The Goosebumps series of books, along with their TV and movie adaptations, are designed to scare the bejeezus out of preteens, teens and adults, but not in a way that’s gross or full of blood. But what those stories also lend themselves to are adaptations that have grown-up performances and sophisticated plots. The second season of Hulu/Disney+‘s revived Goosebumps anthology series has both of those things.
GOOSEBUMPS: THE VANISHING: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: As “Pass The Mic” from The Beastie Boys plays, we see a view of Manhattan from the East River that includes the Twin Towers. “Brooklyn, 1994.”
The Gist: Four teenagers explore a long-abandoned hospital, said to be the site of crazy medical experiments. They’re there on a dare to sleep there overnight. As they look around a darkened room with computer equipment, the group is startled by the younger brother of Matty, one of the teens, whom the older one calls “Stink”. The power comes on and a hole opens in the floor. Some weird mist starts consuming Matty, who turns black and disappears.
In 2024 Brooklyn, 17-year-old twins Devin (Sam McCarthy) and Cece (Jayden Bartels) are visiting their father Anthony (David Schwimmer), who moved to his childhood home to take care of his mother, who has dementia. He’s a botanist and is very excited to show them his latest finds, something they’re indifferent to at best. The twins meet Trey (Stony Blyden), an across-the-street neighbor who won’t move his car that’s blocking the driveway.
They also run into CJ (Elijah M. Cooper), the son of a restauant owner/friend of their father’s. He invites them to hang in the park with Alex (Francesca Noel) and Franie (Galilea La Salvia). Devin still harbors a crush on Frankie since the last time they saw each other in 8th grade. But she’s dating Trey. They all decide to go to the old hospital after hearing the story about the teen who disappeared. As Devin goes into the same room as Matty did, the power goes on and almost the same thing happens to him. He also sees a vision of someone in a Beastie Boys hoodie.
When Jen (Ana Ortiz), a police detective, returns a hoodie to Anthony and calls him “Stink” by accident, we then find out that Matty was his older brother. The shirt has weird white spores on them, which attracts one of the plants Anthony is studying, creating a vine so tight that it snares both Anthony and Devin in its tendrils.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? This is the second season of the revived Goosebumps series, based on the books by R.L. Stine. (If you’re curious, there’s an official YA book release for this season: Goosebumps: The Vanished Return.)
Our Take: Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller developed this version of Goosebumps, and what they have understood all along about this series is that the stories aren’t supposed to be “scary for kids”, they’re scary, but suitable for kids. In other words, there’s not a ton of gore or blood, but the scares are real and they’re creepy, and there is real danger if the teens who discover a season’s mysterious threat aren’t careful.
In the case of The Vanishing, the kids are just the right age, and McCarthy and Bartels have plenty of teen/kid show experience. The play their respective roles as the smart, sophisticated near-adults they are, who love their dorky dad even if they don’t love plants as much as he does. We even get some character depth for both of them, with Cece being the overachiever who feels the need to go to debate camp just to be able to apply for college, and Devin being the smart kid who has no idea where he wants to go or what he wants to do after high school.
Schwimmer, of course, can adeptly play both the comedic and dramatic sides of their father, who is so eager to have a fun summer with his kids but also has real pain over both his brother’s disappearance (which he considers the day Matty died) and the fracturing of his family. He is not just there as an observer to what the kids are doing, as we see at the end of Episode 1, when the vine almost ensnares him before it goes after Devin, who is a more “primed” host after his experience at the abandoned hospital.
We all know in stories like this, there will be a group of teens who do a lot of the heavy lifting, a la Stranger Things, probing and getting into danger. And all of the teens that surround Devin and CeCe are likable characters who are given sharp dialogue and are encouraged to act like regular teenagers.
The only question is if the mystery can sustain itself over the season’s eight episodes. But it’s off to a good start.
What Age Group Is This For?: We think kids 9 and up will enjoy Goosebumps: The Vanishing. It might be too scary for younger kids.
Parting Shot: Pictures of the group that includes Cece and Devin are put up on a pin-string board with the pictures of the teens that disappeared in 1994. The person looking at the board looks a lot like Jen.
Sleeper Star: We know Ana Ortiz’ Jen knew Anthony from when they were younger, but what relation does she have to the group that explored the hospital 30 years ago?
Most Pilot-y Line: It’s interesting that Schwimmer is playing the grownup version of someone who was a young teen in 1994. We all know where Schwimmer was that year, which means he’s playing someone at least 15 years younger than his real age. Not sure how credible that is.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Goosebumps: The Vanishing has an interesting, scary mystery at its center, as well as good performances from Schwimmer, McCarthy and Bartels.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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