That's my favorite episode of the first season. I am saddened that Sid was only a one shot character, though he is brought back in the comics, though in his dummy form for some reason.
That reminds me of that Angel episode where a demon who is possessing a kid is trying to escape because the kid was the one who was evil and trying to kill his family.
The likely reason why "Night of the Living Dummy" wasn't adapted into a Goosebumps episode is because it wasn't actually focused on Slappy. Slappy was a relatively minor character in the book. The Living Dummy in question was a dummy named "Mr. Wood". By the time the series came out, Slappy was already turning into the breakout baddie that he is today, so the writers likely wanted to adapt the book where he's the main focus.
I was a little late getting into Goosebumps and I'd only ever read The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, before getting Dummy II as an Easter present. So later, when a classmate loaned me his copy of Dummy I, I was a little confused that Slappy wasn't more active, despite being on the cover - as much as I enjoyed it.
@@JStryker47 Actually Night of The Living Dummy 1 wasn't going to work is why it was never made into An Episode it was very Violent for A Kids Book I have never read it but I know that Slappy's Brother Mr. Wood gets smashed by A Steamroller I think that it was probably way too expensive for Them to rent or buy A Steamroller but They can have Mary Ann and Slappy get destroyed by A Buzz Saw in Bride of The Living Dummy and at The End of Night of The Living Dummy III part 2 Slappy gets struck by Lightning
And I think there's nothing wrong with that :) he made horror very accessible for children and many probably grew up to love more adult horror. I certainly did, he was my entry way to Stephen King, tbh.
Stine has borrowed from Twilight Zone enough that it's possible. But he's said the primary inspiration for Slappy was the original Pinocchio, as in, the original book which is more messed up. The offical reason we got recently why Dummy 1 wasn't adapted is that the showrunners Billy Brown & Dan Angel just liked this one more,, and it actually stars Slappy instead of Mr. Wood so they wanted to cut to Slappy.
Well, that, and in Dummy 1 Slappy wasn't the antagonist - so I think another, unofficial, reason is because Slappy was already an iconic monster in the series before the show was made, so I guess they didn't want to have a non-evil Slappy
oh man i never heard of an original pinocchio actually? its always the original cinderella or the original red hood, i guess it makes sense in hindsight but still
The Ventriloquist and Scarface from Batman the Animated Series might be worth a look for this, very much playing into that particular trope, but mixing both tropes of both the evil haunted/possessed dummy that has a life of its own, and the idea that the dummy is a psychological reflection of something broken in the man puppeteering it.
Seconded. BTAS was really good at handling the fact that a lot of the characters had psychological issues and treating them with sympathy. It’s interesting that Roses would go into the possessed dummy trope now, considering Deltarune’s popularity and how I’m pretty sure Spamton G. Spamton is an example of the trope.
I was honestly surprised that it wasn't mentioned. Especially given the greater focus on the psychological aspects. It was pretty big when it first came out, but seems to have faded out of the public consciousness in the subsequent decades.
@@Belgand i had no idea it existed until I did a 61 Days of Halloween film review last year and found it while digging for film fodder. Doing another one this year, it's been a blast
I'm pretty sure that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had an episode involving a possessed ventriloquist Dummy. Granted, I think he was more of an anti-hero, but the concept of a puppet coming to life still creeps the hell out of me. XD
On another note, "Say Cheese and Die" is eerily similar to the Twilight Zone episode "A Most Unusual Camera." I'm not certain if it's confirmed to be inspired by the TZ episode, but it's pretty beat for beat. Though I'd argue that Stein's version was a bit better. The ending of the original episode was a bit...quick, clunky and contrived.
And the Are You Afraid of the Dark episode, "The Tale of the Curious Camera". Which, coincidentally, the guy who played Spidey is also in as the previous owner of the camera (Richard McMillan)
And about the AYAOTD episode with the camera....in which in the Gossebumps "Say cheese and die" episode, the evil guy is the same actor in the "Tales of the curious camera" of AYAOTD!!!
So, for my birthday, you share a video about living dummies, one of my personal fears, from two of my favorite horror anthology TV shows. . . . I LOVE IT! Awesome video!
I would argue that the classic story of a possessed ventriloquist dummy goes all the way back to the British anthology horror film, Dead of Night (1945). I wouldn't be surprised if that was a direct influence on both Serling and Stine, not to mention the whole "evil dummy" trope in general. *That* would be an interesting comparison. :) Great job as usual, Roses. Edit: Of course, there's also The Great Gabbo, which you mentioned. Evil dummies go back far!
I was coming down to recommend Dead of Night as well. Such a good anthology and the ventriloquist story is perfection. Michael Redgrave is at the top of his game.
Speaking of 'Dead of Night': what's up with movies calling the ventriloquist doll 'Hugo'? Devil Doll did that as well. Actually, just did a google search since I was curious. Apparently it has a name meaning of 'mind' or 'spirit'. That makes a lot more sense.
A different take on the evil dummy trope: Tales from the Crypt, Season 2, Episode 10: "The Ventriloquist's Dummy." (Spoiler if you're not familiar) It turns out the dummy was a puppet, but the ventriloquist had a mutated evil twin for a hand. So the dummy was actually a disguise for the twin to use, so it could perform stand-up
The year I read night of the living dummy my grandmother, not knowing my reading habits and completely for no reason AT ALL, got me a Charlie McCarthy dummy. I shoved that thing so far back in my closet and never looked at it again. It terrified me.
The timing of you saying, "This is fine" and then fanfare at the end of the Twilight Zone synopsis, is so perfect. Literally made me laugh out loud. Very cool video ❤
"Yeah, it's clickbait. Mama needs her paycheck." Joke's on you, I would've clicked this video even if it was just titled "I Talk About Another Goosebumps Episode".
Very fun description of them both and nice synopsis's. I'm surprised you didn't mention Magic (1978) with Anthony Hopkins; it is darker but illustrates the dummy being in control more.
