Goosebumps

Jack Black fires up this crazy-scary-funny film version of R.L. Stines bestselling kid-lit horror tales. Stine wrote more than a hundred of these spooky buggers. Too much to cram into one movie? Youd think. But director Rob Letterman, working from a script by Darren Lemke, stuffs about 25 monsters into the frenzied fray.

Its a neat trick, done by having Stine (Black) live like a hermit in the burbs of Madison, Delaware, when hes actually living above a metaphorical volcano. Ill explain. Though Stine has a daughter, Hannah (Odeya Rush), he keeps her in his private pumpkin shell. Theres a reason. If anyone opens one of Stines Goosebumps books, monsters will pop off the pages and raise unholy hell. Like thats not going to happen.

The action starts when a New York teen, Zach (the appealing Dylan Minnette), moves in next door with his widowed mom (Amy Ryan), and starts nosing around. Zach has an instant attraction to Hannah and soon theres no fence Stine can build that will keep the two apart. Its the secret Stine is hiding that creates the only impediment to true love.

What secret? Ill never tell. Suffice it to say that Zach and his BFF, Champ (Ryan Lee), quickly sneak into Stines library and crack open a book. And, pow, its the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena. Nonstop mayhem follows in a stampede of comic terrors ready made for Halloween. Sure its exhausting. But Goosebumps, knowing its audience, lets it rip.