Welcome to Camp Nightmare (Goosebumps #9)

## It's the little camp of horrors!

The first of R.L. Stine's summer camp Goosebumps frights, Welcome to Camp Nightmare may also be the weakest of them. It breaks the suspense of disbelief a little too often, making it feel just a little off in its plotting.

[N.B. This review includes images, and was formatted for my site, dendrobibliography -- located here.]

Camp Nightmoon isn't like most camps. That's apparent from the first page. The camp leaders are aggressive about their guns, for one, and treat Billy Harlan and other other campers with stereotypical military bravado. The camp's setting is a little unusual, too, as it seems to be simultaneously in a desert and a thick forest with raging rivers. (Confusing geography seems to be a show more standard with R.L. Stine, however, whom I wager rarely leaves the suburbs.)

After an explosive start to their camping adventure, Billy and co. settle in under the care of Uncle Al, a strange man who cares for the kids, but also goes out of his way to put them in danger and revoke help. The camp is full of poisonous snakes, dangerous rapids, an aptly-named Forbidden Bunk, a killer monster known only as Sabre -- but, strangely, no first aid supplies, no nurses, no care in the world for safety.

While I enjoyed the camp setting, the TV episode that adapted this story, and Tim Jacobus' tremendous cover art (one of his spookiest!), something about Welcome to Camp Nightmare never sat well with me. It always felt a little scatterbrained in telling its story, up until the over-the-top twist adorning the final page. It's an enjoyable early entry, but the setting (and especially, I remember feeling, the Forbidden Bunk) is never used to its full potential like it is in the other camp-themed books (The Horror at Camp Jellyjam; Ghost Camp; The Curse of Camp Cold Lake).

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (1992–1997):
#8 The Girl Who Cried Monster | #10 The Ghost Next Door show less

As Welcome to Camp Nightmare begins we join a lively group of youngsters headed to the sleep-away camp, Camp Nightmoon, called Camp Nightmare by the campers...and with good reason. In this volume we meet 12 year old Billy who is headed out for his first time at sleep-away camp, we join him on the bus ride with his fellow campers, including two girls who are headed to the girls camp of the same name, just across the river. Billy hits it off with one of the girls and hopes to see her as the summer goes on. They are let off abruptly and left alone at a station where they are nearly set upon by large wild dogs. They are whisked away to Camp Nightmoon where he is assigned to Bunk 4, just down the hill from the ominous "Forbidden Bunk" which show more they are told to stay away from at all costs or a wolf like monster called Sabre will kill them. They are also warned against bear attacks...all of this seems highly causal to both the reader and to Billy who wonders why his parents would send him off to a camp that is so dangerous.

Almost immediately things head down hill for Billy and his bunk mates; Larry (their camp counselor who isn't around much and is indifferent when he is), Roger, Jay, Collin and Mike. Snakes attack Mike whose hand swells up, Billy comes through with a plan to get the snakes out of the bunk, but it's too late for poor Mike's hand...even worse, there's not nurse at the camp and Neither Uncle Al (runs the camp) nor Larry seem to care in the slightest. From there, it's a downward spiral for Billy and his bunkmates as one after another mysteriously disappears and as fear mounts for Billy wondering why Larry and Uncle Al seem so oblivious and unconcerned about something that is very wrong at Camp Night Moon...will Billy escape the fate of his bunkmates? You'll have to read to find out.

Overall, Camp Nightmare is an over-the-top, no holds barred near-parody of the classic sleep-away camp horror/thriller story. We are given a camp where EVERYTHING is wrong and where our hopelessly frightened protagonist is faced with a monster, the "forbidden bunk," disappearing bunkmates, a cruel counselor, a possibly psychotic Uncle Al, and a steadily mounting feeling that Billy's days are numbered! Camp Nightmare manages to be both suspenseful and horrific in a tame sort of way...one that makes the reader want to stop all the action and shake the character while screaming NO WAY...stop and think about it...but he never does and in the end we are given a totally unique twist (that is equally as unrealistic as the rest of the book) when the book comes to a screeching halt, concluding very abruptly! All the loose ends are tied up and the story IS entertaining, though your brain will scream NO WAY for most of the book, I give it four stars (instead of three) because I totally didn't see the ending that Stine gave it, so despite the over exaggerated plot details, he "got" me in the end. This is the type of book you read for the sheer entertainment of it...you know it's not right, you know it's unrealistic...yet you are compelled to read it to the very last page and you walk away with a little giggle and rolling your eyes...but you have been entertained and that makes it worth reading. show less

Goosebumps was one of my favorite series growing up as a kid and so revisiting one of these books was a must. Welcome to Camp Nightmare takes us on a journey of a young boy named Billy as he heads off to his first summer camp at Camp Nightmoon. What seems to be a normal summer camp quickly turns into something quite like we've ever seen. From the unsettling arrival to the weird staff members and forbidden houses, Billy starts to realize that the camp is a nightmare. Stine has always written in a way that is fast paced but so captivating for the reader. I love his simple delivery that builds suspense and gives you just enough information to keep you guessing.

i liked the setting and parts of this were pretty genuinely suspenseful, but the twist ending made me roll my eyes pretty hard. it’s like r.l. feels obligated to do a twist ending now because he did a good one exactly one (1) time. it was so forced & weird & bad, and just really felt like it squandered a lot of the actually pretty good shit that happened earlier in the book. idk man.

I am fairly certain that I have read this one before, but it would have been a long time ago. I definitely remember the twist ending for this one. Enjoyed this one a lot, its always fun to start reading Goosebumps again in the fall. 'Tis the season, so to speak. I really liked the setting for this one and would love to read more camp related Goosebumps books. I may even just try to find other juvenile chapter horror that takes place at a camp; I'm certain there are plenty out there.

So, this book had some merits as far as a decent Goosebumps book goes. Once more, an eye-roll for the ending and the unforgivable nature of things like the Forbidden Bunk never being explored.

[b: Welcome to Camp Nightmare|125538|Welcome to Camp Nightmare (Goosebumps, #9)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390767495s/125538.jpg|2687577] is effective in eliciting the fear of a kid being thrust into the utter unknown of summer camp. One by one it makes every fear a kid in a first time sleep away camp might have real. No nurse. No way to contact home. Kids getting hurt and going missing with no explanation or care, counselors hurting kids... the list goes on and on. It's effective in that sense, and actually a bit disturbing in show more some of the cruelty. The baseball to the head actually made me wince reading it.

The ending knocked a star off for me. It was both obvious and just... ridiculous. But I'm not the target audience. show less

The last children's thriller I have to go through that involves camping. This trilogy has been fun and all three have been different from each other. This one feels less personal and isn't as satisfying as Curse of Camp Cold Lake, but it does dish out an ending kids may ooh and ahh at. Stine takes a finish with the science fiction genre for that one. Although the ending is the best part, kids with short attention spans should like this one since it never lets up the tension. Something's always happening, there's always a mystery, it never settles or lets up. Adults should have a semi-decent time reading this one with their kids.