Willy took over his master. Slappy entranced everybody and wanted to take over the world. While they both play with the idea/trope of a ventroloquist dummy with an own soul, as opposed to a dummy who is given a voice by choice, their intentions are different. And the Twilight Zone deserves every second of analyses it can get.
I feel like R. L. Stine was blatantly trying to make child friendly versions of all kinds of horror & sci-fi stories, & most of his books, I can point to something or another that it's similar to, so this wouldn't surprise me that much, honestly.
Should have brought up the Ventriloquist from Batman as many times it’s played as “Scarface” the puppet, (having been craved from a Hangman’s tree) is able to possess the “evil” nature of the puppeteer, but it always leaves it ambiguous if the Puppet is alive or if the puppeteer is truly guilty.
One of the antagonists in the Black Panther comics is a ventriloquist, too (Achebe; his puppet was called Daki). He didn’t make it into the MCU film, though.
The twilight zone episode doesn't seem like it's about a supernatural doll, it's a story about someone struggling with dissociative identity disorder, feeling like they're being taken over by their headmate
Buffy has a great "Dummy Trope" episode, "The Puppet Show", in it's first season. It's really fun if you haven't seen it yet and can pretty easily be watched as a stand alone episode.
the evil talking doll trope has been around for some time and has been used a lot like in the anthology movie Dead of Night and Devil Doll as well as characters like scarface and the ventriloquist from dc comics. Perhaps it's the uncanny valley that makes the ventriloquist dummy an easy horror character
Regarding how to use dummies in horror: How about a throwback to the religious aspect of ventriloquism? The performer, while workshopping for his act, improvises a few insulting jokes about the audience. Something like, "Is that a bad haircut, or did you lose a fight with a weedwhacker?" Then, later in the day, that person happens to have an accident involving a weedwhacker. As things go on, the jokes become more disturbing, insulting, or even outright nonsensical, but always come true in some way. Though, this only happens when the dummy is telling the joke, and the dummy is ultimately not depicted as being alive in any way. Basically, depicting the dummy as a sort of object of clairvoyance for the performer; eventually predicting some sort of utter tragedy they're powerless to prevent. And perhaps also have some of the performer's relationships deteriorate because of superstitions revolving around the dummy and its predictions.
Or, if the idea is a ventriloquist is using the voice of the dead, the dummy sees people that wronged someone or caused the deaths of someone and begins to torment them through jokes like: "Ah, now THAT'S the look of a lady-killer, and one that's yet to be tried. Is that your new squeeze? Where'd you hide the cling film? Hey, Toots! Word of advice: don't ask him to make YOU a sandwich. I hear his culinary skills are PhD quality. Saw him in the morgue with a plate of Head Cheese! Ya hear me, my guy? I know what you did. You got a body count like Jack The Ripper."
Tales from The Crypt did the dummy plot the absolute best with The Ventriloquist's Dummy. It goes the way you'd expect at first and then just blind sides you with the ending. It's actually terrifying even if the ending is more on the goofy side if things
this video (specifically the part of the twilight zone) would randomly play in my head every once and a while and i could not for the life of me figure out what the hell i was remembering. i managed to convince myself i made it up but i continued to try and find it. several black and white movies later i end up on youtube where this video comes up. one of my fav videos from u
Fun Fact: It is widely believed that the twilight zone episode "The Dummy" was inspired if not lifted from a 1945 horror anthology called "Dead of Night", in which a ventriloquist is tormented by his dummy. So, in essence, Goosebumps ripped off the Twilight Zone and the Twilight Zone ripped off Dead of Night; everything's gotta come from somewhere.
I really really hope the original twilight zone doesnt fall into total obscurity with the new generations. Its the single greatest television series ever made and rod serling was a god amongst men
IIRC Night of the Living Dummy Two the family was actually born tone deaf. Which played part of the reason Slappy’s critiques hit. Also apparently the parents were supposed to help in the end but Dennis was apparently a ‘good’ dummy and used his lack of head to break Slappy.
“What else are you gonna do with a dummy?” Dead Silence took it in a direction that was interesting at first, and then the reveal was that… it was the same as every other dummy horror. I really want a story where it’s 100% natural horror, no supernatural elements. Ventriloquist is mocked for garbage looking dummies, makes human dolls, etc etc. The dummy being alive is just overplayed now, and there’s other things you could do!!
Oh man I recognized Caterina Scorsone as soon as she held up that painting, she's on Grey's Anatomy which is a very guilty pleasure show for me. The amount of dangers those doctors get in is leagues above any regular human
There's also a Tales From the Crypt episode featuring a ventriloquist that goes....places. You have a really good point about puppet stories having alot of similar elements! I think one exception could be the talent show episode from Buffy's first season since it does do something different with the concept.
YES!! I just finished a stressful mid-term exam, and during that mid-term, I was actually thinking, "It's been a while since I've seen a PushingUpRoses video. I should watch some after this." Excellent timing!!!!
There's an episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's first season "The Puppet Show" that involves a supposedly evil dummy that might be going around killing people. However, in classic Buffy fashion, that all gets turned on its head when it's revealed that the dummy is actual demon hunter who has to kill the demon who cursed in order to be freed and that demon is responsible for the deaths in the episode.
There's an episode of the 'the nightmare room' starring a young Shia Labouf with a very similar concept. Shia is tormented by a doll (played by an even younger Dylan&Cole Sprouse) from his childhood but no one believes him. The doll essentially starts ruining his life, and in the end, Shia ends up getting turned into a doll himself.
LOL. "da doy dought da dasketdall"... MAN that was a blast from the past thank you. You really shine with these nostalgic show/movie/game videos, keep it up please! You rock the party that rocks: *fill in blank*
My favorite version of this type of story is the Tales From The Crypt episode simply called The Ventriloquist's Dummy, starring DOn Rickles and Bobcat Goldthwait. That takes it in a really interesting different direction.
