Goosebumps

I had really enjoyed I Live In Your Basement, though it did result in really freaking weird dreams for a while. I was an...impressionable boy.

Seeing as there's been a live action series, I wonder if the film will be animated. If so, here are a few voice casting choices:

Jason Isaacs as the Masked Mutant: He was great as a smug, imposing, yet ultimately incompetent character like Zhao. Isaacs could portray the mutant with a good mix of suavity and hamminess.

Benedict Cumberbatch as the Lord High Executioner: After watching both the TV adaptation of "a night in terror tower" and "the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug", I think Cumberbatch would work wonders as such a cold,imposing brute.

Will Friedle as Billy Harlan: Like Robbie Rotten, I think Billy's one of the better protagonists, and Friedle(aka Terry Mcginnis) would do a great job as an older, stronger, and more mature version of him.

Dante Basco as Billy Deep: Has anyone else noticed that both Zuko and this kid are hotheaded young men searching for legendary figures(The Avatar, the Mermaid) on a boat with their eccentric uncles(Iroh, Dr Deep), and eventually come to regret their decisions? Also, according to the Horrorland spinoffs, Billy is Asian American.

Chuck Huber as Dr. Brewer: If you've seen "Night of The Chimera's Cry" of Full Metal Alchemist, I think you can guess why.

edited 12th Jan '14 7:22:04 AM by Snailfish

Has anyone heard the plot of the upcoming movie?

Apparently, Jack Black will play an Expy of Stine, and two brave kids(one named Hannah, a common name in the Goosebumps universe) will fight to save the world when various monsters escape from the books. The only one confirmed to appear is Slappy.

Really? Such a movie is being made?! Jack Black as R.L. Stine sounds just absurd though. I know Stine can't act, but he did appear in made-for-TV Goosebumps specials from time to time, as himself.

I dunno about Black for Stine, simply because I remember those appearances, and I could swear Stine is one of the blandest people I've ever seen. XD

And yeah, Hannah is oddly common in the Goosebumps-verse, isn't it? Was someone Stine knew named Hannah or something? In any case, it's somehow fitting that there are two kids, who will undoubtedly have some sort of "Platonic Boy-Girl Relationship."

edited 21st Apr '14 11:07:24 AM by KnownUnknown

Putting Slappy the dummy in it is a great idea. If there's any one "face" of the series, it's him.

Slappy is the darkest villain in that he actually causes real harm to the kids - he hits, slaps, physically harms them whereas most villains don't actually harm the kids physically and so directly. Imprison, yeah, or even transform, but not physically attack. Also, he's a recurring villain with a personality. Monster blood may return repeatedly, but it's not a "villain" so much as a hazard. Slappy is a villain with a personality of his own instead of an abstract object fear. And he also is a real asshole on top of that - he will abuse the kids when no adult is looking, but sit harmlessly when their parents are around. Either that, or if being used as a ventriloquist's dummy, he'll say rude or offensive things just to make the kid look back. With his habit of attacking only when no-one's looking, threatening and intimidating kids, trying to make the kids look bad so they get in trouble, and even trying to kill them on occasion, Slappy is a cross between a bully and a genuine life threatening danger.

Okay, extra info from Wikipedia: It was announced in February 2014 that Dylan Minnette was cast as Zach Cooper,[79] and Odeya Rush was cast as the Stine-like author's niece, Hannah. In the film, which is set to be released on March 23, 2016, Zach and Hannah team up after Slappy the Dummy sets free the fictional writer's malevolent creations.

So Dylan and Odeya, the lead actors, are ~17 years old. Yeah, that sounds like Goosebumps alright, because we all know the characters were teenagers in high school, as were the readers. </sarcasm>

Also, the phrase "Stine-like" is being used a lot. This is fucking Goosebumps. It shouldn't be about a "Stine-like author"; if it has the author in it, the author should be R.L. Fucking Stine himself. Instead, according to this article, it's "Mr. Shivers". So, why fucking call it Goosebumps?

