GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (2018)

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Ari Sandel
Cast: Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ken Jeong, Jack Black
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: PG (Some Frightening Scenes)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 18 October 2018

Synopsis: Halloween comes to life in a brand-new comedy adventure based on R.L. Stine’s 400-million-selling series of books.

Movie Review:

2015’s ‘Goosebumps’ kick-started Jack Black’s recent string of family-friendly live-action comedies (which counts subsequently last Christmas’s ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ and this fall’s ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’), and if it wasn’t apparent just how much fun Black’s neuroticisms were, then this sequel which relegates his role as the reclusive author R.L. Stine to a mere cameo shows how much of an outsized presence he had played.

Less witty, less lively and less imaginative than its predecessor, this largely inferior follow-up is not without its share of jolts and giggles especially if you haven’t seen the first movie, but fans hoping for the same level of fun and thrills will probably come off disappointed.

Swapping the town of Madison, Delaware for the similarly little hamlet of Wardenclyffe, New York, the film sees a new group of kids taken in by the evil machinations of the ventriloquist dummy Slappy.

Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Sam (Caleel Harris) are our two middle-school outcasts who run a fledging junk-disposal business; while on their first day of business cleaning out an abandoned house, they come across the doll with the sinister game show host grin, and inadvertently bring him to life after reciting the incantation found in his pocket.

At first, Slappy seems to be a blessing in disguise – not only does he help Sonny and Sam teach the local bully a lesson, Slappy also makes Sonny’s hitherto unsuccessful science project work.

Yet Slappy’s true intentions are anything but noble. Using his magical powers, Slappy raises all manner of Halloween heck upon Wardenclyffe – among them, jack-o'-lanterns, plastic bats, gnomes, mummies, green lantern-headed witches, gummi bears, the headless horseman and a giant spider made entirely of purple balloons. 

Incoming director Ari Sandel shows relish in employing the artists within Sony Pictures Animation to anthropomorphise the array of creepy-crawly creatures, combining both computer-generated imagery and practical effects to conjure Halloween fun and mischief. As spectacle, it is impressive all right, but wears thin pretty quickly, with little beneath the visual trickery to sustain your interest.

If it isn’t yet obvious, the plot is paper-thin and of little consequence, most of which consists of Sonny, Sam and Sonny’s older sister Sarah (Madison Iseman) attempting to get rid of Slappy and then failing which, trying to stop Slappy from achieving his nefarious aims.

You’ll probably guess that Slappy’s plan has something to do with Sonny’s science project modelling wireless electricity transmission, seeing as how the movie cares to emphasise several shots of electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla’s statue in its opening shots. Similarly, you’ll be looking out for when Slappy comes for Sonny’s harried mum Kathy (Wendi McLendon-Covey), who won’t believe her children’s accounts of what is happening in their town until she sees it with her own eyes.

To be fair, writer Rob Lieber does give Slappy some occasionally devilishly witty lines that does recall Chucky from the ‘Child’s Play’ movies, albeit a less vulgar iteration in order that this be PG-rated. But aside from that, how much you enjoy the movie depends on how much you enjoy the visual chaos from watching a whole bunch of Halloween decorations come alive.

That more than anything else seems to be the raison d’etre of this kid-friendly comedy horror, even at the expense of reducing its human characters – including Black’s Stine and Ken Jeong’s Halloween-obsessed neighbour Mr Chu – to sideshows.

Without Black anchoring the mayhem this time round, ‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’ is no better than your average Saturday morning live-action film, but if that’s the distraction you need, then bring the kids along for the ride.

Movie Rating:

(Unless watching all manner of Halloween heck come to life is your idea of 'treat', this sequel which finds original star Jack Black in no more than a cameo is mostly just visual 'trick')

Review by Gabriel Chong