R.L. Stine’s children’s horror book series Goosebumps was an uncontainable hit in the ‘90s. Kids all over the world were reading the books, it was breaking records, and to this day is the second bestselling book series of all time after Harry Potter. It was so wildly successful that when a TV series was pitched, Fox greenlit it without even asking for a pilot, and the show made its debut days before Halloween, 1995 in the form of a 43-minute special. Of the 26-odd books that Stine had written at that time, they had their pick of a good selection of source material, and it was wisely decided that they would kick-start this awesome new show with book number eleven, The Haunted Mask.
What Is "The Haunted Mask" About?
Carly Beth (Kathryn Long) is a meek, sensitive young girl who really struggles in her everyday life. School douchebags Chuck and Steve latch onto her vulnerability the way all bullies do, and spend their days tormenting her; even her one friend Sabrina can’t help but snicker at Carly Beth’s pathetic nature. She confides in Sabrina that she hates being the way she is, so easily scared and constantly open to the abuse of others, and wishes that the tables would turn, and her bullies would understand how it feels to be chipped away at. After a particularly nasty stunt pushes her to her breaking point, Carly Beth resolves to get her own back. It’s a motive born out of bitterness and anger, and she has no idea just how close to her real self it will bring her.
A spooky new novelty shop has appeared out of nowhere in their little town, so Carly Beth heads over with her meager savings in hand. The creepy proprietor (Colin Fox) reluctantly agrees to let her browse for a few minutes, but Carly Beth finds all the masks on the shelves to be too tame for her purposes. The scene has a wonderfully slow-building, creeping pace, as Carly Beth takes in the sinister atmosphere of the shop, and wanders too far into the back room, where she finds exactly what she is looking for. A booming choral score crescendos as she sets eyes on a row of six hideous, lifelike masks, the scariest she could imagine. He refuses to sell them in a shady way that leads one to believe there is a very good reason for his reluctance. But she grabs a mask and runs, throwing a handful of dollar bills behind her. As soon as she is outside the shop, she comes to her senses and turns, but the man locks the door behind her, so she sets out excitedly to enjoy her best Halloween ever.
There is so much going on in this 40-minute piece of children’s television, that it seems almost too advanced for Goosebumps, like it should have originated as a longer Stine novel for an older reader. It is worthy of Stephen King. It ruminates on the complexities of adolescent life and burgeoning identity, on self-esteem and the importance of strong relationships. As Stine himself explains in the introduction, “It ends when she learns that there is nothing more powerful than the love of her family and friends.” And while this is an easy go-to moral to end a scary kids’ story on, this one really means it, and focuses on it throughout the episode.
The Mask Takes Over
The mask controls Carly Beth in a volatile, aggressive way, like hormones would. Her posture suddenly becomes hunched, her voice shrill and raspy. She embodies a completely different character, prone to primal rages in which her only goal is to cause fear in others; a focused predator. She goes the whole Halloween night without getting any candy, but it doesn’t really matter: the screams are her candy, her reward on this special night. When she finally tracks down Chuck and Steve and successfully scares the oversized lumberjack shirts off of them, she is animalistic with excitement, howling and screaming and panting. It is at this moment that the mask fully consumes her, and may signal an undoable corruption in Carly Beth’s character.
Sabrina catches up with her friend, and her loving concern seems to snap Carly Beth out of her funk, in a manner that can only be compared to post-nut clarity. Carly Beth is visibly shaken when her friend asks worriedly if Chuck and Steve have been physically harmed, and tries to reassure Sabrina that she knows there is a line and she hasn’t crossed it. The girls go home, and having fulfilled her purpose for the night, Carly Beth goes to take off the mask. Here the episode jumps to a higher level of terror by introducing elements of body horror.
The mask won’t come off, and on closer inspection, the girls realize that it has merged with her, with no line between her skin and the mask. It is a truly harrowing scene, in which Carly Beth becomes increasingly frantic and bewildered, and doesn’t even recognize herself. She now sees that her entire person has been taken over by ugliness. Of course, it’s a fairly classic Dorian Gray-type of metaphor, in which a wretched soul manifests itself in one’s appearance, but it is the physical aspect of this transformation, especially for a young person, that is so haunting. Unwanted transformation of the body has a strange, uncanny effect on the human mind, speaking to a primal fear of losing control over the one thing we should inherently be able to control: ourselves. Even when Carly Beth comes to her senses, she finds nobody will help her because she is so repulsive to look at. The very fear that she so desperately wanted to incite in people is now leaving her stranded and without ally, and she starts to really understand the repellent power of being hideous, and question why she ever wanted it in the first place.
