If you grew up in the ’90s, you probably ran your fingers over the bumpy logo of a “Goosebumps” book cover before reading the scary teen books in bed under the covers with a flashlight.
This month, R.L. Stine’s spooky stories return for the new 10-episode TV series “Goosebumps,” which just dropped Episode 6 over the weekend for a solid update on Hulu and Disney+ if you’re a pre-teen or teen looking for Halloween frights.
Developed by Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller, the series is mostly set in present day in the fictional small town of Port Lawrence (filmed in Vancouver). It follows a group of five high schoolers who investigate the tragic death of a teenager named Harold Biddle at a creepy old estate on the edge of town back in 1993, while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents’ past that cause them all to become haunted by various objects.
Rather than an anthology series like Fox Family’s “Goosebumps” (1995-1998) with standalone episodes devoted to specific books, the new series is more serialized in that it weaves an overarching storyline to tie them all together — similar to what Mike Flanagan just did with his Edgar Allan Poe adaptation of “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Netflix. Don’t worry, each episode still focuses on a different haunted object from the various books.
Episode 1 (“Say Cheese and Die”) focuses on a haunted polaroid camera that shows the characters’ future demise in photographs (like “The Omen”). The camera haunts high-school quarterback Isaiah (Zack Morris), whose girlfriend Allison (Rhinnan Payne) is jealous of him spending time with Margot (Isa Briones). We also see the ghost of Biddle (Ben Cockell) possess high-school teacher Mr. Bratt (Justin Long, “Jeepers Creepers,” “Barbarian”).
Episode 2 (“The Haunted Mask”) gives more screen time to Isabella (Ana Yi Puig), who previously was lurking in the background of the hallways and trolling people online. Ignored at school and abused by her mother, she finds new confidence by wearing a haunted mask that (like Jim Carrey’s “The Mask”) takes things a little too far. This episode also finds Long having a blast as an actor walking with flimsy legs as he tries to control his new body.
Episode 3 (“The Cuckoo Clock of Doom”) focuses on James, played by trans YouTube star Miles McKenna. The character delivers sarcastic zingers before hitting his head on a cuckoo clock that traps him in a time loop. Somehow this spawns duplicates of himself (like “Spider-Man: No Way Home”), explaining the logic by saying, “That’s not how time travel works!” These nasty clones taunt his family and friends — and explode on impact.
Episode 4 (“Let Them Eat Worms”) dives into the story of Lucas (Will Price), an extreme sports nut who takes death-defying leaps on his skateboard. We learn that his father died years ago and that his mother Nora (Rachael Harris) is having an affair with Margot’s father Colin (Rob Huebel), the school guidance counselor cheating on his traveling wife Sarah (Lexa Doig). Lucas and Margot bond over the situation despite Lucas eating haunted worms.
Episode 5 (“Reader Beware”) takes us into the library where Margot receives Biddle’s old scrapbook, showing flashbacks to what happened on the night of his death, as well as the involvement of their parents. The episode ends with a mysterious suitcase retrieved from the Biddle house and the kids saying, “Did we just discover our parents are murderers?” followed by a line that made me laugh out loud: “Oh my God, we’re Murder Nepo Babies!”
The latest chapter, Episode 6 (“Night of the Living Dummy”), finally introduces the franchise’s most famous character, an evil ventriloquist puppet named Slappy, who is introduced in black-and-white flashbacks of Harold’s great-grandfather Ephraim as a struggling magician in 1925. It all comes to a head as we realize Slappy contributed to Biddle’s death, causing the parents to make a pact (like “I Know What You Did Last Summer”).
It’ll be interesting to see where the series goes from here in its final four episodes: “Give Yourself Goosebumps,” “You Can’t Scare Me,” “Night of the Living Dummy Part 2” and “Welcome to Horrorland.” Every step of the way, we simultaneously admire the writers’ ability to weave together the unrelated book stories, while also noticing a few moments where the strained connections feel forced compared to the inherent benefits of standalone arcs.
Either way, it’s hard to be too picky this time of year, especially when teenage viewers need something spooky to watch for Halloween. Kids these days obviously have more gory options at their disposal — the internet barely existed for those of us who grew up reading “Goosebumps” — but if you want a family-friendly diversion like “The Addams Family” (1991), “Hocus Pocus” (1993) or “Casper” (1995), this new version is more treat than trick.
Listen to my 2022 convo with R.L. Stine on my podcast below:
