Named for one of my favorite Goosebumps books, The Boy Who Cried Monster shed light on a character who hasn’t gotten much attention. One that, as far as I’m concerned, needed some additional screen time.

The Story

We begin this episode with Anthony, investigating the Fort where his brother vanished. He’s surprised to find equipment that wasn’t there before, as well as an underground tunnel.

Meanwhile, CJ is having a bad time of things. After leaving a food order out on a woman’s porch, causing it to be lost, he makes up a story about zombies to explain the mistake.

After being caught, he explains to his mom that he’s bored as a delivery person. He wants to help make changes to the family restaurant.

His mother seems open to this at first. Then, CJ brings a delivery of soup to Anthony.

Anthony, it seems, hasn’t been feeling well. It must be something he ate. Or something that ripped through his suit at the Fort. By the time CJ arrives, he’s falling apart.

But he manages to pull himself together just long enough to kidnap CJ and try to feed him that same goo that infected him. The other teens save CJ just in time. And Anthony, or at least something that looks like Anthony, loses his head.

What worked

To start with, this episode was funny. Considerably funnier than the rest of the season. Part of this was the focus on CJ, easily the funniest character in the show. But it was also the fantastic acting by David Schwimmer. His line delivery, especially while doing violent things, was so inoffensive and even apologetic. It was impossible not to laugh.

I also appreciate that almost everyone is together now. After everyone finally talks to everyone else properly, all of the kids are on the same page. Even Jen is at least aware of what’s going on and working to fix things. The only one who isn’t with the team is Anthony. Or, at least whatever it is that looks like Anthony and is walking around his house.

Finally, I want to talk about our new character, Hannah. Hannah is incredibly creepy, upsetting, and almost certainly not a human being. Everything from the way she moves to the way she talks to her weird smile is unnerving. It’s as close to the uncanny valley as an actual human can get. And since the actor is a real human even if the character isn’t (we assume) that’s quite a feat.

I also loved that Devin is smitten with her right away. And we don’t know if he falls so hard because he’s a dumb teenage boy or because she’s infected him in some way. Both seem equally possible. I’m looking forward to seeing what she does through the rest of the season. Because I’m sure it isn’t going to be anything good.

What didn’t work

All that being said, this episode did have several fatal flaws. And they happen to be issues that are at the very top of my most hated tropes list.

To start with, I cannot stand the love triangle between Frankie, Devin and Trey. It feels forced, and way too much time is being spent on it. Now, I’ll grant that part of this is just because it feels like a very teenage drama storyline. And technically this is a show for teenagers and tweens. But frankly, we can stop encouraging this sort of bad storytelling for younger people. They’re smart, and this sort of thing insults their intelligence.

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The Girl Who Cried Monster (Classic Goosebumps #39)

• Goosebumps available now on Disney+!Lucy likes to tell monster stories
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• Then one day, Lucy discovers a real, live monster: the librarian in charge of the summer reading program

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I also hate issues that could be solved with simple conversations. If Anthony had simply talked with his kids before being replaced by a pod person, a fragile pod person, I bet a lot of these problems could have been solved earlier. This always feels like a lazy plot device. Anytime the answer is, ‘If we’d just communicated earlier this could have all been avoided,’ I am out.

Things are getting serious with just three episodes left to go. So we’ll be marathoning them this week.

So what better follow up to Invisibles Among Us in Nightmarish Nature than Monstrous Mimicry? Further exploring the leaps that critters will go to in order to eat and not be eaten. This time we’re focusing on those creatures that want to intentionally be mistaken for one another.

Insects Pretending to Be Insects

This is a pretty common subgroup in the mimicry set. Featuring such celebrities as the Viceroy Butterfly, which looks an awful lot like the Monarch. Why? Because everyone knows Monarch Butterflies taste nasty and cause indigestion. Duh? Though it appears the Viceroy took further cues from this and is not all that tasty in its own right either. Dual reinforcement is totally the way to go – it tells predators not to eat the yucky butterflies regardless. But some bugs go a bit further in this, imitating one another to seek out food or protection. Various wasps, spiders, beetles, and even some caterpillars impersonate ants for access to their nest or because ants aren’t as appetizing as their buggy counterparts to much of anything outside of the myrmecophagous crowd (as shared before, here’s a fun diversion with True Facts if you have no idea), though some also have nefarious plans in mind. And similarly, the female photoris fireflies imitate other firefly signals luring smaller males to try to mate with them where they are instead eaten.

Kind of Weird Mimicry: Insects Pretending to Be Animals

Moths are pretty tasty, as far as many birds and small mammals are concerned, so several of them find ways to appear less appetizing. Using mimicry in their larval form, they may try to look specifically like bird scat or even like snakes to drive away predators, with elaborate displays designed to reinforce their fakir statuses. And once they emerge as moths, they continue these trends, with different species flashing eye spots to look like owls, snakes, cats, and a myriad of other animals most of their predators don’t want to tangle with. But other insects pretend to be larger animals too, with some beetles and others producing noises often associated with predator, typically towards the same end – to deter those who might otherwise eat them.

Animals Pretending to Be Animals

Similarly some animals will mimic others. Snakes may resemble one other, as seen in the Milk versus King versus Coral Snakes and the popular rhyme, Red with Black is safe for Jack or venom lack, but Red with Yellow kills a fellow for all that it isn’t 100% accurate on the Red-Yellow end (better to err on the side of caution than not – so assume they are deadly). Fish and octopuses will imitate other fish for protection status or to conceal opportunistic predatory behaviors. And lots of animals will mimic the sounds others make, though Lyrebirds tend to take the cake in this, incorporating the vocalizations into mating rituals and more.

