Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ari Sandel |
Screenplay by | Rob Lieber |
Story by |
|
Based on | Goosebumps by R. L. Stine |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Barry Peterson |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Dominic Lewis [1] |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing [2] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes [5] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $35 million [6] |
Box office | $93.3 million [6] |
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (or simply Goosebumps 2 as marketed on home release) [7] is a 2018 American horror comedy film directed by Ari Sandel and written by Rob Lieber from a story by Lieber and Darren Lemke. A stand-alone sequel to 2015's Goosebumps , it is based on the children's horror book series of the same name by R. L. Stine. The new cast consists of Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Chris Parnell and Ken Jeong. The plot follows a pair of young boys who accidentally unleash the monsters of the Goosebumps franchise upon their hometown after opening an unpublished Goosebumps manuscript, causing a wave of destruction on Halloween night.
Development of the film began in September 2015. Rob Letterman intended to return to direct, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Detective Pikachu, so Ari Sandel replaced him as director. Jack Black and Odeya Rush were set to reprise their roles as R. L. Stine and Hannah Fairchild, respectively; Black's role was uncredited and Rush's role was ultimately not included in the final script.
Goosebumps 2 was released in the United States on October 12, 2018, by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was not as successful as its predecessor, grossing $93 million worldwide against its $35 million budget.
Teenager Sarah Quinn lives with her mother, Kathy, and her teenage brother, Sonny, in the New Yorkian town of Wardenclyffe and is writing an essay for her college application as Halloween is just around the corner. Sonny's friend, Sam Carter, is dropped off at their house to be looked after while his parents are away for the next three days.
Scavenging for items in an abandoned house formerly owned by R. L. Stine after school, they find an unpublished Goosebumps manuscript and unlock it, resulting in Slappy the Dummy appearing, who is currently inanimate. Leaving the house after obliviously reading the incantation that brings Slappy to life, they are intercepted by bully Tommy Madigan, who steals the manuscript from them. He and his friends attempt to chase the duo home, but are secretly stopped by the now-brought-to-life Slappy.
Back home, Slappy reveals his sentience to the duo, but requests them to keep him a secret from the other Quinns. Over the next few days, Slappy tries to assert himself as a member of the family by assaulting Sarah’s ex-boyfriend, Tyler Mitchell, for recently cheating on her and causing damage to one of the classrooms of Sonny’s school after sabotaging his science project, a working model of the abandoned Wardenclyffe Tower created by Nikola Tesla. Now aware of Slappy’s true nature, the duo and Sarah settle on getting rid of him, only for him to escape when they attempt to do so.
Halloween night arrives and the kids find an article online regarding events that occurred in the Delawarean town of Madison. [a] Through some more research, they realize that the unpublished manuscript is required to stop Slappy. They then attempt to contact R. L. Stine for help, but leave a voicemail when he is unavailable. Meanwhile, Slappy visits a local pharmacy and uses his powers to bring various Halloween costumes and decorations to life, some of which are Goosebumps themed, as well as brainwashing the pharmacy’s manager, Walter, to his cause using a mask.
Slappy soon reactivates the Wardenclyffe Tower and uses it to bring the town’s Halloween decor to life. As Sonny and Sam retrieve the manuscript at Tommy’s house, during which they discover it can be used to imprison anything Slappy had brought to life, it is unfortunately stolen by his forces as they then abduct Kathy. Mr. Chu, the Quinns' neighbor and an avid Goosebumps fan, assists the duo and Sarah in disguising themselves to safely navigate the town.
They infiltrate the Wardenclyffe Tower and confront Slappy, who has now made Kathy like him. After some conflict, the trio defeat Slappy as Sarah combines the recovered manuscript's power with the energy of the tower’s reactor to save the town, with Kathy and Walter being returned to normal. In the aftermath, Stine arrives at the tower, having received the trio’s voicemail only to learn that the threat has been neutralized and congratulates them for their heroism, as well as giving Sarah advice on writing her essay.
Afterwards, Kathy and Walter begin dating and Sarah is accepted after completing her application. Elsewhere, Stine is confronted by a surviving Slappy, who entraps his creator in a new Goosebumps story he himself conceived.
Calaca ladies portrayed by Iyani Gwendolyn, Cheniqua Litchmore and Hali J. Ross.
Goblins portrayed by Cody Jenkins and Joe Marri. Mummies portrayed by Mary Tricia Froedge, Robert Hunt, Martin Skyler, Grace Toso, Calvin Wickham and Taylor Williams.
A scene briefly shows action figures of Ryu and Ken Masters from Capcom's Street Fighter series that Slappy brings to life using repurposed voice clips.
