Stay Out of the Basement

Infobox Book
name = Stay Out of the Basement
title_orig =


image_caption =
author = R.L. Stine
cover_artist = Tim Jacobus
country = USA
language = English
series = "Goosebumps"
genre = Horror fiction
Children's literature
publisher = Scholastic, Inc.
pub_date = July 1992
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 122 pp
isbn = 0-590-45366-1
preceded_by = Welcome To Dead House
followed_by = Monster Blood

"Stay Out of the Basement" is the second book in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series.

Plot

Dr. Brewer has been acting strangely, spending nearly all his time in the basement of his house, working on his plant experiments. He had warned his children, Margaret and Casey, to stay out, but they sneak in and catch a glimpse of gigantic plants. They begin to worry even more when Margaret finds that her father has been eating plant food, sleeping on a layer of dirt, and bleeding green blood. After his baseball cap is knocked off to reveal leaves growing from his head, Dr. Brewer explains that he is working with genetic engineering, in order to create a plant/animal hybrid.

Eventually Margaret and Casey return to the basement and find another Dr. Brewer bound and gagged in the closet. The siblings and their mother learn that the "Dr. Brewer" they've been living with for some time is actually a nearly perfect plant/human clone of the real Dr. Brewer. The clone, along with most of the plants, are destroyed by the real Dr. Brewer with an axe, while a few of the normal plants are moved into the garden.

In the final twist, which is a staple of the Goosebumps series, one of these plants speaks to Margaret, claiming that "it" is the real Dr. Brewer, but this development is left hanging.

Television adaptation

"Stay Out of the Basement" was adapted as a two-part episode in the "Goosebumps" television series, which has since been released on VHS and DVD. However, in the television episode, the Diane Manning character was not present. Also, the ending is changed; instead of one flower telling Margaret that she's her real father, it's an entire garden of flowers who keep repeating "I'm your father!"

Book's Description

Live Plants... Dead People?

Dr.Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, really.But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they... meet...some of the plants he is growing down there.Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies.In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy-and seedy.Is it just part of their father's "harmless" experiment?Or has the basement turned into another little shop of horrors?

Tagline

Something's waiting in the dark....

ee also

*List of Goosebumps books
*"Stay Out of the Bathroom" - A parody of this book