Goosebumps
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: October 16, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Feb 1, 2016
This modern riff on Monster Squad is a very pleasant surprise, and so ’80s in spirit that it’s a shock one of the villains isn’t a giant Rubik’s Cube. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippOct 14, 2015
The movie has plenty of the expected fun with its parade of B-movie, VFX-created creatures — a werewolf, giant praying mantis and an army of angry garden gnomes, among them — but it also possesses a sly self-awareness. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 17, 2015
Nonstop mayhem follows in a stampede of comic terrors ready made for Halloween. Sure it's exhausting. But Goosebumps, knowing its audience, lets it rip. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoOct 15, 2015
This feature adaptation of kid-lit author R.L. Stine’s best-selling horror-comedy series is out to thrill fans with a story that’s just as obsessively invested as they are, right down to Black’s meta casting as Stine himself. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelOct 15, 2015
Goosebumps fulfills its purpose, and that's what matters. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyOct 15, 2015
Director Rob Letterman, aided by writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and Darren Lemke and an energetic cast, rise to the occasion, delivering a movie that’s a lot of good creepy fun in spite of some dubious construction. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 13, 2015
Pretty much the perfect scary movie for kids. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerOct 13, 2015
The fulcrum to the success of Goosebumps, it must be noted, is the perfect casting of Jack Black as Stine. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyKevin P. SullivanOct 9, 2015
It’s a never-boring trip to a world, where stories and imagination are powerful tools, that just might inspire kids to do the scariest thing of all: pick up a book Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 19, 2015
The movie version of Goosebumps replicates that balancing act. It’s a cheerful, nasty delight. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlOct 13, 2015
Especially in its superior first hour, Goosebumps has a loose comic rhythm at odds with what we see in effects-heavy would-be blockbuster junk like Pan. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenOct 5, 2015
Keeping the creepy/kooky mix entertainingly intact, Goosebumps translates R.L. Stine’s frighteningly successful young adult horror fiction series to the big screen with lively, teen Ghostbusters-type results. Read full review
70
TheWrapInkoo KangOct 5, 2015
Goofily self-aware and wholesomely boisterous, it’s a children’s picture whose sense of spooky fun readily diverts from its quibble-worthy messaging. Read full review
67
HitfixDrew McWeenyOct 6, 2015
There's not an ounce of fat on the film. It feels like it moves forward in every single scene, and while it's a little mechanical about how it follows three-act structure, it's almost charmingly old-fashioned about it. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaOct 11, 2015
Some of the wittier one-liners and more affecting emotional moments feel undermined by the frenzy of chaotic excess. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonFeb 2, 2016
It all spins out of control in a final blowout of naff special effects and random shouting, but there’s just enough leftover goodwill to carry it through. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 15, 2015
Goosebumps,”Rob Letterman’s film based on the R.L. Stine books (pretty much all of them), is silly, goofy, a little scary, a little poignant and a lot of fun. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanOct 5, 2015
There’s a streak of old-fashioned B-movie spooky playfulness here, and when actual, motivated characters are on screen it’s delightful. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 14, 2015
Though it revives at least a dozen of Stine’s most popular beasts and fiends, the new Goosebumps movie rarely recalls the old preteen page-turners for which it’s named. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephanie MerryOct 16, 2015
It’s occasionally funny and sometimes suspenseful, but it isn’t particularly imaginative. Then again, neither are Stine’s popular novellas. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 16, 2015
At a guess, I'd say that Goosebumps will satisfy its core audience - fans of R.L. Stine's popular children's books - and bore pretty much everyone else. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldOct 15, 2015
More often than not, Mr. Letterman uses his movie as a toy chest of characters more than as a medium, the muggy Mr. Black included. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubOct 15, 2015
Although the film’s content falls squarely within the PG rating, it provides about 20 percent more visual terror than you’re probably expecting. Plus, the presence of a scary clown should automatically trigger a special MPAA rating. (PG-C?) Take your 5-year-old knowing that he may be visiting your bed every night between now and Halloween. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithOct 14, 2015
What everyone will remember about Goosebumps is . . . nothing. Except that it was kinda like “Gremlins.” Read full review
50
The PlaylistNick SchagerOct 9, 2015
A film that assembles many of the author’s most memorable creations with noisy, tossed-off sloppiness. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 15, 2015
There's hardly a shred of cleverness to be found amid all the predictabilities. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonOct 5, 2015
Jack Black’s mildly theatrical, knowingly hammy performance is but one of this horror-comedy’s overdone elements, and the film fails to rise above the level of perfunctory effects-driven spectacle. Read full review
40
VarietyGeoff BerkshireOct 5, 2015
The ADD overload combined with an understandably kid-friendly approach to horror (no one’s ever in real danger, and the monsters are never too scary) results in a disposable product intended to appeal to everyone but likely to resonate with no one. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisOct 21, 2015
At best, Goosebumps is a who’s who in the Stine literary oeuvre, featuring characters who were terrifying on paper but rendered toothless here. Read full review
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