On September 2, 2015, it was reported that a sequel to the film Goosebumps was already in the planning stages, with Sony looking for a screenwriter. [10] On January 17, 2017, a January 26, 2018 release date was set, and Rob Letterman confirmed that he was to return as director for the sequel. [11] On February 6, 2017, it was announced that the film's release date had been delayed to September 21, 2018, taking the date previously held by Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation . [12]
In May 2017, the title was said to be Goosebumps: HorrorLand. [13] At the time, it was also reported that Jack Black would reprise his role as R. L. Stine. [14]
In November 2017, Rob Lieber was tapped to pen the script. [15] In December 2017, Ari Sandel was announced as the director instead of Letterman, due to the latter being busy directing Detective Pikachu for Legendary Entertainment. Variety reported that two scripts had been written: one script in which Black would reprise his role, while the other had Black cut out entirely. [16] In December 2017, the sequel's release date was pushed to October 12, 2018. [17]
The film was later renamed Goosebumps: Slappy's Revenge, [18] and its new leading cast members were set as Madison Iseman, Ben O'Brien, Caleel Harris and Jeremy Ray Taylor (O'Brien did not appear in the finished film). [19] Ken Jeong, Chris Parnell and Wendi McLendon-Covey joined the following month. [20] Filming began on March 7, and in April 2018 the title was renamed again, to Haunted Halloween. [21] [22] [23]
It was initially stated by Sony representatives that Avery Lee Jones, who puppeteered Slappy in the film, would also voice the character. [24] Jack Black returned for the film as Stine, [8] and it was later reported that Mick Wingert would actually voice Slappy. [25] [9]
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was released on October 12, 2018. The film's first trailer premiered on July 11, 2018, the international trailer on August 16, 2018, and a third trailer on September 20, 2018. [26] A television spot was released on September 24, 2018, which also confirmed that Jack Black would return for the film. [8] Unlike the first film where it was given RealD 3D screenings, the sequel was not in the format.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was released on Digital on December 25, 2018, and DVD and Blu-ray on January 15, 2019. [27]
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween grossed $46.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $46.6 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $93.3 million, against a production budget of $35 million. [6] In the United States and Canada, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was released alongside First Man and Bad Times at the El Royale , and was projected to gross $15–21 million from 3,521 theaters in its opening weekend. [28] [29]
The film made $4.9 million on its first day, including $750,000 from Thursday night previews, up from $600,000 by the first film. It went on to debut to $15.8 million (down 33% from the first film's opening of $23.6 million), finishing fourth at the box office, behind Venom , A Star Is Born and First Man. [30] The film dropped 38% in its second weekend, to $9.7 million, remaining in fourth. [31]
The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2018, and opened in third, behind A Star Is Born and Halloween . [32]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween offers a handful of treats for very young viewers, but compared to the entertaining original, this sequel is a ding dong to ditch." [33] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [34] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, down from the "A" earned by the first film. [30]
Bilge Ebiri, writing for Vulture, said: "The first Goosebumps movie ... had wit, speed, and an imaginative spirit, throwing all sorts of rampaging, creatively designed ghouls at us. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween can’t quite make the same claim. It replicates the template and the atmosphere of the original, but it lacks invention and emotional investment", and added: "The movie feels undercooked on every level. True, it’s all meant to be slight and charming and inoffensive — but there’s a way to make this sort of thing work, and Goosebumps 2 doesn’t seem particularly interested in trying to find it." [35]
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave the film a grade of C, writing: "Though the new Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween gets closer to the spirit of Stine’s bestselling books, it also shares their reliance on formula, recreating the first movie’s monster mash with fewer self-referential gags." He concluded: "though Sandel relies less on exasperating, rubbery digital effects than Rob Letterman, the DreamWorks Animation vet who helmed the original, his direction of the monsters and mayhem is never more than workmanlike, racing joylessly through a shaky plot that barely holds attention." [36]
Writing for The Globe and Mail , Kate Taylor was more positive in her review of the film, giving it a score of 3 stars out of 4 and writing: "With a mere cameo from Jack Black as the reclusive Stine and fewer clever twists in the plot, Goosebumps 2 risks the diminishing-returns scenario that plagues most sequels; what saves it is a climax that is fresh rather than frantic." She concluded: "the safely scary and often amusing formula holds. Meanwhile, the movie’s conclusion includes enough plot about Stine’s fate to suggest Goosebumps 3 will feature more of the elusive Black and that can only be a good thing." [37]
The Haunted Mask is the eleventh book in the original Goosebumps, the series of children's horror fiction novels created and written by R. L. Stine. The book follows Carly Beth, a girl who buys a Halloween mask from a store. After putting on the mask, she starts acting differently and discovers that the mask has become her face; she is unable to pull the mask off. R. L. Stine says he got the idea for the book from his son who had put on a Frankenstein mask he had trouble getting off.
Robert Lawrence Stine, known by his pen name R.L. Stine, is an American novelist. He is the writer of Goosebumps, a horror fiction novel series which has sold over 400 million copies globally in 35 languages, becoming the second-best-selling book series in history. The series spawned a media franchise including two television series, a video game series, a comic series, and two feature films. Stine has been referred to as the "Stephen King of children's literature".
Goosebumps is a series of children's horror novels written by American author R. L. Stine. The protagonists in these stories are teens or pre-teens who find themselves in frightening circumstances, often involving the supernatural, the paranormal or the occult. Between 1992 and 1997, sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title. R. L. Stine also wrote various spin-off series, including, Goosebumps Series 2000, Give Yourself Goosebumps, Tales to Give You Goosebumps, Goosebumps Triple Header, Goosebumps HorrorLand, Goosebumps Most Wanted and Goosebumps SlappyWorld. Additionally, there was a series called Goosebumps Gold that was never released.
Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert, and a story by David Kirschner and Garris. It follows a villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night.
Goosebumps is a children's horror anthology television series based on R. L. Stine's best-selling book series of the same name. It is an anthology of stories involving children and young adults in otherworldly situations. The series is centered around the same supernatural or occult elements featured in the novels, with most episodes being direct adaptions of the books.
Slappy the Dummy is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Goosebumps children's series by R. L. Stine. He is the main antagonist of the Night of the Living Dummy saga and one of the series' most popular villains, as well as its mascot. He is also the main antagonist of the franchise's film adaptation and its sequel, described by their interpretation of Stine as having a "serious Napoleonic complex" in the former. He comes alive when the words, "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano," which roughly translates to "You and I are one now" and can be found on a sheet of paper in the coat pocket of Slappy's jacket, are read aloud. After being brought to life, Slappy will try to make the person who did so serve him as a slave, to the point of framing them for his misdeeds.
Ari Devon Sandel is an American filmmaker. He is known for directing the short film West Bank Story (2005), which won the 2006 Academy Award in the category Best Live Action Short Film.
Goosebumps HorrorLand is a horror novella series by R.L. Stine, a spin-off of his popular Goosebumps books. There was an almost ten-year gap between the publication of the initial installment in the Goosebumps Horrorland.
One Day at HorrorLand was originally published in February 1994 and is the sixteenth children's horror novel in R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series. It was adapted into a two-part episode for the television series, which was later released on VHS and DVD. A comic adaptation of the book was included in the graphic novel compilation Terror Trips, part of the Goosebumps Graphix series. There were two video games, an audiobook, and an adult-aimed interactive show based on the book. A sequel in the spin-off series Goosebumps Series 2000 titled Return to HorrorLand was published in 1999. The HorrorLand theme park was expanded upon in the book series Goosebumps HorrorLand. The two-part episode was released on VHS and DVD. The book and episodes received positive reception.
Goosebumps is a 2015 American horror comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and written by Darren Lemke, based on R. L. Stine's children's horror book series of the same name. The film stars Jack Black as a fictionalized version of Stine, who teams up with his neighbor and his teenage daughter, to save their hometown after all the monsters from the Goosebumps franchise escape from his works, wreaking havoc in the real world. It also stars Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee and Jillian Bell in supporting roles.
Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas by R. L. Stine. 62 books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997; the first was Welcome to Dead House; the last was Monster Blood IV. The cover illustrations for this series was done primarily by Tim Jacobus.
31 Nights of Halloween is an American seasonal programming block on Freeform. It originally began airing in 1998, after the Family Channel became Fox Family, and was continued through the channel's change into ABC Family, and later, Freeform. The 13 Days of Halloween block was created mainly due to the success of the channel's 25 Days of Christmas, which had started two years earlier. The special block lasted from October 19 until Halloween night, covering the thirteen days before the holiday. Starting in 2018, the program aired throughout the whole month of October.
"The Haunted Mask" is the feature-length series premiere of the television series Goosebumps. The episode is based on the book of the same name by R. L. Stine and is about Carly Beth, a timid girl who buys a Halloween mask that soon begins merging with her face. It first aired on October 27, 1995, in the United States on the Fox network, where it was viewed by 7.9 million households. In Canada, where the episode was filmed, it aired one day later on the YTV network. At the time, it had almost 3 million viewers and was YTV's highest-rated episode. Kathryn Long, who played Carly Beth, obtained a Gemini Award nomination for "Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series".
Goosebumps video games are a series of action-adventure games based on Goosebumps book series.
Insidious is an American horror franchise created by Leigh Whannell and James Wan that has been produced by Blumhouse in association with Sony’s Stage 6 Films since 2010. The films in the franchise include Insidious (2010), Chapter 2 (2013), Chapter 3 (2015), The Last Key (2018), and The Red Door (2023). The films have grossed over $731 million worldwide on a combined budget of $42.5 million.
Madison Elizabeth Iseman is an American actress. She is known for starring in the CMT comedy television series Still the King (2016–2017). She is also known for appearing in the psychological thriller film Fear of Rain (2021), the fantasy adventure comedy films Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), the comedy horror film Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018), the supernatural horror film Annabelle Comes Home (2019) and the Amazon Prime Video horror television series I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021).
Jeremy Raymond Taylor is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ben Hanscom in the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's novel It and its 2019 sequel, as well as the role of Sonny Quinn in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018).
Goosebumps is an American supernatural horror television series developed by Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller for Disney+ and Hulu. It is based on the book series by R. L. Stine. The series abandons the episodic anthology format of the 1995 original television series to focus on a serialized-anthology style of storytelling instead, changing storylines from season to season instead of episode to episode while still featuring some of the existing Goosebumps monsters and items episodically.
Sony Pictures Animation's slate for the year includes Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (July 13), Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween (October 12) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (December 14).
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)