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Not sure which part I enjoyed more: Jerry trying desperately to be a good camera man or the fact that werewolf skins apparently can blow up like dynamite when exposed to moonlight.
The skins are like bread at subway. The mask cannot touch mask, there has to be something inside. If ducks eat for free at Subway, I wonder if wolves get free costumes at Halloween Boutique..............
This show really normalized children getting dropped off in the middle of the night. No supervision, unfamiliar with the terrain. They'll be fine, Martha.
YOu didn't do that with kids parties back then? Here in the Netherlands we used to do that. Sure adults were in the area, but you would still feel like you where alone and had to cross a bit of the woods without supervision. Heck we had one party were we had to stay out of reach of the bad guys for the story they had going. His father and brother had to grab us while we had to run trough a thick forest at night, total darkness....thinking back of it, it was a wonder no one got hurt xD We just did that though. This was early 90's, just a bunch of 12 yearish olds running trough the woods at night xD
I do love the quiet absurdity of children's horror. Cool Aunt: "Did you have a nice night? Sleeping at an abandoned gas station as an unattended minor?" Also, Cool Aunt: "Don't you dare go right next door, within shouting distance! What if something happens to you? That's scary!"
Being a fan of werewolf folklore, I was already aware that there are stories where people turn into werewolves by wearing a wolfskin. However, it's kind of weird to me that they combined that with the idea of someone needing to be bitten to turn into a werewolf.
You get bit grow a wolfskin that later sheds off and becomes sentient and if you don't wear it regularly you go through withdrawal and probably die Also it explodes like tnt in the moonlight if your not wearing it I guess
So while it's been awhile since my highschool myths and legend classes, if I remember correctly there are a very small handful of werewolf legends that have the bite acting as a contract between the person and whatever being was the original werewolf. Think of it like a persona (from the game lol) the bite creates a spiritual link but the actual skin of a wolf is needed to complete the transformation, the skin acting as an altar of sorts when worn. The closest stories I can think of off the top of my head aren't so much werewolf stories as they are native shamans being able to use the skins of animals to take said animals form.
The most interesting thing about this one is the production history. Basically, the showrunners Billy Brown & Dan Angel and the network went back on forth on it. Their script had the darker parts of the book which the execs fought back on. They had already but heads on some other episodes and eventual this lead to Billy/Dan leaving the show. Ron Oliver was brought in to do uncredited re-writes and even then his cut had to be edited in places. So that adds another layer to it. The book is quite good but the episode is clearly toned donw, although it has its moments.
According to two different interviews were Ron Oliver recalls the episode's troubled production, the original Billy and Dan script would've been written when the book itself was only an idea Stine had, with no full story to base it off of. Also according to Oliver, the reason the network turned it down was not ONLY because of how dark it was, but how it was considered "unfilmable", likely by their budget. To quote Ron Oliver; “Too many locations, too many stunts, and it had a scene of the werewolf ripping the head off a deer. ON A KIDS SHOW??? LOL.” Apart of me wonders if the book took any influence from these alternate drafts, or if the original script and the final book would be extremely different in scenes.
I like the idea of the werewolf skin/spirit being able to act independently to try and get back to the host, empty skins running around could be cool imagery.
I get so excited when a new PushingUpRoses comes on! I’ve missed hearing your voice and your videos are always so fun and entertaining. Thanks for making my day!
Holy smokes, this unlocked a latent memory of mine. It was around Halloween, about 15-20 years ago when I was in middle school. My language arts teacher wheeled a tv and plopped on this very episode of goosebumps! The lights were off and all the kids scooched their desks towards the tv so we could all hear better. The moment shared at 5:00 is right before a commercial break and I vividly remember the whole class screaming, hearing 20 or so desks screeching backwards, and then a breath of relief as the class laughs about how scared we all got.
The other werewolf 2 parter "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" is the one that actually scared me as a kid. I never could finish it when I was younger. I went and watched it this year again, and I can see why young me was so spooked. I'd love to see you cover it at some point!
That's one of my favorites, both book and show. I still remember the part where the deer get attacked and one of them gets pushed into the window. Scared the crap out of me as a kid. That was a pretty good jump scare, I'll give them that.
I had it on video. As a kid, I was already freaked out by werewolf movies like an American Werewolf in London, but I thought I could handle watching this. I thought wrong, so I put the video in a box of videos we were sending to my grandmother's place in El Salvador. Now that I'm an adult, I can watch this no problem.
I read the book as a kid (only one I fully read other than don't go into the basement" and it ended up making thinking werewolves are really cool (also totally sent me down a path that made me furry) like holy crap. You get to run around and be a dog? Do dog things and hang out with your favorite dog?
