Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween – An old ventriloquists dummy is accidentally brought to life by best friends Sam and Sonny who think their lives have changed for the better when the dummy, Slappy, is keen to please them with his supernatural powers in order to be part of the family. Unfortunately, Slappy’s psychotic ways soon show and the boys, along with Sonny’s older sister, Sarah, need to find a way to stop him; however when Slappy brings to life the town’s Halloween decorations, their efforts become much more scary.

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) – Director: Ari Sandel

Rating: PG

Running Length: 90 mins

Starring: Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris

Genre: Horror, Comedy

REVIEW: GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN

As the sequel to 2015’s ‘Goosebumps’, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’ wisely chooses an entirely new story and setting from the original which had already thrown everything at the screen. Slappy, R.L. Stine’s arguably most frightening villain from the Goosebumps books, is once again the alpha villain, this time seeking a family to belong to. His chance comes along in the form of Sonny and Sarah, along with Sonny’s friend Sam when the boys inadvertently summon him by reading out the spell for bringing him to life. Soon after, his psychotic reasoning puts the teens in danger, he uses his superpowers to bring to life the town’s many Halloween decorations and they have to stop him.

Directing the focus mainly onto Slappy works better this time around; the original having him as the most dangerous but one of many baddies made the movie somewhat untidy and harder to follow. This time, Slappy has a clear motive and the means to get what he wants. It is also good that while there are hundreds of monsters, they all orbit around Slappy and their actions are based solely on helping him. The teens, Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Sam (Caleel Harris) and Sarah (Madison Iseman), are all likeable and thankfully aren’t the sort to make particularly stupid decisions. Although the plot is quite simple, the many exciting-looking baddies create plenty of fun action scenes to tie all the threads together nicely.

Taking all the inspiration from the source material, ‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’ definitely knows what it’s trying to do and who it’s trying to scare but there’s enough throughout to keep the older members of the audience entertained.

CONTENT: IS ‘GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

At the beginning of the movie, the camera shows a street where all the houses have been fully decorated for Halloween including several adult-sized dummies of monsters.

Sarah hears a bang at her bedroom window and approaches it cautiously, it turns out to be a teen boy who was playfully trying to scare her. She allows him to climb into her bedroom where they talk and he is sent on his way when her mum finds him there.

When Sonny and Sam approach an old, decrepit house, one tells the other ’24 is probably the number of people who were murdered here’. When they knock on the door, it opens slightly by itself and there is a jump-scare as they are walking around the house and there is a cat screech sound as a real stuffed cat suddenly drops into view right near one of the boys’ heads.

As the boys are talking in the spooky house, unseen by them, a ventriloquist’s dummy appears in a box beside them out of nowhere. After seeing it, it begins talking to them, seemingly by itself.

A bully steals the dummy (called Slappy) from Sonny and Sam, and as he hold him above his head, Slappy becomes angry and, looking down, causes the bully’s trousers to fall down.

Sarah promises her mum that she will stay in all night to babysit Sonny. However, after her mum leaves, Sarah goes out to a nightclub, leaving Sonny and Sam behind.

While everyone is asleep, Slappy walks through the house holding a screwdriver. Scary music accompanies him watching over Sarah as she sleeps.

Slappy approaches Sarah’s boyfriend who believes someone is playing a prank on him. He stands at the top of a ladder and Slappy uses his powers to remove a screw from it, causing it to come crashing down, taking the boy with it. He is unharmed but shaken.

Slappy threatens the kids by saying ‘You don’t want to know what happens when I get mad’. They respond by taking him far away and dumping him in a lake. Think they’re escaped him they happily drive home but Slappy suddenly jumps onto the windscreen.

A character says ‘What’s up my witches?!’

Slappy goes to a store and creates living monsters out of all the Halloween decorations. A character is still in the store and when he sees what is happening, a mask flies onto his face and he is transformed into a hunchback character who happily does Slappy’s bidding.

The witches that Slappy has created have large orbs instead of heads which glow bright green with black shadows swirling around inside. At one point, the shadows turn into a scary face which screeches at a bully,

Because the bully has something needed to stop Slappy, they break into his house. They tiptoe around his grandma who is asleep in the living room.

Sarah and Sonny’s next door neighbour is friendly and wants to help them stop Slappy. He says ‘Follow me to the basement, now!’ which is fine in the movie, however parents may not wish kids’ to be encouraged into someone’s house so easily.

A character is turned into a dummy, their facial expression is fixed into a creepy smile and the bottom half of her mouth separates from the top as she speaks.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN’ FOR KIDS?

Lots of fun and arguably better than the first movie, ‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’ has plenty of age-appropriate horror and comedy to entertain the family. Due to some spooky moments, recommend this movie for kids aged 6 and over.

• Violence: 1/5
• Emotional Distress: 0/5
• Fear Factor: 1/5
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (a girl sees her boyfriend kissing another girl and later calls him a ‘scumbag’)
• Bad Language: 1/5 (some mild insults and blasphemy)
• Dialogue: 1/5 (Slappy sometimes threatens people)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of family, friendship, bravery, dealing with bullies, teenage relationships and stopping a powerful enemy.

Words by Laura Record