Instead of simply focusing of the Night Of The Living Dummy or spending One Day At Horrorland, the first cinematic adaptation of R.L. Stine’s popular Goosebumps series wants to have it all. Jack Black plays a meta version of the author who is not just writing for the hell of it, he’s literally trying to keep the demons at bay by trapping monsters in his books. When some pesky neighbor boys (Dylan Minnette and Ryan Lee) sneak into Stine’s personal library, they accidentally release just about every single one of his iconic creatures into the world. In other words, it’s like Jumanji, but instead of monkeys and poachers, it’s mummies and lawn gnomes and The Abominable Snowman Of Pasadena. Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell, Timothy Simons, and Kumail Nanjiani also star. Goosebumps hits theaters on October 16, but The A.V. Club and Columbia Pictures have an opportunity for you to catch it for free on October 12. For your chance to win a pair of passes to the advance screening, simply follow the link here and enter your information. Remember: Seats will be first come, first served, so be sure to arrive early. An official plot synopsis and trailer for the film can be found below.
“Upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door, and makes a quick friend in Champ (Ryan Lee). But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach’s comes when he learns that Hannah’s mysterious dad is in fact R.L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. As Zach starts learning about the strange family next door, he soon discovers that Stine holds a dangerous secret: the creatures that his stories made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. When Stine’s creations are unintentionally released from their manuscripts, Zach’s life takes a turn for the weird. In a crazy night of adventure, it’s up to Zach, Hannah, Champ, and Stine to team up and get all of these figments of Stine’s imagination – including Slappy the Dummy, the girl with the haunted mask, the gnomes and many more – back in the books where they belong to save the town.”