Set in the foggy, coastal town of Port Lawrence, paranormal events start to surface upon the arrival of the new English teacher, Nathan Bratt (Justin Long), who moves into the cursed house where owner Harold Biddle (Ben Cockell) died in a fire in 30 years prior. After a chance crossover event at a Halloween party thrown at the old Biddle house by high schoolers, abandoned relics—a polaroid, a cuckoo clock, a possessed mask, and worms—make their way into several students’ lives. Those affected are a jock football star named Isaiah (Zack Morris), his geeky neighbor friend Margot (Isa Briones), his best friend James (Miles McKenna), also serving as comic relief, rebellious dim-witted daredevil Lucas (Will Price), and lonesome tech wizard Isabella (Ana Yi Puig). Those designated items throw the kids into horrific situations they must come to on their own to face. Once they realize all the ends lead to the Biddle house, the teens band together to uncover a mystery that involves the sins of their parents.
“Goosebumps” plays all the hits for modern horror TV aimed at teens. The lead characters fit into the typical high school archetypes—jock, nerd, rebel, comic relief, and loner—full of angst, filtered through a gothic, melodramatic approach to storytelling. It unabashedly features profanity, mature themes involving adultery and grief, and doesn’t stray from showing various horror beats from body to creature on screen. Its plotting follows a continuous eight-episodic structure, with each episode often ending in a cliffhanger designed to get you to binge the whole season at once. I can see through the ruse. Unlike Slappy, I ain’t no dummy.
This “Goosebumps” iteration gets close to Stine’s spirited tone primarily thanks to the teen ensemble cast, all adding a distinctive charm to their lively performances and camaraderie. Specifically, Zack Morris and Miles McKenna’s buddy dynamic provides a nuanced refreshment in a straight-jock and gay class clown act as best friends. Their shared charisma creates an equilibrium for comedy that adds fun to the dramatic beats. On the other end of the realism spectrum, Justin Long, whose Bratt gets possessed by Biddle’s spirit at the end of its initial episode, acts completely unhinged, relishing in comical movement and cringe-inducing gross-out gags. He’s a joy whenever he is on-screen.