I kinda like the convoluted twist on dummy-horror in "Devil Doll" where the ventriloquist is downright evil and soul traps his assistant's consciousness in a dummy. In the end the assistant is able to gather enough willpower to swap bodies with the ventriloquist and escape. Is the rest of the movie good? No. But it made for a great MST3k episode.
Scarface and The Ventriloquist from The Batman cartoon mixes psychological horror and crime. Like how Scarface is the nightmarish id of The Ventriloquist.
This is so strange... I literally just watched an video from Channel Awesome's Walter Banasiak (from his "Twilight-tober" reviews) about the camera that takes pictures that tell the future... another subject that Goosebumps (and Are You Afraid of the Dark) did a take on. Not 10 minutes after I watch it, and this video popped up about the dummy episodes of each show. How very bizarre and coincidental xD
Twilight Zone reviews would be fun. Over here, original episodes are hard to find. Even in short review format, you still manage to convey the horror intended. Also totally unrelated, I'm currently on my third Murder She Wrote episode today
I feel these stories are very different where slappy is straightforward demon doll the older is psychological where their reality itself is questioned. I do think they are similar but as roses stated how many ways can a ventriloquist plot go.
Welcome back, Roses! Glad you're taking care and treating yourself right. You're as observant and witty and snarky and clever and hilarious as ever (trying to meet the Schoolhouse Rock adjective quota).
Night of the Living Dummy 3 actually does have some of the characters being turned into Dummies by Slappy, and I'm pretty sure that becomes a big plot point in the Horror Land series, with Slappy having his own "Cult of Chucky" type thing going on
I think you might find the ventriloquist/scarface from Batman the animated series really interesting. From my recollection, the dummy is not alive and more serves as a conduit for the ventriloquist's inability to express his own negative emotions.
Actually, (my dad's a ventriloquist which is how I know) dummy's heads are usually plaster on top of carved wood that's been fitted together so that the mechanisms will work. Especially the higher quality dummies will have that from that kind of style. I don't think they'd shatter like they do in the shows but they will cause a LOT of mess if you break them. To be fair, I could've sworn that the head's design was gone over in the book Night of the Living Dummy.....but I don't remember if it was 1, 2, or 3. Sorry for the rant here........I just wanted to let you know.
I'm so glad you did this video. This trope is near and dear to my heart, and both these episodes, as well as the movie, Magic (1978), have been major inspirations for my own work.
I choose to believe the club dancers in "The Dummy" were a coven of powerful witches who had brought Willy to life for random reasons, possibly not even intentionally at first, then just allowed him to run amok. No thoughts yet on the impetus behind the OTHER Twilight Zone "living dummy" episode "Ceasar and Me."
Well, witches aren't good, so whatever their intentions are would be for the torture and suffering of their victims. Remember that evil can come in the guise of a friendly smile.
@@charliek7896 Whoever told you that is definitely lying. Even the devil can portray himself as an angel of light. They cause apostasy and have proved that child sacrifice is still going on, but that they are downplaying it and it calling it something else to make it look the opposite of barbaric.
Ventriloquist dummies have always freaked me out. Love to watch anything that deals with them horror wise. The movie "Magic" starring Anthony Hopkins is one of the best to involve the concept.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) episode 818 in 1997 featured the 1964 black and white British horror film "Devil Doll." A ventriloquist, the Great Vorelli, has the act of having super-tense arguments with his dummy Hugo on stage. The audience even watches the dummy stand and walk around on his own. We find out that once upon a time Vorelli moved the soul of an innocent man named Hugo into the dummy. Hugo has been trying to find a way out, and eventually is able to switch their souls, so that Hugo escapes into Vorelli's body and the evil Vorelli is trapped in the dummy. Very good inversion of the evil dummy trope.
I was watching a video a little while ago about how Stine would regularly take horror movies from the era and make kid friendly versions, like how Night of the Living Dummy could easily be a more kid friendly version of Chucky. It’s not like concrete or anything but I like the idea. Also the Buffy episode with the dummy is a great reversal of the evil dummy trope!
RL Stine being basically Stephen King for kids... Holy cheese, you are just TOO on point there. I watched Goosebumps and Are You Afraid Of The Dark as a kid, and watching DVDs of Stephen King's TV specials 20-30 years later just captured so much of the same energy.
Chronologically the first dummy gone evil I can think of is 1945's Dead of Night that involves one story in which a guy and his dummy are at odds and the dummy seems to be trying to leave him for another. Leading to the guy trying to kill the other artist and then later smothering and then smashing the head of Hugo. May be worth a watch, anthology horror film, first made in the UK after the war. Has a really weird golf story.
For more of the psychological aspects of ventriloquism - I think Nina Conti In Therapy is an example of what you're after. It's definitely more like the Great Gabbo where she uses her puppet to speak for her, and there's no real question about the puppet itself being evil. It's more a question about how much of her behaviour, through the puppet, is truly compulsive or if she has more control over what's she's doing than she'll admit to.
I feel that the goosebumps one is a bit of an homage, both to the episode and to classic dummies. R.L. Stein took something kids used to love and made it spooky for kids. He did it so well.
My favorite Dummy episode is The Puppet Show in season 1 of Buffy. I like it because they surprise you (or at least surprised me) by having the dummy be alive but not actually the bad guy as it seems in the beginning. He ends up being an entity that also tracks demons and ends up helping Buffy. I also liked it because Buffy and friends are as terrified at having to perform in a school talent show as at a demon that kills students and steals their body parts. Relatable.
I am dying! Dying! I distinctly remember that episode of Doug! And then he imagined he had a TV show called "Doug's No Dummy" where he walked out onto the set in front of the audience and said, "Da doy dought da dasketdall!" with the cadence of a classic catchphrase to the laughter and applause of the audience. I remember laughing hysterically at the ridiculous scene as a kid. I can always rely on this channel to have the most absolutely perfect callbacks. EDIT: AND Lamb Chop?! Get out of my head!