So it looks like, so far, we have characters considerably older than the usual 11-12 year old Goosebumps leads dealing with the creations of an author who isn't actually R.L. Stine (as in, the character isn't), and yet it dares to use the label Goosebumps. Nice job Hollywood.

edited 21st Apr '14 11:37:40 AM by BonsaiForest

Now to address some of those things you said:

1. Dawson casting is a thing. It's likely they they are Goosebumps age. Hell, I bet some of the show had older actors as the kids. And haunting hour, directed at the same audience, has older main character all the time. (Hell, the main actor n this movie was on haunting hour twice)

2. Last I checked, the character IS stine, just with ...Jack Black. The summary I read when this news first broke (on a more trustworthy site than Wikipedia) said that the kid moves next to Stine and his ideas jump out somehow and they hop to stop the creatures. It's Stine.

3. Stine has given this project his full blessing, especially over on Twitter. (It is really him on Twitter, so don't worry). So he clearly thinks this is a worthy adaptation, even if it is different. I personally wanted an anthology film, adapting different books, cuz that opens the door for many sequels which means quality AND money. Win/Win!

But this is good too.

With all due respect, Bonsai Forest, I actually think Slappy is pretty pathetic. Sure, his antics are disturbing, but he almost always fails, and his plans quickly become boring and repetitive. Also, if he can be outsmarted multiple times by twelve year old girls, I doubt he'd have much of a leg to stand on against much bigger or older opponents. Frankly, I'd just punt the little creep into a fireplace.

I actually thought the Masked Mutant was a much more formidable and interesting antagonist. He only makes two appearances,(one being a video game, and neither one are in continuity) but his antics are just batshit insane. In his original book, he spends months disguised as a young girl named Libby. He does this so he can locate a worthy and competent opponent that knows how to fight him. And really, who better than his biggest fan? Along the way, he also kidnaps a moronic superhero to serve as bait, disguises one of his henchmen as himself to throw enemies off his trail, and than murders said henchman when he's outlived his usefulness.

That's right, he flat out kills a character in the form of a little girl.

And unlike Slappy, the Mutant makes it very clear he doesn't want to make the protagonist his slave, since his last act is trying to melt him alive as a wave of acid. He does get defeated, but only through his own overconfidence.

In the video game, the Mutant steps it up a notch, planning to transmute the real world into a comic book that he can conquer.

Oh, by the way, apparently "Hannah" from the Goosebumps movie will be Stine's daughter.

I still think Slappy is evil in the same way that, for instance, the Wicked Stepmother from Cinderella got the number 2 spot in the Nostalgia Critic's most evil Disney villains. She won that spot simply for being a pure evil bitch who wanted to control a single person's life - essentially, a big bully.

Slappy is like that, only potentially fatal. He wants to control and dominate a single person or a couple people, and he's basically a huge asshole. I still see that as more evil in a sense than cartoonish supervillainy.

Good point. Slappy is pretty loathsome. Than again, though, there's nothing wrong with Cartoonish supervillainy. That's one of the reasons he's my favorite villain in the series.

What's your opinion on him and the other villains/monsters?

edited 30th Apr '14 8:39:31 AM by Snailfish

Although I read Attack of the Mutant, I don't remember the Masked Mutant too well. He struck me as a comic supervillain come to life, which to me wasn't scary, but instead simply fun.

Monster Blood, as in it itself, is creepy in that it seems to show up whenever, with no warning and we don't know if it's sentient or what. It's a mystery, and as such, disturbing in the way that a lot of unknown horror is. (It's often said that if you explain the horror, it reduces it by a lot)

The bad guy, a regular human, of Deep Trouble, was evil in a very human sense. He pushed the kids into a glass container and left them to drown while stealing their mermaid. And his way of explaining it was so casually cruel - "Your dad gave me $_____, these guys gave me $_____. You're a smart kid, you do the math."

What other villains are recurring?

There's also the Horrorland Horrors, creatures that can be killed by pinching. I'd have to agree with Troy Steele that this was the beginning of a bad trend in the series.

It seems a new addition to this list is Doctor Maniac from the Horrorland series. He's basically the Masked Mutant, only his plans are nonsensically laughable(skating show? seriously?) and he's flanderized into a giggling, over the top idiot.

And of course, there's the Haunted Mask. Contrary to its name, this thing isn't haunted at all, but is some kind of Homunculus created by a bitter scientist/magician. Its main motive in all of its appearances is to rebond with its former host. Surprisingly, the Mask's Horrorland book was actually one of the better entries. Here, Carly Beth is forced to don the mask to stop a greater threat-its original owner.

