 on Carly Beth's house. Oh nice. Well hey, we could go to the school carnival. They have... It was a little pricey, so I'm waiting to see if I can find my one for a better price. Mm-hmm. I can't believe you're doing this. Well aren't you nervous about going out? It's like me finding the Haunted Mass, the pumpkin that Chuck used to scare Carly Beth. Mm-hmm. They don't even know of anything else. Like I found that finally and found a soundboard for it, so... Well, you know how much I love Halloween.

[00:06:08] Besides, who would want to kidnap us? Yeah, good point. Which Erica Luttrell here, she's been quite popular. She spent a lot of stuff. In the 90s. She was in way more than I thought she was. And only realizing that I think she was, I'm pretty sure she was on Magic School Bus and so was Amos. Mm-hmm.

[00:06:42] Man, watching this just makes me wish that the house is decorated more. I know. I mean, don't get me wrong. They were really decorated in the 90s from what I remember. Like, I will never be able to probably recapture that Halloween 90s vibe I had when I was a kid in today's world. But I also feel like they kinda overdid it.

[00:07:10] You know, they're acting like every house in this world doesn't pay for Halloween. So they really drive home that Halloween aesthetic for you. Yeah. You weren't even sure if you still lived here anymore. But there you were walking down the street. This is so cool. You guys have to come trick-or-treating with us. Perfect. Did you hear that? What?

[00:07:44] I never really looked into it, but I wonder if her friend Big Tall and Goofy here ever did more acting after this. Yeah, I don't know. I don't recognize him from anything else other than this episode, but... I don't either. I know they reused a lot of kids in the 90s, but I don't recall him doing anything else like Are You Free in the Dark or anything.

[00:08:04] I think it's kind of a missed opportunity they didn't reuse masks from other episodes for their costumes. Yeah. Well, I thought...

[00:08:34] I could be wrong. It looks almost like the werewolf skin mask, but it's not. I don't think it is. It went by pretty quick. I'd have to slow it down, but I believe that's just a generic werewolf mask. Which is strange when you think about it, because they did have the werewolf mask, whether that was from Fever Swamp or from werewolf skin. Because they wore different masks. They were different werewolves. Mm-hmm.

[00:09:03] Even the one that went up to auction recently, they mislabeled that. That was not the Fever Swamp werewolf. Yeah. That was easily from werewolf skin. Mm-hmm. Lee and I will be wearing space warrior costumes. Cool. So we'll meet you at 7 o'clock tomorrow night at the entrance to the... I do love the irony that they went as space warriors and with the twist ending at the end of the episode.

[00:09:33] Oh, yeah. What? I didn't even make that connection to be honest. I think all. I just kept thinking in my head just now that they're dressed like gay 80s glam rock rockers. They just needed the crazy hair. Bad. Your friend Shane and Shauna never showed up. But let's go to one more house. Come on. I don't like the looks of this place. What's wrong?

[00:10:00] When you went trick-or-treating as a kid, what was your favorite costume that you had? For a while I went as a lot of the classic movie monsters, you know, like Dracula, Werewolf, probably Batman. You did Batman? Oh, yeah.

[00:10:26] I went one year as the 89 Keaton Batman and then another year I went as Kevin Conroy's animated series Batman. Nice. Those were probably my favorites. I did go as the Haunted Mask one year with the 90s vinyl mask when it came out and stuff.

[00:10:43] But when it was just me making my costumes like Batman and stuff and just buying the mask, the cowl I should say, for Batman, the 89 one that released back then. Mm-hmm. Which sadly greatly deteriorated over time and I had to throw it away. I did Bane from The Dark Knight Rises.

[00:11:14] When that movie came out, I had the whole bald cap and then we found a latex mask. When did that come out? That came out in 2013. I think The Dark Knight Rises came out in 2012. It was either 2012 or 2013 or something like that. I think it was 2012. Man, that's crazy when you think about it. Mm-hmm.

[00:11:43] Because Begins came out, I think, in 08. It was just a dream. I think it might have been 06. I think Dark Knight was 08. Oh, you're right. No, Dark Knight was 08. I surprised there was that much of a gap between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but I think it's because Heath Ledger's passing. They had to redo the script. Because he was originally going to be in it. You're very welcome.

[00:12:09] Yeah, that was the original plan, which he should have been because he's a great performance. He's a phenomenal Joker, obviously. Look at these decorations. Like, I want these so bad. Super Drew, getting ready for the show? I don't think decorations today are nearly as good. No. I'm sorry. Like, some of them can be, but like, man. What? Do they still do the jack-o'-lanterns? The trash bag jack-o'-lanterns? For the leaves? I do believe I saw that.

[00:12:39] I think at Walmart, perhaps. If not, there's plenty of people still online selling those from back then. Funny enough. We're adults. That's right. Things like this happen all the time. That is the one part. So I have been wanting to get like a full, not authentic, because it's going to be really hard to find the exact costumes they were wearing.

