R. L. Stine Brings Halloween to the iPhone

R. L. Stine’s Haunted House of Sound is basically a Halloween-themed sonic MadLib app. R. L. Stine has contributed 5 stories–best described as gently creepy, not *particularly* scary–and you get to complete them by choosing from a library of sounds, such as body (“big fart”), monster (“monster chuckle”), mad scientist (“theremin”), or animal (“evil cow”). […]

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.

R. L. Stine's Haunted House of Sound is basically a Halloween-themed sonic MadLib app. R. L. Stine has contributed 5 stories–best described as gently creepy, not *particularly* scary–and you get to complete them by choosing from a library of sounds, such as body ("big fart"), monster ("monster chuckle"), mad scientist ("theremin"), or animal ("evil cow"). You're even encouraged to record your own sounds, which you can do right in the app. The app is $1.99, and definitely provides value for money, at least for the rest of this month. My six-year-old loves Mad Libs, fart jokes, and recording himself, and so he's played this app at least 20 times during this cold, rainy weekend.

R. L. Stine's Haunted House of Sound is the newest app from iLarious, a company started by a group of comedy writers during the writer's strike of 2008. They have writers from The Onion, The Daily Show, The Simpsons, and more. Two apps of particular interest include This Just In, which provides just-in-time jokes from the writing teams of various sites and shows, and iNabler, which gives the imp of the perverse a shiny, multitouch platform from which to wreak havoc.

Wired: Fun Halloween concept, with R. L. Stine stories and a library of gross, spooky, and funny sounds. The ability to choose the sounds, and to record your own, lets you calibrate the scare-level for your kids (or lets the kids self-calibrate.) $1.99 seems an appropriate price.

Tired: The buttons are a little finicky, at least for six-year-olds. The interface for recording your own sounds could be a bit more informative. The ability to buy more stories in-game would be a nice upgrade.

FTC: iLarious provided a review code for the app. I would've liked it anyway, though.