Goosebumps (2015)

A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R. L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.

Director:

Rob Letterman

Writers:

Darren Lemke (screenplay by), Scott Alexander (story by)

Stars:

Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Black	...	Stine / voice of Slappy
Dylan Minnette	...	Zach
Odeya Rush	...	Hannah
Ryan Lee	...	Champ
Amy Ryan	...	Gale
Jillian Bell	...	Lorraine
Halston Sage	...	Taylor
Steven Krueger	...	Davidson
Keith Arthur Bolden	...	Principal Garrison
Amanda Lund	...	Officer Brooks
Timothy Simons	...	Officer Stevens
Ken Marino	...	Coach Carr
Karan Soni	...	Mr. Rooney
R.L. Stine	...	Mr. Black
Caleb Emery	...	Dumb Jock

Storyline

After moving to a new small town, teenage Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) meets the beautiful girl next door, Hannah (Odeya Rush). But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach's comes when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange - he is a prisoner of his own imagination - the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town. It's up to Stine, Zach, Hannah, and Zach's friend Champ (Ryan Lee) to put all the monsters back in their books.

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Plot Keywords:

monster | ferris wheel | abandoned amusement park | ventriloquist dummy | manuscript | 

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Taglines:

You will believe in monsters

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for scary and intense creature action and images, and for some rude humor

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Goosebumps

Filming Locations:

Conyers, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$58,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$23,618,556, 18 October 2015

Gross USA:

$80,080,379

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$158,260,952

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Expedition Films, LStar Capital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital Datasat Auro 11.1 Dolby Surround 7.1 SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jim Carrey was said to portray all the roles that Jack Black played in this movie. Both these actors not only appeared in The Cable Guy (1996) together, but are also two of R.L. Stine's favorite actors, according to his auto-bio, It Came From Ohio!: My Life as a Writer.

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Goofs

Lorraine has to walk very very slowly while bringing a drink for the poodle, lest she spills the water. But when she does spill some water due to seeing the dog levitate, she has to tip the bowl a long way over since it was almost empty.

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Quotes

Zach Cooper: Yes, Zach, follow the stranger into the woods.

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Crazy Credits

Tim Jacobus's Goosebumps cover artwork is used in the ending credits.

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Alternate Versions

The UK version is cut in one scene to reduce the horror effects in order to obtain a 'PG' rating.

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Connections

Featured in Top 5 Best/Worst: Top 5 Best Goosebumps Monsters (2018)

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Soundtracks

Get Ugly
Written by Jason Derulo (as Jason Desrouleaux), Sean Douglas, Jason Evigan and Ricky Reed (as Eric Frederic)
Performed by Jason Derulo
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Mildly Entertaining Film

Goosebumps (2015)

*** (out of 4)

Zach (Dylan Minnette) moves to a new town with his mother and soon meets his neighbor Hannah (Odeya Rush). The two hit it off but she's being overly protected by her father (Jack Black) and soon Zach finds out why.

I guess I should admit that I've never read any of the Goosebump stories and I haven't watched any of the television episodes. I was someone familiar with some of the monsters due to hearing about them as my girlfriend talked about them. I still went into this movie with high expectations and for the most part I found GOOSEBUMPS to be entertaining in its own way. The film is certainly flawed and it could have been much better but there are enough good things to make it worth watching.

What really helps the film is the fact that Rush, Black and Minnette are so good in their roles as is Ryan Lee who plays the nerd. I thought all four of them did a great job with their roles and I thought they certainly helped keep the film moving and entertaining. The monsters themselves were also fun for what they were. The CGI effects were of good quality as you'd expect and I thought the film was creative in the way that it got all of them on the screen.

I did have some issues with the film including the fact that I thought most of the humor didn't work overly well. I also thought the film dragged a bit too much and I really didn't think there was any suspense or tension. Again, going off what I had heard, apparently the show and books were meant to scare people but none of that carried over to this film version.