HAUNTED HALLOWEEN is the second film in the GOOSEBUMPS franchise and a typically light horror-style adventure for kids. The emphasis is on creepy, CGI-fuelled creations, with an ordinary group of kids finding themselves menaced by all manner of Halloween themed weirdness, including living pumpkins. The ringleading antagonist is a living ventriloquist's doll, although he's overdone a bit and makes you long for the days of MAGIC and DEAD OF NIGHT. The good news is that Jack Black has far less screen time here, although the main actress looks about ten years too old for her role and the interplay with the kids feels more than a little tired.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
2018
Action / Adventure / Animation / Comedy / Family / Fantasy / Horror
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
2018
Action / Adventure / Animation / Comedy / Family / Fantasy / Horror
Plot summary
Teenager Sarah Quinn (Madison Iseman) lives with her mother Kathy (Wendi McLendon-Covey) and younger brother Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) in Wardenclyffe, New York. Sarah is attempting to get into Columbia University by writing an essay about fear. Kathy agrees to watch Sonny's friend Sam Carter (Caleel Harris) while his father goes out of town. Sonny and Sam are attempting to start a garbage cleanup business, and are called after school to clean up an abandoned house. Inside, they find a locked manuscript and open it, causing Slappy the Dummy to appear. They unknowingly bring him to life by speaking magic words found in his pocket. The book is later stolen by bully Tommy Madigan (Payton Wich). At home, Sonny is working on his science project, a miniature version of Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower when Slappy appears to Sonny and Sam and gets their trust by using his magic to do their chores and homework. Meanwhile, Sarah goes to a party to meet her boyfriend Tyler (Bryce Cass),but sees him kissing another girl. Later she arrives home and complains about him to Sonny and Sam, which Slappy overhears; Slappy then proceeds to sabotage Sonny's project.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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Generic kiddie-themed horror
kiddie horror
Aspiring writer Sarah Quinn (Madison Iseman) is struggling with her college entry essay. Her boyfriend just wants to have fun. Her nerdy brother Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) annoys her. He and his best friend Sam Carter (Caleel Harris) have started a junk business. They are called to clean out the abandoned childhood home of R.L. Stine (Jack Black). They find Stine's book. Ventriloquist dummy Slappy suddenly appears and Sonny unknowingly brings him back to life. Slappy wants to be a part of his family unleashing chaos during Halloween.
This is pretty good for a TV Goosebumps movie on a kiddie channel. As a theatrical offering, it doesn't have the grandeur or the scares to cross over into adult or teen market. In addition, it's tough to sell parents to take their little kids to a horror movie. It's stuck somewhere in no man's land. It needs to be a little darker and a little more theatrical to get the teens. Jack Black phones in his fifteen minutes and delivers one good joke. The kids are fine but nothing that special. The writing misses a few things. Sarah needs to physically write in the book with a pen to wrap up that aspect of the story. Slappy is interesting and could deliver more sequels. The franchise is unlikely to break out and is probably on a declining trajectory. It's stuck in kiddie horror land.
Amusing
In the second Goosebumps Cinematic Universe, some kids (of course) have some issues. There's Madison Iseman, who's terrified she's not going to be able to finish her essay on fear and get into an Ivy League University; there's her kid brother and his best friend, who are bullied in school. The boys run a business carting away old junk for free, figuring they'll find some stuff worth reselling in the trash. When they're called on to empty the attic of an abandoned house, they do: Slappy the demonic ventriloquist's dummy. He proceeds to turn half the town into monsters.
Like the earlier movie, Jack Black plays R.L. Stine in the second half of the movie -- the real author gets a cameo near the end. It's juvenile, of course, and rather silly, but there are some of the anxieties that kids really experience, and the humor is deliberate and the special effects good.