5 of the Scariest ‘Goosebumps’ Episodes That Gave Every ’90s Kid Nightmares

The popularity of the horror genre may be on the rise, but well before films like Midsommar, X, and I Saw the TV Glow hit the big screen and generated plenty of buzz, another title had ’90s kids gathered around TV screens: Goosebumps. With the tagline “Viewer beware, you’re in for a scare,” Goosebumps brought the nightmare-inducing characters from R.L. Stine’s beloved children’s horror novels to life, offering a gateway into horror for a generation of kids.

From titles like Go Eat Worms! to Say Cheese and Die!, The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, A Night In Terror Tower, and more, Goosebumps pulled from Stine’s expansive library, sending shivers down spines and delivering countless nightmares. The series, produced by Protocol Entertainment and Scholastic Entertainment, ran for four seasons and 74 episodes from 1995 until 1998 on Fox Kids and YTV, and while new iterations of Stine’s books have been adapted for the screen in the decades since, the ‘90s Goosebumps TV show remains a standout in children’s horror.

Keep scrolling to see some of the best Goosebumps episodes. Episodes of the nostalgic ‘90s show are available to stream across various platforms, including Netflix, Peacock, and Prime Video.

“The Haunted Mask” (Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2)

Goosebumps wasted no time in bringing Stine’s horror to the screen. In fact, the series’ opening episode, “The Haunted Mask,” is often regarded by fans as one of the most terrifying and memorable episodes of the show. Adapting the eleventh book in Stine’s series, The Haunted Mask centers around Carly Beth, a young girl determined to overcome her easily-scared nature and get revenge on her bullies. Things don’t go exactly as planned, though, and after stealing a creepy green mask from an eerie shop, Carly Beth finds that it’s everything she could hope for. And more.

More than just inducing fear with the creepy mask, which has become an iconic piece from the show, the episode brought a sense of psychological horror as Carly Beth drifted further and further from her true self and was overcome by the power of the mask.

“Welcome to Dead House” (Season 2, Episodes 20 and 21)

Serving as the Season 2 premiere, and pulling from the first book in the original Goosebumps book series, “Welcome to Dead House” is a classic horror story. The two-part episode follows Amanda and Josh Benson and their family after they move to a house in the mysterious Dark Falls. The story builds tension and a sense of foreboding as the truth behind Dark Falls is revealed: the residents of Dark Falls are undead corpses who lure victims to the city to kill them and feed on their blood.

“Night of the Living Dummy II” (Season 1, Episode 10)

No Goosebumps list would be complete without “Night of the Living Dummy II,” a story that undoubtedly instilled a fear of dolls into an entire generation. Serving as an almost light version of Child’s Play, the episode features one of the series’ most iconic villains: Slappy, an evil ventriloquist dummy that comes to life when Amy Kramer reads the words “Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano.”

With his unpredictable antics, scary design, and downright sinister motives, Slappy is regarded as one of Goosebumps’ most terrifying characters. The character went on to make several other appearances throughout the show, including the two-episode “Night of the Living Dummy III.”

“Stay Out of the Basement” (Season 1, Episodes 12 and 13)

A fear of the basement is ingrained in kids, and “Stay Out of the Basement” played on that fear. Based on the second book in the Goosebumps series, the episode centers around siblings Margaret and Casey and their growing suspicions about their father, who begins experimenting with plants in their basement. Ignoring their father’s warning to “stay out of the basement,” the siblings eventually venture down to make a truly horrifying discovery: their “father” is actually a plant-based clone of their real father.

More than just creating an unsettling atmosphere and building suspense with each passing minute, “Stay Out of the Basement” masterfully plays with kid-friendly body horror as Margaret and Casey’s father increasing becomes more plant-like.

“Say Cheese and Die!” (Season 1, Episode 15)

“Say Cheese and Die!” is memorable for more reasons than just starring Ryan Gosling – it features perhaps one of the most bone-chilling plots in the Goosebumps series. Another episode from the show’s standout debut season, the story focuses around a seemingly normal Polaroid camera. However, it turns out the camera is much more sinister than it appears and harbors dark supernatural powers. As the episode’s main group of characters begin to take pictures with the camera, it’s revealed that the photos capture terrible events that will happen in the future, from car accidents to deaths, disappearances and more.