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Saturday, April 20, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD GOOSEBUMPS
EDITOR'S PICK
'Goosebumps'
- Contrived, yet entertaining (IANS Rating)
Rating:
**1/2
This metafiction, based on R.L. Stine's eponymous bestselling horror tales for
children, is a delightfully old-fashioned, monster pastiche, adventure film that
is too frivolous and contemptuous to actually terrify anyone.
The film begins with, the not-yet-18 Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) and his
recently widowed mother, Gale (Amy Ryan) relocating themselves to Madison
Delaware from New York, where she takes up a new job as a vice principal at the
local high school.
Gale hopes that "a change of scenery will help" her son.
Zach soon strikes a friendship with his next-door neighbour, Hannah (Odeya
Rush), a sweet girl who is closer to him in age. But when Hannah's father (Jack
Black) catches him talking to her, he warns Zach, "stay away from us or
something very bad will happen to you". Zach is baffled and finds her
father's behaviour obnoxiously weird and unwarranted.
It is after he suspects Hannah screaming after her father grounds her, he calls
the police thinking that she is in dire-straits and is in need of help. The
police arrive and Zach is proved that he is wrong.
Not convinced, he ropes in his friend, Champ (Ryan Scott Lee) to investigate
Hannah's house, where they inadvertently unleash terror, when they open up the
locked manuscripts. The monsters tumble out of the pages and create pandemonium
in town. It is then that they learn that the author of these manuscripts is none
other than Hannah's father, the recluse Mr. Stine. And the monsters are the
creation of his writings, a gift which he claims "is a curse".
The monsters include; a mutant praying mantis, a horde of ravenous zombies, a
teenage werewolf, an army of garden gnomes wielding pickaxes, the vampire
poodle, the abominable snowman of Pasadena, all led by a vengeful
ventriloquist's dummy named Slappy, who gleefully masterminds the massacre in
retaliation for being imprisoned in the pages of the manuscript.
Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush and Ryan Scott Lee, are charming and they make a fine
trio in helping Jack Black find a fine balance between being seriously grouchy
and going over-the-top. Jillian Bell as Zach's Aunt Lorraine in a miniscule role
is simply attractive and funny. And Amy Ryan as Gale, is a stock character
hardly contributing to her role and narration.
The concept of the tale is not only interesting but it is also beautifully woven
by storywriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaaszewski, and given shape by
screenwriter Darren Lemke. The fantasy twist in the narration is what makes the
film fascinating. But unfortunately, the characters are cardboard thin, the
sub-plots are not well-explored and the humour seems forced.
On the technical front, the computer-generated monsters are neither spooky nor
menacing and the 3D special effects are elementary. Also, the stunningly
choreographed mindless-pandemonium flies in a flurry, leaving you hoping for
more teeth-biting action and jaw-dropping scares.
Overall, director Rob Letterman's "Goosebumps", with some fine nuggets
of direction, is a contrived tale, targeting the family audience this Halloween
weekend. It is not too scary for children, but not too tame for the adults
either.
