Goosebumps Rewatch S01E10: Night of the Living Dummy II
“Night of the Living Dummy II” is the episode that introduced the world to Slappy and likely instilled ‘90s kids with a fear of ventriloquist dummies that they still have to this day.
The episode opens on a peaceful suburban home with piano music playing in the background. A young teen, Sarah, is showing her family a picture she painted of their house, entitled “Home Sweet Home.” She is going to enter it into the city art show. Her parents love it, but her sister Amy quips, “She showed us the exact same picture last family night.” Amy starts to get up, but her father tells her to wait her turn. Their brother Jed gets up instead, and announces that he’s made a movie all about the family. He presses play, and the video is full of embarrassing videos that he combines with snarky commentary, like a shot of their mom eating ice cream right from the container and Jed says, “There’s Mom sticking to her diet again!” Everyone in the family is angry, and their mother says that he has to ask to use the camera next time.
Finally, it’s Amy’s turn, and she sets herself up with her ventriloquist dummy, Dennis. She tells a joke, but when she’s making him laugh, his head falls off. “That’s the best part!” quips Jed. Amy is embarrassed and whines to her father that he said she could get a new dummy. “Look behind the couch!” says her father. Amy excitedly opens the giant box. Her father explains that he found the dummy just sitting in the window of a second-hand shop near his work.
Amy opens the box and sees her new dummy, named Slappy. She takes Slappy out of the box and finds a piece of paper in his pocket.
Amy reads the card out loud and says it sounds like a foreign language. She hugs Slappy and says, “You and I are gonna make a great team.”
That night, Amy is practicing with Slappy. Sarah comes in and warns Amy not to go in her room ever again (the video that Jed made showed Amy secretly trying on Sarah’s sweater). Sarah tells Amy to go to bed. “Don’t have to,” says Amy. “Yeah, we don’t have to,” agreed Slappy. Amy gasps and whips her head around, but Sarah doesn’t seem to notice. Amy decides to go to bed after all. She puts Slappy on a bench with Dennis on the side of her room, and wishes them both good night. Just as she’s going to turn off her light, she hears a thud. She gets up and finds Dennis on the floor. She thinks it’s just the old toy falling apart again, and shakes her head.
In the middle of the night, something creeps through the house and into Sarah’s room. It runs up to Sarah’s prized painting...
The next morning, Sarah is in tears. “It’s ruined!” she cries. Amy comes in carrying a paint brush. Her sister blames her for ruining the painting, but she says she didn’t do it; she just found the paint brush out in the hall. “I’m always blamed for everything around here!” she says. On her way out the door to school, she grabs Slappy’s hands and says, “Sorry you had to end up with such a bizarre family.” Pulling her hands away, she sees red paint on her hands. She checks Slappy’s hands and finds red paint there, too. “How did this get here?” she asks.
At the next family game night, Amy brings Slappy out for a show. Amy tells some jokes, but then Slappy takes over, making offensive comments about her family. “And how about that mother of yours! She went to the store and asked the clerk if he had something her size and he told her to try the freight elevator!”
Her family gets very upset, but Amy says it’s not her saying it - it’s Slappy! Amy tries to get Slappy off of her hand, but he’s stuck. She finally gets him off with the help of Sarah. Her father sends her and Slappy up to bed. Amy is frustrated, and closes Slappy back in his box.
The next day, Amy’s friend is over to help color posters for school. She brought her younger sister because she’s babysitting. The two girls complain about being the middle child and always being stuck doing everything. “Sometimes, I wish I didn’t have any brothers or sisters,” says Amy. In his box, Slappy hears.
Sarah stomps into the room, mad that Amy is using Sarah’s markers to do the poster. Sarah and Amy get into a fight. When Sarah leaves, the girls see Amy’s friend’s baby sister holding Slappy. “Don’t touch that!” cries Amy. “He said he couldn’t breathe in there,” says the little girl. Slappy says something mean about Amy’s friend. “I think he’s funny,” the little girl says, holding Slappy’s hand.
Then, Slappy grabs the girl’s finger and won’t let go! Amy begs Slappy to stop it. The girl screams. Slappy just laughs. Amy’s mother comes into the room, and Slappy shuts down. “What in the world is going on?” she asks. Amy tries to explain that Slappy grabbed the girl’s finger, but her friend accuses her of being a liar and tells her she never wants to see her again. She storms out. Furious, her mother locks Amy in her room... alone with Slappy.
When Amy’s father comes home, he tells Amy she can’t keep blaming the doll for bad things she doesn’t want to take responsibility for. Her brother and sister agree that it’s getting weird. Her father says he understands how she feels, being caught in the middle of her siblings. “Nobody’s listening to me! It’s all Slappy’s fault!” screams Amy. Her mother suggests that maybe Amy needs to go to a therapist. Amy maintains that she isn't making this up, and storms out.
That night, while Amy is asleep, Slappy sneaks out of the room again. Amy’s parents are in the living room, having fallen asleep watching TV. Amy wakes up and realizes that Slappy’s gone. She runs to the living room and catches Slappy about to smash her father’s guitar.
Amy tackles Slappy, but ends up smashing the guitar anyway and waking up her parents. “Amy, how could you?” asks her mother. Amy explains that Slappy was going to hit Dad, and she had to stop him. Her father does not believe her, and is furious. He tells her to go to bed, and they will talk to her in the morning.
At breakfast, they tell her they just cannot understand what’s going on with her, and she cannot keep blaming Slappy for everything. “When you’re ready to tell us what’s really bothering you, then we’ll talk,” says her father.
Amy heads out to a large road and throws Slappy down the sewer, saying, “You’re never going to hurt me again.” But that night, Sarah is wiping up some footprints that look suspiciously small...
Amy goes into her bedroom and sees tiny footprints leading under her bed. She peeks under it, and hears a voice from behind her saying her name. It’s Slappy! “We’re partners, remember?” says Slappy. He explains that Amy can’t get rid of him, because she spoke the magic words in his pocket. “You and I are one now. Inseparable. My slave.” Amy says she won’t be Slappy’s slave, but he reminds her that he already controls her, and that her whole family thinks she’s crazy.
Sarah comes into the room, and Slappy turns to face her, showing her that he is real. “Wanna play?” he asks her. The girls scream and run. The lock themselves in the bathroom. Slappy tries to get in, but can’t. The girls realize he must be going after Jed.
All the lights are off in the house, so the girls arm themselves with flashlights and mops to try and find Jed. In the kitchen, Slappy runs all around them, so fast they can’t keep up. He runs off and the girls chase him into the living room. Slappy trips Amy and she falls to the floor. She tries to reach the mop to defend herself with while Slappy climbs up onto the table and announces, “From now on, this family belongs to me!”
Suddenly, something jumps out at Slappy and knocks him to the floor. His head hits the ground and cracks open, and a green evil spirit comes out.
The girls’ parents come home right then, and the girls run into their arms. Sarah explains that Amy was telling the truth and Slappy was after them, but Jed saved their lives. But then, Jed appears on the stairs and says, “What’s going on? What’d I do?” “if you didn’t do it, then who...?” They turn around and see Dennis standing on the table.
“It’s good to be back in the family again,” he says.
That’s the end of “Night of the Living Dummy II.” On a scale of 1-10, how terrifying was Slappy when you first saw this episode? How about now?
