3.5 Stars
PG, 90 minutes
I haven't seen the first Goosebumps film. Orlando saw it and for one reason or another was never able to take me to see it in theaters, and it is not included in any of the streaming services. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was the only option I had.
As an avid reader of the Goosebumps series when I was younger, I wasn't sure what to expect as the premise, but it's simple enough. R.L Stine's unfinished manuscripts are able to come to life if unlocked.
The sequel doesn't star any of the original actors and instead follows Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor), a middle school science enthusiast.
I thought the film was fun. The escaped monsters are led by the always creepy Slappy the ventriloquist dummy (Mick Wingert).
Sonny and his best friend Sam (Caleel Harris) are called to an abandoned house to pick up some junk. Here they discover and unpublished Stine manuscript as well as Slappy and unwittingly bring both to life. Sonny, Sam and Sonny's older sister Sarah (Madison Iseman) now have to find a way to put everything back in the book to save their small town.
Slappy wants a family and when Sonny and Sarah start to look for ways to put him back in the manuscript, Slappy decides to bring everything Halloween related to life. More than a family Slappy wants a mother and he kidnaps Sonny and Sarah's mother (Wendi McClendon-Covey) and makes her his ventriloquist mother.
The climax of the film is admittedly simple to solve and you never feel as though anyone in the town or in the immediate family is ever in danger.
Jack Black is the only original cast member to return as R.L. Stine himself, but he is not in the film for long nor does he do anything to help the protagonists. The main cast members do their best, but at times do across as a little over the top.
Still, Haunted Halloween was fun and it kept me entertained for the duration of the film.
If anything it makes me want to watch the first film even more. It did its job though, and put me in the spooky spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment