We finally got a peek at the Goosebumps movie. Jack Black came to Comic-Con to talk about playing Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, and we saw his Stine battle his own monstrous creations after they had escaped from his books.
Black and Goosebumps director Rob Letterman came to the Sony panel at San Diego Comic-Con to discuss the plot of the movie and show the first footage. Black said that he will be playing a highly fictionalized version of Stine: "I need him to be a little more sinister. I need him to be creepy and crawly."
Letterman explained that instead of adapting a single book, the Goosebumps movie will take advantage of the anthology nature of the series, throwing all of Stine's monsters at him at once. "The idea behind the movie is what if all of R.L. Stine's creatures got loose and [the characters] have to go on an adventure to put them back in?" He says that, taking a cue from the books, the movie will be both scary and funny.
We saw a sizzle reel from the film, but without the final visual effects. Our teen boy protagonist moves in next door to Stine and his daughter, and soon learns that the monsters from Stine's books are locked within his manuscripts. Fortunately, this boy's friend has read all the Goosebumps books and calls out the who's who of monsters they have to fight, including werewolves, zombies, and the abominable snowman of Pasadena. It has a distinct kid's movie feel with piles upon piles of monsters, likely more for kids who are reading Goosebumps books now than adults and older teens who read them when they were younger. Black as Stine is at once goofy and grandiose.
Slappy the Dummy from Night of the Living Dummy is the ringleader of all these creatures. "He's R.L. Stine's dark side," Black explained. Letterman added, "He's your alter ego."