Credit: Disney+When it comes to television productions from the Walt Disney Company, images of gore, demonic possession, and body horror aren’t exactly the visions that come to mind. After a surprisingly scary and successful run on Disney+, Goosebumps is back for another shocking season.
Disney+ and Hulu’s TV adaptation of R.L. Stine’s anthology series of the same name was clearly made with a more mature audience in mind, yet it managed to represent the same amount of fear and intensity that the books inspired. In a recent report from Variety, it was confirmed that David Schwimmer would lead the new cast, essentially replacing Justin Long’s star power from season one.
Related: Jack Black is Producing a Horror Movie With One of the ‘School of Rock’ Kids
The report states,
“Schwimmer will star in the role of Anthony, described as “a former botany professor and divorced parent of teenage twins whose world takes a tumultuous turn as he juggles the responsibilities of overseeing an aging parent while having his kids for the summer.”
An exciting development to be sure, but Disney fans who tuned in to see this adaptation of the chilling children’s series were more than likely shocked to see how hardcore it went with its scares and depictions of gruesome and graphic scenes.
Disney Gives Us Goosebumps Again
While the first season took several faithful cues from books like The Haunted Mask, Say Cheese and Die, and Night of the Living Dummy, it also utilized several elements from the horror genre typically reserved for more mature entities than something like Goosebumps. As thrilling as it is to see Disney take a darker edge to a famous piece of children’s media, some of the scenes in the 2023 series were absolutely terrifying.
Related: Drag Queens Are Coming to Disney Plus
Like any good piece of horror, there are certain tropes and imagery that frequently appear throughout the series. A group of frisky teens have a party at a haunted location, the young victims are made up of identifiable archetypes seen across horror media, and there are scenes of death, mutilation, and dread spread throughout the series. The episode inspired by Go Eat Worms was particularly stomach churning in this writer’s opinion.
Naturally, the description above sounds more like something out of a Halloween Horror Nights variant of the beloved book series, and yet Disney has its icon right above the title. We can only imagine what kind of twisted visions the series has in store for the next set of Stine stories.
Back From the Dead
Although the saga of Slappy the Dummy and the ghost of Harold Biddle has (presumably) been laid to rest, Season 2 of Goosebumps is sure to be just as spine-tingling as the first. According to What’s On Disney Plus, the new season is described as follows,
“In the upcoming season, teenage siblings discover a threat within their home, setting off a chain of events that unravel a profound mystery. As they delve into the unknown, the duo find themselves entangled in the story of five teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.”
Given the summer setting and a house being a focal point, connections can instantly be drawn to both Welcome to Dead House and the various summer-camp-themed entries in the Goosebumps series. However, the rest remains a mystery at the time of writing.
Related: Disney’s New Marvel Show Reportedly Taking on Surprising Horror Twist
Although not much else is known about the new season, fans can expect yet another gruesome and grim updated version of their favorite creepy series. Here’s hoping Slappy still has a little fight in him left over from season one.
Are you ready for Disney to give you Goosebumps? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!