There is an old British anthology movie from Ealing Studios called Dead of Night. In this movie the screenwriter John Baines created the evil dummy trope. His work went on to be readapted and made into all sorts of media. That movie is groundbreaking in a number of other ways. It introduced the idea of a time loop universe. Plus for history buffs it was one of the only horror films made in England during the war. The dummy story is still pretty chilling.
Super Mario RPG had a puppet and it was the coolest character in the game for me, that could be another approach. Let the dolls fight. Alien shenanigans instead of voodoo.
Strong agree with the other comment. If you ever want to do OG Twilight Zone videos, I'm here for them. :D
Yes!!!! Totally agreee
This. Please.
Hekkin SAME.
Absolutely agreed!!!
I'm more an Outer Limits fan, but yes to OG Twilight Zone
“Yeah it’s click-bait, mama needs her paycheck.” As Roses should! As she should! 😌
I'd rather Roses be independently wealthy and not need her paycheck.
And, I mean.. Is it? The question *is* genuinely asked and thoroughly investigated in the video, I don't even consider it click-bait :)
Me knowing that basically yes, Goosebumps did: - still clicks on video because mama needs her pay check -
The she should be on Sardonicast.
Honey, go ahead and cash on that clickbait!
You’ve been researching those creepy dolls, you’ve earned it.
Big fan of the Buffy episode where it turns out the possessed dummy is a good guy trying to stop a worse monster.
That's my favorite episode of the first season. I am saddened that Sid was only a one shot character, though he is brought back in the comics, though in his dummy form for some reason.
Very clever twist in that episode
@@vampman87 I'm sure he was brought back in the video games
@@vampman87 honestly I wish it was at least mentioned in the video
That reminds me of that Angel episode where a demon who is possessing a kid is trying to escape because the kid was the one who was evil and trying to kill his family.
The likely reason why "Night of the Living Dummy" wasn't adapted into a Goosebumps episode is because it wasn't actually focused on Slappy. Slappy was a relatively minor character in the book. The Living Dummy in question was a dummy named "Mr. Wood". By the time the series came out, Slappy was already turning into the breakout baddie that he is today, so the writers likely wanted to adapt the book where he's the main focus.
I was a little late getting into Goosebumps and I'd only ever read The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, before getting Dummy II as an Easter present. So later, when a classmate loaned me his copy of Dummy I, I was a little confused that Slappy wasn't more active, despite being on the cover - as much as I enjoyed it.
Maybe they both copied Dead of Night from 1945.
@@JStryker47 Actually Night of The Living Dummy 1 wasn't going to work is why it was never made into An Episode it was very Violent for A Kids Book I have never read it but I know that Slappy's Brother Mr. Wood gets smashed by A Steamroller I think that it was probably way too expensive for Them to rent or buy A Steamroller but They can have Mary Ann and Slappy get destroyed by A Buzz Saw in Bride of The Living Dummy and at The End of Night of The Living Dummy III part 2 Slappy gets struck by Lightning
@@jackgarrison8497 Wait, wait, wait... *Bride* of the Living Dummy?!
I hate Slappy so much
"The doy dot the dasketdoll" was buried so deeply in my subconscious it unearthed like 5 other forgotten memories on it's way up.
I just recently bought a Beets killer tofu tour 95' T-shirt.
oh man, big same. holy shit
@@chesspunk489 I saw one and plan on getting it too 😂😂😂 ohhhh eeeee oooooo killer tofu
@@karabartley It's the kind of shirt that is bound to make people smile that get the reference.
I never watched Doug, but I definitely knew that phrase from when I tried learning ventriloquism.
I mean, R L Stine basically rewrote famous horror stories for kids. Even the names of the books are mostly references to other things.
Night of the Living Mummy anyone? ;D
And I think there's nothing wrong with that :) he made horror very accessible for children and many probably grew up to love more adult horror. I certainly did, he was my entry way to Stephen King, tbh.
Thank you
I'm pretty sure "Say Cheese and Die" was based off a Twilight Zone episode, too.
*cough* Disney did this too *cough* *cough*
Stine has borrowed from Twilight Zone enough that it's possible. But he's said the primary inspiration for Slappy was the original Pinocchio, as in, the original book which is more messed up.
The offical reason we got recently why Dummy 1 wasn't adapted is that the showrunners Billy Brown & Dan Angel just liked this one more,, and it actually stars Slappy instead of Mr. Wood so they wanted to cut to Slappy.
Well, that, and in Dummy 1 Slappy wasn't the antagonist - so I think another, unofficial, reason is because Slappy was already an iconic monster in the series before the show was made, so I guess they didn't want to have a non-evil Slappy
The disappointmemt of the look of the dummy always made me wonder why they just didn't do the first book. Thank you for some clues
oh man i never heard of an original pinocchio actually? its always the original cinderella or the original red hood, i guess it makes sense in hindsight but still
Thank you
First Willy, then Slappy, now there's a Mr Wood? I really need to get my mind out of the gutter!
The Ventriloquist and Scarface from Batman the Animated Series might be worth a look for this, very much playing into that particular trope, but mixing both tropes of both the evil haunted/possessed dummy that has a life of its own, and the idea that the dummy is a psychological reflection of something broken in the man puppeteering it.
Seconded. BTAS was really good at handling the fact that a lot of the characters had psychological issues and treating them with sympathy.
It’s interesting that Roses would go into the possessed dummy trope now, considering Deltarune’s popularity and how I’m pretty sure Spamton G. Spamton is an example of the trope.
Tales from the Crypt also toyed with this concept in a season 2 episode, but then subverted it with a James Wan twist.
@@governor_explosion honestly, that's just Batman in general.
I was going to say the exact same thing! I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned in the video.
