By Geno McGahee
R.L. Stine’s series “GOOSEBUMPS” were very memorable for children. They were the starter books for the future horror fans and they continue to be relevant today. When I first heard that they were turning the books turned TV series to the big screen, I had mixed emotions. I was pretty sure that they were going to screw it up and I was certain that they did when they weren’t going the horror anthology route. I felt this series could have gone the TWILIGHT ZONE MOVIE route and pick a few of the tales and remake them for the big screen. Then I saw the preview and thought very little of it immediately. They were going in a different direction and it looked like JUMANJI to me, and I wasn’t a fan of JUMANJI. In the end, it has similarities to it, but it turned out to be a very fun film.
Zach (Dylan Minnette) has just moved to a new town with his mother, Gale (Amy Ryan). Zach is still getting over the death of his father and the move from New York City isn’t a welcomed one. As he moves boxes, he sees the next door neighbor, Hannah (Odeya Rush), and they begin a slight romance which is quickly squashed by R.L. Stine (Jack Black), her father. Jack Black is very good in this role and is immediately amusing. Now Zach must contend with the mysterious and angry father of the girl he likes.
Zach’s mother is the new VP at his high school, making it tougher for the new kid than it would usually be, but he immediately becomes friends with Champ (Ryan Lee), a nerd that is ignored by most, but maintains a positive spirit. He is looking for a girl and thinks that his friendship with Zach could help that and he thinks it does when he’s called over to meet some new chicks. It was a lie. Zach believes that his neighbor has hurt or killed Hannah and he wants to break in and help her if he can. When Champ and Zach make their way in, they encounter traps and many strange items leading to the discovery of some locked books…all R.L. Stine books. Champ is immediately excited.
They make the decision to unlock “The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena” book and it unleashes the huge snow beast on the town. When Hannah finds out, she teams up with the two to try to get the big monster back into the book. Unfortunately, as the snow beast went crazy, he unleashed the evil ventriloquist dummy, Slappy (voiced by Jack Black). He begins unleashing all of the monsters in the R.L. Stine books on the town and it’s up to the trio of teens to fix the situation. When Stine finds out, he joins the crusade and starts to warm up to both Zach and Champ, although he doesn’t seem to like him all that much. In one of the funniest moments, Stine is stuck in a fence gate as the zombies are attacking and he says “go on without me. Save yourselves,” Champ looks and says “OK. Good luck,” and hauls ass. Jack Black’s reaction was hilarious as he screams “nobody really means that! Help me!”
Stine reveals that he uses a typewriter that has allowed this magic to occur. The only way to take down the monsters was to write a new story but Slappy will not make it easy. The monsters attack the high school and they are all in search of Stine. From clowns, to werewolves, to zombies, to mummies, this collection has just about everything that you can think of. It is quite neat seeing them all together.
GOOSEBUMPS is a very fun movie with a great cast. I stand corrected about Jack Black in this role. He was able to play it dramatically but remained hilarious throughout. He was the star, but the teens were great as well, especially Ryan Lee. His delivery was great throughout and his battles with Stine were very funny. He and Black worked well off each other.
Another character to note is Lorraine (Jillian Bell). She was the quirky aunt of Zach in this and she was funny from jump. Bell was very good in this. Overall, GOOSEBUMPS was a pleasant surprise. I found it amusing from start to finish and I look forward to a sequel no matter what direction they go in. I highly recommend this one.
Rating: 7.5/10
