Review - 99 Fear Street: The House Of Evil: The First Horror

Pocket Books; 154 pages; $5.99; Amazon

I was planning on taking a break from my Thursday ReReads posts after I had finished reading the Rotten School series last week, but tonight I decided to reread another R.L. Stine classic - 99 Fear Street: The House Of Evil: The First Horror.

Remember the Fear Street books from the late 80s and throughout the 90s?

Well, I was a huge of fan of the series (Still am!), as well as other Point Horror titles, so I have a big collections of titles to reread. Like I mentioned above, the title I picked out is 99 Fear Street: The House Of Evil: The First Horror, book one of a trilogy.

The First Horror centers on the twin sisters Kody and Cally Frasier, their nine-year-old brother James and their parents moving to the small town of Shadyside, Ohio. The family had bought a two and a half story house, a 30-year-old home that nobody has ever lived in, and it happens to be located on Fear Street!

Within moments of arriving at 99 Fear Street, a tree branch breaks off and nearly lands on Cally. While she suspects something is wrong with this house, the rest of the family just believes it is an old house that needs a little love; despite the fact that there are rats living in the walls, green ooze dripping from the faucets and weird sounds coming to life at night.

Unfortunately, the Frasier family finds out the hard way that there house is haunted after a several harmful situations occurs, such as Mr. Frasier getting stabbed and the family dog vanishes. Before long, the family learns of the truth of what occurred there 30 years prior; they plan on moving out as soon as possible, but the house has other plans for them.

Final Thoughts: I read this book once back in 1994 and it scared the crap out of me (and this is coming from somebody that grew up on horror movies). Similar to R.L. Stine's other series, Goosebumps, the Fear Street novels sometimes have a shocking ending; and "The First Horror" has one of the biggest ones with the death of a main character. The plot is a blend of Amityville Horror and Poltergeist; borrowing a few scares from each one, but in a non-cliched way. Overall, 99 Fear Street: The House Of Evil: The First Horror is a freakishly good re-read.