Mr. Compton Dawes is the main antagonist of the first Goosebumps book, Welcome to Dead House and its television episode adaptation.
In the episode, he was portrayed by actor Ian D. Clark.
Biography[]
Dawes was a resident of Dark Falls, a town located somewhere in the United States. It was once a normal town, but one day, there was a leak at the town's plastics factory, which released a toxic gas that poisoned and killed the entire town and resurrected them as zombies, Dawes included. In order to maintain their undead existence, the town had to feed on the blood of one human family a year. Having worked as a real estate agent prior to his zombification, Dawes was given the task of pawning off the titular Dead House to a different family once every year so they could lure the family into town and drain their blood, turning the family into more of them. He became a very important person to the town and was also in charge of running an event at the amphitheater along with another man (most likely the unidentified town mayor) where the town commenced their annual feeding on the new family.
In the story, Dawes lures the Benson family into Dark Falls by telling them they inherited the Dead House from their (non existent) recently deceased uncle. After a while, the town decides to perform their feeding. They capture the parents of the family at a potluck and send the children of the town to capture the children, Josh and Amanda. Josh and Amanda manage to escape, but Dawes arrives pretending to be a human wanting to help them, only so he can lure them to the amphitheater for the annual feeding. Josh and Amanda realize that he's one of the undead and escape. They later see him at the amphitheater with the rest of the town preparing to feed on their parents. Josh and Amanda push down the tree blocking out the sunlight at the amphitheater to fill it with light (the primary weakness of the zombies), causing the residents to melt away and finally pass on.
As the Benson family is preparing to leave, a new car shows up at Dead House. Dawes had sold the house to another family sometime after the Bensons moved in (even though they only need to feed once a year). As Amanda is leaving, she sees what appears to be Mr. Dawes waiting for the new family, indicating that not all the residents were destroyed and Dawes and possibly others escaped. Instead of trying to warn the new family or confront Dawes with her parents and brother to stop him and interrogate him about the possibility of other survivors so as to put an end to the threat once and for all, Amanda just leaves the new family to fend for themselves, potentially condemning them and numerous future families.
Other media[]
Dawes appears in the episode adaptation. He does not play as big a role, and his status as the main villain is now split between him and the mayor, who is the one actively leading the zombies in Dark Falls. Instead of at an amphitheater, the climax of the episode occurs inside of Dead House. After most of the zombies are defeated, the family attempts to leave as Dawes tries to convince them to stay. He is last seen chasing the family out of town while begging them to stay so he and the rest of the surviving zombies can feed. The Bensons drive off, much to the chagrin of Dawes and three other surviving zombies.
Dawes also appears in the mobile game Goosebumps Horrortown. Unlike in the book and episode where he is a tragic villain, this version of the character is greedy.
Personality[]
Dawes is reasonably intelligent, having successfully lured numerous families into Dark Falls over the years. He is also able to trick Amanda and Josh into believing he is not a zombie. While he seems like a decent man at first, he is revealed to have been crucial to the many murders the town had performed over the years. He doesn't seem to do any of his crimes out of maliciousness or take any joy in hurting others, simply wanting to keep himself and the rest of the town from truly dying. He does not seem to want to cause harm to others, only doing so out of necessity. He is quite resourceful, escaping the fate of most of the town and preparing to feed on another family by the time the story ends. This also shows how tenacious he is, as he was still attempting to feed on families even after most or all of the other Dark Falls residents were destroyed.
In the episode, Dawes is shown to be very foolish and desperate, begging the Benson family to stay and offering them new deals even though they now know of his true intentions.
Trivia[]
- Mr. Dawes is the first villain in the Goosebumps franchise.
External Links[]
- Compton Dawes on the Goosebumps Wiki