Faces are the Visual Motif of the Story
Early on, Carly Beth’s arty mother shows off her latest project: a bust in her daughter’s likeness, a project she chose out of love for her child. She later uses it as a prop on Halloween night, to highlight the startling difference between what she was and what she has become, and buries it in a graveyard once she has scared Chuck and Steve, the ultimate symbol of shedding her former self in favor of this new, uninhibited creature. But when she finds out that a symbol of love is the only thing that can save her from a terrible fate, she exhumes the sculpture and uses it as a talisman against the evils that pursue her. She comes to realize that her face - the one a mother loves - represents her in her purest form, and that she has every reason to embrace it.
The big finale of the episode is an absolute powerhouse of visual storytelling for children, one that strikes fear right into the heart of the viewer and showcases an incredible acting talent from a very young performer. A frantic Carly Beth runs back to the shop, where the man has been waiting in anticipation of her, and she demands that he take the mask off of her. Here he gives his villain origin story: “I was like you, I did not love myself,” he explains, and in order to hide his own perceived faults, he began crafting real faces to wear. But somehow, his own inner ugliness began to show up on the faces he created, just as Dorian Gray’s did on his portrait. Through his crazy experimentation, he came to realize that his faults were internal, and was left with a constant visual reminder of his rotten soul. And now, it seems, he wants Carly Beth to learn from his cautionary tale. “I don’t dare show you what’s underneath,” he says of his own decaying face, “or perhaps I should. That way you would appreciate who you are and what you have always had!”
Kathryn Long's Performance Was a Powerhouse
Kathryn Long was thirteen when she was cast as Carly Beth, and her performance is surely one of the best from a young actor in television history. It is almost unnerving to see a person so young so flawlessly access places of torment, vulnerability and fear. She plays two very different personalities - one under layers of uncomfortable prosthetics - for whom she develops distinctive voices, postures and characteristics, and handles them with the finesse a much older actor would bring to a much more serious movie. Her climactic one-on-one scene with the shopkeeper is truly harrowing. He grabs her by the shoulders and tells her, “this face is your face now,” and spins her around to look at herself in the mirror and come to terms with what she has done. The poor girl lets out an absolutely blood-curdling scream, and breaks down into sobs as the gravity of her situation really hits. It is a moment that sends chills through the audience, and almost certainly proved too much to handle for some young viewers.
Colin Fox as the shopkeeper is another brilliant find. A tall, solemn man with the piercing eyes and shadowy imposing presence of Christopher Lee, he charges at this role with complete sincerity, which is always an enjoyable and admirable choice for adult actors to make when it comes to kids’ TV. His delivery and physical dominance convey a tortured soul whose only redemption may be to save another from a fate like his. Aside from strong performances, the episode is greatly enhanced by a wonderful score by Jim McGrath and Jack Lenz. Carly Beth has her own mournful woodwind theme, which communicates her vulnerability and the need for the audience to sympathize with her. Slow creeping scenes are embellished with wooden tappings to heighten tension, and menacing choral arrangements underpin the big dramatic moments.
"The Haunted Mask" Is Twice as Long As Most Episodes
Where the majority of Goosebumps episodes are of a standard 23-minute length, this one gets a double runtime and really lives up to its potential as a result. Scenes are meticulously paced in a way that allows atmosphere and tension to grow. The first act takes the time to properly establish Carly Beth’s sad and hopeless life, and justify why she lashes out in an inevitably self-defeating way. The second act slowly notches up the nerves, as Carly Beth’s antisocial antics on Halloween night escalate, and the sword of Damocles hangs precariously over her. The aforementioned third act is the jewel in the crown, one that brings everything crashing down on Carly Beth and indeed the audience, and all seems lost in the most horrifying way. Some other single Goosebumps episodes suffer at the hands of a short runtime, with developments happening too briskly and big finales amounting to blink-and-you-miss-them wrap-ups. It is fortunate that one of the best books in the series was positioned as the first episode of the show and therefore the one to create a buzz and help this spooky kids’ series hit the ground running.
The Haunted Mask takes a terrifying body horror concept and uses it to examine the intricacies of young relationships and identities. Carly Beth’s low self-esteem and need for transformation land her in a frightening predicament, through which she comes to accept her real self, and gains a fresh perspective of the strengths she had all along. Indeed, when she finally arrives home after her hellish night, she says, “I learned a lot about myself tonight”, and later in "The Haunted Mask 2," we see a new Carly Beth has emerged, one who is capable of giving as good as she gets and confronting tough situations. Even if younger viewers didn’t quite pick up on these themes the first time around, what they do have is a truly scary story about revenge and redemption that has maintained such a glowing reputation for a very good reason.