BY SKYLER JONES-BOXWELL
If you grew up anywhere between the 90s and early 2000s, chances are you’ve heard of Goosebumps. First released by author R.L. Stine in 1992, Goosebumps is a popular series of children’s novels that followed child characters who found themselves in various scary situations. The series was effective in introducing children to the horror genre without being scarring, instead giving off an air of slight creepiness that made the books popular in elementary and middle schools worldwide. However, the release of the 2015 Goosebumps film of the same name failed to follow up on what made the series great; not only did the movie rely on overused, cliche story tropes, it was incredibly sexist with its use of female characters.
In terms of plot, the movie fell flat. The book series had relied on entry-level horror while still maintaining an air of creepiness that was lost in its movie adaptation. Instead of using existential, psychological horror in its plotline, the movie relies on the premise of monsters coming to life from written stories and attacking, changing the movie from a horror story to one that is just characters running away from various monsters. None of the monsters were even remotely threatening or developed enough, ranging from lawn gnomes to a werewolf in gym shorts, and all of which were never any real threat to the characters. The original series repeatedly had the threat of injury when encountering monsters, so the characters repeatedly escaping danger with no consequences just makes the movie more appalling by adding cheap action scenes.
The characters in particular were overused cliches and stereotypes that did not develop in any meaningful way throughout the course of the movie. The main character in a cast of four people, Zach, is responsible for almost all development of the plotline, including releasing the monsters from their stories in the first place, finding out the mystery of the female character Hannah, and being solely responsible for finishing the plan to defeat all the monsters at the movie’s climax. Zach has two other teenagers with him during his journey that do almost nothing meaningful for the entire duration of the movie. Champ, a socially awkward kid, fulfills the stereotype of the comedy relief sidekick that is clumsy, nervous, and constantly insulted by other members of the cast. His lines consist of making awkward comments to be laughed at, and consistently being a coward – traits which fail to change by the end of the film beyond one specific instance.
Hannah, the sole main female character, gets the worst characterization out of the cast. Almost the entirety of her speaking lines are in response to another character asking her something, and during the encounters with the monsters she hardly ever does anything beyond running away, while at least the other characters would have some comedic slip up or do something to try and defeat it. She exists solely to be the love interest to main character Zach, and ends up flirting with him and becoming enamoured with him when Zach has done almost nothing to deserve it besides exist in her general vicinity. Eventually it is found out that Hannah is a creation from a book herself, existing solely to keep the books’ author company and barely being able to be her own person, a fact which none of the characters seem to have a problem with. When the climax of the story comes and all monsters are about to be put back in their books, her along with them, she makes her only meaningful decision for the entire movie and willingly allows herself to be condemned to a lifetime of being a book on a shelf. Unfortunately, this decision is quickly erased by the author of her book in order for her to come back and continue to be a love interest and have a weird familial relationship with her creator.
The Goosebumps movie may have had its strong moments, but not even Jack Black’s acting could have saved this movie from its terrible characterization, cliche plotline, and rampant sexism.
