A teenager teams up with the daughter of young-adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.A teenager teams up with the daughter of young-adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.A teenager teams up with the daughter of young-adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.
- Awards
- 4 nominations
Gabriela Hernandez
- Screaming Girl
- (as a different name)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaR.L. Stine: The real Stine makes a cameo and says hi to Jack Black while walking through the halls of the school at the end of the movie. The real R.L. Stine's character name was Mr. Black and Jack Black was Mr. Stine.
- GoofsWhen Zach first enters Stine's basement he is scared by a cuckoo. The cuckoo cuckoos four times but the hands on the clock show 2:00. In R.L. Stine's "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom," main character Michael Webster travels back in time and messes up the space-time continuum.
- Quotes
[from trailer]
R.L. Stine: [introducing himself to a classroom] Hello. My name is Mr. R.L. Stine. Every story ever told can be broken down into three parts. The beginning. The middle. And the twist.
- Crazy creditsTim Jacobus's Goosebumps cover artwork is used in the ending credits.
- Alternate versionsThe UK version is cut in one scene to reduce the horror effects in order to obtain a 'PG' rating.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris: Jack Black (2015)
- SoundtracksRacketeer
Written by Søren Christensen (as Soeren Christensen), Per Jørgensen (as Per Joergensen), Allan Villadsen and Steffen Westmark
Performed by The Blue Van
Courtesy of Iceberg Records A/S
Featured review
Goosebumps may not give you a fright, but has enough delight to supply children with a bump in the night.
In what may just be the greatest marketing tool for R. L. Stine's series of children's horror novels, Letterman grants us the PG adaptation of 'Cabin in the Woods'. The abominable snowman, a werewolf, evil ventriloquist doll, a colossal praying mantis and even an army of garden gnomes. It's a menagerie of Halloweeny goodness, enough to spark the imagination from the youngest of viewers before the film concludes due to its ridiculous rapid pacing. A group of teenagers and the author of the Goosebumps novels accidentally open various manuscripts that literally transform the ink to reality. With the monsters unleashed, it's up to them to lure the ghouls back in before Slappy the Dummy burns all of the manuscripts, leaving them trapped in the real world forever.
If you're like me and have never read a single Goosebumps novel, despite one of the titles being 'I Live in your Basement!' (a phrase I say way too often...), then no need to panic. Turn off Tenacious D, switch over from 'School of Rock' and give it ago. As far as embodying an entire intellectual property goes, Goosebumps is accessible to everyone. Mostly because you'll be enthralled by pointing at the screen and loudly proclaiming "oh wow, it's a floating vampire poodle!", and that's where most of the enjoyment lies. The brisk exploration of these creatures, whilst solely powering the plot, brings out the family horror that is the essence of the original source material. Some monsters are better realised than others, the invisible boy and werewolf lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi", but on the whole the agglomeration of furry/fleshy/plastic ghouls were intricately designed.
The same cannot be said for the human characters however. Unfortunately, the one-dimensional protagonist, his robotically monotonous love interest and his new best friend that irritates more than he entertains, aren't enough to keep me invested in the story. The performances were fine, although Rush was instantly forgettable compared to Minnette and Lee, yet it's the basic screenplay that disallows any personable qualities to be brought forward. The comedy was scattered and rarely landed, mostly because Letterman focused on Black's rip-roaring, insatiable and rather exhausting charisma and the nightly frights. Various plot conveniences, such as Zach's aunt randomly appearing to save the day when the teens were about to be shredded by the werewolf, bring the enjoyment down a smidgen and of course allow for many eye-rolling moments. The third act chucks in as many monsters as possible and diminishes the intensity of the tightly wound second act. Oh, and I counted three jump scares in this family film. Three!
So whilst the monstrous thrills were somewhat lacking, the comedy was sporadic and the human characters were more hideous than that pinkish Blob, it does harness the accessibility of Stine's novels and Black is as hyperactive as ever. Which is a good thing, right?
If you're like me and have never read a single Goosebumps novel, despite one of the titles being 'I Live in your Basement!' (a phrase I say way too often...), then no need to panic. Turn off Tenacious D, switch over from 'School of Rock' and give it ago. As far as embodying an entire intellectual property goes, Goosebumps is accessible to everyone. Mostly because you'll be enthralled by pointing at the screen and loudly proclaiming "oh wow, it's a floating vampire poodle!", and that's where most of the enjoyment lies. The brisk exploration of these creatures, whilst solely powering the plot, brings out the family horror that is the essence of the original source material. Some monsters are better realised than others, the invisible boy and werewolf lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi", but on the whole the agglomeration of furry/fleshy/plastic ghouls were intricately designed.
The same cannot be said for the human characters however. Unfortunately, the one-dimensional protagonist, his robotically monotonous love interest and his new best friend that irritates more than he entertains, aren't enough to keep me invested in the story. The performances were fine, although Rush was instantly forgettable compared to Minnette and Lee, yet it's the basic screenplay that disallows any personable qualities to be brought forward. The comedy was scattered and rarely landed, mostly because Letterman focused on Black's rip-roaring, insatiable and rather exhausting charisma and the nightly frights. Various plot conveniences, such as Zach's aunt randomly appearing to save the day when the teens were about to be shredded by the werewolf, bring the enjoyment down a smidgen and of course allow for many eye-rolling moments. The third act chucks in as many monsters as possible and diminishes the intensity of the tightly wound second act. Oh, and I counted three jump scares in this family film. Three!
So whilst the monstrous thrills were somewhat lacking, the comedy was sporadic and the human characters were more hideous than that pinkish Blob, it does harness the accessibility of Stine's novels and Black is as hyperactive as ever. Which is a good thing, right?
- TheMovieDiorama
- Jul 24, 2019
- Permalink
Everything New on Prime Video in October
Everything New on Prime Video in October
Your guide to all the new movies and shows streaming on Prime Video in the US this month.
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Escalofríos
- Filming locations
- Conyers, Georgia, USA(location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $58,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $80,080,379
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $23,618,556
- Oct 18, 2015
- Gross worldwide
- $158,261,424
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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