Okay so, as a kid, Goosebumps was my thing. I’ve read every single story including the first ever copy released in 1992, “Welcome to the dead house.” all the way up to “Night of the puppet people” which was released back in september 2015. So naturally, when I heard a Goosebumps movie was to be released, my intital reaction was to jump for complete joy. Although, as a film fan i know first hand how reboots and film adaptations can, to put it lightly, go to complete shit so i refrained from showing excitement until i first saw the film. Notice how I say “first” as i’m now up rewatch number 7. I should add, spoiler alert. Seriously. If you havn’t seen the film or have heard no news then you really should consider coming back to me after watching.
No? Okay then, you’re choice. Here we go.
I’m going to begin by saying this. Stick with me here, this may get a little bit confusing. Throughout the film I noticed that in and of itself, it’s not scary, at all. No jumpscares, subtext, deaths, anything. So you could watch the entire film without a moment of the fear that it should resonate. Now, add the book series…the books that we read as little children with much more limited minds. I know i don’t just speak for myself when i say Slappy gave me nightmares for months. It seems as if by adding the books another dimension is added to the film watching experience, we know what these creatures are truly capable of and are constantly reminded of the horror we were filled with as children. if you ask me, If Rob Letterman intended this, he’s an absolute genious.
Another example of knowing the books affecting how we see the film is Hannah, Stine’s daughter. And the first person to welcome Zach into his new surroundings. Sure enough, Zach and hannah fall in love but as the story unfolds we find out Hannah is actually one of Stine’s creations, which means, when all creatures are sucked back into where they once resided, Hannah joined them. Any Goosebumps fan would pick up on this when she first peeked her head through a gap in the garden fence. Mainly because of Stine’s 10th book in the series, “The Ghost next door” in which an entire family is unaware that they are already dead. The girl of this family, Hannah.
The amount of references and easter eggs in this film are insane. Not to count the amount of nods to the book series. To begin with, a swarm of garden Gnomes tie up Jack black and try to send him into an oven which was an obvious nod to gullivers travels. Another is when an angel statue grabs hannah and this statue looks almost identical to the weeping angels from Dr Who. The visual representation of the clown from “clown street” looks very similar to Pennywise from the Stephen King novel.
In terms of Stephen King, one scene stands out to me, after being compared to him several times, Stine has to find a place to write one more novel to trap the creatures and where does he find? The set of a school play, specifically, The shining. This works on two levels, not only is it a clear Stephen King reference that rubs salt in Stines wounds but the Shining focuses on a writer in a hotel. Stine’s clearly aware of this as his face shows at the time. I’ve saved the best reference till last, the real R.L Stine is in the film in the final few minutes playing “The new Drama teacher, Mr Black.” Which is clearly one of the biggest nods to Jack Blacks role in School of Rock in existance. We also need to take a second to appreciate Jack Black. Not only does he pull off Stine impeccably but he also voices the ONLY two speaking creatures in the film, Slappy and The invisible boy.
(Invisible Boy image not available)
To sum up, this film is the epitome of my childhood which is why I adored it. I’ve cut out so much information that you should wait to see for yourself such as the creatures and character development. SO if you havn’t already, watch Goosebumps. And again, if you havn’t already, READ A GOOSEBUMPS BOOK.
The Bigger Image 