Get in the mood for Halloween with this fun family spooky adventure full off monsters and Slappy.
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Scare factor: ★☆☆☆☆☆
- Halloween factor: ★★★★★
- Suitable for kids factor: from 9 years and up
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a very mild horror that has a fun spooky vibe that is perfect for Halloween and to watch with the whole family. While not a very original story, it’s entertaining enough with likable characters and brings you in the mood for Halloween. It stars Madison Iseman, Jermey Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Wendy McLendon-Covey, Ken Jeong. Directed by Ari Sandel. Written by Rob Leiber, Darren Lemke, R.L. Stine.
Duration: 1h 30m
Plot
Sarah and her younger brother Sonny live with their mother in Wardenclyffe, New York. Sarah is applying for college, while Sonny is doing his science project based on the Tesla tower that was built in Wardenclyffe. He and his friend Sam start a business picking up junk.
When Sam gets a call to clean out a house, they find a dilapidated house at the address. Inside they find a secret compartment with a chest in it. However there’s no treasure inside but a book. And a ventriloquist dummy. Inside his breast pocket is a note with an incantation and when Sonny reads it out loud, the dummy called Slappy comes to life. And on top of that he seems to have magical powers.
While he first gets rid off their bullies and punishes Sarah’s scumbag boyfriend, his actions soon get out of control, when he wants to use the Tesla tower to project all his magic on the town and bring all Halloween props, decorations and costumes to life. Soon the town is crawling with all sorts of monsters and ghouls and Sonny, Sam and Sarah are the only ones who can stop Slappy.
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This design of a Scarecrow is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Ringer T-Shirt and other apparel in my shop at Printify.
Short Review
This film was made after Goosebumps (2015) where Slappy already played a prominent role in which he sets loose all R.L. Stines monsters from his books. This time he goes to the store to the Halloween department and brings everything to life. Witch hats become real witches, ogre masks become real ogres. There’s a werewolf, the yeti and tiny skull spiders. When also all the decorations from the people’s yards come life, the streets are roaming with all kinds of monsters like a headless horseman, skeletons and even a giant spider made of balloons.
Although it feels a bit like a repeat of the first film, this has new characters. The three kids are the heroes of the story, while the neighbor Mr. Chu is a comic relief and helps the kids in a fun way. And their mother also has a comical note and has to be rescued from Slappy. It uses a lot of comedy like the attack of the evil gummy bears and the talking pumpkins with funny personalities. And there’s also a floating red balloon above a sewer grate. When R.L. Stine arrives at Wardencliffe to help out, he says: “I knew I came up with that first.” Which is a fun pun to It by Stephen King. Also the fact that he played a big part in the first film, but was now completely redundant and came when the action was all over and the kids solved the monster problem is a fun scene and self-aware humor.
Slappy is the main villain. While all the other monsters are there to wreak some havoc and do his bidding, it’s Slappy who’s behind the controls with his sinister plan. He is the most popular villain of R.L. Stine’s books and in the tv series Goosebumps season 1 (2023) he plays an important part and eventually the part of the main villain with a backstory.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is very mild on the scares. It focuses on a spooky vibe that totally has a Halloween atmosphere. Therefore it’s very suitable to watch with the family especially around Halloween.
Read more about Goosebumps and R.L. Stine’s universe:
- Goosebumps (2015) review
- Goosebumps season 1 review
- R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead (2025) movie review
- The Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It (2007) movie review
- R.L. Stine’s Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls (2015)
You might also like:
- Hocus Pocus (1993) review
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) review
- Monster House (2006) review
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) review
- ParaNorman (2012) review
Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.