Monsters On Screen: Goosebumps (1995)

The television adaptation of R. L. Stine's book series was filmed entirely in Ontario, Canada, and had its creature effects handled by Ron Stefaniuk and his effects studio. Stefaniuk recounted how he got the job in an interview with Conventional Relations, 'I went into the interview and I didn’t have the biggest portfolio, but I had a unique portfolio. Our team didn’t just do make up and gore and zombies. Our background was a lot wider in the sense that we did animatronic puppets, we did Muppet style puppets, we did giant creature suits.'
'When we looked at the covers of the books, it was clear the show was going to need a range of odd creatures. I think I got the job because when I went in to pitch it I said “A lot of people might come into this work thinking that you’ll be lucky to have them. If I were you, I’d hire someone who would kill themself to impress you everyday. I would go out of my way to make you never regret the fact that you hired our company.”

Some of Stefaniuk's first work on the series was the various masks in 'The Haunted Mask', both the main mask worn by Kathryn Long and several background ones - technically props or specialty costumes, not special makeup effects, but still counts. Many of the masks and puppets still exist, as this video on the 'It Came from the 90s' youtube channel proves.

According to Stefaniuk, 'It wasn’t written in the script, but we decided to base each mask off the seven deadly sins. They were all made of soft prosthetic foam. Because foam shrinks when it’s finished cooking, it fits the head quite snug. In the part of the episode where the mask sucks to her head, we put air bladders into the mask and deflated them and it stuck to her face. Then we went in and glued around the eyes and put artificial gums and teeth on top of her lips.'

Stefaniuk constructed a half-face prosthetic for the evil librarian in 'The Girl Who Cried Monsters', fitted with animatronics to let the eyestalks twitch.

The same episode's twist ending was that the young protagonist's parents were monsters too; snake-like humanoids whose faces are only seen in extreme close-ups, not allowing good shots.

'Welcome to Camp Nightmare' had its protagonists menaced by the beast 'Sabre'; the episode's twist ending was that Sabre was just an animatronic prop and all the horror was a training exercise. Sabre is realized the same way as how Rick Baker realized 'Oscar' in American Werewolf in London, right down to showing the performer behind the wheelbarrow!

Facial prosthetics were applied on Brenda Devine as the ghost in 'Piano Lessons Can Be Murder', though obscured thanks to the digital effects overlaid.

A mask was also fabricated for the undead pharoah in 'Return of the Mummy', the mask being reused in 'Don't Wake Mummy' the following season.

'The Werewolf of Fever Swamp' had its titular monster realized as a performer in a latex 'gorilla suit' and latex mask; eventually this was reused in the episode 'Werewolf Skin' but touched up with a darker skin texture. The dark lighting in both episodes meant that it was hard to get decent shots of the werewolf suit. The mask itself was reused in 'A Shocker on Shock Street' as a dismantled animatronic.

Wolfman prosthetics were fabricated for the werewolf's earlier transformation stages, and similar prosthetics were sculpted by Stefaniuk for the later episode 'Werewolf Skin'; the 'Fever Swamp' werewolf suit was also reused in that episode.

'You Can't Scare Me' had the protagonists menaced by a mud monster, realized as a performer in a sculpted latex suit and mask.

Facial prosthetics were made for the living gnomes in 'Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes', giving them a slightly uncanny appearance.

A witch mask was also fabricated for 'Haunted Mask II', again skirting the line as this was meant to be a mask in the episode itself, but regardless it counts!

'How to Kill a Monster' had another full latex bodysuit utilized to realize its impressive monster, whose beaky head could open via a mechanism inside the suit.

The aliens of 'Calling All Creeps' were realized as latex reptilian masks and gloves, worn by the performers.

'The Blob That Ate Everyone' had its blob also realized as essentially an elaborate costume, with the performer hidden inside the 'blob' and moving it from underneath.

The demonic 'Horrors' who run the deadly themepark in 'One Day at Horrorland' were realized as performers in prosthetic masks, with accompanying gloves for the Horrors' hands. This episode proved to be a particularly arduous one for Stefaniuk, 'The original idea of the show was supposed to be one creature per episode because of budget. In “One Day at Horrorland,” we had five guys in horror outfits and the entire fun house ride had three or four prosthetic creature gags in it. I was actually in one of the horror outfits. All of this was being created by the same five or six people in about a week’s time. People say they know what tired is, but I don’t think they really do!'.

'Squeal of Fortune' had its protagonist transformed by the villain into a pig-like humanoid, realized as a sculpted uncanny latex mask and hoofed gloves.

'Cry of the Cat' had its mutant cat Rip realized as a puppet, that looked more like a fleshy gargoyle, with a long-snouted face and wings. The final puppet isn't seen clearly in the episode, obscured by moody lighting.