Zombie Town

This is a really bad movie. It's hilarious to me how unlikable the main character is. He is totally pretentious and thinks he's better than everyone around him. This movie did the whole "nerd" gets the girl routine except he's not a nerd hes a jerk. But I've never seen it done in such a poorly done way before. The person who is supposed to be the "jerk" is actually more likable than the so called protagonist.

The rest of the movie is a tax write off. I don't mind Goosebumps I remember those fondly from back in the day. I knew to expect a childish movie but this isn't a childish movie its just a horrible movie. I can't imagine what they paid the few big names actors who are in this movie.

Usually its a meme when they say highschoolers look 30. For some strange reason in the 90s they loved casting people way too old to play highschoolers. But this movie actually does that here in 2023. LOL both the leads are actually going to turn 30 next year and are playing kids in highschool. It makes it that much worse.

The absolute greatest part of this movie is in the post credits where Dan Aykroyd gives a little goodbye speech to the cast at the finish of production. It's funny because you can just tell he knows how cringe it is that he is giving props to the makers of this movie.

Even in my adult age, I still enjoy family Halloween flics. There are plenty of cheesy fun low budget family Halloween films out there that can have a certain charm to them. This really doesn't have too much of anything. I can handle 2nd rate teen acting but this gives off bad Disney channel vibes. The score is generic and overall makes the movie feel like a bad Nickelodeon movie. I was hoping some of the older cast was going to make it tolerable but they're written terribly and you can tell it was just a paycheck for them. It's a once watch and forget about it after. It's overall boring lacking any real substance. Your kids may dig it, but I'm even sure they'll be bored.

Seriously, it was too childish for adults, yet too adult for children. It can't even decide what kind of film it even wants to be. One moment it's taking the story seriously enough to be a charming cohesive film and the next it's complete bereft of any smarts and is cringe to the max. It was baaaad. If it wasn't for those charming moments, there would have been nothing to save this film from being one of the worst ever made.

Next, lets talk about the Goosebumps vibes this film liberally uses to mask it's awfulness. I get that R L Stine created this story, but you either go full on Goosebumps and make it completely kid friendly without the swearing and blood, or ditch that all together. Felt like a cheap knock off in the end, and further confused me as to why this film exists.

I'm not even going to waste my time complaining about the fact that everybody who's supposed to be a teenager looks like they're in their 40s, including the actual teenagers. Embarrassing.

My last comments on this film will be that it is far too long. This honestly would've worked better as a special Goosebumps tv movie on Hulu or something like that. Not that it would make it anything above average, but easier to swallow than what we got. Literally, when I heard the main character say "Let's go back to the bike shop!" I almost shouted "WHAT FOR, TO WASTE MORE OF OUR TIME?!?!" at the screen.

Overall, I couldn't recommend this one. Even for those looking for a nostalgic trip into the Goosebumps days, it's still terrible. This film makes even the worst episodes look like Oscars material.

½ a simple zombie out of 5.

The acting is bad. The casting is horrible. Casting 30-year-olds trying to look and act like they are in their teens. The writing is bad. This movie is...just bad. I don't understand how movies like this get approved and gets funded. Have we just given up? Is this what movies are like now? Big budget movies have lost its touch a long time ago. And the only thing we had left was some good low budget independent films that were written well with actors, who actually fit in their roles and can act and look accordingly. 2023 and I have not seen any decent movies and it's sad. It shouldn't be that difficult if this is what you do for a living.

I've always a been a big fan of R. L Stines books from Goosebumps to Fear Street and have mostly loved most adaptions of those for all their faults and all, but this one has too many problems to count.

For one thing it's very boring. With an occasional moment of something exciting happening, the movie to often resorts to characters standing around talking and explaining. For a kids movie based on a book series with such a legacy as Goosebumps, you think they would try a little harder to entertain there target audience, but it's barely putting any effort in.

It's not really funny either. An occasional moment here and there gets a laugh, but you think with talent like Dan Aykroyd, you would get something that's at least more memorable, but half the time I forget what was even going on

I say be careful listening to the reviews giving this 9 and 10 stars. It's most likely people who worked on the movie trying to make sure it does well so that it looks good on their resume.

If you like your kids, I'd suggest just introducing them to the goosebumps tv series. Watching this just might turn them into brain dead zombies.