Scarface/ventriloquist in general is one of my favorite batman villains
"Magic" with Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margaret is a fantastic killer dummy/crazed ventriloquist hybrid film
The fact that you know what that is mankes me so happy! I love the eark and/or killer doll/dummy genre in horror
I was going to say mention this film also
I was honestly surprised that it wasn't mentioned. Especially given the greater focus on the psychological aspects. It was pretty big when it first came out, but seems to have faded out of the public consciousness in the subsequent decades.
Was about to comment this exact thing.
@@Belgand i had no idea it existed until I did a 61 Days of Halloween film review last year and found it while digging for film fodder. Doing another one this year, it's been a blast
As an adult, I certainly didn't chortle at "slappy" being inspired by "willy."
Slappy? Willy....
my mind is so in the gutter pervrsion
@@genomcyber7731 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@princessmarlena1359 i feel you Princess. I feel you .
Shit. no pun intended xD
*insert bad joke about misbehaving wood*
@@skyllalafey damn. that was a Hard one
I'm pretty sure that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had an episode involving a possessed ventriloquist Dummy. Granted, I think he was more of an anti-hero, but the concept of a puppet coming to life still creeps the hell out of me. XD
It was in season 1 I think! The dummy was actually a good person but still incredibly creepy.
@@TheHopperUK Exactly.
It's a great episode, it plays on everyone's assumptions on both who is the monster and then who the person they need to save is.
@@TheBT a total flip on the whole "possessed dummy" thing.
There was an Angel episode with killer muppets...
On another note, "Say Cheese and Die" is eerily similar to the Twilight Zone episode "A Most Unusual Camera." I'm not certain if it's confirmed to be inspired by the TZ episode, but it's pretty beat for beat. Though I'd argue that Stein's version was a bit better. The ending of the original episode was a bit...quick, clunky and contrived.
Roses has a video about that episode 👍
@@v1de0gamr23 thank you! My memory isn’t the best so I probably forgot about it. Time to find it and rewatch :p
And the Are You Afraid of the Dark episode, "The Tale of the Curious Camera". Which, coincidentally, the guy who played Spidey is also in as the previous owner of the camera (Richard McMillan)
@@TurquoiseStar17 I will believe that one was trying to rip off the Goosebumps book
And about the AYAOTD episode with the camera....in which in the Gossebumps "Say cheese and die" episode, the evil guy is the same actor in the "Tales of the curious camera" of AYAOTD!!!
Clearly, RL Stine ripped off the Family Matters character, Stevil.
Stevil, oh yeah. The evil version of Steve, which was basically Family Matters homage to The Nutty Professor.
Duh
"Jerry and his puppet Willy" sounds like a fun stage show for the whole family.
"Do not touch Willy. Good advice."
So, for my birthday, you share a video about living dummies, one of my personal fears, from two of my favorite horror anthology TV shows.
.
.
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I LOVE IT! Awesome video!
I would argue that the classic story of a possessed ventriloquist dummy goes all the way back to the British anthology horror film, Dead of Night (1945). I wouldn't be surprised if that was a direct influence on both Serling and Stine, not to mention the whole "evil dummy" trope in general. *That* would be an interesting comparison. :) Great job as usual, Roses.
Edit: Of course, there's also The Great Gabbo, which you mentioned. Evil dummies go back far!
I was coming down to recommend Dead of Night as well. Such a good anthology and the ventriloquist story is perfection. Michael Redgrave is at the top of his game.
You beat me to it. “Dead of Night” is, to me, one of the classics of British cinema.
Also, Gabbo was the name of a ventriloquist dummy on The Simpsons.
Speaking of 'Dead of Night': what's up with movies calling the ventriloquist doll 'Hugo'? Devil Doll did that as well. Actually, just did a google search since I was curious. Apparently it has a name meaning of 'mind' or 'spirit'. That makes a lot more sense.
The Great Gabbo was such a good movie.
I kinda like the idea that Dennis wasn't wholly good when he took down Slappy. That he did it out of jealousy more than saving his kid.
Just in time for the month of October, too. Hope for more, Roses.
A different take on the evil dummy trope: Tales from the Crypt, Season 2, Episode 10: "The Ventriloquist's Dummy." (Spoiler if you're not familiar) It turns out the dummy was a puppet, but the ventriloquist had a mutated evil twin for a hand. So the dummy was actually a disguise for the twin to use, so it could perform stand-up
@@Mrgn_sf This made me laugh harder than it should
That's genius, and I love it
There's actually two good ventriloquist stories. One in S3 and S4.
The year I read night of the living dummy my grandmother, not knowing my reading habits and completely for no reason AT ALL, got me a Charlie McCarthy dummy. I shoved that thing so far back in my closet and never looked at it again. It terrified me.
Also once again requesting “If The Frame Fits” Murder She Wrote episode.
That's so funny!
Man your poor grandma 🤣🤣🤣 but as they say it’s the thought that counts
@@elif6908 I'm imagining poor Grandma eagerly awaiting her grandaughter's performance...
Just saying, there is absolutely no way to make these dolls look any creepier.
This isn’t an invite to try. I’m still interested in sleeping at night
Why do they make them look like that?!
The 1978 movie Magic starring Anthony Hopkins did the concept of a disturbed ventriloquist very well and it's worth a watch
Man, THAT was a great Movie.
Almost forgot that Flick existed
This is the movie I always think of when I see the goosebumps episode
The TV trailers for MAGIC scared the crap out of me as a kid...
I was looking to see if anyone had noted this film. So good
The timing of you saying, "This is fine" and then fanfare at the end of the Twilight Zone synopsis, is so perfect. Literally made me laugh out loud. Very cool video ❤
The editing is so good and funny
"Yeah, it's clickbait. Mama needs her paycheck."
Joke's on you, I would've clicked this video even if it was just titled "I Talk About Another Goosebumps Episode".
Same
The Dummy had one of the creepiest endings of any Twilight Zone. The idea of being trapped in the body of a wooden dummy forever is chilling.
Very fun description of them both and nice synopsis's.
