Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018)

 I remember taking my kids and mother to the opening weekend of Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) and we were forced to sit right on the front seats. Our necks were sore from bending our heads back. Unbelievably now, it's hard to fathom how "Goosebumps 2" could fill theatre seats, but the first film did have enough good will, I reckon. The sequel really gives Slappy, the ventriloquist dummy RL Stine dedicated a book to and causes nothing but mischief and mayhem in the first film, even more screen time. I know from my own family's reaction to Slappy, he was very popular in our household. My family has seen both films in the theater..."Goosebumps 2" wasn't as substantial after the initial viewing in the theater. In fact, I hadn't given it a second thought after seeing the film. It was on FX, and I figured my son would want to watch it with me. My daughter changed her mind on "Hubie Halloween" (2020), so I asked my son if he wanted to watch "Goosebumps 2" instead. Slappy is found by two boys, Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor; "It: Chapter 1 (2017)) and his buddy, Sam (Caleel Harris) in an old house in the neighborhood while rummaging for junk. A card in his pocket with a specific "awakening text" brings Slappy to life, much to the boys' surprise and awe. Slappy wants the boys for his "new family" but his antics make their lives miserable, including a Nicholas Tesla lighting trick that burns a hole into a classroom wall and causes a bulb to burst into the face of a student (on picture day!) getting Sonny (a Tesla devotee) in trouble. Sonny's pretty blond high school senior sister, Sarah (Madison Iseman; the recent Jumanji movies and "Annabelle Comes Home"), goes to a club by invite from her potential boyfriend and finds him kissy-face with some other gal, returning home enraged. Slappy overhears her lambasting that jerk and makes sure he falls from a ladder on a stage at high school after communicating how ill advised his behavior was at the club. Sarah, much like the boys, realizes Slappy is a menace and the three set out to find a book RL Stine has that can return Slappy (and the monsters he eventually creates from Halloween costumes at a Fred's Pharmacy) back to the pages where they belong. Slappy uses a Tesla tower to set off this kind of creature-making surge of electricity that starts bringing to life Halloween decorations (jack-o'-lanterns grown wings, a headless horseman rides out of a yard, balloons shaped as a spider turns into an actual one, skeletons in tuxes and dresses run free, etc.) in yards. Jack Black's RL Stine eventually surfaces to lend a hand...he's more of a supporting part, though. The special effects are in abundance: we get Pumpkin-headed creatures with tree body parts swiping at cars, zombies, vampires, witches, werewolves, abominable snowmen, ghost sheets flying about, mummies, angry gummy bears, pumpkins spitting machine gun seeds, etc. This is more of a Halloween set PG horror flick that I think families can enjoy without concern, but, other than that, it really isn't designed to be particularly timeless. But the Halloween aesthetic and spirit of the holiday are present and that can be appreciated, I think. I do feel that those behind the production of this second Goosebumps film were hoping for a lot of that first film's money, but three years might have been too long between both of them. The first film, though, might have enough staying power to drag along the sequel with it. 2.5/5

***Slappy's laugh cracks us up in my house. Black's voicework gives Slappy a certain demented personality and the design of the dummy is perfect for a Stine creature concoction***

***The red balloon by the sewer hole with Black's Stine assured he came up with that idea first is a nice wink to Stephen King***

***Walter at Fred's Pharmacy turned into a pointy-eared ghoul nincompoop and Sarah's mom into a human-sized dummy are some amusing touches, though the garden gnomes on the attack were obviously too easy to pass up***

***Interestingly, no one but Black returned from the first film. That does help to give the Goosebump franchise freedom to not be tied to any particular characters but Stine, monsters, and Halloween.***

***Ken jeong as a neighbor who loves his seasonal decorations has a nice bit of scene-stealing time.***