SummaryFive high schoolers (Zack Morris, Isa Briones, Miles McKenna, Ana Yi Puig and Will Price) investigation into the death of Harold Biddle 30 years ago turns up secrets of their own parents in the new anthology series based on R.L. Stine's books.
SummaryFive high schoolers (Zack Morris, Isa Briones, Miles McKenna, Ana Yi Puig and Will Price) investigation into the death of Harold Biddle 30 years ago turns up secrets of their own parents in the new anthology series based on R.L. Stine's books.
This version is updated with interesting plots, clever dialogue, and lots of pop culture references. While some pre-teens will enjoy it, it feels like the target audience skews a touch older thanks to some genuine creepiness throughout.
It’s kind of remarkable what the Goosebumps team has done here: taken a campy horror franchise and made it resonant, managing to mix frights and feels.
Goosebumps take a few episodes to cook, and it appears to be a generic show at first, but I did fall in love with the setting and the atmosphere. The sets are relatively relaxing despite the drama that unfolds with the characters, and the characters actually do develop overtime despite it being on Disney Plus.
What is so frustrating about this is that, when Goosebumps forgets about this and goes straight to the core of what Stine’s books were, it can be an absolute blast. The two episodes available at launch both have moments of giddy delight.
I gradually warmed up to its cast, and its teen drama improved with time, but its first few episodes were only serviceable. Although it has redeeming qualities like its central intrigue, its formulaic scares and initially archetypal characters feel too by the book.
The biggest problem is that, in trying to please everyone coming to the series and their respective expectations of what Goosebumps should be, this newest incarnation remains trapped in a limbo of its own creation that it can’t break free from.
Stine's work isn't the most natural fit for a Stranger Things-style streaming melodrama; the adolescent fun of the books gets a little lost in translation.
Instead of streamlining things for a refined first season, following perhaps just one or two of the teens closely and expanding as it progressed into later seasons, the show is a lump of bland YA themes with a sprinkle of Halloween for flair.
ESPERO SUS NUEVAS TEMPORADAS APACIBLE, PERO NO ENTUSIASMADAMENTE
Me acuerdo de leer esos magníficos libros de un supuesto terror para los nenes, nunca he sido muy sentimental con el terror, nada me da miedo ni susto, no sé si estoy vacío de emociones con este género, decepcionado o simplemente soy muy realista, y la verdad que para nada lo soy, siempre me dicen: “te crees que estás en una película” y sinceramente hasta en las historias más agonizantes en cuanto a peligrosidad estaría yo más a gusto que en este mundo retorcido, lleno de humanos, la mayoría de ellos miserables y en una época la cual me da pena. Quiero de vuelta mis libros de pesadillas, escritos por R.L. Stine. Reaparecen repentina y anualmente ciertas fibras que me obligan a ver este tipo de series cuando la navidad está acercándose y este espíritu americano me llena mucho para ver cine juvenil. No obstante, no es como las típicas americanadas, aunque algunas sean exquisitas, pero Pesadillas contiene cierta autenticidad y a la vez una agradable lealtad a las novelas aunque ésta no haya seguido el camino de la **** historia es perfecta para un comienzo de un universo en el que este grupo de amigos con cierta similitud a Stranger Things (algo mayores que los de Hawkins) no van a tener descanso, sobre todo por culpa de Harold, y más **** de Slappy. Entre ellos tampoco habrá descanso, con tanta amistad y amor (cliché pero siempre agradable de ver si no lo siento forzado). El guión no me conmueve, no me sorprende pero sí con el sentimiento y emoción que suele estar escrito, y más si me siento igual de sonriente y escalofriante, a buenas, cuando leo las novelas.Todo ocurre en el pueblo de estos cinco jóvenes, Port Lawrence, ellos son: James, Margot, Isabellah, Isaiah y Lucas. Además de personajes que suman mucho a la historia como los padres de los jóvenes, y con un profesor llamado Nathan. Lo causa todo un adolescente fallecido hace 30 años, Harold Biddle, en la época de los padres cuando el instituto. Muerto por un incendio en el sótano de su propia casa. Aparece repentinamente en Port Lawrence para vengarse por lo que supuestamente hicieron los **** grupo de amigos, cada uno afectado con su historia, ese es uno de los grandes puntos positivos de Pesadillas, dónde vemos en varios de los primeros capítulos la perspectiva de cada miembro del grupo. Y por eso la noto algo lenta, lo cual no quiere decir que sea un punto negativo, sino más bien, un punto que resaltar, y disfrutar. Porque esa es a veces la esencia y el objetivo de una serie cuyo miedo no es el terror sino la intriga, el **** me abstengo de mi escaso conocimiento sobre la existencia de la mayoría del reparto: Isa Briones, Miles McKenna, Zack Morris, entre otros. Peor para mí aunque sean recientes en la industria. Pero mi orgullo me pide que sonría y elogie al que sí conozco: Justin Long, dónde a mitad de la historia es él quien lleva el rumbo. Pesadillas, una historia de, espero, numerosas temporadas (en un futuro) cuyo poder es el de la nostalgia: sus novelas. A parte de una historia sobria, a la vez con cierta inquietud, siempre bien recibida.
-RICHIE VALERO
This may have an audience, but I believe it missed the mark with the Goosebumps potential target audiences.
Goosebumps should be for spooking young kids without being overly scary or dark, or should be for nostalgic adults who grew up on the books and TV show. Only this show fails to do either things, as it's too dark for kids (blood, violence, etc) and there's very little of Goosebumps to appeal to nostalgic adults.
The story picks and chooses from Goosebumps lore, and mildly twists the book elements where they're only vaguely recognizable. This truly feels like a spec script that was unrelated to Goosebumps that only got greenlit on the caveat that it implement Goosebumps elements and title.
If you mildly enjoyed CW's Riverdale, you may mildly enjoy this as it feels VERY CW-esque. If you enjoyed Goosebumps, you likely won't enjoy this much or at all. So save yourself, and your kids, the time and just go re-watch the original TV series.
It’s terrible. I turned the subtitles on so I could send my friends pictures of how bad the dialogue was. If I’m being charitable, the best thing is that it’s filmed professionally. That said, I’m not a fan of the muted color palette they’ve gone with. As a 36-year-old, when I see the title Goosebumps I’m thinking this will offer some 90s throwback energy, but they deliver zero of that, instead choosing to go with a feeling of modern YA streaming schlock.
The show is awful. Production values are ok. Justin Long does good. I like Rob Huebal but he's out of his element here. The writing and direction are absolutely awful. I'm convinced Disney is review boosting on sites because there is barely anything positive to say about this show.
The show clearly is trying to be Chucky, but that show was a one time novelty that works because of its camp value. Instead we get awful generic high school garbage that can't even get the heart of the stories correct. Thr show made for a younger audience in the 90s is a better viewing experience than this and that isn't nostalgia tinted glasses. This is taking every awful modern writing element and taking it to an extreme. Its endemic to everything Hollywood needs to expunge.
The art of creation can be difficult and it's clear that every mind behind the scenes realized that and decided to create nothing instead. Somehow in the attempt to modernize the old stories they managed to craft stories less creative and interesting. There is no lesson behind the haunted mask. Cookoo clock of doom doesn't become a backwards march towards oblivion brought on by revisiting past traumas. Say cheese and die just becomes a story beat. It is just hollow succession of "and something happened" moments. They do nothing clever and it's at the point I hope this goes the way of the Willow show.