Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Today I went and checked out “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,” which came out five days ago, and I will let everyone know what I thought about it.

It’s Halloween and two middle school boys are in front of a handful of suddenly attentive Gummi Bears. A little while ago, they were in a bowl for trick-or-treaters. However, a magic book from R.L. Stine made alive so many ghosts, ghouls, witches and monsters, from a headless horseman to a ventriloquist’s dummy named Slappy, voiced by Mick Wingert, and a house-size purple spider. Nell Minow stated in his review, “And now those suddenly alive Gummis are quickly changing from cute to fierce as they gnash their gummy teeth and merge together like a sugary-goo version of the mercury-steel drops of the second Terminator.”

The first “Goosebumps” movie was a lot of fun, with Jack Black playing real-life author R.L. Stine, whose handful of scary-fun books for tweens have sold millions of his copies. This sequel, with only a small cameo by Black, is weaker, with not that much talent on and behind the screen. However, the special effects are still amazing and it is a nice little scare enjoyment for the Halloween season.

“Fear” is typed on the laptop of Sarah, played by the beautiful Madison Iseman, as the movie starts, and she sighs. She is a high school senior working on her application to Columbia University, trying to respond to an essay question about a fear or challenge she has overcame. From here, it looks like her biggest fears are not doing a better job on the essay and not getting accepted into Columbia. Her boyfriend (Bryce Cass) knocks on her window (the first fake scare of the film), but Sarah’s agitated single mother (Wendi McLendon-Covey) quickly kicks him out. She tells Sarah she has to work double shifts at the nursing home, and needs Sarah to babysit her middle school brother Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and his best friend Sam (Caleel Harris), who is staying with them.

Sonny, who is trying to finish his science project about the deserted local Nicola Tesla electricity plant, hesitantly agrees to go with Sam’s plan to clear out junk for free, with the thought of finding something they can use or sell. Their first customer sends them to an abandoned house, where they find a hidden chest with a mysterious locked book. When they open it, Slappy the dummy shows up. He becomes very useful when Tommy, the local bully, played by Peyton Wich, picks on the two boys, making Tommy’s pants fall down before he can take more than the book and Sonny’s sweater.

Slappy also “helps” Sarah by causing her cheating boyfriend to fall off a ladder. However, Slappy decides his new “family” is not accepting him in, so he uses the Tesla plant to bring alive so many of Stine characters and Halloween decorations, just in time for the trick-or-treaters to be out. Sarah, Sonny and Sam will need to get the book back from Tommy’s house to get all of the monsters so they can lock them all up again.

Ken Jeong is the highlight as the next-door neighbor with so many costume collections that will become useful when Sarah, Sonny and Sam have to go incognito. He is also an expert at decorating for Halloween, covering his entire house with a giant purple balloon spider, later brought to horrific life by Slappy. However, McLendon-Covey and Chris Parnell as a Pharmacy store manager are under-used and Sarah and the boys and even Tommy are so weakly written that they barely blend in with the handful of ghosts and ghouls.

This is not a film that makes room on character development or lessons in here. Minow noted, “This is just about the boo-scares and special effects (that spider is pretty cool), the kind of silliness kids love (a skeleton dog pees on a fire hydrant), and a few self-aware references (Stine sees an “It”-style red balloon and sniffs that he thought if it first). There is that perennial kid favorite: triumph over a bully, plus a reassuring chance to out grown-up the grown-ups and rescue a mom.” It’s not as smart or charming as the first “Goosebumps,” and not even close to Halloween classics like “Monster House,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” or “ParaNorman.” Minow ended her review by saying, “But striking the right balance of silly and scary makes it trick or treat-worthy, the cinematic equivalent of a fun-size candy bar.”

Despite being not as good as the first film, it’s still a lot of fun and worth seeing in the theaters. If you liked the first film, then you should go to the theater to see this one and give it a chance because I think you will have a fun time with this one. This film feels right for the Halloween season. I didn’t think they would come out with a sequel to this film, but if they make a third one, I wouldn’t be surprised. Especially since the way they ended this film, I think a third one is needed, so we’ll wait and see.

Well guys, thanks for joining in on today’s review. Wait until Friday for the next installment of “Halloween Month.”