Another attempt at a Goosebumps movie… must be a sign that it’s time to start really mining the kiddy 90s properties from my childhood.
Columbia has tried once before to get a film going under the Goosebumps banner, hoping to capitalize on the long-running, extremely successful series. Like, second only to Harry Potter for Scholastic and 300 million books sold successful. The series was a kid’s horror lit version of The Twilight Zone
with an anthology of over 150 lightly frightening, twisty novels having
been published since 1992. Even though I never really read them much (I
was an Animorphs
kid, which Hollywood needs to stay the fuck away from, until I can get
out there and do it right) I would be willing to bet I was never more
than 50 feet from one of these books. A staple of children’s bookbags
for a decade, it’s a shock that Hollywood has taken so long to mine this
particular brand.
The original attempt at a Goosebumps
script (from 1408 writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski) was
not going to be based on any particular book but would have opted for an
original children’s horror filmy that would carry the name. I would
imagine the same route is being taken here by the newly hired Carl
Ellsworth.
Ellsworth may have a better go of it than the previous writers as his scripts for Disturbia and Red Dawn have well prepared him for putting young people through trials and tribulations. He also worked on the Last House on the Left remake, so maybe he can bring some nasty, hardcore horror to this. I would love to see some more candidates for one of my favorite CHUD lists ever.
Source | THR
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