GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (2018) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

goosebumps 2: haunted halloween (2018) movie

Genre              |   Fantasy Horror

Classification   |   PG

Running time   |   90 minutes

Released         |   25 October 2018

cast

Wendi McLendon-Covey ... Kathy
Madison Iseman ... Sarah
Jeremy Ray Taylor ... Sonny
Caleel Harris ... Sam
Ken Jeong ... Mr. Chu
​Chris Parnell ... Walter

director

​Ari Sandel

writer

Rob Lieber ... (screenplay by)
 
Rob Lieber ... (story by) and
Darren Lemke ... (story by)
 
R.L. Stine ... (based on the Scholastic Goosebumps Books written by)

cinematographer

​Barry Peterson ... director of photography

music

Dominic Lewis ... (music by)​

film editor

Keith Brachmann
David Rennie

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box office result

Worldwide               $? million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

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the best dialogue

Driver: [sees headless horseman] Wow! Someone's going to win a Costume Contest!

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GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (2018) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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Posters

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (2018) STORY SYNOPSIS

​While collecting junk one day, best friends Sonny and Sam meet Slappy, a mischievous talking dummy from an unpublished "Goosebumps" book by R.L. Stine. Hoping to start his own family, Slappy kidnaps Sonny's mother and brings all of his ghoulish friends back to life -- just in time for Halloween. As the sleepy town becomes overrun with monsters, witches and other mysterious creatures, Sonny joins forces with his sister, Sam and a kindly neighbor to save Sonny's mom and foil Slappy's plan.

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 23 October 2018
Pop ​Movee Rating ⭐⭐½

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN is not the GOOSEBUMPS movie fans would have been hoping for…

Back in late 2015 and early 2016, Sony Animation released a feature film adaptation of R.L. Stine’s phenomenally successful books featuring an array of supernatural ghouls, goblins and monsters, all pitched at the pre-teen young reader books. A big budget film adaptation had been a long time coming for Stine’s books, but, it seemed to be worth the wait, as Rob Letterman’s movie had an appealing young cast and Jack Black as Stine.

The 2015 film did a nice job of tying together the things readers loved about the author’s work, a storyline about Stine himself and a young adult slant that made it something more than just a straightforward adaptation of one of the many GOOSEBUMPS books.

GOOSEBUMPS 2 is not a direct sequel to the 2015 film and, upon reflection, this feels like a mistake. Whatever the reason, Sony has opted to make this new film a stand-alone story, with the exception of a brief appearance by Black as Stine.

(For those who purchase a ticket to see GOOSEBUMPS 2 because of Jack Black, in the interests of disclosure, his role in the new film is limited to a handful of scenes and his inclusion feels like the film’s producers were “ticking the box” for the sake of having something or someone familiar from the previous feature.)

The first GOOSEBUMPS writer Darren Lemke and THE GOLDBERGS Producer Rob Lieber are credited with the second film’s story, but, despite being the less experienced of the two, Lieber receives solo screenplay credit. Given the film’s relatively short 90 minute running time and reliance upon visual effects to deliver the array of “Goosebumps” characters, Lieber’s screenplay definitely feels like it comes up a little short. The characters are cliched and the story is all too predictable.

Jeremy Ray Taylor and Caleel Harris are the central pairing of Sonny and Sam, two High School buddies who operate at the “geekier” end of the social spectrum. Sonny is massively concerned with getting his Nikola Tesla project to work in time for the school science fair, while Sam is more concerned with his new business venture, “Junk Bros”, where he and Sonny bike their way around the town of Wardenclyffe in search of old junk to turn into cash!

On their very first “Junk Bros” outing, Sam and Sonny are called out to an abandoned house that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Stine’s own books. The pair don’t realise it, but they are, in fact,  entering the the former home of R.L. Stine and soon encounter a book hidden within a chest hidden behind a secret wall!

