The Nightmare Room #10: Full Moon Halloween

Published: September 2001

The last Nightmare Room book I tackled on this account was Camp Nowhere, which I thought was a solid ghost tale with some eerie scenes. Today we're coming back to Stine's non-Goosebumps series with Full Moon Halloween!

Cover Art:

This cover's pretty nice looking. You've got some great detail and lighting on the Werewolf hand reaching into the basket of candy. I like the sinister looking face of the jack-o'-lantern here too. Background is a bit bland, but cover still sets things up well.

Plot:

The book begins with our main characters, Tristan, Rosa, Ray, and Bella talking to each other at school after hours. Their teacher, Mr. Moon forced them to stay and help him with some science experiments. After talking about how creepy the school (And Mr. Moon) are..

The conversation shifts to the recent animal attacks in their town, which some claim are the result of Werewolves. It's just days before Halloween, and the four debate if they should still go trick-or-treating or not. Eventually, though, they decide to make this year their last.

Before leaving, the friends run into Michael Moon, Mr. Moon's son, who is very quiet and a little strange. He eerily says to them to "be careful" which spooks them as they head out of the school. Tristan arrives at home and notices a black and orange envelope addressed to him.

Tristan opens the letter, which explodes into black smoke. Inside is an invitation to a Halloween party at Mr. Moon's. Tristan thinks the idea of spending Halloween with a teacher is weird, but his mother forces him to go, as she thinks it could be fun.

At school the next day, Tristan finds out that Rosa, Ray, and Bella also received invitations, however, nobody else at their school did. All are weirded out but decide to go the party with plans of leaving early so they can still fit in trick-or-treating.

However, across town, Mr. Moon and his wife, Angela have other plans as they prepare for the party. Michael urges them not to host it, but Mr. Moon says it's tradition. Angela moves to the bookshelf and reveals a box with 3 red buttons, which when pressed, lock down the house.

Mr. Moon grins, saying that he doesn't want the kids escaping during the party before we switch back to our 4 protags at school the next day. In class, Mr. Moon discusses his strange name about brings up the various legends surrounding the full moon, including werewolves.

Moon brings up the animal attacks again and Ray suddenly pulls a prank in front of the entire class pretending that he's turning into a werewolf and this totally freaks out Mr. Moon. Days later, it is Halloween and Tristan meets up with Rosa at his house.

Tristan's mom tells the two to be back by 11 and they head out to Mr. Moon's house with Ray and Bella. As they arrive at the house they see Michael again, who warns them once more to be careful and not to go to the party. The four are unnerved, but go anyway.

Inside, they are welcomed to "The House of Pain" by Mr. Moon and his wife. The four are told they are the only guests as Michael enters the house, urging his parents to stop the party but is told it's too late to stop now. Mr Moon announces that it's time for a game.

He blindfolds them and tells them to reach into a bowl to guess what's inside. They reluctantly reach, and find inside is something squishy, wet, and slimy. The kids are grosses out and take off their blindfolds to find the bowl is full of no, not unpeeled grapes, but real organs

-Animal organs! Bella cries out in disgust at the reveal but Ray just says "cool" which catches Mr. Moon's attention. He asks Ray if he likes the feel of the guts and when he says no, Moon says one of them must like it because one of them in this very room is a werewolf.

The kids assume Mr. Moon is joking but he couldn't be more serious. He tells them nobody can leave until the werewolf is revealed. He begins interrogating the four before leading them to a large wire cage down the hall where the Werewolf will be contained.

This is definitely where the book goes from 0 to 100. Mr. Moon begins subjecting the kids to a series of tests to prove who's the werewolf, taunting and interrogating them repeatedly. It's extremely dark and uncomfortable to read. Mr. Moon is a truly sinister antagonist.

Like, some of the things Moon does wouldn't be out of place in a torture-filled horror movie. That's how uncomfortably tense this book can get. Back to the plot, the kids try to escape the house of horrors to no avail, finding every exist sealed and the phones tapped.

In another gross scene, Mr. Moon takes them to a room full of "werewolf skins" (a callback, Stine?) and forces them to put the costumes on, which are heavy, hot, and smell horrible. Moon says he wants to see who's most comfortable in the skins so he can prove who the werewolf is.

He turns his attention to Tristan, who he says looks comfortable in the skin and orders him to do a wolf howl, which he reluctantly does before Moon orders everyone to howl. After that, Moon says he most suspects Tristan and Bella of being werewolves due to their howls

The clock ticks down to the rising of the full moon and we get out next test and this book's strangest scene, where Mr. Moon sets loose a box of spiky creatures called "plogs" which apparently detects werewolf. He sics them on the four and one bites Rosa, seemingly indicting her.