[00:13:04] But I have been trying to find the claws to make a jack-o'-lantern costume. And I can't find them. Like, I can't find anything that's close. Yeah. It'd be tough. Unless there's like somebody out there made like a Zoidberg costume or something, you could get the claws off of it. But where's the stormy? Most of them, like, because I've been looking up like lobster claws.

[00:13:35] And they're all too bright. See, if that kid sprayed my face like that, he pulled out a gun on me. I'm going to get head-butted, little son. I'm fine. She promises to be extra careful. Right, Drew? I do. Please, don't worry. Please, don't worry. I'll try. The two kids have fun. Come on. Bye. Bye. Bye. Those wondering out there, I have tried to get Erica Luttrell before.

[00:14:05] She just wasn't doing unpaid appearances. Seriously? I'm still going to keep trying though. Maybe see what a fee would be down the road. I don't know. Unless she's willing to just come on at some point. But I know at the time too, she was also pregnant or just gave birth. I can't remember. I'm trick-or-treating with these guys. I know they're planning something to try. So it wasn't good timing for that. Yeah. But that's been a little while now, so. I would love to have her on for a Halloween episode.

[00:14:36] Four people still missing. Don't know if we can ever find any of the other actors from this episode, but I would like to try. It'll be fun. Now I'm going to get it. I should say try again, because you did look. This was honestly one of the darker episodes. Nothing ever came up on anybody else. Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, the twist ending itself was like, holy crap. Why don't we wait a few minutes?

[00:15:02] And that's the thing we've talked about here before and other people don't quite get, is that Goosebumps does have death in it. Quite a bit. It's not on screen. You don't see people dying. Classic pirate. Grim Reaper.

[00:15:33] I've noticed too, like some of the, I think that skull trick or treat bag is the same one that was used in the Haunted Mass 2. Just walking back there. That was the one that Sabrina had, I believe. Because I do have that bag because of that episode. Yeah. I'm trying to find the one Carly Beth had too, but that's, that's been a bit harder to track down. Came out the same year in the same line, which doesn't surprise me because I imagine they were just told go to a Halloween store and buy these. Like somehow I knew. Like somehow I knew.

[00:16:02] That was super common back then. Trying to find it now though, 30 years later is a bit tough.

[00:16:19] And seeing them, like the Tots masks are, are good in for being mass produced, but seeing these, like they did a pretty damn good job with the pumpkin heads for the masks. The fact that they need a little more shading. Everything is good.

[00:16:59] Cause my initial, so going back to like the costume, wanting to recreate this costume. My initial thought is to actually use a ghost face. Costume. And like cut off the back hood. But they almost look like, they look kind of like trash bags. To be honest with you, like they're shiny. Yeah.

[00:17:23] To trash bags with like, like creepy fabric. Yeah. I wish they'd stop doing that. Cause you can even see in that, that light right there. Like they have like creepy fabric put over them, but they are some type of shiny plastic. Yeah. If anybody has any idea of what they used, that would be incredible.

[00:17:49] Cause I have the closest thing I've found to like where they've gotten, you know, the, the dangling fabric off the arms is, is, is a good. Ghost face. The costume. For ghost face robe. Costume department probably like made all these. Don't get me wrong. Yeah. I mean, the base had to be something. I probably wouldn't have been a ghost face. Ghost face.

[00:18:19] Because I mean, you could just tell looking at it because it's shiny, not sparkly. Right. Right. Ghost face. Uh, robe is sparkly. Original is sparkly. So for those wondering, yes, I know Scream came out later than this, but fun world had ghost face. Costume before. Yeah.

[00:18:53] I'm almost out. I got this giant tub over here. You'd think as a kid, you'd be grabbing all of this shit off the ground. That's what I'm saying. He's missing the bag. Like completely like 90% of it's going to the ground. 90 CG.

[00:19:21] One big pillowcase, bro. Body pillow. So he has like three times as much as some of them. Like, oh crap. I think he'd be a little top heavy with all that.

[00:19:38] This little game, but you're not scaring us. The pumpkin heads.

[00:20:07] They look fake anyway. Yeah. Your little Halloween joke is over. I wonder what they did. I wonder if they just made those fall hands. What was the decision behind that? You know what I mean? Like, it's not like. Well, I think that shows like the fact that the, you know, the episode came for a pumpkin monster. Shortly after the book, they probably didn't have the full grasp of what the book was about

[00:20:34] because the book had way more detail about Shane and Shauna and like their relationship to them. Yeah. But at the same time, you remember, Sion was writing these six months or so. Prior to the book's release. It might've released in October.

