I
took the family to see Goosebumps
on opening night. I never watched the show or read the books because
I was older when they came out, but my wife is a fan because of her
niece and nephew and she and my son have watched a number of episodes
on Netflix. I love it when we can all go and see movies together, so
this was in the cards for a while.
All
I really knew about the franchise was that it was basically
kid-friendly versions of The
Twilight Zone
and Tales
from the Darkside.
He
is, indeed, doing something very different. There are moments where
he can’t help but be who he is, but for the most part Black is
playing a vulnerable, tightly wound man whose biggest concern is not
himself. Some folks have complained about his erratic accent, but to
me it came across as someone that had spent their entire life being
uncomfortable, guarded, and isolated. He never quite knows who he is
in the presence of others.
The
rest of the cast are great. Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush are
compelling and enjoyable to watch onscreen – not at all the
annoying kids you sometimes see in these types of movies. Amy Ryan
is, of course, awesome as Minnette’s mother. Ken Marino shows up
for approximately forty seconds of screen time and is, sadly, wasted.
Ryan Lee is the screeching kid in the suit from the ads and he is
awesome, but the real comedic standout to me was Jillian Bell as the
aunt.
I
don’t know which Hollywood forces decided to put Melissa McCarthy
over so hard, but Jillian Bell is worth ten of her. I want to see her
in more movies, stat.
Every second she is on screen she is stealing the effing show.
The
story is super, super
basic, but serviceable. The real draw of Goosebumps
is seeing just how many of Stine’s creations can be jammed into one
movie and how well they can be represented on the screen. I have to
admit that they killed it in this department. The monsters and ghosts
and deranged lawn gnomes are all a blast to see in action and their
individual encounters are each memorable scenes. Despite the
heavy-handed use of CGI, I was never taken out of the movie because
the tone and style do not call for realism. This is a kids’ movie,
not The
Shining.
I
recommend you take the family to the theater and see this one as part
of your Halloween fun. It’s satisfyingly spooky in an utterly
benign way and the cast is truly delightful.
Speaking
of satisfyingly spooky, I also recommend R.L.
Stine’s Monsterville: The Cabinet of Souls.
It’s also very youth-oriented, but the tone absolutely nails late
80s/early 90s Halloween television specials. It’s full of terrible
music, teen angst, and spooky fun.
All
in all, the Goosebumps
television show – available now on Netflix – is the best. I’ve
watched a bunch of them now with my son and while the show is as
uneven as any horror anthology and some of the effects make classic
Doctor
Who
look like a James Cameron movie, it has all of the spooky elements
that the movie was missing. There are some genuinely disturbing and
suspenseful moments in the show – things that had Phantom, Jr. on
the edge of his seat with his eyes bugged out. And he freely admits
to enjoying that experience more than the fun of the feature film.
I
think the original Creature
from the Black Lagoon
is what sparked my son’s interest in horror. He’s grown up with
all of the horror toys down in the Phantom Zone and has characters he
likes based on those – Jason is one of his favorites and I can’t
wait to show him those movies – but something about Creature
got him. We watched the original and then the sequels over the course
of a couple of days and he ate them up.
I
think his next creature feature was Ghostbusters,
followed shortly thereafter by Gremlins.
Both seem relatively benign now, but for a seven year old they’re
pretty heavy. I was nine when they came out and both had moments that
made me nervous.
I
let him talk me into letting him watch Troll
recently. It’s more fantasy than horror, but I didn’t think it
was a good idea, as I had seen it when I was ten and it freaked me
out. But something about the preview screens on Netflix caught his
eye and he made a compelling argument that we could turn it off if he
got too scared. So one afternoon when Mrs. Troublemaker was out we
watched the whole thing and he loved it.
Finally,
just between you and me, I let him watch part of a documentary on KNB
EFX recently – Nightmare
Factory.
I was watching it on Netflix while working on something downstairs.
He came down to ask me about something and I paused it, but not
before he had seen one of the vampires from From
Dusk ‘Til Dawn
explode. He was clearly interested, but this was not for him. I
answered his question and he went back upstairs.
Just
a few minutes later he came back and I was in the midst of editing or
something, so I didn’t think about pausing the movie. Next thing I
knew ten minutes had passed and he was sitting in the recliner in
front of my desk watching Greg Nicotero explain how to make
intestines explode out of a dummy. I paused it and we had a talk
about how all of this stuff was fake and was how they made things in
horror movies. He seemed pretty savvy about it, so I resumed the
movie, keeping a watchful eye out for anything too over-the-top or
outside of the context of the FX studio. Eventually I had to cut it
off for something or other that was just too extreme, but in the
meantime he was fascinated.
I
kept up with him over the next couple of days to make sure he wasn’t
having nightmares or anxiety and he was totally fine. As a matter of
fact, he didn’t suffer any nightmares until the night after I
finally let him watch Batman
Begins.
He woke up screaming about how it was a lousy Batman movie because it
was too realistic for Clayface or Poison Ivy or Mr. Freeze to exist.
Just
kidding – the demon Batman that Scarecrow hallucinates freaked him
out.
I’m
excited that my son is enjoying things that are spooky and scary and
is seeking them out. Some of the best stuff is years away, but I’m
looking forward to introducing him to all of the classics that I
discovered on my own as I grew up.
I enjoyed Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls. I thought the acting was good and the story was a nice mix of horror and fantasy. It felt like a longer Goosebumps episode to me and was definitely nostalgic. Just simple, good brain candy.
ReplyDeleteFor sure! It's been added to the collection for annual viewing!
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