Finally someone covers this episode. Out of all the goosebumps episodes I saw as a kid this one stuck with me the most. That double nightmare scene and the werewolves disappearing and trying to break through his window got me so scared
I remember I had to do a book report in elementary school once, it was on the Goosebumps "Say Cheese and Die." I only picked it because there was a skeleton on the cover. I completely forgot to do it and essentially copied the cliffs notes on the back of the book and was totally busted. Mistakes were made... 🤦🏼♂
@@esmeecampbell7396 he discovers that she is a werewolf. She walks in and says that she doesn't bite with a terrified look on his face. So I'm pretty sure there was an implication to it.
There is at least one myth I know of that uses a similar idea. It comes from Norse mythology/literature in 'Saga of the Völsungs'. There is a point where a father and son come across men who are sleeping in cursed wolf pelts. When they wear the pelt themselves, they turn into wolves. Arguably Skin-walkers from Native American folklore are similar but those are more associated with coyotes I think.
@@AizuakaStill it's very cool that Stine took inspiration from Norse Mythology and Native American Folklore to create such a unique take on the Werewolf Mythos.
As I recall, it was a belief across Christianized Europe for a time that witches could take on the form of wolves by putting on wolfskins. There's never been any one werewolf myth, but the layers of folklore often rhyme
the whole concept of werewolf skins remind me of beserkers whereby Vikings wore the pelts of animals like boars bears and wolves and are said to attain the strength and transform into the animal they wore when they went into battle.
So the teacher being a werewolf just never comes up or is resolved? Cool Also did they explain why the skins exploded? Do they need to be worn on a full moon or something or otherwise they get destroyed? Very messy plot.
I haven't finished the video yet so idk how Rose's brings it up but Alex is just super paranoid at that point and just had a nightmare with his Teacher maybe being the werewolf. It's just meant to be a scare and to throw you off.
I didn't know Jerry worked part time for Roses as well! He's doing well for himself, ZeFrank and Roses? Jerry is a good guy, helping people out like that.
I was waiting for this comment, all we need is roses calling Jerry an idiot, but to be honest I don't think that's her style, roses is nice and sweet as zefrank is more cynical towards the science hippies
Ah man, that bit of the werewolves climbing out of that house and attempting to break in gave me nightmares as a kid. That's a good 25 year old memory lol
Believe it or not the book version of this story was the thing I was the /most/ scared of as a kid. I can't even remember why I just remember it haunting my dreams so much I couldn't even look at the cover of the book without getting spooked
I am glad someone said it. Honestly, as an adult, Welcome to the Dead House still kind of freaks me out because it's the "most realistic." Like, a town could be deserted due to a power plant blowing up.
I was just talking to my bestie the other day about Eerie, Indiana - and that had me wondering if you ever watched that? It's a different tone than Goosebumps and AYAOTD, but as a cryptid enthusiast I remember watching it quite a bit. Of course, I can't remember a single episode of it. I always look forward to your vids! Thanks!
Spooky month is the best month for Spooky Nostalgia! Never really found this episode particularly interesting personally and could never find the book but regardless I'm happy to see a review of it
I think a perfect show for you to check out and mock is Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman. It has so many random villains and antagonists and I think your commentary on them specifically would be a great match
I'll admit that I never actually saw this one as a kid. I know I've mentioned it before, but I never actually watched the Goosebumps show growing up. I got hooked on the books first so when they decided to make a show, I tried watching a few different episodes but gave up because I thought they were too goofy and not enough like the books. I was definitely more of an Are You Afraid of the Dark person in that regard. I think the only episode of Goosebumps that actually frightened me was Werewolf of Fever Swamp when I caught the last 10-ish minutes at my grandmother's condo when my family went to pick up my baby brother after we and my extended family on my mother's side all went to a Padres game that night. I will say that in the Werewolf Skin book, I believe the reason they give for Alex and Hannah borrowing the werewolf skin is that the story, like many Goosebumps stories, falls around Halloween and IIRC the kids take the skins to have the "scariest costumes" in order to terrorize the other kids and the rest of the town for some Halloween fun. The book also compares the use of werewolf skin to drug addiction, explaining that the more the person uses the skins, the more they become addicted to them and believe they need them to function. So you're observation about the aunt and uncle behaving like they're experiencing withdrawals was spot on as that's how the moment is described in the book. Again, I really didn't watch the Goosebumps show, so I can't really make recommendations on what to check out next. I guess maybe "The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight" - if they actually turned that into an episode. I don't remember much about the story, other than it did freak me out enough as a kid to leave an impact with a fascination for "Rural Horror" for me. (Anything to do with cornfields, spooky/haunted scarecrows, old abandoned schoolhouses and creepy, near abandoned towns is right up my alley! Yes including the original Children of the Corn which I genuinely, unironically love even though I acknowledge it's pretty ridiculous.)
This was one of my favourites as a kid. It's really cool because it hearkens to some variations of older werewolf folklore, where, in order to transform, the werewolves would actually put on wolf pelts and become feral beasts. Really neat idea to adapt for a kids horror anthology, imo. I'd love to see you cover Werewolf of Fever Swamp, too!
