Giant Praying Mantises are insect-like monsters that appear in the thirty-fifth Goosebumps book, A Shocker on Shock Street.
History[]
A Shocker on Shock Street[]
While in the Cave of the Living Creeps, Erin Wright and Marty find themselves surrounded by a half-dozen giant praying mantises. The giant praying mantises spit hot sticky tar at the children, until Erin has the brilliant idea that to stop the giant praying mantises. They need to step on them, like with real insects.
Goosebumps film[]
The Giant Praying Mantis appears in the 2015 Goosebumps film as a secondary antagonist. He is among the monsters released by Slappy. The Giant Praying Mantis chases the car that R.L. Stine, Zach Cooper, Hannah Stine, and Champ are in and manages to destroy it when they escape from it.
During the monsters' attack on the school, the Giant Praying Mantis attacks a teacher that was closest to a window. The Mantis then knocks over a school bus Stine is believed to be in and avoids getting temporarily blown up like the other monsters. During the final battle, the mantis knocks the Ferris wheel off with Zach, Hannah, and Champ in it, they survive. Finally, the Mantis is sucked in the book along with the rest of Slappy's monster army.
General information[]
Physical appearance[]
In the book, the mantises are described as being three times the height of Erin (which, given her age, would put them somewhere between twelve and fifteen feet high) with silvery exoskeletons. They possess a tongue, unlike real mantises, as well as the ability to spit sticky, hot tar-like substances, presumably to ensnare prey. As with every other horror in the book, the mantises are automatons.
In the movie, the mantis is apparently the only one of its kind and considerably larger (at least fifty feet high when reared up). Its anatomy is more in-line with real insects, lacking the tongue, and sporting the green coloration typically associated with praying mantises. Though never stated one way or the other, the mantis seems to be biological now, suggesting that it's borrowed from the book's cover, rather than the text itself.
List of appearances[]
| Title | Role | Date | Series | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Shocker on Shock Street | Antagonists | 1995 | Goosebumps | Book |
| Terror Trips: "A Shocker on Shock Street" | 2007 | Goosebumps Graphix | Comic book | |
| Slappy's Tales of Horror: "A Shocker on Shock Street" | 2015 | |||
| Monster Survival Guide | Monster profile | Goosebumps: The Movie | Book | |
| Goosebumps | Antagonist | Goosebumps (film series) | Film |
Trivia[]
- In the Goosebumps film, the mantis can fly. Female mantises usually cannot fly, so the mantis in the film is most likely male.
- More giant praying mantises appear in the third Goosebumps Hall of Horrors book, The Five Masks of Dr. Screem. These mantises, however, seem to be real insects rather than robots.
- The mantis is mentioned in Goosebumps Dead of Night by R.L. Stine when the manuscript is seen in the bathroom.
- The mantis could have been inspired by the Kamacuras, another giant praying mantis
Gallery[]
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Regional depictions[]
Film[]
Game[]
