Goosebumps [Blu-ray/DVD] [2 Discs]

Director: Deborah Forte Deborah Forte

Overview

Jack Black stars as acclaimed Goosebumps writer R.L. Stine in this feature-film adaptation of the popular YA book series. A teenager named Zach (Dylan Minnette) reluctantly moves from New York City to the quiet town of Madison, DE, where he quickly realizes that his reclusive new neighbor is in fact the horror author of the Goosebumps series. Zach learns Stine's identity when he is drawn to the writer's daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush), but soon discovers the dangerous secret inside their home -- the creatures from Stine's famous stories are real, and are kept locked away inside their original manuscripts. After an accident frees the monsters, Zach, Hannah, and their nerdy pal Champ (Ryan Lee) must work together with Stine to save their town from destruction. Rob Letterman directed this family-friendly adventure. Screenplay by Darren Lemke; screen story by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/26/2016
UPC:	0043396446793
Original Release:	2015
Rating:	PG
Source:	Sony Pictures
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	23,094

Special Features

Blu-Ray Exclusives: ; Alternate opening; Alternate ending; Deleted scenes; Cast blooper reel; All about Slappy; Creaturefied!; Casting gallery; ; Also Includes: ; Beginner's Guide to Surviving a Goosebumps Creature; Strange things are happening...on-set

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Odeya Rush	Hannah
Ryan Scott Lee	Champ,Actor
Ella Wahlestedt	Anna
Karan Soni	Pan Rooney
Steven Krueger	Davidson
Amanda Lund	Officer Brooks
R.L. Stine	Hallway Player
Clare Halstead	Actor
Gabriela Fraile	Screaming Girl
Jason Davis	Actor
Caleb Emery	Dumb Jock
Melissa Eastwood	Actor
Erica Marie Sanchez	Actor
Halston Sage	Taylor
Keith Arthur Bolden	Principal Garrison
Nate Andrade	Monster #1
Sheldon Brown	Monster #2
Melissa Brewer	Monster #3
Marshall Choka	Monster #4
Melissa Cowan	Monster #5
John Deifer	Monster #6
Everett Dixon	Monster #7
Kevin Galbraith	Monster
Dylan Minnette	Actor

Technical Credits

R.L. Stine

Larry Karaszewski

Deborah Forte	Director,Producer
Bill Bannerman	Producer,Executive Producer
Greg Basser	Producer,Executive Producer
Tania Landau	Producer,Executive Producer
Elizabeth Cantillon	Executive Producer
Hannah Minghella	Executive Producer
Brian Adler	Executive Producer
R.L. Stine	Screenwriter
Larry Karaszewski	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Goosebumps, the wonderfully spooky and highly entertaining movie based on author R.L. Stine's popular kids'-lit series, is that it's the first film adaptation of one of his books. Stine's silly, chilling tales, which boast such titles as "It Came From Beneath the Sink" and "Say Cheese and Die, have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, making them one of the best-selling book franchises of all time. Tim Burton tried to tackle the anthology during the height of the Goosebumps craze in the 1990s, but he never landed on a satisfying script. Part of the problem in cracking open the series was deciding which one of the 62 books in the original series to adapt, since each terror-filled tale stood alone and the franchise didn't revolve around a central character. The ingenious idea that makes this Goosebumps adaptation work is that it turns Stine himself into a character in the story, and uses his presence as a plot device to bring several of his creepy creations to life, rather than settling on just one. Goosebumps begins with teen hunk Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) and his newly widowed mom (Amy Ryan) moving from New York to a small town in Delaware, where they hope a change of scenery will help them get past their grief and begin to heal. Zach isn't too keen on the move at first, but that quickly changes when he meets Hannah (Odeya Rush), his friendly, cute next-door neighbor. Unfortunately, Hannah's brusque father, author R.L. Stine (Jack Black), makes it very clear that Zach isn't welcome on his property and that he is to stay far, far away from his daughter. But when Zach overhears what he believes is a violent argument between Hannah and her dad, he fears for her life and breaks into her house with his nerdy new friend Champ (Ryan Lee) to rescue her. When the two discover some locked books, which turn out to be Stine's complete Goosebumps catalogue, they innocently unlock one titled "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena"; to their horror, the monster leaps off the page and materializes in the room, then crashes through a wall and takes off. In the midst of this mayhem, another book called "Night of the Living Dummy" also gets unlocked, which frees Slappy, a villainous ventriloquist dummy. Slappy (creepily voiced by Black) then goes about unlocking all of the Goosebumps books, thus freeing every Stine monster -- including a vampire poodle, a group of knife-wielding garden gnomes, a giant praying mantis, and a hunger-crazed werewolf -- from their imprisoned pages to terrorize the town. Playfully swinging between delightful dark humor and light-PG horror, Goosebumps is unlikely to produce goosebumps in any but the youngest of viewers, although Slappy is genuinely menacing and might unnerve even some adults at times. But the rest of the monsters are, in general, as cartoonish as they are scary, and the mayhem they create never really harms anyone. And although a great third-act twist heightens the drama considerably and increases the potential peril for our heroes, we never really fear for their lives. The movie is ably supported by a great cast. Black's snobbish take on Stine is both hilarious and heartfelt, while Minnette and Rush are equally appealing. But Lee and Jillian Bell, the latter playing Zach's loony aunt, are the standouts. The scene-stealers' goofy charm and endearing traits make their characters, both lonely outcasts, winsome and relatable. Director Rob Letterman (Gulliver's Travels) and screenwriter Darren Lemke also deserve kudos for deftly mixing chaos and comedy to produce a crowd-pleasing adventure that is equal parts frightening and funny. When Slappy is freed from his leather-bound purgatory early in the film and plots Stine's downfall, he refers to it as "Slappy's revenge," which Stine instantly recognizes as a great title for a book. It would be a great title for a movie, too. Here's hoping Slappy and his monstrous friends are allowed to come out again and scare up more spooky fun in the near future.