GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN brings to life another of R.L. Stine’s famous children’s books, where monsters actually do come to life, this time led by a magical ventriloquist’s dummy with malevolent intent named Slappy.

In a town in New York, a family lives their ordinary life in October: going to work, trying to write a college essay and attempting to avoid the school bullies. When Sonny and his friend Sam decide to start their own company where they clear out junk for people, they finally receive their first business call, just a few days before Halloween. They arrive at the address, and the house seems as if no one has lived there in years. They begin to clear out the trash, searching for anything that’s worth keeping, or any hidden treasure.

When Sonny tries to move an item from the fireplace mantel, a secret passageway appears. Sam pulls out an old trunk from the secret room, hoping to find gold and jewels, but only finds an old book, that’s locked nonetheless. They find the key and open it up, dust flying in their faces. They find a small card with a single sentence written on it, and Sonny reads it aloud. However, there’s no title page, and the book seems to be worthless, so they put it back.

Suddenly, in the place where the book was laying, there’s a ventriloquist dummy sitting in its place. They are shocked, and a little freaked out, but now that the book seems to have more worth, they take both the book and the dummy, then leave.

On their bike ride home, the school bullies find them and force them to give them everything that they just worked for cleaning out the old house. However, the dummy doesn’t seem to like that and plays tricks on the school bullies, allowing Sonny and Sam to get away.

When they get home, the dummy introduces himself as Slappy and tells the boys he can help them with whatever they need. At first, it seems that Slappy is the best thing to happen to them, until he begins to use his powers to do bad things, like messing with Sonny’s science project.

After bringing his sister Sarah into the loop, the three youth decide that they have to get rid of Slappy. However, his magical powers are too much for them to handle, and he gets away on Halloween. Slappy begins to do everything that the book writes he will do, like making all of Halloween come to life. He has even taken Sonny and Sarah’s mother and turned her into one of his Halloween props!

Suddenly, there are ghosts, werewolves and mummies wreaking havoc on the entire town. Slappy makes his way to an old building of Nikola Tesla’s and brings Tesla’s old electricity tower back to life, using it to make his powers even greater. Although Slappy’s doing everything the book says he will do, there’s one problem: the author never wrote the ending to the book! The children have to figure out a way to stop Slappy and get their mother back, or else he’ll have power over the town forever.

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN is a continuation of live action movies inspired by the R.L. Stine books. With Jack Black back playing the famous author, this movie is lighthearted and humorous, with positive lessons. Like many blockbuster movies, GOOSEBUMPS 2 has unrealistic, cheesy moments, but overall it’s entertaining for moviegoers of all ages. There is a strong moral worldview since the objective is to overcome the occult evil that’s taking over the world and save the people that they love. Also, the children are very respectful to their mother and have clear values that guide them throughout their journey. There is little questionable content, but there are some scary and startling images and monsters in this movie. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution.