The Goosebumps book with the cursed camera.
While exploring a local abandoned house with his friends, Greg finds an instant-film camera in a hidden compartment. OK, this doesn't sound too impressive to someone with a smartphone, but in the 1990's this was amazing technology. He tries it out on his friend Michael, who promptly falls through the floor — and that is what the photo shows. Indeed, every picture the camera takes shows the subject dead or horribly injured, which inevitably comes true. When his friend Shari vanishes after he takes a photo of her, he must find a way to undo the effects of the camera and save his friends.
It has one direct sequel, Say Cheese and Die — Again!, in which Greg faced danger after using the camera — again. The camera also appears in the Goosebumps HorrorLand book Say Cheese — And Die Screaming, but with a completely different Backstory.
This book was adapted into episode 15 of the first season of the 1995 TV series.
It was later reissued in the Classic Goosebumps line in 2009 as a companion to Say Cheese — And Die Screaming!.
The book provides examples of:
- Alliterative Name: Fritz Fredericks, which is Spidey's actual name.
- Anxiety Dreams: Greg has one about the camera and its negative effects, in which he was going to take a picture of his family and saw them all as skeletons. It's the basis for the book's cover.
- Artifact of Doom: The killer camera, which destroys or causes harm to persons or objects that it takes pictures of.
- Buy or Get Lost: Implied when Greg and his friends are discussing what to do at the beginning of the book. Bird suggests that they could look at comics, which Shari then points out that it would be a good plan until the grumpy shop owner (Grover) would start yelling at them, with her even doing an impression of the store owner and saying, "Are you paying or staying?"
- Cover Drop: Once the cover art was delivered, R. L. Stine added a chapter where Greg has a nightmare where a picture taken at a barbecue shows his family as skeletons.
- Funny Photo Phrase: The very first time the evil camera is used, Greg calls to his friend Michael to "Say cheese". Michael, being something of a jokester (whose jokes always fall flat), responds by grinning and saying, "Cheddar".
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The person who invented the camera ended up being killed for his trouble, and Spidey ended up homeless after he tried to exploit it.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The original inventor of the camera and Spidey's partner was apparently even more evil than Spidey and knew all sorts of evil arcane secrets.
- Hands in Pockets: The opening of the book shows Michael with his hands in his pockets whilst complaining about Pitts Landing, showing how restless he is.
- Here We Go Again!: The book ends with the bullies from earlier retrieving the camera from where it was hidden.
- Magical Camera: The camera causes tragedy to befall any person photographed with it.
- Missing Child: Shari's disappearance greatly worried her family and friends. In the TV episode, Bird believes Spidey may have kidnapped her.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Spidey spends much of the book trying to reclaim the cursed camera and prevent any more carnage. He's accidentally killed by Shari, and the camera lives on to cause more trouble.
- Small Town Boredom: The town where Greg and his friends live in, Pitts Landing, makes them feel quite bored. They complain in detail at the beginning of the book on how it is so. Although, the narration admits that Pitts Landing wasn't much different from a lot of small towns with quiet streets of shady lawns and comfortable old houses. The problem with the Greg and his friends is that they are just too hyperactive and crave adventure, which means they are not comfortable living in Pitts Landing.
- Spooky Photographs: The photos taken with the camera always show somebody suffering.
- Uncertain Doom: We don't know what the bullies' picture was, nor if Spidey has anything to do with it.
- Whole-Plot Reference: This story is very much inspired by the Twilight Zone episode "A Most Unusual Camera", though a little more kid-friendly.
