Goosebumps (2015)
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A teenage boy and his new neighbor must team up to stop monsters from a famous horror book series from escaping into reality.
The story
Following his father's death, teenager Zach Cooper and his mother Gale move from New York City to Madison, Delaware. Zach befriends a neighbor named Hannah and a classmate named Champ. After hearing a terrified scream from Hannah's house, Zach and Champ infiltrate the home of Hannah's father, who is revealed to be the disturbed genius R. L. Stine. They discover locked manuscripts containing the monsters from the Goosebumps franchise. When the monsters begin to escape into reality and wreak havoc across the town, Zach and his new friends must find a way to stop them before the chaos becomes uncontrollable.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After moving to Madison, Delaware, teenager Zach Cooper befriends neighbor Hannah and classmate Champ. They discover that Hannah's father is R. L. Stine, a writer whose imagination has caused monsters from his 'Goosebumps' books to escape into reality. After the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena is released, the group works to reimprison it. However, the vengeful Slappy the Dummy escapes his manuscript and begins liberating all the monsters, causing widespread havoc. Zach learns that Hannah is actually a fictional character created by Stine to cope with loneliness. To stop the chaos, the group must use Stine's supernatural typewriter to write a new story that will reimprison the creatures. During the climax at the school, Slappy injures Stine's fingers, preventing him from finishing. The group travels to an abandoned amusement park to create a diversion. Hannah chooses to be reimprisoned in a manuscript to save the others. Later, Stine begins working as a substitute teacher and starts a relationship with Lorraine. He eventually brings Hannah back into reality by rewriting her origin book, but discovers that the invisible boy Brent Green was omitted from the reimprisonment and is seeking revenge.
- First release year
- 2015
- Runtime (minutes)
- 103
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Rob Letterman
- Writers
- Darren Lemke · screenplay; Scott Alexander · story; Larry Karaszewski · story
- Cast and characters
- Jack Black · R. L. Stine; Dylan Minnette · Zach Cooper; Odeya Rush · Hannah Fairchild; Ryan Lee · Champ; Amy Ryan · Gale Cooper; Jillian Bell · Lorraine Conyers
- Genres
- horror; comedy; children's; fantasy; supernatural
- Themes
- imagination; loneliness; bravery
- Tone and mood
- funny; scary; kid-friendly
- Premise and plot tags
- biographical; fantasy; horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- R. L. Stine's children's horror novel series
- Franchise connections
- Goosebumps
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and was well-received by audiences, grossing $158.3 million at the box office.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 78% · review count: 163; Metacritic · score: 60 · scale: 100 · review count: 29
- Production trivia
- The film marks the third collaboration between Jack Black and director Rob Letterman.; The real R. L. Stine has a cameo role as Mr. Black.; Development on a Goosebumps film adaptation began in the 1990s.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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