Horrifying weekend
Bakang Ntshingane | Friday November 6, 2015 12:57
From childhood we often read of stories of monsters and other supernatural creatures against humans, but last weekend Goosebumps added a little extra twist to those fairytales and myths.
Like the name itself, Goosebumps is a special type of horror that is not like any other you may have watched before.
This film is a 2015 American 3D live-action/computer-animated horror comedy adapted from best selling children’s book series of the same name by R. L. Stine.
Goosebumps is loaded with turns and twists. It is about a teenager who is upset about moving from the big city to a small town. The young Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) then finds a silver lining when he meets his beautiful neighbour Hannah (Odeya Rush).
The teen is surprised to learn that Hannah’s mysterious father is R.L. Stine (Jack Black), the famous author of the best-selling Goosebumps series.
When Zach and his friend Champ accidentally open one of the books, they get the scare of their lives.
Monsters get loose from the fantastic tales and come to life. It is up to Stine, his daughter and Cooper to hunt them down and return the beasts back to the books where they belong. Comedian Jack Black is the centre of attention as leading character in this one. He plays a similar role of being a catalyst of trouble as he was in the 2005 and 2011 blockbusters, King Kong and Kong Fu, respectively.
Black’s naughty behaviour is aided and complemented by one other comedic genius and spark plug to Goosebumps’ relentless humour in director, Rob Letterman.
Letterman is a comedy movies expert who has worked with the likes of other reputable clowns such as Will Smith and Seth Rogen from films like Shark Tales and Monsters vs Aliens.
Action
I initially had set my mind on screening a different film. However, Goosebumps’ supernatural powers somehow drew me towards it as the movie just looks awesome even on flyers. The script is authentic in its own right because it offers cross dimensional travels with monsters coming to life from books. That’s just audacious and a great recipe for a cool film. It is reminiscent of other inter-dimension fairytale stories like Chronicles of Narnia.
I also have to admit. This fantasy horror has too much energy. It is well-paced because it is piloted by adolescent behaviour. These are inquisitive teenagers raging with hormones and disobeying their parents. In the film Zach goes the extra mile finding trouble breaking into the creepy house of Stine who numerously warns the juvenile to stay away from his daughter.
Parents always restrict amourous relationships because they always know best and protect their teenagers from opening cans of worms.
In this film’s regard a set of magical books.
This leads us in the right direction towards the movie’s horrific elements.
Imagine yourself innocently opening a book only to see a huge monster the size of an elephant creep out of it.
That’s what Zach did. He unleashed a snowman ape from a magical book. This sent shivers down the spine as fear consumed us in our seats.
It kept one on the edge of the seat with anticipation of nasty things to happen as the children embark on covert missions.
Goosebumps is also action-packed, maybe even too exhilarating.
Such display is in scenes where Stine and Zach run for their lives from giant flying insects and werewolves.
The cinematography in Goosebumps is in 3D and it features the use of special effects with computer-generated graphics, which make the monsters look super real.
Evil dummies, an abominable snowman, werewolves, invisible people, living trees, monsters as well as giant flying ants can almost be felt thanks to 3D glasses.
So basically if you enjoy supernatural films this one is a definite must-see and is almost flawless.
Goosebumps has themes of friendship, misconduct, low self-esteem, revenge and triumph hidden within its storytelling.
As usual Jack Black is always full of surprises. He didn’t do much but the little he is tasked with is to transform into an intimidating egocentric maniac father, which was new for him.
The monsters are doing well at the cinemas in terms of reception. Since they escaped from the books they skyrocketed to the top of the box office a fortnight back.
Presently, they have relinquished their throne to The Martian as currently, they occupy the second spot. Goosebumps has done brilliantly grossing $76 million dollars worldwide with only three weeks in circuit.
It was made from a production budget o $58 million dollars, which explains the quality of the picture.
Movie: Goosebumps
Genre: Adventure Comedy Fantasy Horror
Duration: 1 hour 43 mins
Age Restriction: 16
Release Date: October 30, 2015
Director: Rob Letterman
Main Cast: Jack Black (R. L. Stine), Dylan Minnette (Zach), Odeya Rush (Hannah) and Ryan Lee as (Champ)
New movies in circuit leading
at the box office.
1.The Martian
2.Goosebumps
3.Bridge of Spies
4.Hotel Transylvania 2
5.Burnt
The scary yet funny experience earns an 8/10. It was that amazing.