Monsters, Jump Scares, and RL Stein Genius Abound in Goosebumps 2.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween comes three years after the original and brings lots of Halloween scares for younger kids. It also has bits of humor courtesy of Jack Black (reprising his role as RL Stein, if only briefly) and Ken Jeong (“Community”). For those kids that have siblings, they will truly love the dynamic of the brother and sister, Sara and Sonny (played by Madison Iseman and Jeremy Ray Taylor), who annoy each other until their family, and their town is threatened and has to work together with Sonny’s best friend.
The movie starts with two bullied boys who clean up an old house and discover a book. A book that brings a certain ventriloquist dummy into their lives right before Halloween.
I’m not big on puppets, or haunted dolls, so most of anything that involved Slappy set me on edge, though I will admit that I thought that there were a few scares that I was expecting that never happened. Other than that, the movie was relatively harmless outside of a jump scare that even put my boys on the edge of their seats. A few smaller kids (about the age range of 4 to 6) had to leave the theater because it became too much for them. I would not recommend Goosebumps 2 for those really young kids, or any of the Goosebumps books either.
All of my boys gave the movie a resounding 5 stars out of 5 and were talking excitedly about it hours afterward. I personally gave some Halloween decorations I encountered a second and third glance (did I mention I hate scary dolls) later that night. If you’ve previously seen the first movie, or even if you haven’t (my eldest never had the chance to watch the first one), I think you and your elder elementary and up children will definitely get into this movie if you are seeking a good scare or two during the Halloween season.
What movies are you seeing this fall? Is Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween one of them? Tell me in the comments below.
Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures
