Review: Goosebumps "Werewolf Skin"

Sorry, I can't really be bothered to say something snarky here. I googled "skin" to try and come up with jokes on the title of this two-parter, and I got some horrifying news stories to instantly pop up, from some lady with worms under her skin to a guy who got the skin on his arm bitten off.

So my mind is occupied with trying to not think about skin. Although I must say that these two episodes all of a sudden seem a lot tamer...

Plot/Themes

Once again, R.L. Stine whips out a few standard plot elements of his.

1. Werewolves.
2. The protagonist goes to stay with family members who are hiding a dark secret.
3. The protagonist becomes friends with is secretly a monster and/or evil.
4. The protagonist tries to determine the true existence of local monsters.

At the level of the most basic storytelling elements, this is a pretty paint-by-numbers story layout in terms of Goosebumps stories..

But what I think makes the episode work is the way the focus changes halfway through. Part 1 takes a Jaws-like approach and builds up atmosphere until you finally see the werewolves for the first time at the end of the first part. Part 2 becomes a werewolf hunt. And that change in focus keeps the story from getting stale as the book is stretched across two episodes.

This could have been turned into a single episode, but by giving each half a different focus, the attempts to build atmosphere in the first part actually pay off in the second part.

"The House of No Return" tried the whole "atmosphere" thing and didn't do a very good job of it, resulting in a slow, plodding story where little actually happens. But this two-parter takes the opportunity to create an unsettling atmosphere to the town of Wolf Creek in the first part, which amplifies the fact that in the second part, not even Alex's house is truly safe, since his aunt and uncle are the werewolves.

Speaking of the werewolves, the mystery element there never really comes together.

Sean, Arjun, and Alex's teacher are the red herrings in this mystery. They're only suspects because they act all weird when werewolves are mentioned. For Sean and Arjun, this is because they're trying to prank the new kid. But what's the teacher's deal? And why are he and Arjun sporting identical facial bandages?

Did the werewolf in Alex's window get cut on its face, and I just missed that part? Was it supposed to be another red herring?

Characters
Alex Blackwell (Keegan MacIntosh)

I like Alex's sarcasm. Quite often, main characters in Goosebumps are pretty much blank slates, making easier for most kids to put themselves in the protagonists' shoes. Occasionally, they get a defining character trait or two. Carly Beth was timid, Skipper was a major comic buff, et cetera.

Alex Blackwell, on the other hand, is sarcastic and talks back to pretty much everybody, which is actually pretty refreshing after watching so many episodes where the main characters act so seriously when other characters mention monsters and magic. Watching Alex take nothing seriously until a werewolf climbs in his window seems more like how a kid might actually react. And even then, Alex primarily focuses on snapping a picture to make money, rather than the generic "for science" or "to know the truth" or "to do the right thing" or "to save somebody" reasons a lot of these child protagonists have for encountering monsters. It's selfish, yeah, but it's human.

Uncle Colin & Aunt Marta (Ron Lea & Nicky Guadagni)

Uncle Colin might look neglectful when he shows up hours late to pick up Alex, making him sleep at a gas station, but it's okay. He's not neglectful, he's just a werewolf. Which is marginally less scary than his transformation into the jerk on Doc.

Colin and Marta... well, they're fine. The characters serve their purpose in the story, which is to be taken for granted by the audience until the reveal that they're the werewolves. They claim not to believe Alex's werewolf stories, they discourage him from investigating further, and they generally act as obstacles, rather than suspects.

But that's not to say the characters, or actors, do the story a disservice. They're just sort of nondescript for 75% of the story because the plot requires them to be in order to make the twist work.

Sean (Bucky Hill)

Another Goosebumps story, another mildly antagonistic character.

Arjun Khosla (Bradley Machry)

So... perhaps the casting department could have maybe tried a bit harder to find somebody who could at least pass for Indian. Heck, they didn't even really need to find an actor. It doesn't exactly take Kenneth Branagh to say "Yeah, chicken. Cluck, cluck, cluck."

Hannah (Terra Vanessa Kowalyk)

Another Goosebumps story, another random kid for the protagonist to meet and befriend.Much like Colin and Marta, she's primarily there discouraging Alex to hide her lycanthropy, although she does motivate Alex by admitting that werewolves are real.

The Teacher (James Mainprize)

Another Goosebumps story, another red herring as to the identity of the true monster.

And seriously, what's with the bandages?

But that's not to say that these recurring elements are used badly in this story, even though I've seen them more than a few times.

Visuals

The werewolf costumes are werewolf costumes. They look exactly like what you'd expect a kids' show with this budget to come up with. They're not bad, they're just a bit costume-y. Although the scene where Colin and Marta shed their skins while Alex photographs the transformation is staged and shot really well, making up for the okay costumes.

Monster of the Week: Werewolves

I do like this version of the standard werewolves, which probably was inspired by stories of Native American Skinwalkers.

Now, it is true that the mythical Skinwalkers don't spread their powers by biting people, and they aren't limited to taking on the form of a wolf, and the full moon has nothing to do with the Skinwalker transformation...

But you know what? At least R.L. Stine's looking into mythologies other than the overused European ones. And at no point does he actually use the term "Skinwalker" to describe them. There are plenty of werewolf stories out there that do refer to werewolves as Skinwalkers, but this is not one of them.

The way I see it, Stine is blending two similar supernatural creatures together to present werewolves in a different way than he usually does. And personally, I'm okay with the result, since it provides a different sort of storytelling opportunity than his other werewolf tales.

Barking Dogs: Yes

Boring Best Friend: Yes

Apart from being an offscreen werewolf, Hannah's not very interesting.

Child Grabbing

Part 1: Yes

Part 2: Yes

And Part 2's pretty unique, since it has two kids getting grabbed by empty skin husks.

Foliage POV Cam: Yes

Mad Scientist: No

Dang it, I was so hoping that this story would tick all the boxes.

Murders: Unknown

It's heavily implied that Alex's aunt and uncle are murdering people, but there's no exact count.

Red Paint: No

Werewolves:

Take a guess.

X-Files Shout-Out: Yes.

There am no references to Bizarro X-Files in this episode.

Final Thoughts

A pretty good change of pace for this show that actually succeeds in crating atmosphere... but I think it was only a two-parter to get their money's worth out of those werewolf costumes.