We’ve known for a while that the Goosebumps movie would be a weird metanarrative about the books themselves rather than inspired by them, with Jack Black as original writer R. L. Stine. Now we’ve got a first look at the movie in action, and it looks just as weird as this original idea sounded.
The movie revolves around young teenager Zach (Dylan Minnette) moving into a new home and learning that his cranky neighbor is in fact the legendary Goosebumps writer—and that somehow, Stine’s manuscripts actually house the spooky creatures he writes about. Naturally, a bunch of them get out and wacky hijinks ensue in something that leans a little less into full-on creepiness like the books or TV show did, and more into a goofy comedy tone.
I almost wish the insane metatextual side of this had been played a little straighter, just to make it seem even more ridiculous than it sounded, but this could be a fun “every Goosebumps monster ever!” sort of romp.
Goosebumps is due out October 16th.
