In what may just be the greatest marketing tool for R. L. Stine's series of children's horror novels, Letterman grants us the PG adaptation of 'Cabin in the Woods'. The abominable snowman, a werewolf, evil ventriloquist doll, a colossal praying mantis and even an army of garden gnomes. It's a menagerie of Halloweeny goodness, enough to spark the imagination from the youngest of viewers before the film concludes due to its ridiculous rapid pacing. A group of teenagers and the author of the Goosebumps novels accidentally open various manuscripts that literally transform the ink to reality. With the monsters unleashed, it's up to them to lure the ghouls back in before Slappy the Dummy burns all of the manuscripts, leaving them trapped in the real world forever.

If you're like me and have never read a single Goosebumps novel, despite one of the titles being 'I Live in your Basement!' (a phrase I say way too often...), then no need to panic. Turn off Tenacious D, switch over from 'School of Rock' and give it ago. As far as embodying an entire intellectual property goes, Goosebumps is accessible to everyone. Mostly because you'll be enthralled by pointing at the screen and loudly proclaiming "oh wow, it's a floating vampire poodle!", and that's where most of the enjoyment lies. The brisk exploration of these creatures, whilst solely powering the plot, brings out the family horror that is the essence of the original source material. Some monsters are better realised than others, the invisible boy and werewolf lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi", but on the whole the agglomeration of furry/fleshy/plastic ghouls were intricately designed.

The same cannot be said for the human characters however. Unfortunately, the one-dimensional protagonist, his robotically monotonous love interest and his new best friend that irritates more than he entertains, aren't enough to keep me invested in the story. The performances were fine, although Rush was instantly forgettable compared to Minnette and Lee, yet it's the basic screenplay that disallows any personable qualities to be brought forward. The comedy was scattered and rarely landed, mostly because Letterman focused on Black's rip-roaring, insatiable and rather exhausting charisma and the nightly frights. Various plot conveniences, such as Zach's aunt randomly appearing to save the day when the teens were about to be shredded by the werewolf, bring the enjoyment down a smidgen and of course allow for many eye-rolling moments. The third act chucks in as many monsters as possible and diminishes the intensity of the tightly wound second act. Oh, and I counted three jump scares in this family film. Three!

So whilst the monstrous thrills were somewhat lacking, the comedy was sporadic and the human characters were more hideous than that pinkish Blob, it does harness the accessibility of Stine's novels and Black is as hyperactive as ever. Which is a good thing, right?

Jack Black plays a fictionalised version of real life author R L Stine and dials it down a bit as a moody, sullen author who wants to keep himself to himself but when a new teenager, Zach Cooper moves next door and is attracted to Stine's daughter Hannah. However Zach is uneasy about his father and he does not know who he really is.

When Zach and his new school friend stumbles upon Stine's book collection they unlock the monsters inside the books who unleash themselves into the open world led by the dummy Slappy.

They need to escape the monsters but more importantly Stine needs to somehow put them back into a book by writing a new chapter.

The film is similar in many ways to Jumanji and at times just as hectic. Maybe it has too many monsters on the loose although Slappy the ventriloquist dummy makes a good and sinister impression.

An enjoyable family film with cheesy laughs and scares, teenagers would like it and moves along at a good pace.

Gale Cooper (Amy Ryan) is the new high school vice principal and moves her son Zach (Dylan Minnette) from New York to Madison, Delaware where her sister Lorraine (Jillian Bell) lives. Zach meets the girl next door Hannah (Odeya Rush) and her angry dad who turns out to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), bestselling Goosebumps author. At school, he's befriended by bumbling loser Champ (Ryan Lee).

The kids are fine. Ryan Lee is the comedic fool. Jack Black may not fit this role that well. It's a lot of stuff being stuffed into this. It's a little over-stuffed. It's a lot of monsters. It's also not the most compelling. There is lots of action but the intensity is relatively low. It tries to be comedic and it does have a certain amount of fun. It's a fine young-adult action comedy but not anything exceptional.