It gave me 'Goosebumps'

Let's establish first and foremost that I am not a huge fan of kid movies or family movies. Such as animated features like Toy Story or anything like that. I cave in once in a while and take my grandchildren to a kid movie. But they're not my thing. Hence, why I have them enjoying horror flicks such as zombie and end of the world movies.

I escaped having to go see Goosebumps the movie at the theater. That now in hindsight was my error. I missed out on that experience.

When my grandson who is six suggested that we rent the movie on Amazon, I agreed. Seeing that I could just simply get up and walk away. I got a pizza, some popcorn, set up the living room, pressed the button and… Ugh! I bought it instead of renting it.

I believe I made that noise, too.

“No, Nennie, see.” My grandson said. “You are going to love this. I swear.”

Okay.

Before you think, why not just hit return? Let me explain. I do not believe in returns for creative projects. Call me biased. But somebody put their labor of love into that and whether I like it or not I purchased it. Anyhow…

I sat down next to my grandson and granddaughter and away we went watching the movie. I pulled out my phone, expecting to catch up on emails when suddenly I was thrust not into boredom but into the pleasant memories of the movies I enjoyed in my late teen, early twenties. Goonies, Monster Squad, Teen Wolf, Silver Bullet … Goosebumps delivered that same feel. Funny, exposing the naiveté of our youth while scaring us.

Wait. Stop. Back up. I restarted the movie because I wanted to give it my full attention. It was entertaining and as a writer, I found it dementedly enjoyable on another level.

The basic premise of the movie is RL Stine has hidden away because he protects a secret. The manuscript versions of his published books are magic and if opened, the manuscripts release the monsters from the pages.

Something almost every writer dreams about. “Oh, if my characters were just real.”

The cast was funny and engaging and made you care about the characters. Jack Black was just awesome and I hope his kids loved this movie.  I found myself laughing out loud and waiting anxiously to see what was next. It was so well done, that I couldn’t wait to watch it again and purchased a ventriloquist doll from ebay right away. I loved this movie and watched it three times already. I have placed this as a staple movie right along with Goonies.

It’s a family movie. Although I had to explain to my grandkids a few things. My 5 year old granddaughter asked, “What’s a manuscript?” I told her what they were and she asked if I had any.

“Oh, sure,” I told her. “Dozens in the bins in my closet.”

“Are they magical? Can we open them?”

“Um, yeah, but you may want to be careful considering I write about the apocalypse. You can release Frank (my hero from my sci fi series). But watch out for Iso Stasis, it has a big foot like monster.”

The questions didn’t end. Luckily I divide my manuscripts. End of the world, non end of the world. And I showed her and my grandson the bins. I left them staring with marked curiosity and went to my office. Telling them, “Remember, only open that bin,” I pointed to the non Armageddon ones.

A few minutes later I hear Violet scream, “Great! Oh, just great Boo. Now you released the Apocalypse!”

I laughed at how she freaked out and then it hit me. Goosebumps not only entertained us during the movie, it stayed with us after and that is what a good movie is supposed to do.