Rosa denies being a werewolf and Angela announces that it's time for a snack. She brings in plates of the raw animal guts from earlier and FORCES THE KIDS TO EAT THEM. This book is something else. The kids reluctantly eat the food but begin vomiting it up.

Mr. Moon thinks one of them is faking disliking the meat and then brings out their refreshments: a drink made of wolfsbane, which should kill the werewolf dead. However, the doorbell rings and the kids dart to the basement where they run into Michael, who tells them toldyouso

Michael reveals they do this every year and when he sees the plog bite on Rosa, he panics. Suddenly, the plogs dart across the basement room and they are forced to run to a closed door, where Mr. Moon's dog waits on the other end, his barking alerting Mr. Moon.

Moon shoos the dog away, saying "Bully" gets vicious when a werewolf is around. He asks if the kids want to deal with him again and Tristan pleads no, saying that HE is the werewolf and to let the others go.

Mr. Moon grins in victory and begins leading Tristan to the cage before Rosa reveals that she too is a werewolf. They plead to let their friends go but Moon says they must prove they are telling the truth about what they are, handing everyone the wolfsbane drink.

They chug it down and spit the nasty-tasting liquid back up. He urges them to keep drinking until Tristan and Rosa double over in pain. They cry out that they've been poisoned and Mr. Moon says they're faking.. because the wolfbane is fake.

Moon says he knew they'd use the opportunity to try and get help and that their plan is now foiled. Tristan and Rosa urge Moon that they need to be home but he doesn't listen as the clock begins to strike midnight with the rising of the full moon.

Mr. Moon and his wife enter the kitchen and suddenly the kids hear screaming as two blood-soaked werewolves step into the room. They begin to pounce until one tears off its head, revealing Mr. Moon underneath, who says "HAPPY HALLOWEEN"

Mr. Moon reveals this was all a joke on the kids, as they are his favorite students. Are you serious? Angela tells the kid to relax as Moon reveals he pulls this "prank" every year to give kids an unforgettable Halloween. However, the kids are rightfully pissed off.

Moon says the kids are free to leave, saying he set the clock to a few minutes later than it actually was. He asks them to forgive him. Angela goes to unlock the house with the button from earlier, but finds it's broken, meaning they're trapped.

The clock rings midnight for real this time and with the rising of the full moon, Tristan and Rosa begin changing into werewolves. They were telling the truth the whole time. They shout at Moon for ignoring their curfew, as their parents wanted them home before they transformed.

Tristan and Rosa say they can't let anyone leave to tell their secret and begin moving towards the terrified Moons until suddenly, the police arrive with Michael, who told them about his parent's dangerous pranks.

The Moons shout that there are real werewolves but the police don't believe them and they are straight up arrested and hauled off, and the officers think the real werewolves are costumes. Michael apologizes on behalf of his parents before leaving with the police.

However, the book ends with Bella and Ray saying they aren't safe as Tristan and Rosa begin lurching towards them in their werewolf forms..

Thoughts:

Wow. A lot to unpack here. I can't say I expected the book to be like this going into it. Not to repeat points, but this book is dark, tense, and uncomfortable. Full of gross details and truly unnerving scenes, with purely human antagonists no less.

Now, while it's dark- is it GOOD? Eh. I will say that ultimately, I like it. I think? I think the buildup is great. Stine really shines here at the horror he uses in this particular book, and I think this might be one of his best werewolf stories next to Werewolf Skin.

The Moons are just absolutely vile, who see no wrong in their actions and cause their son to suffer as a result of that. They do get their comeuppance though, which is nice and admittedly a bit funny, it's some much needed humor in this dark book.

The twist is pretty solid albeit maybe a little predictable and a bit too rushed. We spend so much time on the "prank" stuff that the werewolf stuff doesn't get much time and therefore gets quickly sped through to get to the ending, which is disappointing.

Although in not showing the werewolves too much, you do have this nice level of suspense, as you're wondering if the Moons might be right or not. It's the concept of the werewolf that hangs heavy in every scene.

I think all the characters (minus the Moons, ofc) are fairly likable and you really feel bad for what they have to endure. They have good chemistry and you want to see them get through this and give the Moons what they deserve. Kinda sucks Tristan and Rosa turn on their friends

I think that about covers my thoughts- it's not perfect but it mostly does what it wants to do well, although it might slip into being too dark for some readers.

Rating: 7.5/10

This book got adapted for the Nightmare Room TV show, and it's basically the book in name only. Keeping similar beats, but changing most plot elements from the book, none of the characters from the book appear.