It’s been more than 30 years since the first Goosebumps book hit shelves, and R.L. Stine’s kid and teen horror stories are as relevant as ever.
With a successful movie and TV franchise, and a seemingly endless library of stories to tap into, we are looking at a whole lot more Goosebumps content headed our way.
Stine shared with THR that three more Fear Street films are in the works, saying, “The writers are working. So I’ve got my fingers crossed.”
The three films will follow Netflix’s successful 2021, Leigh Janiak-directed trilogy, as well as the upcoming fourth film, Fear Street: Prom Queen, which has finished filming and is slated for sometime in 2025.
Stine spoke candidly about writing for the 7-11 age group in his first Goosebumps novels, saying:
“That’s the best audience in the world, the 7 to 11 [age]. I get them the last time in their lives they’ll ever be enthusiastic.
“At 7 to 11, they want to read you, they want to buy things. They want to know you. They want to write to you. They want to meet you. They’re incredible. Then they turn 12, they discover sex, they have to be cool and they’re gone.”
After having watched the first two episodes of the new season of the Goosebumps anthology series, titled Goosebumps: The Vanishing, the author shared what he most appreciates so far about how the streamer’s aged-up approach to his series, that they were staying true to his books.
“It’s the surprises, for one thing — the shocks. When I write a Goosebumps book, that’s my most important thing, the twists and the shocks. Someone wrote a line that I wish I had written for the Goosebumps movie, where Jack Black played me, and at the very end, Jack is teaching a class, and he says, ‘Every story has a beginning, a middle and a twist,’ which perfectly describes [Goosebumps].
“It perfectly describes it and it describes the TV show as well. I think they’re not predictable. So much of children’s literature is so linear, and so many horror movies, you know what’s coming. But I always try to have something that turns it all around that no one’s expecting.”
When it comes to the anthology series, Stine notes that what the second season starring David Scwhimmer has gotten right is his appreciation for fumbling adults, too.
“Another thing I like, and this is true to the books, [is that] the parent is always useless. In Goosebumps, either they don’t believe the kid or they’re not around and they don’t help.”
It surprised him overall how the series uses that aged-up cast to elevate the horrors of his tween series.
“I was kind of shocked at first to see all these teenagers walking around. But what they’ve done, they’ve made it older — high school kids — and they’ve hyped up the scares as well. It’s scarier.
“I just watched the first two episodes of the new season, and man, it’s very different, and it’s terrifying. The thing about Goosebumps is that no one ever dies. That’s the difference between Goosebumps and Fear Street [where] we kill off teenagers, right and left. We kill them all. Everyone loves it when you kill teenagers.
“There was a death in these first two episodes of the new [Goosebumps] season, but they have it happening 30 years ago. That’s a big difference. So it’s still Goosebumps. It’s just been elevated.”
During the series’ New York Comic Con panel last October, it was revealed that Goosebumps: The Vanishing would adapt Stay Out of the Basement, The Haunted Car, Monster Blood, The Girl Who Cried Monster, The Ghost Next Door and Welcome to Camp Nightmare.
Goosebumps: The Vanishing also stars Ana Ortiz, Jayden Bartels, Sam McCarthy, Elijah M. Cooper, Galilea La Salvia, Francesca Noel and Stony Blyden. The season premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on January 10th, dropping all eight episodes at once.
Beyond The Vanishing and upcoming The Prom Queen, when asked which of his books Stine would most like to see adapted next, the author shares it’s a “Goosebumps book that nobody likes and no one’s ever interested in”: Brain Juice.
He explained:
“It’s about kids who drink this purple liquid and get smarter and smarter. They get too smart for everything. They get thrown out of school, they lose all their friends, and then they’re kidnapped by aliens, and on the way to the other planet, they get stupider and stupider. It’s my favorite Goosebumps book, but nobody knows it and it’ll never be adapted.”
It’s a pretty different one from a lot of the slasher type stories that have gotten first billing, but it could be fun, especially since it’s Stine’s favorite!
Which of the Goosebumps books was your favorite growing up? What story would you most like to see remade for TV or film?
