Goosebumps

I'm not sure why they decided to use the "Goosebumps" brand for this series, but I imagine they thought they'd get a lot more views playing the nostalgic reboot card. Had they just given it an original name, there wouldn't be as many reviews from viewers who are incapable of separating the style and format of the original series and accepting this new one. There would also be fewer viewers claiming this new show ruined their childhood, not because the show is bad, but because they grew up to become idiots who refers to everything that doesn't fit into their narrow-minded per views as woke. The good news is, if you're a decent, functioning member of modern society who can look past the fact that not every character is straight and white, and how those characters actually speak and act like people of their age in 2023, you might enjoy the creepiness and sometimes genuinely gross and chilling aspects of this series. More so, if you're intelligent, too, you might appreciate the smart writing and the metaphors woven into the specific storylines featured in each episode. As much as I'm enjoying it, I have some issues with it being derivative (Nightmare On Elm Street), predictable (I figured out what happened in the past in episode 2), and having a major plot hole (why doesn't one character's kid and their friend back up their story and prevent them from having to be taken away?) Aside from these small gripes, it's an enjoyable series, especially if you like the horror genre and you're looking for something new to watch around Halloween.

Something people are gonna have to realize is that there are so many books to the goosebumps series and would probably take more than several life times to make into a cartoon or live action. People love Goosebumps and want more, but the thing is not everything can be made perfect especially with time and money. I couldn't care less what anybody thinks this show was great each episode and probably my favorite adaptation of Goosebumps. If you're gonna cry about how it won't follow the story just stick to the short and more accurate 1990's TV show. The people who made this show did their best to bring as many books as they could into this show with a great plot, so stop saying it was bad.

MY REVIEW: Best adaptation so far, amazing acting, rushed endings for most of the episodes, great on transitioning to each character after each episode, foreshadowing was great, and was kinda upset how there wasn't too much bloody stuff but ehh still alright. I haven't watched a better Halloween movie or show since Hubie Halloween.

Before you read this review I'm only two episodes into this series. However, right away a decision they made has kind of ruined the entire thing for me. It is not single one off stories, they are combining a bunch of books into a continuous arc about characters spanning one season.

A season long arc doesn't really work for Goosebumps. They might want it to because it makes it easier to create sequel episodes if they can keep bringing the same characters back, but it doesn't work with this. Each book was an entirely different vibe, some had more elements of comedy, some had elements of family, all had a horror twist thrown into the mix.

Making this a season long arc doesn't seem like it will work to me. This is just a forewarning to anyone looking to check out this series. I have no idea if they're able to pull it off well, but it seems destined to be at best mediocre to me.

After wrapping up season two The Vanishing today I think I can safely say I don't ever need to watch a third season. It is not a bad show by all means. The first season did a good enough job with establishing a coherent story while weaving in the elements from the more known Goosebumps books in the series but season two, while doing the same mostly, begins to lose it's luster in that regard, having used and blown it's full wad on the more memorable books in season one with only really one that I can remember in season two that becomes a steady theme in the Vanishing season. The beginning of the season had more promise, feeling like it was a mix of Little Shop of Horrors with a hint of Swamp Thing and ended up being more Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the end. The acting from David Schwimmer this season was fun to watch in his quirky manner but the rest of the cast felt like they were all green around the ears and so young it showed. Plus there was too many romantical sub plots for me to care to keep up with and the way it ended was way too cliched and forcing a cliffhanger if you can call it that to hope to milk a season three out of Disney, which I don't think it should get in my honest opinion. Ask me in a week what I remember from this one and I'd best tell you my entire dinner menu from the past month with pinpoint accuracy over what happened in this season. Overall, while it has some good ideas, it's writing and execution felt lackluster at best and as a reader of most of the Goosebumps hits from the 90s as a kid I can say you'd probably be better off picking those old Scholastic books back up and dusting them off to have a better time than watching this show.

Everything has to be redone, reimagined and recycled these days. Unfortunately goosebumps is not off-limits even though we just had two movies within the last 10 years as well as Fear Street spin offs on Netflix. No, but here we get a series that tries some new things, but just can't escape the absolutely unnecessary and forced tropes amongst the casting, the plotting, and the overall product. Justin Long being the bright spot, of course and some of the Visual horror aspects. Otherwise, I can already tell it might be difficult to make it through more than a few episodes. I'll stick with the classic books and the classic TV series.