'Goosebumps 2' Trailer Unleashes A 'Haunted Halloween'

I'll admit it: I thought the first Goosebumps was kind of fun. It had its problems, and relied far too much on CGI. But for the most part, it was an amusing family friendly horror film that paid tribute to the world of R.L. Stine. Now here comes Goosebumps 2, which looks to have more or less the same exact plot. The big difference here is that Jack Black is not returning as Stine – probably because he was busy making the similar House with a Clock in its Walls.

In this sequel, "Two boys face an onslaught from witches, monsters, ghouls and a talking dummy after they discover a mysterious book by author R.L. Stine." The footage here looks...okay. I'm a sucker for Halloween-themed stuff, so Goosebumps 2 has that going for it. And when I was a kid, I would devour the Goosebumps books, burning through one a day (my favorite was Say Cheese and Die, mostly for the title alone). All that said, this movie looks loud, with people constantly shrieking as stuff crashes down around them. Once again, there's far too much reliance on cheap-looking CGI. And that bit with the Gummy Bears at the end is just dumb. But hey – this is a movie being marketed to kids, not jaded adults like me. Maybe a younger crowd will get a kick out of all this mayhem.

Goosebumps 2, starring Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Chris Parnell, and Ken Jeong, and directed by Ari Sandel, trick or treats its way into theaters October 12, 2018.

In the small town of Wardenclyffe on Halloween Night, two boys named Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Sam (Caleel Harris) find a manuscript in an abandoned house that was previously owned by R. L. Stine called "Haunted Halloween." When they open it, they release Slappy (Avery Lee Jones) who plans to create the Halloween Apocalypse with the help of his Halloween monster allies. Now, Sonny and Sam, alongside Sonny's sister, Sarah (Madison Iseman), must work to thwart Slappy's plot before all is lost.