'Goosebumps: The Vanishing' Reviews: "it's refreshing to see not just a promising young adult horror anthology, but one that's dusting off the cobwebs stuck to the Goosebumps name"

     On January 10, 2024, Disney+ released 'Goosebumps: The Vanishing', which received predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the series, teenagers embark on solving a mystery. Based on the iconic book series, fans will see episodes based on specific entries, much like last season. The ensemble cast includes Ana Ortiz, David Schwimmer, Sam McCarthy, Jayden Bartels, Galilea La Salvia, Francesca Noel, Elijah M. Cooper, Stony Blyden, and Arjun Athalye. But what did the critics say?

   A.A. Dowd of IGN Movies says, "A little extra TV-14 gore and David Schwimmer’s committed attempt to out-dork Justin Long are welcome, but they can’t dispel the sense that this is a mad science experiment gone wrong, an ill-conceived attempt to turn Goosebumps into Riverdale." Adding, "Goosebumps comes alive most when it resembles, well, Goosebumps. Between scenes of chaste romance, the kids narrowly escape various Roger Corman-grade monsters lifted, loosely, from Stine’s Scholastic pageturners: a seeping blob, some hungry flora, a training-wheels Christine that blares System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” while it’s zigzagging madly down city streets. There’s a surprising amount of gore around the edges of the series, as when Schwimmer digs a hungry bulb out of his arm or turns to reveal a nasty ocular surprise. This stuff is very much in the spirit of the books, which left young readers emboldened by their own courage to keep reading, and feeling like they were getting something past Mom and Dad. But the monsters that are Stine’s bread and butter have become almost secondary to the show’s equation. They’re basically accents on its aspirations to a tamer Riverdale or Stranger Things – a few Halloween thrills wedged between its stock teen drama and the kind of overarching mythology that’s frequently mistaken for a foolproof shortcut to bingeability. If you liked the first season of the show, there’s no reason to think you won’t like the second: Despite the all new cast and story, it’s more of the same. But regardless of your generation or your familiarity with Stine’s massive library of colorful titles and covers, you deserve more goosebumps than this Goosebumps provides."

   Kelcie Mattson of Collider notes, "Whether Goosebumps: The Vanishing will stick the landing remains to be seen. Still, it's refreshing to see not just a promising young adult horror anthology, but one that's dusting off the cobwebs stuck to the Goosebumps name." Concluding, "Although not the main focus, as the cast member with the biggest name recognition and the season's lead adult (like Justin Long before him), Schwimmer proves a natural fit as the dad who adores his kids but is slightly out of touch with their lives, and whose childhood loss makes him more than a little overprotective."

Image Courtesy of Disney+ and Disney Media