I'm surprised you didn't mention Magic (1978) with Anthony Hopkins; it is darker but illustrates the dummy being in control more.
The original TV spots for that movie still haunt me.
Just looked it up. Film is on RUclips. Looks terribly disturbing.
This was my first thought. One of my favorites for its ultra-creepiness.
Willy took over his master.
Slappy entranced everybody and wanted to take over the world.
While they both play with the idea/trope of a ventroloquist dummy with an own soul, as opposed to a dummy who is given a voice by choice, their intentions are different.
And the Twilight Zone deserves every second of analyses it can get.
Sloppy?
@@magicalpasta5462 Oops. That was silly. 😆
I feel like R. L. Stine was blatantly trying to make child friendly versions of all kinds of horror & sci-fi stories, & most of his books, I can point to something or another that it's similar to, so this wouldn't surprise me that much, honestly.
Exactly he wanted to introduce kids to horror without getting TOO graphic
"yea it's clickbait, mama needs her paycheck" the honesty alone made me subscribed.
There is also an episode of Tales from the Crypt that seems very inspired by the Twilight Zone episode. The dummy turns out to be a conjoined twin.
staring Bobcat Golthwait! I instantly thought of that when watching this.
@@evilkinggumby Tales from the Crypt is classic. I need to check out The Twilight Zone.
There is a later season episode with an evil marionette puppet also.
@@caucasoidape8838 Tales from the Crypt? I have to go back and look to jog my memory.
Should have brought up the Ventriloquist from Batman as many times it’s played as “Scarface” the puppet, (having been craved from a Hangman’s tree) is able to possess the “evil” nature of the puppeteer, but it always leaves it ambiguous if the Puppet is alive or if the puppeteer is truly guilty.
One of the antagonists in the Black Panther comics is a ventriloquist, too (Achebe; his puppet was called Daki). He didn’t make it into the MCU film, though.
@@themasongreenexperience7011 hope he does though cuz I'm a suckered for the ventriloquist trope so I would love to see him in the mcu
The twilight zone episode doesn't seem like it's about a supernatural doll, it's a story about someone struggling with dissociative identity disorder, feeling like they're being taken over by their headmate
One of the better uses of a dummy in horror was the Tales from the Crypt episode with Bob Goldthwaite. Definitely one of my favorites 😁
Would love to see you cover the Goosebumps episode Phantom of the Auditorium.
I sure hope she does! Your perseverence is legendary
Buffy has a great "Dummy Trope" episode, "The Puppet Show", in it's first season. It's really fun if you haven't seen it yet and can pretty easily be watched as a stand alone episode.
the evil talking doll trope has been around for some time and has been used a lot like in the anthology movie Dead of Night and Devil Doll as well as characters like scarface and the ventriloquist from dc comics. Perhaps it's the uncanny valley that makes the ventriloquist dummy an easy horror character
Yep, here's your problem. Someone set this thing to evil.
Actually, in "Devil Doll", the ventriloquist was the bad guy and the puppet was his prisoner/slave.
@@fisheyenomiko true but during the movie you have that mislead making the audience think the doll was evil when in truth he was a victim
All he wanted was ham. Why can't he have ham?
Regarding how to use dummies in horror:
How about a throwback to the religious aspect of ventriloquism? The performer, while workshopping for his act, improvises a few insulting jokes about the audience. Something like, "Is that a bad haircut, or did you lose a fight with a weedwhacker?" Then, later in the day, that person happens to have an accident involving a weedwhacker.
As things go on, the jokes become more disturbing, insulting, or even outright nonsensical, but always come true in some way. Though, this only happens when the dummy is telling the joke, and the dummy is ultimately not depicted as being alive in any way.
Basically, depicting the dummy as a sort of object of clairvoyance for the performer; eventually predicting some sort of utter tragedy they're powerless to prevent. And perhaps also have some of the performer's relationships deteriorate because of superstitions revolving around the dummy and its predictions.
sounds similar to the camera of "Say Cheese and Die"
every picture shows something wrong that happens later.
It kind of does, doesn't it?
I had the theme of "predicting the future isn't always a good thing" on the mind when I came up with that idea.
@@AaronderSchaedel it sounds cool though
Or, if the idea is a ventriloquist is using the voice of the dead, the dummy sees people that wronged someone or caused the deaths of someone and begins to torment them through jokes like:
"Ah, now THAT'S the look of a lady-killer, and one that's yet to be tried. Is that your new squeeze? Where'd you hide the cling film? Hey, Toots! Word of advice: don't ask him to make YOU a sandwich. I hear his culinary skills are PhD quality. Saw him in the morgue with a plate of Head Cheese! Ya hear me, my guy? I know what you did. You got a body count like Jack The Ripper."
Great video! OG Twilight Zone always makes me happy.
Tales from The Crypt did the dummy plot the absolute best with The Ventriloquist's Dummy. It goes the way you'd expect at first and then just blind sides you with the ending. It's actually terrifying even if the ending is more on the goofy side if things
P.S. as roses said "wow this is how I die", I ended up choking on my soda so... That's eery as heck
this video (specifically the part of the twilight zone) would randomly play in my head every once and a while and i could not for the life of me figure out what the hell i was remembering. i managed to convince myself i made it up but i continued to try and find it. several black and white movies later i end up on youtube where this video comes up. one of my fav videos from u
The twilight zone episode an Unusual Camera, was totally the inspiration for say cheese and die. So yeah.
Yeah at the very least Stine was subconsciously heavily influenced by The Twilight Zone if not out and out rewriting them.
Yeah, we have also see Nostalgic Critic today
Yup pure coincidence the nc twilight zone review came out the same day. It's what made me think of it.
@@dbel1980 okay
Fun Fact: It is widely believed that the twilight zone episode "The Dummy" was inspired if not lifted from a 1945 horror anthology called "Dead of Night", in which a ventriloquist is tormented by his dummy. So, in essence, Goosebumps ripped off the Twilight Zone and the Twilight Zone ripped off Dead of Night; everything's gotta come from somewhere.
