Goosebumps
Director: Rob Letterman
Talent: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee
Release Date: 5th February 2016
Goosebumps, the long-running horror book series, makes its big-screen debut featuring Jack Black as series author RL Stine. The film takes some liberties, making Stine as fictitious and frightening as one of his many creepy creations. As a lonely young man, Stine turned to his imagination for companionship and invented scary monsters to keep him company. These monsters, ranging from sasquatches to killer clowns and evil ventriloquist dummies, appear in his book series (which, as the film reminds us a couple of times, has sold 400 million copies) but the power of Stine’s imagination brought these monsters to life as well. Some Ghostbusters-esque mechanism keeps the monsters under lock and key in Stine’s library but the seal is broken and the monsters smash up a peaceful Midwestern town. Some kids save the day, and teach Stine the true meaning of friendship. This film’s novel premise fails to sustain its hokier teen movie elements and squanders its potential by focusing on the men rather than the monsters.
Words: Luke Maxwell