As a child, I preferred Are You Afraid of the Dark?. This episode though, I do recall and loved. Side note of topic entirely, loved the audio clip of "The World of David the Gnome". Nice touch. 🙂
Oh, that Jerry! But I do think after this he went on to have a successful career working on the Blair Witch movies. :B As always, awesome review! I had a great laugh at this one, more because of your jokes than the episode though. Personally, my favourite scary show for kids was Eerie Indiana. I always switched the channel at Goosebumps.
I remember renting this episode from blockbuster on VHS one weekend and watching it with a friend when we were about 7.... Yeah, it scared the shit out of us. The reanimated werewolf skins really got to me. And I was a spooky kid!
I grew up watching goosebumps but didn’t see this episode until I was an adult, and I consider it one of the scariest..The werewolves trying to break through the window along with their arms flailing from the hole they were buried in truly did give me nightmares!! I thought this one was creepier than the Fever Swamp episode, but usually people say that one scarier to them.
Werewolf Skin was the scariest werewolf story I've ever seen as a kid. What scared me the most was when the skin came to life and tried to attack the kids...
I remember seeing this episode when I revisited the show in my high school years, and all I could remember was laughing at the absurdity of the werewolves exploding like firecrackers.
"That's no rabbit!" Yeah, that's no ordinary rabbit. That thing's got vicious, sharp... he can leap about... look at the bones! ...I'll show myself out now.
Jerry did his best with what he was given. 😂 I’ve always wondered what R. L. Stine’s initial concept/idea behind this story, mainly because the original title was going to be I Wanna Be a Werewolf for Halloween. Though, I’m honestly glad we got what we got with the title change. I have fond memories watching this 2-parter on VHS back in the day. Still surprised it has never been released on DVD in the US.
Allison Preggler actually reviewed this episode a while back. I think she went much harder on it because she has less of a soft-spot for children's horror in general. It's great to have the two different very well done perspectives from my two favourite reviewers! Great job!
I’m so glad I just rewatched this episode Sunday now that you’ve posted a video on it !! I remember renting this from Blockbuster as a kid just because of the cover art, but when I put it on my TV to watch it it, I completely tuned the episode out because I never really liked Werewolf of Fever Swamp as a kid and I thought this episode was pretty much the same premise. I remember revisiting it as a teen and loving it and now I still love it revisiting as an adult
I was just about to sleep when this came up in my notifications. Twelve minutes later than usual shouldn't be too bad. :p Post-watching edit: The conclusion I came to as a kid watching this episode (I read the book after it) was that Hannah was the actual warewolf mastermind who bit and cursed his aunt and uncle, and that to amuse herself she'd been leading him out to get bitten by them and cursed which is why she left him. She didn't expect they wouldn't be able to recover their skins, however, so she decided to bite him herself at the end.
Hey Roses! My suggestion for a future episode exploration is "Welcome to Dead House" from season 2. As you may know, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill zombie story, but the actual TV episode was done with what I thought was done with what I thought was a cool, Romero-like feel to it.
Cool video as always Roses! Poor Jerry, he's still learning to be a cameraman. I have some suggestions for videos: there´s an episode called "Ghost Beach", which I remember being one of my favorites as a child. Then there's a two-parter called "The Ghost Next Door" that I remember really liking as well. Spooky ghost stories for the spookiest month of the year.
Dope stuff. I originally subscribed for your classic DOS / early Windows game retrospective videos, but for sure stuck around for your more recent TV / movie / media stuff. Great quality, thanks for doing this.
As a kid this ending terrified me. I thought it was one of the scariest Goosebumps episodes I guess because it does leave so much to the viewer's imagination but, I also remember it being scarier because I bought it all hook line and sinker whereas now I realize the delivery is mot as intense as I thought.
I’ve missed your videos on things like this; are you afraid of the dark and goosebumps in particular. Would love to see you continue with these. Love your funny commentary and the nostalgia I get from being reminded of seeing these shows I watched or books I read as a kid!
The exploding skins is the most baffling part! Like why wouldn't the skins just explode while they're being worn as well? Why would moonlight both transform werewolves but also be the thing thst destroys the curse? So many questions haha.
Fairytale styles. They're supernatural, and supernatural things rely on symbolic, emotional or humanized reactions. Take, for example, Dracula, who has to sleep in the soil of his homeland. He doesn't do it because the Ph balance or potassium content is right, it's a connection of mystical symbolism. I figure it's a magic pact sort of thing which needs to be renewed on the full moon. If you're wearing the skin at the right time on the full moon nights you retain werewolf privileges. If you don't the skin is lost forever. Just your typical contract-with-the-devil, send Belle to The Beast, appease the fey sort of junk.
I was just thinking about you and this channel this morning and hoped you were doing well since you hadn’t posted a video in a bit! This made my day and I’m going to watch on my lunch break! Happy spooky season to you too Pushing Up Roses!
My favorite things about the episode: *Jerry have a “ruff” time with the camera work. *The wolf never getting caught for his crimes. *The teacher being a werewolf maybe??? *The skins being able to move on their own and also EXPLODING when exposed to moonlight
