Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, we venture into the world of a new horror series, by exploring its first episode. This is a series I’ve been excited for since its announcement, and I’m so glad to finally be able to see it. Watch as we explore the story of this first episode, and this new adaptation of one of the most famous horror book franchises ever made. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…

Goosebumps (2023) – Episode 1

We start our tale with a cold open set in 1993. As the camera pans down over a town on a lake, we see a young boy exit his high school and begin to walk home. This boy’s name is Harold Briddle. We hear classic 90s music as Harold exits Port Lawrence High School, and we find him again in his house in the mountains. He enters the vacant home. As Harold enters his basement, his coo-coo clock starts. When he gets downstairs, he puts a worm in a glass box filled with other worms, and takes a picture of it using a 90s era camera. He then moves to a mask in his basement, and snaps another photo. Harold goes to his desk, and opens a journal. This journal has many nonsensical words, and dark drawings. As Harold begins to write, it gets dark outside. We hear a doorbell, and Harold doesn’t see anyone outside. Once he goes back into his house, the doorbell rings again. We peer around to the other side of his house, and a door opens, seemingly letting in whatever is terrorizing Harold. Once he gets back inside, the front door behind him slams, and pandemonium ensues. Lights and books fall off shelves, and the power cuts out. Harold grabs a candle and retreats to his basement, his coo-coo clock starting once more. He locks the door behind him, and the door rattles. He is then pushed down the stairs by an invisible force, and the candle starts a fire that engulfes the basement. Harold screams, and the fire bursts out of the basement into the night, a face appearing to be visible in the rising flame.

We then pick up in the same town in 2023. We enter a coffee shop, and meet our main character, Isaiah. He is there with his friend, James, and is pestering the cashier, Nora, about not having the credit card machine working. She gives them saltines, and the boys head off to school. We see the pair head outside, but not before Lucas, Nora’s son, jumps off the roof on a skateboard and fails his trick completely. After that, the pair jump in James’s car and head to Port Lawrence High School. We see a pep rally in the gym, where Isaiah leads the football team in a typical football player way. He yells and jumps, and attempts to get the crowd excited, as we head into the stands. In the stands, we meet Margot. Her dad works at the school, and is talking to her. Isaiah keeps saying his hype up speech, while a student sits next to Margot. He attempts to flirt with her, and it doesn’t go very well. After Isaiah’s hype up speech condudes, his girlfriend, Allison, comes over to give him a kiss.

After the speech, we see James try to flirt with his crush Sam, and it doesn’t go well either. We also see that Allison’s video she uploaded online as an invite to a Halloween party was hacked, causing pig squeals to come out instead of her voice. Isaiah is then called into an office by Margot’s father, while Allison and James walk together down the hallway.

Margot’s father says that Isaiah is on academic probation, and he cannot play in his football game on Friday. However, if Isaiah gets an A on his history test the following day, he can play. Isaiah panics, and knows he has to do anything he can to get the score.

The next scene, we return to the house of Harold Briddle. Coming out of a car is a man, who is revealed to be the new owner of the house, being the last living relative. The man’s name is Nathan Bratt, and he talks to workers inside the house. Nathan is shocked he even has a house on his salary. Nathan then sees a door, and it’s the door going to the basement. Nathan says that the parents disappeared after the kid (Harold) died, and Nathan suspects that his parents killed him. The worker says that the basement door is stuck, and it is. Nathan, not to be discouraged, grabs a crowbar to try to get the door open. However, it fails, and the crowbar slices his hands in a gory scene. Blood falls onto the floor as Nathan and the worker walk away, and this blood moves on its own up the door. After it enters the door through a hole in the doorknob, the basement door opens.

Back with Isaiah, we see his parents arguing about his future. Isaiah’s mom doesn’t want to bet the future of the family on Isaiah getting a scholarship for football, when his dad does. Isaiah enters, and after an awkward standoff, goes into his backyard. He’s stressed, and out of options, until Margot enters the back. She is speaking in a made up language that the two made when they were kids. Margot and Isaiah are very close, and she talks to him about his problems. He tells her about the history test, and he says how football is all he has. Margot jokes, saying how he is excellent at eating hotdogs, and the sort. Margot asks how much of the constitution he’s read, and Isaiah responds by saying he’s listened to most of Hamilton. Isaiah then has an idea. He wants to cheat off Margot, and she reluctantly agrees. The next day, Isaiah pulls off the plan. In the hallway, Isaiah truly thanks Margot. Before the two can make plans, Allison enters the hallway and takes Isaiah away. This upsets Margot, and she leaves. Allison said how her internet troll emailed the invitation to her parents, and she says she has to cancel the event. Isaiah says that she doesn’t, she just needs a new venue.

We then cut to the Biddle house, which the kids think is abandoned. Isaiah’s father is working on the house, and he is able to access keys to get him in. James, Isaiah, and Allison then begin to set up for their halloween party. Isaiah then takes off his shirt and wears a blonde wig, in a horrible attempt to be Thor. He takes off the costume, and they talk about Harold dying in the basement. Allison asks if the place is actually haunted, before the lights cut off once again. Isaiah thinks that it’s the breaker, and heats into the basement, when the door opens on its own. Before he heads down into the basement, Margot enters. Isaiah invites her, and Margot and Allison begin to be extremely passive-aggressive towards one another, both of their jealousies rising to the surface. Isaiah enters the basement alone, even though Margot pushes to go down with him. Once down there, he sees the long abandoned room. His light finds the mask, and Isaiah falls back in fright. He then finds the polaroid on the burned chair, completely intact. He picks it up, and the door slams from upstairs. His friends panic, and the coo-coo clock turns back on as the door comes flying open. Isaiah bursts out, taking a picture of Allison and Margot. The power then mysteriously comes back on, even though Isaiah didn’t find the fuse box. We hear noises from the basement, before the party shows up.