[00:21:03] It was done earlier that year. Right. So they would have had full access to the story. I think I actually just got a glimpse of one of the, is that a studio light above him? That's meant to be the moon. I think. But it's awfully low for that time of night. Well, maybe not. Or no, it's one. Yeah.

[00:21:32] It's the street lights. It's a, it's like a balloon light or something. Okay. That makes more sense. But then again, you know, they got to light the whole thing anyway. Kind of like this, like, right. Is it really going to be that much light in the woods? You realize that's, you know, like a fricking bat signal lighting up the sky in the woods. Holy crap. Shoot them with your gun.

[00:22:17] See like that. I want to know how they did that. Cause that is such a cool effect. I imagine that's a lot simpler than we think it is. Probably. It's still dope as hell though. But it's yeah. Yeah. I assume they would have to make a separate head. Otherwise the latex they used for these would have just been melted.

[00:22:41] shot out of your, your claw. Okay.

[00:23:09] You guys, how'd you do that? Well, there are advantages to being an alien, an alien. Yeah. Before they moved away, Shane and Shauna used to be my best friends. I love it because he is almost reacting how any normal person would. How come you never told me? I think he's taking that better than a lot of other people would.

[00:23:35] When you just saw somebody shapeshift in front of you and learn that you're not alone in the universe. That's valid. You're taking it very well. Unless you're an actor. And then your, your warm boys. When your earthworms you them.

[00:24:01] And they grew taller. Taking their human faces off. They're so gross looking dude. This is like almost 100%. Like gotta be a hand up there, right? Oh, 100%. 100%. It's like, it looks like a sock puppet.

[00:24:31] So. But they made them wet. Like it's. Four course meal. This was the craziest ending. I swear. Yeah. Like to admit that they just killed and ate four humans. And then threaten them saying don't get too fat. When we come back. And then happy Halloween and they leave. Absolutely a sick ending.

[00:24:58] I think they're your friends, but. They don't care if you fatten up, Drew. No, no, no. If you fatten up, Drew, I will eat you. So good. So good. And for a short episode, you know what I mean? Like.

[00:25:28] Mm-hmm. I feel like this definitely could have been a two-parter. Oh, 100%. Especially with like. I would love to have had more of it. The story. You know, there was so much more story. To it. In the book. So much more story that wasn't covered. I mean, I get that it's a budget restraint and they have to redo a lot of it for screenplay use for a shoestring budget TV show. But for what they were able to do in that 20 minutes, like it was impressive. And it kept you in it the whole time too.

[00:25:57] It wasn't like a lot of there wasn't really any low moments, you know, like just trying to get it to. To the end, like you're like, like, God, hurry up, you know, attack of the mutant. And yeah, I mean, like I love this one so much. I mean, goosebumps itself wins itself to Halloween, but the Halloween episodes at Halloween just hit better.

[00:26:25] Like, I realized like, for instance, right there, headless ghost. That's a great one. That's a great Halloween one, even though it's not on Halloween. Welcome to the dead house. Zombies lends itself. Well, zombie vampires, whatever the hell they are. You know, lends itself to that for that reason. Zombies. I'm not a fan of vampire breath, but it's got a. I love it. I love it. I won't lie. I love it.

[00:26:55] So the vampire episode only really vampire book. I'm I'm a fan of it. Yeah, it's kind of surprising when you think about it. He hasn't written more vampire stories. Yeah, even now it's it's basically been zombies, ghosts and slappy. Zombies, ghouls, whatever you want to all these different, you know, undead creatures. Mm hmm. A lot of slappy. Um.

[00:27:25] Some would say too much. And by someone, I mean me. Needs more haunted mask. Like the Christopher Walken of, uh, frickin goosebumps, you know, slapping needs more haunted mask. That was pretty damn good. I've been working on it. Working on it. But attack of the jack lanterns, always a classic, always a favorite.

[00:27:50] Um, you know, hopefully we didn't talk over too much for y'all, but you know, that's kind of the point of the commentary as well. Um, but if you haven't watch it yourself, excellent. Watch it without our voices over it because it's even better, I'm sure. But, you know, because you want to watch it. It's attack of the jack lantern, buddy. I am still working on Erica Luttrell. It has bummed me out.

[00:28:15] I haven't gotten anybody, not just her alone, but anybody from that episode yet to interview on this podcast. It's really disappointing. Um, I don't even know if she does the convention circuit. I want to look into that. Um, cause if she's nearby one of us or something, maybe that's a way in. We'll just want to come on the podcast. I was trying to do that with Hayden Christensen so we could get a night living dummy three episode going. Uh, but that did not happen.

[00:28:44] Uh, at least where I live, his stuff sold out very fast. Uh, it was very expensive. Midnight media. Get them signed. I tried. I tried. Say what? I said, midnight media, please get them signed. He's already signed with somebody else. I know he is, but midnight media, get them signed. Uh, I will throw out there that I, and I pitched a few more to them that don't do the circuit that I think a lot of people would like to meet.