Looking for this comment
I really really hope the original twilight zone doesnt fall into total obscurity with the new generations. Its the single greatest television series ever made and rod serling was a god amongst men
IIRC Night of the Living Dummy Two the family was actually born tone deaf. Which played part of the reason Slappy’s critiques hit. Also apparently the parents were supposed to help in the end but Dennis was apparently a ‘good’ dummy and used his lack of head to break Slappy.
“What else are you gonna do with a dummy?” Dead Silence took it in a direction that was interesting at first, and then the reveal was that… it was the same as every other dummy horror. I really want a story where it’s 100% natural horror, no supernatural elements. Ventriloquist is mocked for garbage looking dummies, makes human dolls, etc etc. The dummy being alive is just overplayed now, and there’s other things you could do!!
“What was his problem? Oh whatever, dance! 1 2 3 4” 😂 I replayed that far too many times haha
Oh man I recognized Caterina Scorsone as soon as she held up that painting, she's on Grey's Anatomy which is a very guilty pleasure show for me. The amount of dangers those doctors get in is leagues above any regular human
There's also a Tales From the Crypt episode featuring a ventriloquist that goes....places. You have a really good point about puppet stories having alot of similar elements! I think one exception could be the talent show episode from Buffy's first season since it does do something different with the concept.
YES!! I just finished a stressful mid-term exam, and during that mid-term, I was actually thinking, "It's been a while since I've seen a PushingUpRoses video. I should watch some after this." Excellent timing!!!!
There's an episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's first season "The Puppet Show" that involves a supposedly evil dummy that might be going around killing people. However, in classic Buffy fashion, that all gets turned on its head when it's revealed that the dummy is actual demon hunter who has to kill the demon who cursed in order to be freed and that demon is responsible for the deaths in the episode.
20 dollars in the 1950's is the equivalent of nearly 190 dollars today.
Bro! My therapist charged $120.00 per hour!! They were freaking garbage, too!!!
Also 20 dollars an hour would be the case even today, if USA had a healthcare system like the rest of western world does!
Places where I remember "creepy ventriloquist dummy" being used as a trope:
Arthur
Family Matters
an episode of Buffy called "The Puppet Show."
There's an episode of the 'the nightmare room' starring a young Shia Labouf with a very similar concept. Shia is tormented by a doll (played by an even younger Dylan&Cole Sprouse) from his childhood but no one believes him. The doll essentially starts ruining his life, and in the end, Shia ends up getting turned into a doll himself.
LOL. "da doy dought da dasketdall"... MAN that was a blast from the past thank you. You really shine with these nostalgic show/movie/game videos, keep it up please!
You rock the party that rocks: *fill in blank*
“Wow, this is how I die” I love your sense of humor 😂
My favorite version of this type of story is the Tales From The Crypt episode simply called The Ventriloquist's Dummy, starring DOn Rickles and Bobcat Goldthwait. That takes it in a really interesting different direction.
I kinda like the convoluted twist on dummy-horror in "Devil Doll" where the ventriloquist is downright evil and soul traps his assistant's consciousness in a dummy. In the end the assistant is able to gather enough willpower to swap bodies with the ventriloquist and escape. Is the rest of the movie good? No. But it made for a great MST3k episode.
That's the exact plot of a Jimmy Neutron episode, throughout the episode Hugh's dummy was absorbing his soul in order to become alive
I wasn't ready to have Rose talk about someone's willi for about 15 minutes.
Scarface and The Ventriloquist from The Batman cartoon mixes psychological horror and crime. Like how Scarface is the nightmarish id of The Ventriloquist.
MORE TWILIGHT ZONE VIDEOS PLEASE!!!!
Glad you took a break for your mental health, great to have you back! Your sense of humour is so my jam haha 👏✨
Even murder she wrote covered this though in one of the Jess light eps
I’m so excited!! Literally my favorite channel.
This is so strange... I literally just watched an video from Channel Awesome's Walter Banasiak (from his "Twilight-tober" reviews) about the camera that takes pictures that tell the future... another subject that Goosebumps (and Are You Afraid of the Dark) did a take on.
Not 10 minutes after I watch it, and this video popped up about the dummy episodes of each show.
How very bizarre and coincidental xD
So glad you dropped a holiday special :)
IMO the best version of this trope is absolutely Sid the Dummy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Twilight Zone reviews would be fun. Over here, original episodes are hard to find. Even in short review format, you still manage to convey the horror intended. Also totally unrelated, I'm currently on my third Murder She Wrote episode today
Yes, but lots of things did. Realistically, TZ has been as influential as Star Wars (if not more so).
Lol, Star Wars itself was ripping a bunch of other stuff off...
"Yes, click bait. Mama needs her paycheck!" 😂🤣
Oh, Roses. Your videos and THE BEST! Keep up the great work! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I feel these stories are very different where slappy is straightforward demon doll the older is psychological where their reality itself is questioned. I do think they are similar but as roses stated how many ways can a ventriloquist plot go.
Welcome back, Roses! Glad you're taking care and treating yourself right.
You're as observant and witty and snarky and clever and hilarious as ever (trying to meet the Schoolhouse Rock adjective quota).
Night of the Living Dummy 3 actually does have some of the characters being turned into Dummies by Slappy, and I'm pretty sure that becomes a big plot point in the Horror Land series, with Slappy having his own "Cult of Chucky" type thing going on
That's the one with Christian Hadenson? Probably spelled that wrong. I loved that one, same with Escape from Terror Tower.
Would love more videos on the original twilight zone episodes, definitely would be there for that!
Edgar Bergen was so bad at it. He always made radio performances, but his mouth was always moving live.
He was so bad at it that Charlie McCarthy would make fun of it. Bergen's strength was character work, and he may have been the best ever
I always thought that Dennis saw that Slappy was Evil was protecting his family.
Even if so, A rip off can still be very good.
