Goosebumps (Blu-ray)
John Squires
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Starring Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee
Directed by Rob Letterman
Adapting R.L. Stine’s iconic Goosebumps books into a feature film was no doubt a daunting task, which probably explains why it took so long for it to actually happen. The books, which began hitting shelves in 1992, were of course turned into a TV series back in the mid ’90s, with each episode bringing to life a different Stine story. But a movie is an entirely different beast. Do you adapt one story at a time, like the TV show, or do you cover several at once, in the form of an anthology?
Quite brilliantly, last year’s long-awaited Goosebumps feature film went in a wholly unexpected direction, as the clever concept was devised to go meta with the adaptation and literally unleash all of the iconic monsters from the beloved book franchise. In the film, Jack Black stars as R.L. Stine himself, and when his locked Goosebumps manuscripts are accidentally opened up by young friends Zach and Champ, all of his most evil creations – led by Slappy the dummy – are set free.
I’m here mostly to talk about the Blu-ray disc’s special features – Uncle Creepy’s five-star review of the film reads much like my own, so that base has already been covered – but allow me to briefly heap some additional praise on top of his.
Like many twenty-somethings with fond childhood memories of reading the books, I had been waiting seemingly my whole life for a Goosebumps movie, and the movie I saw in theaters last October was every bit the one I had been craving for so many years. Watching those books literally explode onto the big screen was such a treat that I went back to my local theater two more times throughout the month, and when it came time to pick my five favorite movies of 2015 here on Dread Central, the nostalgia-inducing bliss of Goosebumps was still at the forefront of my mind.
Watching Goosebumps, to cut right to the point, made me feel like a kid again, playing out like a massively entertaining love letter to the franchise that I still hold so near and dear to my heart. Charming, genuinely funny, and loaded with nearly every monster that I first met while lying on the floor of my childhood bedroom, the film is as pitch perfect an adaptation as any fan could possibly hope for, and if I could change anything about it, I’m honestly not sure I would. Okay, so I’d probably give the Haunted Mask more screen time, but I’m aware that’s a minor gripe.
Goosebumps is essentially a modern day version of The Monster Squad, and it’s precisely the sort of family-friendly horror film that just doesn’t get made anymore. If you missed it in theaters, and your inner child is aching to go on a monster-filled thrill ride – whether you read all the books or never so much as browsed a single one – I cannot possibly recommend this movie highly enough.
It’s exactly, to a “t,” what it should have been.
The Blu-ray disc contains a handful of exclusive special features that cannot be found on the DVD, including approximately 16 minutes of deleted scenes – several of which center on Zach having trouble acclimating to his new town/school. None of them really add anything to the film, so it’s easy to see why they were deleted. There’s an alternate opening that shows two movers transporting Stine’s belongings and having a run-in with Slappy, which is pretty cool but probably for the best that it was excised, as well as an alternate ending that was wisely left on the cutting room floor. In it, Hannah doesn’t end up coming back, and Zach instead meets a new potential love interest – whom he initially thinks Stine has also created. It made me sad. Really sad.
Running just over 3 minutes, the cast blooper reel is your usual dose of silliness, while a 7-minute casting gallery shows off a handful of screen tests featuring the four main actors. The 9-minute Creaturefied! is a fun little featurette hosted by the film’s makeup effects artists that shows kids how to create horror movie effects with ordinary household items, and the Blu-ray exclusives are rounded off with All About Slappy, a 4-minute mini-doc, hosted by Slappy, that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the dummy’s creation – including a peek at the original concept design.
Found on both the DVD and Blu-ray are Beginner’s Guide to Surviving a Goosebumps Creature, a 6-minute feature hosted by Dylan Minnette and Ryan Lee (in character) that utilizes clips from the film to show you how to defeat some of the monsters in it, and the 3-minute Strange Things Are Happening…On-Set, a useless addition about the set being haunted – which is just a silly gag.
I suppose it makes sense that the special feature are mostly kid-oriented, this being Goosebumps and all, but I personally found myself unsatisfied by the bonus content on the Blu-ray. There’s nothing in the form of traditional “making of” stuff on here, so the disc provides no real insight into the film’s creation, and the package is sorely missing a single commentary track – one from Stine could’ve been really interesting. I was also hoping for a feature that highlighted the film’s incredible makeup effects, which is nowhere to be found. Sigh.
The features may leave much to be desired but the movie is awesome and the Blu-ray slipcover features a raised font, just like the original books, so it’s nevertheless a must-own for all Goosebumps fiends. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to spend the rest of the night gently caressing the bumpy font. It’s glorious. Oh, so glorious.
DVD Special Features (Also On Blu-ray & Digital):
- Beginners Guide to Surviving a Goosebumps Creature
- Strange Things are Happening…On-Set
Blu-ray and Digital Special Features:
- Alternate Opening
- Alternate Ending
- Deleted Scenes
- Cast Blooper Reel
- All About Slappy
- Creaturefied!
- Casting Gallery
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Film
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Special Features
Categorized:Reviews
