'Goosebumps' unleashes its first scary trailer

Posted Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 5:14 PM Central
Last updated Monday, July 13, 2015 at 10:39 AM Central

by John Couture

If you grew up in the 1990s (I can't believe I just wrote that, I'm so old), then there's a good bet that you'll know exactly what I mean when I say the first trailer for Goosebumps dropped this week. The rest of us need an explanation.

The Goosebumps series of books of horror fiction aimed at children. Think of it as Stephen King-lite-lite. Sure there are some scary moments in the books, but author R.L. Stine made sure to always keep his young audience in mind and the near horrors were almost always tackled before the end of the book avoiding any real malice on the young protagonists.

Well, apparently all of that goodwill towards kids is coming back to haunt R.L. Stine. At least that's the gist I get from the first trailer for Goosebumps released this week. Jack Black plays the reclusive author who protects humanity by locking the horrors from his books in their manuscripts. When a new boy (Dylan Minnette) moves in next door and strikes up a friendship with his daughter (Odeya Rush), he accidentally releases all of the horrors from Stine's body of work.

So yeah, young fans of the book series will recognize many of the horrors that escape from the books and new fans will be able to enjoy the action that is very reminiscent of Jumanji and Zathura. Goosebumps hits theaters on October 16 just in time for Halloween.