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Goosebumps Returns But Not With Answered Cliffhangers, but A Whole New Story

Writer's picture: Emily CraigEmily Craig

R.L. Stine has been scaring kids and adults alike since the first Goosebumps book was released in July 1992. Aside from the books, Stine's creations came to the small screen as a television series in 1995 and then as a film in 2015. It's January 2025, and we're still being scared into sleepless nights by Stine's works of pure art. If we're being honest, nothing could make us turn away from his gripping and captivating storytelling paired with witty and loveable characters. But, I almost lost interest in this Goosebumps series that launched season 1 in 2023 and recently returned for season two this month.


The first season kept me on the edge of my seat and my head on a swivel, and then it ended in a cliffhanger. I thought the second season would follow the same cast and storyline. Wrong. Instead, it introduces a new cast and mystery in a different setting. One small detail remained: the originating storyline occurred thirty years prior, and their kids or relatives took up the present-day storyline when they uncovered the mystery.


In Goosebumps Season 1 (October 2023), five teens unexpectedly get thrown together when a thirty-year tragedy gets uncovered in Seattle and Port Lawernce. They come to discover that their parents were involved in the death of their classmate, Harold Briddle. After all these years, the parents must reveal their wrongdoings to save their kids and town. Meanwhile, Slappy, the puppet, pushes the characters (relatives of Biddle and his students along with Biddle's classmates) over the edge and drives them to insanity. The twisted backstory and interesting characters kept me watching, so I was devasted when it didn't continue when Disney+ and Hulu announced the new season. Instead of gaining closure, I mourn those characters and storylines as I grow attached to the new characters and storylines in the new season.


A new story began in January 2025 with Goosebumps: The Vanishing, which premiered on Disney+ and Hulu. A new cast emerged to bring R.L. Stine's book, Stay Out of the Basement, to the small screen.



The new season follows teenage twins Devin (Sam McCarthy) and Cee (Jayden Bartels), their father, Anthony Bewter (David Schwimmer), and their two groups of friends (30 years between them) during their summer vacation in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The story starts with Anthony and his brother, who were teens in 1994. Then, it flashes forward thirty years to 2024. Anthony, a botanist scientist, is a divorced father of twins caring for his mother, who has Alzheimer's.


 In 1994, Gravesend was left confused thirty years ago when Anthony's brother and friends vanished into a haunted tunnel named Camp Nightmare and vanished. All that remained were his brother Matty's clothes and an eerie feeling. When Devin, CeCe, and their friends enter Camp Nightmare and wake up the long-dormant threat.


While the twins are uncovering the threat, their father finds out some unsettling information that was buried after the cops covered up the vanishing as a "drowning" and only uncovered a pile of clothes. When Anthony was a teenager, he tried to stop his brother (a senior in high school) from spending the night at Camp Nightmare. Viewers find this out when his only living friend from thirty years ago, Jen (Ana Ortiz), digs up a tap from that week. Anthony is furious that she hid evidence of his brother's disappearance and never turned it in once she became a cop. Finally, the teens watch the tap and discover what happened to their uncle and his friends. On the tap, the 1994 teens spend the night at Camp Nightmare as their senior prank, which is why Anthony's brother records their final night. Jen digging up that tape was the ultimate turning point for the characters and helped move the story along smoothly. The tape proved what happened to the 1994 teens.


At first, I only watched this new season because I enjoyed season one, and David Schwimmer was announced to play the father of twins. I started the new episodes on those two things and wasn't immediately pulled in. That wasn't good because watching it felt like a chore until things got interesting. I'm unsure when it clicked, but I needed to know what was happening. Suddenly, my eyes stayed glued to the scenes unfolding on screen, and I needed to know how the events turned out. It wasn't looking good for the characters as they uncovered a 55-year mystery underneath New York.


Although the setting, characters, and storylines changed after season one, Goosebumps: The Vanishing (second season) pulled out all the stops to send shivers down our spines. I loved the new cast just as much as the previous season's. It helps that David Schwimmer easily stepped into the overly protective, scientist-father role. I will say seeing his talking head was something I can't erase from my brain. Yet, that storyline was excellently executed from start to finish. From his kids screaming and locking him in his basement to them restoring him, every scene was thrilling and a race against the clock. With each new reveal, I didn't see them surviving.


Goosebumps: The Vanishing had a slow start for me, but it soon caught my attention and didn't disappoint. I think there is much more to tell after that vague ending. Are the twins, their dad, and their friends going to turn into those black aliens after being in the pods like their uncle and his friends did? Or will Trey, Anthony, and the rest of the teens remain intact? After seeing Matty and his friends combust into terrifying black aliens, I'm nervous for the future of our 2024 cast. Until the last frame, I had doubts about their survival. If Trey's last words mean anything, they ended the season with a vague but telling cliffhanger. But if the pattern sticks, we won't see this cast or storyline in the next potential season. I'll mourn if that happens.


 

AUTHOR BIO


Emily Craig Hooie is an author, poet, and blogger. With a Bachelor of Science in English from the University of North Alabama, she always knew writing was her future. Her background in writing covers many genres, ranging from Southern Gothic to young and new Adult. With five pieces of published poetry under her belt and after the success of her debut book, Will You Love Me Again?, she wanted to fuel her passion for writing with two sequels, thus Where Will We Go?: A Sequel and What’s Next, Lucy? were born. She lives in Athens, Alabama, with the love of her life Dustin and their dogs, Buttercup and Copper.



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