Disney
You have to hand it to R.L. Stine: In his years as the reigning creator of spooky stories for young people, the man has produced such a flood of content (formerly known as books) that even today’s IP-happy studios seem uncertain about how to handle it all.
His signature Goosebumps series has been adapted into a Fox anthology show in the ’90s, a kid-oriented Sony film franchise in the mid-2010s, and now a Sony TV series licensed to Disney+ and Hulu, which begins streaming Oct. 13. That shared custody agreement points to what’s appealingly malleable about the material—it can be aged up or down the scariness scale as needed, and still attract both kids and nostalgic old fans alike—as well as how it can trip dashing between demographics.
The new Goosebumps series, an ongoing story incorporating elements of the books rather than an anthology of adaptations, does its share of dashing, befitting a show developed by both Rob Letterman (who directed the first, Nickelodeon-friendly film) and Nicholas Stoller (who worked on Disney’s Muppet movies, but also a variety of films and shows where Seth Rogen eases into adulthood). But mostly, it goes darker than its predecessors, and not just because it’s egregiously underlit.