Lots and lots of teens in costumes flood the house. We see Isaiah and Allison argue as argot sits alone, until the boy from school attempts to first once again. He shows her his cup, and it’s filled with the exact worms that Harold put into his tank in 1993. Margot grows more upset, as we hear Allison talking. She says that she is jealous of Margot, and that she doesn’t like Isaiah always talking to her. Allison then leaves Isaiah alone in disbelief. Margot then tells Isaiah she’s heading out as well, annoyed at Isaiah pinning her and Allison against one another as Isaiah tries to defend himself. Margot then leaves him alone, as Nathan Bratt enters. He says he will call the cops, and everyone gets out in record speed. Allison runs into the woods, and Isaiah tries to find her. Nathan finds Isaiah’s bag, and finds the wig, thinking it’s Thor the first second he sees it. In the woods, we see Allison encounter a man. He is standing still on a log, staring. This is another intense scene, and he seems to teleport around Allison. When he gets closer, we find that it is Harold. He is set ablaze in front of her, and screams. Allison slides down a hill in a tough fall, when Isaih finds her. He picks her up, and gets her out of there.

The next day at school, we learn that James got with Sam. In the cafeteria, Nathan Bratt enters. Isaiah tries to stay undercover, until James gives away his location. Nathan puts Isaiah’s bag on the table, saying that he is coincidentally his new English teacher. Nathan grabs his bag before Isaiah tries to run, and sits down. He says that he isn’t even that mad, and they can start fresh. He just wants Isaiah to tell his cohort that his house isn’t a hangout spot. Nathan takes his keys back from his bag, and leaves. Isaiah, when he goes to check his bag, is met with a horrific sight, and this is where the episode ramps up.

The polaroid pictures he took have been replaced with images showing Allison and Margot dying in horrific ways in a horrific scene. Isaiah is shocked, and we cut to Margot. She is in the hallway, buying a snack from the vending machine. When she looks down the hallway, we see Harold standing there. We then see her order on the vending machine change, and a nut protein bar comes out instead. Margot takes a bite, and she begins to convulse. Isaiah runs in, and quickly gets her epi-pen out. The nurses arrive, and Isaiah checks his picture. Margot is in the exact same position.

We then meet up with James in his car, with Isaiah running down the road and stopping him. He had to find him to show him the pictures. However, when he attempts to show him, the photos turn white. Isaiah says the camera is haunted, and James takes the polaroid from him. He takes a picture of Isaiah, and Isaiah freaks out. James says he’s being ridiculous, and cares more about the scratch on his new car. Isaiah checks his photo, and sees himself with a horrific injury on his arm at the game on Friday. Isaiah runs outside, and talks to Margot. He panics, and tries to show her the pictures. They turn white once again, and he yells at the polaroid. He says what truly happened to Margot and what is going to happen to him. If Isaiah doesn’t play, the scouts won’t see him, and he won’t get his scholarship. But if he does, he will be the camera’s next victim. Margot can’t believe it, saying how he always tries to twist it to be for him, and how she can’t only be there for his problems. She says that he has to figure it out on his own. 

Later, Isaiah comes up with an idea. The camera can’t hurt him if it doesn’t exist, and he destroyed the camera. Burning it, and hitting it with a hammer. He yells, saying he will play the game, win the game, and the camera can’t do anything about it. We cut to the game, where Isaiah starts the game. He goes wild, being cheered on by his parents, and making amazing plays. We cut to the locker room, where Isaiah and the team are excited and yelling. Isaiah runs to his locker, and when he opens it… the camera is staring back at him, completely intact. In an AMAZING feat of acting, we see Isaiah’s fear appear on his face, and he is dragged out of the room by his still cheering team. Everything around him feels foggy, until he’s back on the field. He begs for his coach to take him out, but he doesn’t listen. In a team huddle, he panics, and says that the goal of the team is to protect him. The team doesn’t listen, and Isaiah gets a penalty from taking too long in the huddle.

His team are angered, and push him. They tell him to get his head in the game. The next half of the game begins, and as the play begins, a player in front of him is zombified with flames. He goes to ask the ref for a time out, and the ref is Harold. He erupts into flame, and the entire field around Isaiah spawns a perimeter of fire. Nora, in the stands, actually sees what Isaiah is seeing. To everyone else, Isaiah is just widely running on the field. All players with Isaih turn into the fire, zombie monsters, and Isaiah desperately runs down the field. Nora begs to stop the game, but it’s too late. He is tackled by one of the monster players, and his fate comes true. Everything cuts back to normal for the boy, and we see his injury. Isaiah’s bone is protruding from his arm, the same injury on the picture. He screams and wails in pain, and we cut to Isaiah at the hospital.

The team did win the game, but Isaiah is out of football for 6-8 months. He can’t believe it, and he won’t get the scholarship. His father says he’s going to find a way to pay the scholarship, as Isaiah finally says he believes his father. Ben, his father, steps outside to meet Nora. Nora tells him that she saw Harold on the field. That “he” is going to visit the sins of the father on their children. He’s back to make their children pay for what they did to him. Ben is flabbergasted, and stares at his son. This suggests that the parents know more about what truly happened than they are letting on. We meet up with Nathan in his house, as Harold stands before him. Harold erupts into flame and levitates, turning into a dark smoke that enters inside of Nathan. Nathan looks up, and smiles.

That’s the end of Goosebumps – Episode 1! I really liked this episode, and I am very, very excited to see the rest of the show. I hope you all enjoyed my review! Just remember, you don’t know what truly lies in front of you…