Bride of the Living Dummy
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into Goosebumps Series 2000. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2010. |
| File:GB2K02 - Bride of the Living Dummy.JPG | |
| Author | R. L. Stine |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Tim Jacobus |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Goosebumps: Series 2000 |
| Genre | Horror fiction, Children's literature |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
Publication date | February 1998 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 122 p. |
| Preceded by | Cry of the Cat |
| Followed by | Creature Teacher |
Bride of the Living Dummy is the 2nd book of the Goosebumps: Series 2000 and the 4th in the Night of the Living Dummy saga. It features the recurring Goosebumps character, Slappy.
Synopsis
Jillian has her hands full with her little sisters Katie and Amanda, and their life-size doll Mary-Ellen, whom Jillian describes as having strange violet eyes, frizzy wool hair and a red heart-shaped mouth. Jillian's best friend is Harrison.
Jillian volunteers to take her sisters to a theater, to see a puppet show. Harrison agrees to accompany her, as he thinks it sounds "cool." Mary-Ellen who's Amanda and Katie's doll , also comes to the show.
Entertainer Jimmy O'James comes on stage with his "good pal" Slappy the dummy. Slappy looks into the audience and sees the "bride" of his dreams. Jimmy is waiting for Slappy to talk, but he's not talking and finally when he does he invites the twins and their doll upon stage and makes fun of them all.
Angry at what Slappy said to them, after the show Katie and Amanda take off to find Slappy and talk to him. Jillian tries to stop the six-year-olds from running backstage to confront a doll. The two older kids run after them. Jillian and Harrison split up in the search for her sisters. When Jillian finds Jimmy, Slappy gives him a bloody nose for disobeying him and Jimmy explains that in fact Slappy isn't alive and what Jillian saw was just him practicing his new routine.After speaking with Jillian, Jimmy puts Slappy to sleep and throws him out.
Jillian soon finds her sisters and Mary-Ellen and scolds them. After which they take a trip to Dairy Queen. Meanwhile Harrison finds Slappy in the trash and thinks that he's broken so he has Jillian's father try to fix Slappy.
After a week of craziness Jillian and Harrison get the address of Jimmy and the two children race to the house. The two finally arrive to see that the ventriloquist lives on the wrong side of the tracks and that he has abandoned his home. They invite themselves in and start rummaging through Jimmy's belongings. There Slappy's orgins are reveled.
A few days later Jillian hosts a kid's birthday party in the basement of her house and she and Harrison bring Mary-Ellen and Slappy to the party for an act. However, they soon discover that Mary-Ellen is alive and has reawakened Slappy from his slumber. The two have been fighting and Slappy does not like Mary-Ellen. He makes that very clear by insulting her and calling her ugly. Then he takes the Birthday Boy hostage and insists that the birthday party is now a wedding party. He further demands that he Jillian be his enslaved bride for it her that he came for. Mary-Ellen comes to life again and in a rage attacks Slappy. Slappy leads the fight into Jillian's dad's workshop, where he swiftly slices Mary-Ellen in half with a table saw. But Mary-Ellen won't let go of Slappy's hand, so he too goes through the table saw.
Slappy and Mary-Ellen are dead. The book finishes with Slappy seizing control over Jillian's body by throwing-up green slime all over her sisters.
Tagline
It's a match made in horror.
TV Episode
- Jillian does not have a pet lizard in the TV version.
- Amanda is not in the TV episode.
- In the television show, Jimmy O James read the chant in the beginning, bringing Slappy to life. Jillian has only one sister, Katie, and they go to the ventriloquist's show, along with Harrison, and Katie's doll, Mary-Ellen. Slappy is seen staring at Mary-Ellen, and later, Jimmy sends Slappy to Jillian. He starts causing a lot of problems in the house, and even steals their mother's wedding ring. Jillian finds out the truth and asks Jimmy about it, who explains that Slappy forced him to write a letter and send him away. Jillian rushes back home to warn her sister and Harrison, who is staying over that night, but is locked in the bathroom by Slappy, who stole the key. Mary-Ellen reveals she is alive, and Katie tells Jillian that her doll commands her to do whatever she wants, or she'll hurt the family. It turns out that Slappy wants Katie (instead of Jillian in the book) to be his bride, not Mary-Ellen, causing them to fight and be killed by a saw. However, since the dolls' souls cannot be destroyed, Slappy's soul goes into Harrison's body, saying, "Harrison doesn't live here anymore", meaning Slappy has completely taken over Harrison's body with no trace of Harrison's soul left. It is unknown what happened to Mary-Ellen's soul when her body is destroyed.
- In the novel, Jillian's dad was working on a coffee table, not a bird house.
- Jillian and Harrison weren't planning on being clowns for a kids brithday party in the T.V. version.
- Jillian wasn't trying to get revenge on her sister in the TV version.
- There wasn't a dog in the book. In the TV show, there was a dog named Kevin.