Really Weird Mimicry: Animals Pretending to Be Insects

Some of the weirdest mimicry comes out in animals pretending to be insects or small fish, where a predator will flick its strangely formed tongue that looks like a fish or water nymph to draw in more tiny critters that feel safe with their own, only to find themselves snapped up as dinner. Snapping turtles are notorious for this, disguising themselves in the muck to make their big asses less obvious and reinforce the ruse. Even some snakes do this.

Weirder Still

Then there are things that pretend to be plants. Like orchid mantises. Or sea slugs that look like anemones (some of which eat anemones and have stingers to match). I mentioned a few of these in the Invisibles Among Us segment last time, because some are highly specialized to look like very specific things and others just aren’t. Essentially, nature loves to play dress up and be confusing and adaptive. It’s like Halloween year round. And who can really argue with that?

Here’s a fun video from Animalogic exploring some of these themes. And feel free to check out more Nightmarish Nature here.

Vampires Among Us

Perilous Parenting

Freaky Fungus

Worrisome Wasps

Cannibalism

Terrifying Tardigrades

Reindeer Give Pause

Komodo Dragons

Zombie Snails

Horrifying Humans

Giants Among Spiders

Flesh in Flowers

Assassin Fashion

Baby Bomb

Orca Antics

Creepy Spider Facts

Screwed Up Screwworms

Scads of Scat

Starvation Diet

Invisibles Among Us

Living blind most of her life, Sydney Wells (Jessica Alba) undergoes a transplant in The Eye (2008). The clearer her vision becomes, the more unexplainable the sights she witnesses. Yet, no one seems to understand or believe her. To understand what she’s seeing, Sydney must uncover what happened to her doner.

The Eye (2008) is a supernatural horror film directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, an American remake of a Chinese film of the same name directed by the Pang brothers. This PG-13 film stars Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey and Rade Serbedzija. As of this review, the film is available on Amazon Prime Video.

What I Like about The Eye (2008)

In 2008, the film earned two awards and three nominations. The poster above and Jessica Alba received award-winning acclaim. This should probably fall within the Dislikes, but it also earned Jessica Alba a Razzi nomination in 2009. However, the Razzi likely focused on her performance on The Love Guru. Make of that what you will.

I’ll further comment on this point in later sections, but The Eye does work to show the complexities of incorporating this new sense from a character who has lived most of her life without it. She isn’t “fixed” because she was never broken, and it’s a commendable decision considering how often the opposite idea appears.

This film focuses on Jessica Alba, allowing her plenty of material to work through as she slowly breaks down against the mounting issues facing her. It remains a largely controlled performance based on the material given. She would win a Teen Choice Award and (funnily enough) the previously mentioned Razzi nomination. There’s another small role from a recognizable actress in one of her early roles. I will say no more on the matter.

The Eye (2008) [Blu-ray] – Expired Digital Copy

• THE EYE DESCRIPTION The violinist Sydney Wells has been blind since she was five years old due to an accident
• She submits to a surgery of cornea transplantation to recover her vision, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she’s having strange visions
• With the support of Dr

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The Eye (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)

• Jessica Alba stars as a blind woman who receives an eye transplant, which allows her to see into the supernatural world, in this $31 million-grossing film
• Bonuses: featurettes, deleted scenes, digital copy

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The Eye has strong bones and twists that I imagine come from the original film. I won’t comment further on the original, but The Eye provides twists that run with the concept of inherited memories. I love how The Eye explores this concept, though execution doesn’t fully develop these ideas.

Moving the narrative to Mexico adds a refreshing change of location. It adds some variety to the setting and a pleasant shift. However, I will say that the random town provides a typical depiction of rural Mexico.

Despite my reservations about The Eye‘s execution, the film lingers in its horror and often haunts the viewer. From the film’s concept to the visuals, The Eye has an early 2000s charm. Yes, it’s flawed and lacks in parts, but it still provides an entertaining and enjoyable experience.

Tired Tropes and Triggers

Ableism remains a potential issue for the film, though the ending persuades me against that concept. What can’t be denied is that there are several ableist characters, though I linger in the idea that this is intentional. The film shows their perspectives are wrong or inaccurate.

The key trope that this film explores is cellular memory. One addition to this concept is inheriting someone’s supernatural gifts. Though, that’s far from unique at this point.

What I Dislike about The Eye (2008)

Dr. Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola) acts as a co-lead in the film and seems deplorable with his patient (Sydney). This is in no way an inherent issue with the actor but the writing. For a doctor who specializes in Sydney Well’s particular struggles, he seems furious anytime she appears overwhelmed. While it’s possible the ending suggests they are a couple, The Eye does leave this ambiguous. If The Eye intends to pair them by labeling these arguments as romantic chemistry, it fails.

The biggest problem with The Eye remains the underdeveloped ideas. While the plot points remain interesting, few get explored to any depth worth mentioning. Little gets solved, and even the climactic moment of development seems more a matter of happenstance. It makes me wonder if the original film might better explore these concepts.

Final Thoughts on The Eye (2008)

The Eye explores cellular memory with a supernatural twist. While far from a flawlessly executed film, a 2000s charm makes it memorable. If it further developed its concepts, The Eye might haunt in all aspects. However, it fills a niche for those with a taste for premonitions and lingering reapers eager for souls.
(2.5 / 5)