R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books hang-out the silver display a second time with Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. Sadly, it’s solely haunting within the sense that it’s a horrific waste of time. With monsters which might be extra goofy than scary and a lackluster story, there’s actually no purpose to move to the multiplex for this.

Set in Wardenclyffe, New York, the story follows Sarah (Madison Iseman), her youthful brother Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor), and Mr. Slappy, a ventriloquist’s dummy that strikes and talks on his personal. He desperately desires to belong to their household, although he’s, sadly, a little bit of a maniac.

Surely, it’s a creepy thought for an odd puppet to attempt to insinuate itself into the household, however the film fails to observe by way of with that creepiness, or with another side which may ship a chill up the backbone. Mr. Slappy’s options aren’t grotesque, and his actions aren’t fairly uneven sufficient to be unsettling. His actions, whereas mischievous, don’t have the hidden malice that’s wanted to trigger pangs of worry and alarming concern. There is not any purpose to be afraid of Mr. Slappy.

The remainder of the monsters that he summons aren’t any higher. They trigger mayhem, however as a result of they lack menace, they fail to intimidate or strike worry into viewers. It’s partly a fault of the design and questionable selection in supernatural creatures. Gummy bears, as an illustration, are hardly fearsome. Where are the creepy-crawlies? The slimy tentacles, gross warts, wriggling worms…nothing makes the viewer retch in disgust or disguise in worry. The film additionally crams in so many spooks that every one is much less a frightful entity and extra a spectacle in a parade.

The creatures aren’t definitely worth the worth of admission, and the story isn’t any higher. Yes, the start is serviceable—it attracts viewers in with relatable scenes like Sonny and his good friend evading the varsity bullies, and what occurs to the kids’s mom is definitely type of creepy. Unfortunately, the expertise is totally diluted by the aforementioned panoply of not-so-spooky creatures and a mismanaged plot. The ending solely makes issues worse: it grasps at a lesson about dealing with one’s fears, and it’s an actual attain. Without the thematic backing of the story, the lesson is simply as shoehorned and awkwardly positioned into the movie because the temporary look of R.L. Stine (Jack Black). The last scene is nothing greater than a ham-fisted try and hold the sequence open for future installments.

There aren’t any treats in Goosebumps 2—solely methods, and unhealthy ones at that. The flick fails to ship any goosebumps to viewers: it’s extra of a funhouse that’ll offer you an eyeful of spectacle. It’s in all probability not what most followers of the Goosebumps sequence need out of a film like this, however fortunately they will flip to the TV sequence.