I think you might find the ventriloquist/scarface from Batman the animated series really interesting. From my recollection, the dummy is not alive and more serves as a conduit for the ventriloquist's inability to express his own negative emotions.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if many of the stories were essentially modernized Twilight Zone episodes.
e: I think dummy heads are porcelain
Actually, (my dad's a ventriloquist which is how I know) dummy's heads are usually plaster on top of carved wood that's been fitted together so that the mechanisms will work. Especially the higher quality dummies will have that from that kind of style.
I don't think they'd shatter like they do in the shows but they will cause a LOT of mess if you break them. To be fair, I could've sworn that the head's design was gone over in the book Night of the Living Dummy.....but I don't remember if it was 1, 2, or 3.
Sorry for the rant here........I just wanted to let you know.
I'm so glad you did this video. This trope is near and dear to my heart, and both these episodes, as well as the movie, Magic (1978), have been major inspirations for my own work.
I choose to believe the club dancers in "The Dummy" were a coven of powerful witches who had brought Willy to life for random reasons, possibly not even intentionally at first, then just allowed him to run amok.
No thoughts yet on the impetus behind the OTHER Twilight Zone "living dummy" episode "Ceasar and Me."
Well, witches aren't good, so whatever their intentions are would be for the torture and suffering of their victims. Remember that evil can come in the guise of a friendly smile.
@@graciegj63 "witches aren't good." Not true. Some witches are good.
@@charliek7896 Whoever told you that is definitely lying. Even the devil can portray himself as an angel of light. They cause apostasy and have proved that child sacrifice is still going on, but that they are downplaying it and it calling it something else to make it look the opposite of barbaric.
Ventriloquist dummies have always freaked me out. Love to watch anything that deals with them horror wise. The movie "Magic" starring Anthony Hopkins is one of the best to involve the concept.
"Devil Doll" from 1964 is a creepy movie about a Ventriloquist/hypnotist. It's pretty bad, but tolerable when you are watching MST3K.
ive been binging your video essays and i gotta say i love em.
Woohoo! Can’t wait to watch, came straight from your post. Glad you enjoyed your break!
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) episode 818 in 1997 featured the 1964 black and white British horror film "Devil Doll." A ventriloquist, the Great Vorelli, has the act of having super-tense arguments with his dummy Hugo on stage. The audience even watches the dummy stand and walk around on his own. We find out that once upon a time Vorelli moved the soul of an innocent man named Hugo into the dummy. Hugo has been trying to find a way out, and eventually is able to switch their souls, so that Hugo escapes into Vorelli's body and the evil Vorelli is trapped in the dummy. Very good inversion of the evil dummy trope.
I was watching a video a little while ago about how Stine would regularly take horror movies from the era and make kid friendly versions, like how Night of the Living Dummy could easily be a more kid friendly version of Chucky. It’s not like concrete or anything but I like the idea. Also the Buffy episode with the dummy is a great reversal of the evil dummy trope!
If you haven't already, you guys should watch 'Magic' starring Anthony Hopkins - that's also a horror film about a ventriloquist and his dummy.
RL Stine being basically Stephen King for kids... Holy cheese, you are just TOO on point there. I watched Goosebumps and Are You Afraid Of The Dark as a kid, and watching DVDs of Stephen King's TV specials 20-30 years later just captured so much of the same energy.
Chronologically the first dummy gone evil I can think of is 1945's Dead of Night that involves one story in which a guy and his dummy are at odds and the dummy seems to be trying to leave him for another. Leading to the guy trying to kill the other artist and then later smothering and then smashing the head of Hugo.
May be worth a watch, anthology horror film, first made in the UK after the war. Has a really weird golf story.
For more of the psychological aspects of ventriloquism - I think Nina Conti In Therapy is an example of what you're after. It's definitely more like the Great Gabbo where she uses her puppet to speak for her, and there's no real question about the puppet itself being evil. It's more a question about how much of her behaviour, through the puppet, is truly compulsive or if she has more control over what's she's doing than she'll admit to.
I feel that the goosebumps one is a bit of an homage, both to the episode and to classic dummies. R.L. Stein took something kids used to love and made it spooky for kids. He did it so well.
My favorite Dummy episode is The Puppet Show in season 1 of Buffy. I like it because they surprise you (or at least surprised me) by having the dummy be alive but not actually the bad guy as it seems in the beginning. He ends up being an entity that also tracks demons and ends up helping Buffy. I also liked it because Buffy and friends are as terrified at having to perform in a school talent show as at a demon that kills students and steals their body parts. Relatable.
"Tale's from the Crypt " has a great episode in the 2nd season entitled"Ventriloquist Dummy " . Starring Bobcat Goldfweit and Don Rickles
I am dying! Dying! I distinctly remember that episode of Doug! And then he imagined he had a TV show called "Doug's No Dummy" where he walked out onto the set in front of the audience and said, "Da doy dought da dasketdall!" with the cadence of a classic catchphrase to the laughter and applause of the audience. I remember laughing hysterically at the ridiculous scene as a kid. I can always rely on this channel to have the most absolutely perfect callbacks.
EDIT: AND Lamb Chop?! Get out of my head!
Thanks for a video. Your analyses are always nice to hear.
Please keep old school Roses as the main content! so happy for something like this, it's been too long.
When a Stranger Calls Back is a wild movie, it’s not evil toys or dummies per se but it’s in the same ballpark. It might be up your alley!
There is an old British anthology movie from Ealing Studios called Dead of Night. In this movie the screenwriter John Baines created the evil dummy trope. His work went on to be readapted and made into all sorts of media. That movie is groundbreaking in a number of other ways. It introduced the idea of a time loop universe. Plus for history buffs it was one of the only horror films made in England during the war. The dummy story is still pretty chilling.
Super Mario RPG had a puppet and it was the coolest character in the game for me, that could be another approach. Let the dolls fight. Alien shenanigans instead of voodoo.