Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween Movie Review - Fairly genteel boo fest

While the first film had Jack Black all through its runtime, this one uses him so sparingly that he doesn't have much to do. And that makes all the difference here.

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

U/A: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Director: Ari Sandel
Cast: Jack Black, Madison Iseman, Ben O'Brien, Caleel Harris, Jeremy Taylor
Rating: 

Two boys discover a mysterious book by author R.L. Stine(Jack Black) and their incidental discovery unleashes all kinds of ghosts, ghouls, witches, and monsters, a headless horseman, a ventriloquist's dummy and a house-size purple spider. And it doesn't stay cute for long as those suddenly alive Gummi Bears change from cute to fierce in the blink of an eye.

The narrative opens with Sarah (Madison Iseman) typing 'Fear' into her laptop. The challenge for her though, is from her harried single Mother(Wendi McLendon-Covey) who expects her to work double-shifts at the nursing home, as well as babysit her middle school brother Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and his best friend Sam (Caleel Harris), who incidentally, are the ones setting free all that Halloween rampage.

Watch the trailer here:

While the first film had Jack Black all through its runtime, this one uses him so sparingly that he doesn't have much to do. And that makes all the difference here. This sequel appears less inspired, is wishy-washy and has uninspired talent on and behind the screen. There's nothing ingenious or charming in the writing or the orchestration of the scare dramatics. So it's entirely up to the special effects to fill in the gaps. The film has a kind of goofiness that kids might latch on to but the distinctiveness from the first is sorely missing. There is hardly any character development here. Boo-scares and special effects are innocuous enough to be deemed enjoyable by the kids though!

Also Read: Goosebumps 2 Trailer: Not For Faint-Hearted Ones

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