The Goosebumps book that introduces Slappy.
Kris and Lindy are sisters who compete at everything. When they come across a discarded dummy, Lindy takes to ventriloquism, and immediately starts garnering praise. Well, Kris will just have to prove she's just as good with a dummy their dad picks up from a pawn shop. Unfortunately for Kris, after she reads some strange words on a scrap of paper that came with her dummy, he comes to life. And he's evil, violent, and aggressive, and tries to force the sisters into becoming his slaves. Before it's too late, Kris must find a way to save herself and her family from the evil Mr. Wood.
That's right, Mr. Wood. This book may have introduced Slappy, the most popular and frequently-recurring Goosebumps villain, but the main antagonist is Mr. Wood. Fans of the series will be surprised that Slappy doesn't really do anything, and indeed is apparently inanimate for the rest of the book; he wouldn't become the recurring villain fans know and love until the direct sequel, Night of the Living Dummy II.
It is one of the nineteen original series books that was not adapted into the 1995 TV series. It would later be adapted into an installment of the Goosebumps Graphix series, included in the Slappy's Tales of Horror collection.
It was later reissued in the Classic Goosebumps line in 2008 as a companion to Revenge of the Living Dummy.
The book provides examples of:
- Accidental Incantation: In this book (and its sequels), the characters find a piece of paper near a dummy with the words "Karru marri odonna loma molunu karrano". They read them aloud in confusion, prompting the dummies (Mr. Wood and Slappy in the first one, and just Slappy in the sequels) to come to life.
- All There in the Manual: The reprint includes some supplementary information on how exactly Mr. Wood and Slappy are related.
- Breakout Villain: Slappy was a minor character in this book (he may be on the cover, but Mr. Wood is the villain), but in the sequels was brought back as the primary villain. Slappy was even the main character of a book of his own.
- Break the Cutie: Mr. Wood attempts to torment Kris and Lindy into being his slaves. And Slappy may have succeeded.
- Demonic Dummy: Two of them! Mr. Wood is the main villain, but the final scene reveals Slappy is alive and evil too.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: As several people, along with the blogger himself, pointed out on the snarky Goosebumps blog
, the Night of the Living Dummy series may be creepy as a child, but as an adult, a completely different layer of creepy reveals itself. The living dummy in question is obsessed with making preteen girls (and it's always girls, never boys in these books) into his slaves. When they refuse, he punches and slaps them — a rare act of physical violence for this series — and knocks one girl unconscious. - Early-Installment Weirdness: Slappy is the most well-known Goosebumps character and the mascot of the series, which makes it rather surprising that he's a minor supporting character in his first appearance.
- I'm Your Worst Nightmare: A variation. When Kris first sees Mr. Wood being alive, she tries to tell herself it's only a dream, only for the dummy to say "I'm not a dream... I'm a nightmare!"
- My God, What Have I Done?: In the climax, the driver of the steamroller is horrified when he thinks he ran over a child, and very relieved when he confirms, after Kris and Lindy tell him, that it was just a wooden dummy.
- Nightmare Face: The all-too-innocent wide-eyed Slasher Smiles on the cover.
- Shout-Out: The title is a reference to Night of the Living Dead.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Slappy isn't the antagonist of this book but he is the one pictured on the cover, the antagonist of the rest of the Dummy books, and even to an extent the series' mascot.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Lindy seems to take one about midway through the book, possibly out of remorse for the downright sadistic "joke" she plays on Kris. There's one scene where Kris sees Mr. Wood move and Lindy tries to comfort her by saying it was just a nightmare. Unfortunately, they quickly realize it wasn't a nightmare, and he really is alive.
- Ventriloquism: It's called Night of the Living Dummy, what do you expect?
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Mr. Wood utterly ruins Kris' performance and the entire school concert by talking on his own to insult Kris' teacher, before puking a disgusting green substance all over the place and right at the audience.
- Wham Line: Just as the girls think they're free of evil dummies, Slappy suddenly speaks up: "Hey, slaves, is the other guy gone? I thought he'd never leave!"
The (non-existent) episode provides examples of:
- Un-Installment: While both Night of the Living Dummy II and III (and Bride) made their way into the TV series, the original Night of the Living Dummy was never adapted from the novel.
The graphic novel provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Kris and Lindy's dad is completely absent from the Goosebumps Graphix adaptation, with the girls' mom taking over his role instead.
