Zombie Town

I love RL Stine. This was not good, even that feels like an understatement. The plot is terrible or at best terribly executed. The editing was awful. The movie skips things a bit in places. The main characters are not ones you even care to root for (why is the guy always peeing? Why do they have a sweet moment then act like enemies the next second?). The relationship between the 2 is non-existent and very inconsistent, there's no growth. Even the character by Dan Aykroyd is just dumb- he knows what he did, doesnt seem to care then all of a sudden has a "realization"... It's just the worst RL Stine adaptation to date and the director/producer/writers should look into careers outside of film. I don't even leave reviews and had to for this one to maybe save someone else from losing an hour and a half of life to this monstrosity.

Many reviewers state one has to be in the 'demographic' or target range to 'get' this flick... huey! I'm a man of a certain age and love a great kids/young adult flick! I've watched many series 'targeted' for young adults and wholeheartedly loved the watch.. I watched it 2x, just in case my mood had any effect on my perspective.. Nope, it was still a stinker.. If it were 'intended' for younger viewers, the 2 main teen characters apparently weren't told or even given direction.. their performances were phoned in and just bland. I'd also have to argue and/or point out that Disney and Pixar flicks are 'intended' for young audiences, yet appeal to a much larger audience. So that defense of this flick is imo indefensible. I'd argue the production just didn't know what they wanted the film to be. It wasn't straight enough to be ironically funny, it wasn't wonkie enough to be campy, it didn't even have the bones to be carried by Akroyd and Chase. There will be some that look at it differently or see something the rest of us don't, so if you're unsure what lot you fall into You'll know within a few minutes whether it's for you or not..

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.

Not horrible, not good, just kind of an okay movie, which has two former great comedians in the movie. Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd used to be comedy legends and make great films, this was more of a paycheck movie for them.

The other actors are okay, once again not horrible, not good, there is a story there but it has no pacing, no great set designs, nothing original.

So why watch this movie, if you like zombie movies, then there are a lot worse movies you can watch. This is not a movie you will be thinking about for the next week, it is a "I have two hours to waste and I love zombie movies" type of movie.

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.