The mask is actually one of the only "villains" (I guess a better term would be "threat") in the series that I can really remember and like. IMO a lot of them were kind of... forgettable, at least in comparison to the plots themselves - if that makes any sense.

Like, I remember that Don't Go Into The Basement featured a plant duplicate of the kids' father, but I don't remember anything he actually did, just that he existed.

The only other villains I remember like that are the Dead House neighbors and the shadow guy from Ghost Next Door (who wasn't really a villain).

Forcing everyone to iceskate because "[they] have no choice", was absurd. If some actual punishment for those who didn't iceskate was shown, then he could be seen as a genuinely insane threat.

Dr Maniac is supposed to be as over the top and dumb as possible. That is why I love him, but I love the purple rage, from the same book, even more. There are a few good Horrorland baddies, like DR Cranium, who has mind powers and he gets rid of anyone else with powers, and he is the reason we don't see superheros walking around. (Guess he had a day off when the Galoppzing gazelle was around)

By the way, the best Goosebumps villain ever is The Meance from the Horrorland Arc 1 finale.

In his life, he did experiments on fear with his amusement park. People pretty much died at it al the time....but he didn't care because it all for his experiments. Eventually, there was so much fear that park went to an alternative dimension.

Don't ask, it's Goosebumps.

He was okay with being there until he got sick of it, so he created a fear meter. Once enough Fear filled it up, the park would go back to the real world. So long story short, he tricked various kids into going to the world so he can play with their fear....but it's implied, if no stated, that most of them died in the process. Again, he didn't care. There's even more to his crazed presence that I didn't mention, but he is easily the scariest monster in the entire franchise.

(also, the Ghost next door guy was a villain. He wanted Danny to die just so he can take his place for reasons I don't remember)_

Speaking of that shadow-thing from the Ghost Next Door...what exactly was he?

He's sort of similar to the Grim Reaper, but instead of collecting Danny's spirit, he wants to "replace" him or some crap.

I feel like he was originally intended to be the Reaper himself, but Stine made some changes because Scholastic didn't want a figure representing death in a children's book.

edited 4th May '14 3:39:39 PM by Snailfish

So far, the only monster confirmed to appear besides Slappy is the Haunted Mask. Who would you guys like to see?

Also, since this is Goosebumps, I predict a twist: The Hannah from the movie is actually Hannah from The Ghost Next Door.

Monster Blood perhaps? Though it's not quite a monster.

The Executioner from "Night In Terror Tower" would be a good choice for a Darker story. He's not a supernatural monster or anything, he's just a stone-cold psycho from a truly horrifying time period. Also, unlike the other villains, he's played dead serious throughout the whole book. The cover even has him brandishing his Axe at the audience, making his intentions for the heroes terrifyingly clear.

The Give Yourself Goosebumps books retconned him into a Brainwashed pawn sadly.

@Known Unknown:

I don't think either the Dark Falls residents,the Mask, Plant clone, or shadow man count as true "villains".

The latter three seem to be following their non-human natures(The mask is a disembodied parasite who needs a host, Plant-man is an imperfect duplicate who thinks he's the real man, and Shadow creature is a grim reaper like entity), while the Dark falls people are a town full of innocents thrust into a horrific life or death situation. In order to stay alive, they have to feed on the living, and some actually prefer death to this existence.

edited 25th May '14 6:29:04 AM by Snailfish

Stine has confirmed that a good chuck of the early villains will be in it, as well as The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, for some reason.

^^ That would make the Dark Falls residents Anti Villains and Tragic Monsters, but they're villains nonetheless. The plant duplicate is definitely a villain, at least as far as memory serves.

The shadow guy isn't really a villain, more of an antagonist. He's supposed to be Death, right?

edited 29th May '14 9:47:58 AM by KnownUnknown

What's the shadow guy from again, and what's it do?

Wait... I just looked him up. Wow, my memory about that guy was bad. He's from Ghost Next Door, and he turns out to be a malevolent spirit trying to take over the life of the main character's friend. So I guess he's not a neutral force, after all. Pretty evil. Granted, he's still not really the main conflict of the book (Ghost Next Door was atypical that way).

edited 29th May '14 4:37:45 PM by KnownUnknown