Goosebumps HorrorLand #5: Dr. Maniac vs. Robby Schwartz

Robby, his brother Sam, and his annoying little sister Taylor are going on a camping trip with their parents. Since he writes his own online comic strip, he just wants to whine about how there's no Internet connection in the woods. He comes up with an idea of his main character Dr. Maniac forcing a boy to eat a poisoned squirrel, which turns him into an enormous chipmunk. Later that night, Robby sees Dr. Maniac in the woods and screams.

Turns out he's actually just sitting in his parents SUV as they head off on their camping trip. Sam likes his new story idea, but Taylor thinks it's lame. They get to the woods, set up camp, and Robby then finds a piece of his character's cape hanging on a tree. Dr. Maniac suddenly appears, shows him a poisoned squirrel, and tries to make him eat it before announcing that he needs his help to fight his arch nemesis.

This is also just another story. He's actually sitting around with his friend Brooke and Sam. The two decide they want to play chess and use his computer while he's downstairs. Brooke begins screaming and shouting about how Sam completely disappeared. When everyone runs upstairs, Brooke says that Dr. Maniac flew in through the window, grabbed Sam, and left. They try to convince her that he's just a character, but the cops then arrive and say they found Sam.

Actually, the cops found some completely different boy and refuse to believe Brooke's story. Robby sees the Purple Rage, his story villain, on television. Though he runs to tell the adults, when they get back, the reporter is interviewing a congressman. Since they won't listen, he grabs Brooke and runs to the TV station. They find the talk show host who tells them it really was the Purple Rage they saw.

Robby ditches Brooke to try and find the masked villain, but he winds up falling off the roof. The Purple Rage catches him and saves him but then flies away, which leads to him following. Purple Rage accuses him of working with Dr. Maniac and the Scarlet Starlet, which is another character from the comic book. Purple Rage then takes him back to his hideaway and threatens to feed him to his scorpions.

He says that he'll help him find Sam but actually puts him on live television and throws him into a pit filled with seven and eight feet long scorpions. Purple Rage says Sam will see it happen and run to help. Robby cons him into helping him out and then runs away. He manages to fall into a sewer and gets home to discover that Brooke is now missing too.

When he goes to his room, he finds that someone created a new comic book that shows Brooke and Sam with Dr. Maniac in the abandoned ice skating rink. Though he grabs his parents and the cops who just got there, but the time they get upstairs, the comic book is empty again. Since they still don't believe him, he goes to the skating rink by himself.

Robby finds Dr. Maniac there and a ton of kids out on the ice. Dr. Maniac threatens him and makes a big speech about how he needs to fill the rink. Scarlet Starlet then shows up ready to appear on his television show. The two of them fight, Robby gets in the middle of it, and Scarlet Starlet tells him that he will never see his brother or his friend again. Dr. Maniac forces him to put on a pair of skates and join his live show. I really have no words.

Purple Rage then skates into view and announces that he's tired of always having to save kids like Robby. He tells Dr. Maniac to let all the kids go or else. Purple Rage keeps getting angry and then suddenly pops like a balloon. Maniac just laughs because he always knew that if Rage got mad enough, he would explode.

They make Robby skate with the other kids, but he comes up with a plan for them all to escape. Before they can, Maniac runs over to a computer, types some stuff, and the ice all starts melting. Robby rushes over to them, grabs Maniac, and his face comes off to reveal that he's actually Sam. No surprise, Scarlet Starlet is actually Brooke. They tell him that he can either be bad with them or be good and go against them. The cops then rush in and save the day.

Cut to Robby showing his new story to his mom. She says that him being an only child is why he's so lonely and writes so many stories about having siblings. When she leaves, he notices a new panel in his story that features Brooke, Sam, and Taylor. Just as he starts freaking out, the characters come to life and tell him that they'll see him in HorrorLand.

HorrorLand Story:

Robby is at HorrorLand when he gets stuck in Werewolf Forest. Just as he finally finds a way out, he runs into Sabrina and Carly Beth. They catch him up one some of the weird things they experienced since entering the park. A bunch of werewolves come out of the woods and chase them, but they dig a hole under the fence and get out. Carly Beth briefly gets trapped before realizing that it was just her shoe caught on the fence.

They tell him about some other kids they ran into at the park and decide to split up. Robby heads to the arcade and discovers a game based on Dr. Maniac. Though he refuses to believe it's his character, when he puts in a token, he sees Maniac come to life in front of him. He decides to play a second time, but when he goes to quit, the game won't let him. It feels like there's something holding him to the game. Two girls walking in stop and help him.

They introduce themselves as Britney and Molly, which he thinks sounds familiar. The girls tell him that they came back from the other park – Panic Park – to help the kids stuck in HorrorLand. All three walk to the other part of the park. When Robby pulls a token out of his pocket, it tries to suck him inside. The girls once again help him and then freak out when they see Slappy, the dummy come out of nowhere.

Though Robby says it's just a dummy, Slappy jumps on his back and tries to bite his ear off. He yells at them to get the token, which then sucks him inside and knocks him out. When he comes to, he sees Carly Beth and Sabrina watching over him. They have no idea what he's talking about and claim there isn't another park. Robby suddenly looks down and realizes that he still has the token in his hand...

*Robby is one big reason why I'm not a fan of so many kids today. He whines and moans about how the trip will suck because there's no Internet. When I was a kid, I would have loved going on a camping trip in the woods!

*I don't remember Molly and Britney, even though I'm pretty sure I read all the Slappy books.

*I wasn't really a fan of this book at all. After like the 16^th time it went from being real life to being a story, I was ready to skip ahead to the end.