Goosebumps (2023)

The final stretch quickly deflates a good cliffhanger by introducing a less impactful one in its last moments. That reservation aside, Goosebumps: The Vanishing is indeed an enjoyable gateway-horror followup to last year’s batch, with a compelling season-long arc that’s an engaging adaptation of Welcome To Camp Nightmare.

Although Season 2 doesn't reach the heights of its ancestor series, it's an encouraging step beyond its predecessor season that illustrates this series' potential. If future installments are in the cards, then both The Vanishing's strengths and weaknesses provide a road map to even more improvement.

The season grows in strength and confidence as it progresses, and by the end of episode 6, there is a sense of excitement around how all the secrets could be unravelled. But the fact it takes so many episodes to get there, with extensive runtime given to dynamics that simply aren’t that interesting, is what lets this show – and its starry focus Schwimmer – down.

A little extra TV-14 gore and David Schwimmer’s committed attempt to out-dork Justin Long are welcome, but they can’t dispel the sense that this is a mad science experiment gone wrong, an ill-conceived attempt to turn Goosebumps into Riverdale.