Goosebumps Returns to Disney+, But It’s Not Really for Kids Anymore (Review)

The series takes the cult plots of RL Stine’s books from the 1990s to address Generation Z, but not before 12 years.

This Friday, October 13, Disney+ is relaunching the saga Goosebumpsalways from books “Goosebumps” by RL Stine, but not quite like in the 1990s. At the time, it was an anthology for young teenagers, with a monster or a curse falling on young people for the duration of one or two episodes at most. Then the casting changed in the following ones, and the public could be scared while having fun, the books like the series perfectly blending the codes of comedy and horror to scare children.

When Ryan Gosling starred in Goosebumps as a teenager

In 2015 and 2018, two films were released by Sony renewing the concept: Jack Black played the author, unwillingly witnessing the appearance of his multiple nightmarish creatures in the real world. More focused on the comic aspect than on the creepiness, these two opuses had the good idea of ​​playing with the image of the writer, presented throughout as “a Stephen King for children”. They offered two ideal comedies for a good Halloween evening with the family.

Goosebumps: Jack Black is perfect, as usual (review)

New change of concept this year with a new series of eight episodes: the first five can be seen today on the platform, then the following three will be offered every Wednesday from October until Halloween. Surprise ! They are accompanied by a ban on children under 12 (and even -14 in the United States, on Hulu, the series being initially produced by Sony and not Disney, which is simply a broadcaster here). Which radically changes the atmosphere of Goosebumps, until now thought of as stories to take a first step into horror literature and/or cinema. Another major change is that it is no longer an anthology, but a linear story, following the same characters from A to Z.

“Scarier than you remember”

The action began in 1993, exactly the period of publication of the works that inspired it: Dangerous Photos, The Haunted Mask, The Cursed Clock or the essential Night of the Puppets. A high school student disappears under strange circumstances, and thirty years later, his ghost will return to haunt the children of his classmates. By first causing supernatural phenomena which will target them one by one. In the first episode, Isaiah (Zack Morris, seen in EastEnders) the popular quarterback who wants at all costs to obtain a scholarship, finds a camera whose photos predict drama. In the next one, Isabella (Ana Yi Puig, from Bull), who feels invisible in the eyes of other high school students, finds a mask capable of restoring her confidence, but also of gradually taking control over her. The third story follows James (Miles McKenna, spotted in Good Girls Get High), queer teenager who will relive the same evening over and over again, each “reset” creating an evil double for him to face. And so on, until the public has become familiar with the five heroes of this new story.

We quickly understand that all these curses are linked to the house in which the young man died three decades earlier, and which is today inhabited by a new English teacher (Justin Long). From episode 5, the plot alternates between modern sequences and memories of the past, and gains in depth, the decisions of the elders having serious consequences on the lives of their own children.

A series under influences, between Riverdale, X-Files And Stranger Things
This new vision of Goosebumps is clearly designed as a modern series, which is aimed at generation Z by taking up its codes, its expressions, its diversity… While addressing universal problems felt by teenagers of all generations. On this point, it is quite successful: even if the performers of the 15 year olds are clearly between 20 and 25 years old, they are more and more convincing as the episodes progress. Notably Miles McKenna, a transgender actor who has become a YouTube star thanks to his videos recounting his transition with humor and lightness since 2011, particularly fair and touching. Among the elders, Justin Long, who has already proven his taste for horror (Jeepers Creepers, All the Way to Hell, Barbarian…) and comedy (Idiocracy, Dodgeball…) is having the time of his life as a creepy teacher.

Overall, the comic aspect works well, precisely thanks to the involvement of the actors, who do not seem to have to force themselves to make each other laugh thanks to good jokes, based on pop references or linked to the evolution of the society. Of X Files to cell phone addiction through Thor, Catwoman or the “nepo babies”, everything goes! It is on this point that we most feel the touch of its creators, Nicholas Stoller and Rob Letterman: the first is particularly famous for Without Sarah nothing works, The Muppets Or Brosand the second contributed to Goosebumps the movie Or Pokemon: Detective Pikachu.

The duo has obviously read, seen and digested the saga Goosebumps, which allows them to multiply the nods to the novels. They could have gone even further into the delirium (as for Hocus Pocus 2other “revival” from the 1990s released last Halloween on the same platform, which pushed the comic cursor all the way) or series Chucky, which goes further into trash. But let’s not shy away from our pleasure: this show manages to create a good atmosphere and several times brings a smile between two “jump scares” and bad luck.

We laugh, we laugh… unfortunately the horror part is less effective, not helped by special effects that are not very credible (a self-combustion crudely created digitally from the pilot, for example). Certainly, the 1990s series was already known for its VFX “cheap”but it fit better into the short, mediocre stories, and the masks or makeup were still often neat enough to scare children.

Here, addressing a more mature audience, Goosebumps targets viewers who are already familiar with horror films and series… and does not avoid comparison with more impressive models. Stranger Thingsin particular, is clearly one of the references of this Goosebumps 2.0, with its teenagers waking up an evil creature who will impact their daily lives as well as that of their parents. Except that the Netflix series manages better to construct its sequences and graphic monsters, which are sometimes downright creepy. There, it remains nicer.

It’s difficult to be afraid for the heroes when we don’t visually believe in the threat or when the linear story suggests that we will follow all these characters to the end. This also minimizes cliffhangers, the stories of the first series often ending with a shock scene, an approach which has less impact with episodes to follow, where the effect is immediately broken by explanations.
The attempts to tackle adult themes are notable (dealing with mourning, divorce, etc.), but never come close to the level of The Haunting of Hill Housefor example, a model of the genre in terms of horror drama.

By radically changing the formula to address a new audience, the creators are complicating the task and ultimately signing a series more for children, but not for adults either, nor for teenagers already addicted to horror films. It’s still catchy enough for us to want to see the sequel – to unravel the mysteries of this ghost story, and especially to see the new version of Slappy, the evil puppet, teased on the poster but not still visible in the first episodes – but not enough to really give goosebumps…