Goosebumps: The Movie

Good evening  everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

I apologize for the rather late entry, something unexpected arose yesterday and by the time I was finished with it, it was too late and I didn't write anything for the blog. Anyway, without further ado, here is the belated entry.

Remember how Hollywood is remaking all of your favorite childhood classics or turning things you loved so dearly into movies? “Ghostbusters”, ”Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”, and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” are just to name a few, but now we can add “Goosebumps” to the list.

“Goosebumps” was a seemingly endless book series written by R.L.Stine. Having read “Goosebumps” from time to time, the book was written in the horror genre to promote fears of the unusual and otherworldly type. My favorite books of the series in particular were ‘Choose Your Death’ stories where you followed a main plot that offered you different options. For example, the book I read sent the reader into the Medieval Era and every so often a page would instruct you to turn to various pages to receive different outcomes. I think I wore those books out because you would never obtain the same outcome.

Eventually the book series turned into a television series. It was a pretty decent series, but it didn’t last for long and afterward, only popped up in October on select stations. We now have a movie debuting this October that seems to go off on its own, avoiding the eerie mood that the books had initially sparked.

From what we can tell about this new “Goosebumps” trailer, a new boy moves into town and him and his friend help their neighbor who is in trouble. When they go to help her, they discover that someone has a raging obsession for “Goosebumps” because there’s a ton of manuscripts in the basement pertaining to iconic monsters from the book series. One of the kids accidentally opens a manuscript and a monster pops out. Many more creatures emerge from the manuscripts once they are opened and soon, the entire town is surrounded by these nefarious beings. The characters set out to capture the monsters and return them to their manuscripts.

To be frank, this isn’t the “Goosebumps” I grew up with and rather, it appears to be more of a comedy/supernatural movie as opposed to the horror based genre it was initially set in. Yes, it did have its supernatural themes at times, but it was more so a collection of horror stories intended to instill some fear into its readers.  The idea of monsters emerging from a book is something bizarre and magical, but despite using all of the “Goosebumps” creatures, it really doesn’t feel or look like a “Goosebumps” movie to me.

It honestly makes me wonder why exactly Hollywood is remaking our childhood past times and why they aren’t doing the best that they can with them. It’s Hollywood, it’s cranked out incredible movies such as “Gone With the Wind”, “The Blues Brothers”, and so many others. Why is it when it comes to things we mostly love and adore, Hollywood just seems to be treating them terribly?

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So tell me, what do you think of the “Goosebumps” trailer?