Ask any author and they'll tell you when a movie gets their work right, it's a thing of magic. R.L. Stine is one such author, as he feels that the Goosebumps movies get the tone of the books right in a pretty crucial way. According to Stine, this is how the series excels in its adaptation, as he told CinemaBlend:
What they get right is the mix of humor and horror. Because, I mean, if you read a Goosebumps book, it's got a lot of laughs in it, a lot of teasing. Mainly because I don't really want to terrify kids, you know, and I think they get that mix of scary stuff. They go into this old house, they find this book hidden room back, they opened it up, but there's also a lot of laughs. I think that they had the right mix.
While the books that inspired both Goosebumps and Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween came with the disclaimer, "Reader, beware: you're in for a scare," Stine clearly never sets out to shock children too hard. Part of that is built into his writing strategy, as he's attested to writing novels for children that don't mix subjects like death and divorce with vengeful dummies and magical books. The reason for that is the following:
You know, it's important, they know this can't really happen; and then you can get pretty scary with kids if they know that, you know.
During CinemaBlend's chat with R.L. Stine, in anticipation of this weekend's release of Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, the subject of Stine's writing was front and center. With a film series that not only focuses on the author's works, as well as a fictitious persona portrayed by Jack Black, it's an unavoidable subject. Through the course of our interview, Stine not only expressed pride in the first Goosebumps film from 2015, but he also expressed how he felt the tone of his works really came through in the current sequel.
In an industry where adaptations are almost equally panned and praised, it's refreshing to see a series such as Goosebumps (opens in new tab) get things right. But for a franchise to not only get it right once, but twice according to the author that inspired it? That sounds like a pretty rare feat, and one that could be repeated a third time if Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween does well enough to warrant a trilogy capping installment. There's certainly enough material left to draw from, and R.L. Stine is more than game to see another spin of the wheel.
We'll get a good idea of how good the odds are after this weekend's results are tallied. In the meantime, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is currently in theaters, ready for the audience to judge for themselves.
