I remember the book version of Welcome to Camp Nightmare very fondly from my childhood. I loved camping but was so scared of the dark woods that I hardly went camping (or spent the evenings shivering in the tent, afraid of what was out there in the woods). All of the Goosebumps books revolving around camping were my favorites. It sort of let me go camping and face my fears without ever needing to leave the comfort of my bedroom. This is the beauty of the horror genre and why reading horror for kids can be really beneficial. It really helped me as a kid. But this is a review of the TV episode, not the book. I had never seen the special two part episode of Welcome to Camp Nightmare. I always seemed to miss part one and therefore didn't want to bother watching only the second half. But thanks to Netflix I was finally able to watch this episode based off of one of my favorite books in the acclaimed Goosebumps series.
The story follows Billy Harlan as he attends his first summer at Camp Night Moon. Right from the beginning things seem a little bit off. Right after getting basically dumped off their bus in the middle of nowhere, the new set of campers are attacked by some large monster in the woods called Sabre. Luckily, the head Camp Counselor comes out and scares it off. He tells the campers not to worry and to follow him to the camp site and their cabins
From there things only get worse for Billy. Classically, all the food is horrible and all the counselors are horrible jerks. (It is almost as if they purposefully picked weird or awkward looking people to play the mean counselors). But things really get bad when the accidents start happening. One bunk mate gets bitten by a snake. None of the counselors seem to care and assume that everything is okay. But the boy just gets more and more sick. Then one morning he is just gone--disappeared. And no one seems to remember that the kid ever even existed.
The story follows Billy Harlan as he attends his first summer at Camp Night Moon. Right from the beginning things seem a little bit off. Right after getting basically dumped off their bus in the middle of nowhere, the new set of campers are attacked by some large monster in the woods called Sabre. Luckily, the head Camp Counselor comes out and scares it off. He tells the campers not to worry and to follow him to the camp site and their cabins
From there things only get worse for Billy. Classically, all the food is horrible and all the counselors are horrible jerks. (It is almost as if they purposefully picked weird or awkward looking people to play the mean counselors). But things really get bad when the accidents start happening. One bunk mate gets bitten by a snake. None of the counselors seem to care and assume that everything is okay. But the boy just gets more and more sick. Then one morning he is just gone--disappeared. And no one seems to remember that the kid ever even existed.
Billy is getting really worried as more and more of his camp mates all seem to disappear in similar manners. Finally, Billy decides he is going to try and get out when asked to participate in a hunt--a hunt to capture a girl from the girl's camp. He refuses and quickly becomes the target of the hunt himself. This leads up to the climactic ending of the story with the classical Goosebumps twist.
Compared to the book, and especially compared to some of the other episodes of the series, this episode was just okay. The acting wasn't terrible--it wasn't good mind you--but the story just didn't feel very convincing or effective on screen. Some of the night scenes felt too dark and rushed. Only the occasional moment felt good and seemed to have that classic Goosebumps atmosphere to them.
However, what really kills the story is the ending. I haven't read the book in many years and forgot how the book ended. So when the TV show ended on such an odd note I felt confused. I quickly went to the old copy of the book to see if I had been mistaken about the ending. I was disappointed to realize it was the same. If there had been better clues or build up to this type of ending the episode would have probably been a lot more successful. But there are no clues and the ending feels like it comes out of left field. The story has some good build-up and a few good scares. But whatever creepiness that is there is quickly deflated with the ridiculous ending.
Compared to the book, and especially compared to some of the other episodes of the series, this episode was just okay. The acting wasn't terrible--it wasn't good mind you--but the story just didn't feel very convincing or effective on screen. Some of the night scenes felt too dark and rushed. Only the occasional moment felt good and seemed to have that classic Goosebumps atmosphere to them.
However, what really kills the story is the ending. I haven't read the book in many years and forgot how the book ended. So when the TV show ended on such an odd note I felt confused. I quickly went to the old copy of the book to see if I had been mistaken about the ending. I was disappointed to realize it was the same. If there had been better clues or build up to this type of ending the episode would have probably been a lot more successful. But there are no clues and the ending feels like it comes out of left field. The story has some good build-up and a few good scares. But whatever creepiness that is there is quickly deflated with the ridiculous ending.
Summing it Up
This episode just seems a little lame compared to some of the other great ones. It lacks the true camping atmosphere created by the book and doesn't have a lot of the charm that some of the other episodes have. It is an enjoyable episode in some respects but what elements do make it good are quickly destroyed by the strange ending.
Deaths: 0
Language: 0
Gore Factor: 1
Sex Factor: 0
Scare Factor: 1
Fun Factor: 2
Overall Rating: 2
Deaths: 0
Language: 0
Gore Factor: 1
Sex Factor: 0
Scare Factor: 1
Fun Factor: 2
Overall Rating: 2