This metafiction, based on R L Stine’s eponymous bestselling horror tales for children, is a delightfully old-fashioned, monster pastiche, adventure film that is too frivolous and contemptuous to actually terrify anyone.
It with, the not-yet-18 Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) and his recently widowed mother, Gale (Amy Ryan) relocating themselves to Madison Delaware from New York, where she takes up a new job as a vice principal at the local high school. Gale hopes “a change of scenery will help” her son. Zach soon strikes a friendship with his neighbour, Hannah (Odeya Rush), a sweet girl who is close to him in age. But when Hannah’s father (Jack Black) catches him talking to her, he warns Zach, “stay away from us or something very bad will happen to you”. Zach is baffled. After he hears Hannah screaming after her father, he calls the police thinking that she is in dire-straits and is in need of help. The police arrive and Zach is proved that he is wrong.
Not convinced, he ropes in his friend Champ (Ryan Scott Lee) to investigate Hannah’s house, where they unleash terror when they open up locked manuscripts. The monsters tumble out of the pages and create pandemonium in town. Then they learn that the author of these manuscripts is Hannah’s father. And the monsters are the creation of his writings, a gift which he claims “is a curse”.
Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush and Ryan Scott Lee, are charming and they make a fine trio in helping Jack Black find a balance between being seriously grouchy and going over-the-top. Jillian Bell as Zach’s Aunt Lorraine in a miniscule role is attractive and funny. And Amy Ryan as Gale is a stock character.
The concept is not only interesting but it also beautifully woven by storywriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaaszewski, and given shape by screenwriter Darren Lemke. The fantasy twist in the narration is what makes the film fascinating. But the characters are cardboard thin, the sub-plots are not well-explored and the humour seems forced.
On the technical front, the computer-generated monsters are neither spooky nor menacing and the 3D special effects are elementary. The stunningly choreographed mindless-pandemonium flies in a flurry, leaving you hoping for more teeth-biting action and jaw-dropping scares. Overall, director Rob Letterman’s Goosebumps, with some fine nuggets of direction, is a contrived tale, targeting the family audience this Halloween weekend. It is not too scary for children, but not too tame for the adults either.