‘Goosebumps: The Vanishing’ Review

This review was made possible by Popped receiving advanced screeners of the first 6 episodes of Goosebumps: The Vanishing.

It might not be spooky season anymore, but Goosebumps: The Vanishing is here to offer some new haunts as we enter a new year. The season will drop all at once so makes for a perfect binge for horror and teen audiences, but is the season worth watching? The new season delivers a sinister surprise, building on the success of the first season and perfecting its formula with a thrilling new story. The strong ensemble cast, led by David Schwimmer as Anthony, adds to its incredibly gripping appeal, despite its teen-skewing focus.

The season begins with twins Devin and Cece adjusting to life with their recently divorced dad, Anthony. When the duo discovers a threat stirring, they quickly realise that dark secrets are among them, triggering a chain of events that unravel a profound mystery. As they delve into the unknown, Devin, Cece and their friends — Alex, CJ and Frankie — find themselves entangled in the chilling tale of four teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.

TEEN DRAMA GOES DARK

When you look past the awkward, sometimes cringey teen dialogue – I do think it is a solid achievement that the writers have lifted a lot of RL Stein’s PG work and reshaped and moulded them into a cohesive teen horror series, skewing towards the modern Riverdale and Outer Banks audiences.

The awkward dialogue does add a slight degree of authenticity, though it might not resonate with every viewer of the series.

The core ensemble of characters (or Screamagers, as they are hilariously referred to at one point) are a nice mix of personalities, similar to the series’ freshman season. By the conclusion of the season’s first 5 episodes, the group end up gelling really well and having a strong chemistry throughout, despite some storyline imposed fractures between a few of them.

Do I prefer the Season 2 group to the first? I think so. There are more characters this time, and the show dedicates more time to developing them. In contrast, Season 1 felt more focused on Justin Long’s character. This season, the group is given the chance to grow and bond, which makes them more engaging overall.

It’s almost reminiscent of old Scooby-Doo stories at times, with the groups solving mysteries, splitting up to look for clues whilst each character deals with their own individual issues one episode at a time, each taking inspiration or directly adapting one of Stein’s stories.

The Goosebumps series has truly perfected its formula over two seasons, delivering a solid and engaging experience. However, one small critique I have is the inclusion of a personal favourite story, which is only loosely referenced despite its name being prominent in the second half of The Vanishing.

The setting and events deviate significantly from the original, which was a little disappointing. I would have loved to see this particular story adapted more faithfully to capture its original charm.

THE CAST

Devin’s actor Sam McCarthy is incredibly entertaining throughout this season, his character central to the unfolding mystery and his acting is put to the test in a lot of scenes. Alongside him, his on-screen father, played by David Schwimmer is easily the highlight of the show.

Schwimmer perfectly mirrors the heavy lifting that Justin Long did the first time around and it’s so fun seeing such a strong horror performance from a lead. I’ve only really seen Schwimmer in his comedy roles so this was massively unexpected, but a pleasant surprise.

Of course, no teen series would be a thing without the teen romance and there feels to be a little bit more than the first season, though it doesn’t feel forced in. As I mentioned, the chemistry between the core ensemble of teens grows very naturally, so relationships feel earned and the script’s bounciness works really well because of it.

SPOOKS AND THRILLS

One of the show’s biggest strengths is the way it constructs its frights effectively and not just relying on jump scares, like a lot of recent bigger horror productions.

Goosebumps’ background as a teen show allows for a lot of real material to be used to support some of the horror tales, for instance, one episode focuses on the anxiety troubles that Cece faces – incorporating her attacks into a core set piece with the villainous entity which follows her throughout that specific story.

The horror is elevated by these real-life scary things, making it almost more unsettling as it taps into genuine fears and emotional struggles, grounding the supernatural elements in relatable human experiences.

Episode 6 is easily the one to watch out for, it has to be my favourite of the bunch I screened. For many reasons! We get some crucial story development and some intense scares inspired by the likes of The Blair Witch Project and REC.

Whilst I won’t say too much about the spoilery elements of the season, some issues I had with the ongoing storyline was the overt reliance on a similar plot point to last season. The fact that an event took place in the past, and there’s an ongoing investigation about how the current roster of characters are connected and how they slowly find out what’s at play.

That being said, I really do hope we get a third season.

YET ANOTHER KILLER SOUNDTRACK!

Once again, the production has killed it with the show’s sinister soundtrack, bringing together some really great songs from the past year.

The likes of Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Travis Scott, and of course, Sabrina Carpenter – all make the cut this season, offering some pretty rewarding needle drops when they’re needed. Contemporary, yet premium!

ENTER… THE ANTHOLOGY SAGA

When Goosebumps debuted in 2023, I remember interviewing executive producer Conor Welch at the time, where he shared his hopes for future seasons to build on the chemistry of the original cast, allowing their dynamics to evolve while pulling from R.L. Stine’s extensive canon.

“If given the opportunity to do more seasons, which we’re very hopeful we will be. We would definitely like to keep the same cast of characters, you know, the five sort of newcomers that we cast in the roles are just exceptional. We really hit the jackpot with all of them, and their chemistry really started gelling immediately. To be able to expand on those dynamics, to watch them grow, watch those interpersonal relationships shift and change, I think would be really fun and we were lucky enough to have Scholastic open up the entire canon to us. So there are many, many more books to pull from and we hope to do many, many more seasons.” – Conor Welch, Executive Producer

But as the show returns with Goosebumps: The Vanishing, it takes a bold turn, embracing an anthology format rather than continuing with the same characters.

While this wasn’t Welch’s original vision, it’s a direction I had suggested during our conversation, envisioning fresh stories and new faces to keep the series feeling vibrant and unpredictable.

I feel with an IP, that has such a huge library of reference points, creatively – you should go the anthology route, because you aren’t overly reliant on applying various horror tales on the same group of characters.

Sure, you can have them interact at some point later in the future but to get there, you should be branching out as much as possible with new stories and new characters, so I’m glad that’s what is being done in Goosebumps: The Vanishing.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

As similar to the screeners scenario with High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and the first season of Goosebumps, the concluding episode were omitted, which becomes quite frustrating as not only do I have to wait longer to find out what happens next – I feel it doesn’t offer the best chance to score the series as a whole.

Especially when you consider just how much I despised the final two episodes of the first season of Goosebumps!

That being said I am thrilled to say that Goosebumps: The Vanishing is great binge material – I managed to get the 6 episodes watched in two sittings, and I will be sure to watch the final two as soon as they’re out.

‘GOOSEBUMPS: THE VANISHING’ – FINAL THOUGHTS

The first six episodes of Goosebumps: The Vanishing provide some effective scares, a great ensemble of characters and an incredible lead performance from David Schwimmer. The promise of a villainous threat lurking in the dark leading into the finale is very exciting, and I can’t wait to see the conclusion.

All episodes of Goosebumps: The Vanishing release on Disney+ and Hulu on January 10. Check out the trailer below: