Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

The original Goosebumps movie took me by surprise when it came out in 2015. It had fun likable characters and a great villain in Slappy the evil dummy.

Fast forward 3 years and here's the sequel. 99% of the cast from the original is missing and the new characters aren't as interesting. They're serviceable but kind of forgettable. The story is also not as well paced as the original and is too fast for its own good coming in as a little too short. It needed about another 10 minutes or so in its last act.

But I can't hate it because it's still a lot of fun. Once again Slappy steals the show and there's some surprisingly creepy scenes involving him early on in the movie. The other Goosebumps monsters are fun too and the halloween setting puts a smile on my face. I also really dug the musical score by Dominic Lewis.

If you have kids I highly recommend taking them to this one. Although there might be a few scenes too scary for the younger ones it's the perfect horror movie for them to watch during the Halloween season.

Buy a ticket, some popcorn and a soda and have fun.

The first goosebumps movie that came out in 2015 was fun, dark, and deffently for all audiences. This one felt like a rip off from modern movie IT, or stranger things. The actors at times got on my nerves and frankly Slappy as the main bad guy felt boring and I feel he is being over used. Also all of the monsters being out at the same time felt like a repetition of part 1 except the cast was younger and more annoying. 1. Would I see it again? Yea 2. Was it worth buying a ticket? No 3. Was the acting good? No 4. Was the music good? No 5. Costumes and fx good? Yes 6. Would I see it with a friend? Yes 7. Will I buy it on disc? No 8. Should you wait for it on DVD? Yes 9. Did i have fun? Yes 10. Is it a good movie? Yea...ish.

In the second Goosebumps Cinematic Universe, some kids (of course) have some issues. There's Madison Iseman, who's terrified she's not going to be able to finish her essay on fear and get into an Ivy League University; there's her kid brother and his best friend, who are bullied in school. The boys run a business carting away old junk for free, figuring they'll find some stuff worth reselling in the trash. When they're called on to empty the attic of an abandoned house, they do: Slappy the demonic ventriloquist's dummy. He proceeds to turn half the town into monsters.

Like the earlier movie, Jack Black plays R.L. Stine in the second half of the movie -- the real author gets a cameo near the end. It's juvenile, of course, and rather silly, but there are some of the anxieties that kids really experience, and the humor is deliberate and the special effects good.

This movie started off a little bit slow but the end product was a good one and the kids (aged 9 and 14) left excited, scared of ventriloquist dolla and ready for Halloween. Very minimal role by Jack Black in this movie but we were entertained throughout and got us in the mood for Halloween next week! Worth a Friday night.

I quite enjoyed Goosebumps (2015) it was silly larger than life fun based on books I certainly enjoyed as a child. I did however not expect a sequel!

Led by two very entertaining kids, flanked by the always likeable Wendi McLendon-Covey and less so Ken Jeong the movies cast is a solid one.

SFX? Ropey in places but the movie is on a big scale, monsters of all shapes and sizes so the cgi is rife.

Plot? Highly generic stuff but passable enough to kill 90 minutes with.

So where do the real issues lay? Well the tone seems rather different, this doesn't feel like a loyal Goosebumps sequel it feels like something you'd watch on a Saturday morning with your kids. It feels like Kenan & Kel Halloween special, the horror is pretty much non-existent and instead is a full on goofy family comedy. That really damaged the film for me, sure I didn't expect actual horror but a degree of threat like the first movie would have been nice and not a full on children's movie. Absolutely no parental supervision needed for this one!

I enjoyed all the wacky monsters, I liked how bright and colorful the whole thing was and how the two leads managed to be likeable despite my hatred for kids. Haunted Halloween isn't bad, it's just very disappointing and if this is the direction they're going in then I'm not fussed for any more films.

The Good:

Looks great for the most part

Cast do a decent job

Great monsters

The Bad:

CGI fails in places

Saturday morning tone did nothing for me