[00:29:14] And I have a few more in mind still to pitch their way. So trying to get as many of them out there as I can for, for all the goosebumps fans. Um, you know, cause it's, it's always bigger than just us here at the podcast or anybody else. You know, we all want to meet these people. We all want to talk to these people.

[00:29:32] Um, the, the one I will mention, and I know he was, he said it on the podcast when he was here, but he is eager to do a convention circuit of some type with goosebumps involved. Uh, was Eugene Lipinski who played Mr. Mortman. So. Still, I, I did pitch that one to them and, uh, I reached out to his agent and at least I think it's still his agent. Uh, it could have changed, but hopefully it's still his agent.

[00:30:01] Um, and I hear back something soon and see if he's still interested in doing that. And then I can pass that info along and connect them and maybe they'll do an announcement there. We'll see. You know, it's how some of these other ones happened and, you know, definitely thank midnight media for, for that aspect of it. Anyway, shout out to Javier over there. Um, you know, no, we had some bad blood with midnight meaning in the past, but really it was only with one individual.

[00:30:28] Um, and Javier has been not that individual. Thankfully, uh, he's not that individual and he is really, really cool guy. I got to finally meet him over the weekend at Sheboygan, um, when he was there with Catherine long. So that was a lot of fun. And, uh, yeah, guys, uh, maybe someday soon, keep a lookout. Um, there'll be another. Per city type event next year.

[00:30:54] Uh, I can't say much more than that, but it's going to be big. It's definitely something you guys want to be in attendance for. It's going to be big. If you can make it, you need, you need to, if you're a Bruce Moms fan, it's going to be absolutely sick. Yes. I will say it's not going to be on the East coast. I am trying still. Uh, there will be something big for you people in Ohio next year, uh, that I've been able to work out.

[00:31:23] So keep a lookout on that announcement. Uh, obviously we'll be posting that on our socials when it comes out. Uh, but attack of Jack lanterns guys is only the, uh, second episode of goose tober. Technically we had one. We just didn't label it as such. Uh, so I guess this is the first official official one, official goose tober episode, uh, with attack of the jack lanterns. And we got a few more surprises coming your way, uh, all the way through October.

[00:31:52] But, uh, until next time. Hang on. Hang on. I got one. You got something quick thing just to, just to put out there, um, for anybody who is on the East coast. If you are in, um, kind of over towards New York where they're doing New York comic-con, uh, scholastic just announced today that R. L. Stine will be there doing a signing on top of that. Our friends will be also who will Tim will be there also. Awesome.

[00:32:22] So Tim and RL Stein are going to be there. Tim just showed he did a, another cover for Stein for stuff of nightmares. I did see that. I guess I didn't see the part about New York comic-con, but, um, so sign in Tim will be there. And then our friends over at Saturday morning cards will also be there with limited edition versions of, I believe the haunted mask and night or, and you can't scare me. I think was the other one I'll check to confirm that.

[00:32:49] Um, but it's going to be the blood red on the other one because it wasn't a haunted mass, but now. Yeah. Now I might have to try to snag that one. I think it's, I think it's gold stars and blood red is what is going to be the limited edition variants that are there. So, um, if you are able to get over to New York comic-con, definitely go say hi to pick me up one. Yeah. Pick, pick up some of the cards for sure. Pick up a haunted mass one for me. They are pricey. I'm not going to be able to get to that.

[00:33:18] So yeah, they're pricey on the resale market. I can tell you that much. Uh, so. I'm not paying that. No. I got other expenses. I managed to pick up a couple that were on the website after San Diego comic-con, but, uh, yeah, they're, they're still pricey. So. I may just have to reach out to Saturday morning cards and be like, Hey, uh, can I get one of them? Um, but yeah, I, that was, that was all I had.

[00:33:42] I just wanted to make sure that you guys knew if you were over on the East coast, there is a couple things, uh, at New York comic-con for you to go check out that are goosebumps. So. Yeah. Cool. I didn't even know they were going to be doing that. I haven't seen anything posted. Uh, algorithm must not be showing me their stuff, but I'll have to look that up. Cause I want to see if they, did they post images or they did. They did. Okay. I'm not going to check that out then. So yeah, guys, uh, that's it for this episode.

[00:34:11] Uh, short and sweet, uh, little commentary episode for you again. We missed not having Bjorn here, especially since this is one of his favorite episodes as well. Um, but he did get in touch with me while we were doing the podcast. Fortunately, Australia has got some bad storms right now, uh, power outages and all that stuff. So he wasn't really sure if he was going to be on here the entire time or power to go out again. So he just kind of sat it out. So, but that's going to do it for us here at the Goosebumps crew podcast.

[00:34:41] And until next time, what is it Hayden? Take care, stay safe and have a very scary day.