Monsters, ghosts, ghouls, and a ventriloquist dummy with a Napoleon complex, sounds like a lot of villains for one movie, but all of those exist in the Goosebumps movie that came out this weekend. If you read any of the R.L Stine books or watched any of the shows on tv this movie is a big ol’ ball of nostalgia. Reader beware you’re in for some laughs.

I had the pleasure of watching Goosebumps in a renovated theater built in 1904, which added to the experience, also made it way cheaper than a normal movie, so those were some extra positives about going this weekend. The movie opens with a boy named Zach and his mom moving to a suburban town in Delaware. While they are unpacking Zach meets a young girl named Hannah and her very protective father, initially referred to as Mr. Shivers, who live next door. During his first day of school Zach meets Champ, he reveals his real name is Champion, who is the lovable nerd character to Zach’s traditional hero character. Zach and Hannah start flirting with each other, but her dad shuts that down in an instant. After overhearing something next door Zach and Champ break into the Shivers’ house thinking that Hannah might need help. What they find are locked books, which of course get opened. Once the monsters start getting let loose Mr. Shivers reveals himself to be R.L. Stine. Slappy, the horrifying ventriloquist dummy, is leading the monsters against their creator and everything culminates in an epic fight.

Okay, so Slappy isn’t the most terrifying dummy, I just really hate dummies. Like in a list of things I hate they rank higher than jello and marshmallow, which is saying something. The movie is pretty campy and reminded me a lot of the old tv show. Zach’s lines are mostly sarcastic quips, unless a moment gets super emotional then he cuts the sarcasm. Champ is the stereotypical sidekick character and he screams higher than even Hannah does. Hannah is pretty fearless and even goes against the abominable snowman by herself. The best character was R.L. Stine played by Jack Black. He was hilarious! I laughed almost every time he was on screen. Black also voices Slappy and The Invisible Boy, he sounds super creepy as Slappy, but any dummy would have sounded creepy to me.

The movie is really funny and not very scary, which makes it the perfect fun family film to see in October. I had a great time watching it and my sister and I were both cracked up a lot. It was definitely worth seeing.

If you want to share your thoughts about Goosebumps, the books, shows, or the movie, you can comment below or tweet at us, @thenerdygirlexp or @kleffnotes.