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- HULU
- Oct 13, 2023
- HULU
- Oct 13, 2023
Summary Five 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.
- HULU
- Oct 13, 2023
- HULU
- Oct 13, 2023
Goosebumps (2023)
Season 1
Season Premiere: Oct 13, 2023
60
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary Five 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.
Season Episodes
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
60
33% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
67% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
60
33% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
67% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
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.
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.
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