Director Ari Sandel doesn’t waste much time with exposition in GOOSEBUMPS 2, preferring to forge ahead to the next plot point even as the viewer is - more than likely - still considering the previous scene… The film skips along a little quickly, but, when it’s so lack in anything worth digesting, this kind of “film snack” comes out another end just as quick as it goes in.

GOOSEBUMPS 2 has the feeling that it’s a “basic” film, whether it’s the writing or the directing or the acting. It feels like a cheaper version of the 2015 film made to keep the GOOSEBUMPS brand in the moviegoers mind and capitalise upon the good will that fans have for Stine’s books and the better-than-expected success of the first film.

There’s not a great deal of “performance” on show in GOOSEBUMPS 2. Of the younger performers, Madison Iseman’s Sarah is most engaging as the older sibling charged with making sure her younger brother Sonny and Sam don’t get into too much trouble when Sarah and Sonny’s mother has to take on double shifts at work just to pay the bills.

Ken Jeong is comic relief as Mr. Chu, the next door neighbour who throws himself into festive events with a little too much gusto… Jeong does his usual exuberant high, ultra-serious low voice pitching routine that makes him seem like the most Gay straight man or most Straight gay man in the world. His presence brings a welcome injection of energy and humour into the film, but, unfortunately, there’s not enough of him to compensate for the more adolescent routines that are the basis for most of what could be considered “humour” in GOOSEBUMPS 2.

The real question viewers will be asking is “Where is Jack Black?”

That’s a good question...

Black’s presence is more like an ultra-long cameo. There’s are some scenes inserted throughout the film that show Black’s Stine for fleeting moments as Sarah, Sonny and Sam reach out in an effort to find the reclusive writer to help solve the problem the boys have unleashed upon Wardenclyffe.

To compound Black’s absence, the story makes a fatal error when Black’s character finally does respond and make an appearance…

Instead of injecting Black into the midst of proceedings, the story has him travel over an hour by car to get to the scene of the shenanigans. By the time he arrives on the scene, the story is done and dusted. Whoever’s decision it was to use Black in this fashion is anybody’s guess, but it sure isn’t the right one! It’s very rare that Black has two poor films back-to-back, but this last couple of month’s haven’t been highlights on his show reel with GOOSEBUMPS 2 and THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS.

If Black is going to make a habit of doing supporting roles like this one, it’s sure going to make viewers long for the times he popped as a guest star in shows like YO GABBA GABBA!

Sadly, the real star of GOOSEBUMPS 2 is a puppet. The maliciously mischievous ventriloquist doll Mr. Slappy. Mick Wingert provides both the voice and also the demented energy that holds the film together. Unfortunately, the film becomes so reliant upon Mr. Slappy’s presence to drive the story ahead that the joke eventually wears thin.

Just imagine how less effective the ANNABELLE  Conjuring Universe movies would be if the doll was on screen for three-quarters of the film trying to compensate for a lack of talent around her! That’s the territory GOOSEBUMPS 2 exists in...

The Verdict...

Just two movies in and it already feels like the GOOSEBUMPS film franchise is running on empty.

HAUNTED HALLOWEEN feels like it’s a cheap movie.

With the exception of Jeong and Black, the cast are relative unknowns (which keep costs down). The visual effects look really cheap. The live-action parts of the film feel more like a telemovie than a feature film. The talent behind the camera is made up of young and/or inexperienced people who - not surprisingly - seem to have mostly television credits on their resumes.

The film isn’t a disaster. It certainly holds together far better than other recent young adult fare, such as THE DARKEST MINDS.

However, the GOOSEBUMPS literary franchise has a wonderful back catalogue of material from which to develop feature films. There’s no good reason why Sony can’t invest just a little more to support their GOOSEBUMPS production team to deliver fans films that do justice to Stine’s books whilst delivering the broader viewing public a diverting, fun, occasionally thrilling 100 minutes of movie magic. Those involved in making the GOOSEBUMPS movies need only look back at their 2016 effort to what the template should be.

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GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (2018) USEFUL LINKS

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween - Wikipedia
​Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) - IMDb
​Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) - Rotten Tomatoes

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