For the generations of kids who discovered scary stories at a young age, R.L. Stine will always be the king of children’s and young adult horror. The success of the Fear Street trilogy proved the power of Stine’s stories early on, but his biggest claim to fame comes from his landmark book series Goosebumps, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The book series’ popularity led to the beloved anthology series of the same name. With various adaptations of his works throughout the decades, the Goosebumps author explained why he feels lucky about them.
The horror fiction writer has experienced multiple adaptations of his books. Right now, there’s a new Goosebumps adaptation being developed for Disney+. So, Stine is always open to seeing his work on the screen. After seeing his work interpreted over the years, you might think the children’s author might have major critiques. That’s far from the truth, as he explained to THR why he loved each one:
No, I’ve been so lucky. The two Goosebumps movies were actually good! And the TV series that I’ve had — The Haunting Hour, [Disney+ series] Just Beyond and the Goosebumps [television] series — they were all really good quality series. I’ve been very lucky with that stuff because I don’t get that much input on these things.
Knowing that the children’s literature writer enjoyed each adaptation is high praise. In fact, his words are kinder than those of some fans and critics, especially when it comes to the film adaptations. Each project was given creative license but stayed faithful enough to the source material that the celebrated author is a fan.
Stine admitted that he was taken aback by Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy that released in 2021. He was surprised by the gore, violence, and death experienced by the characters in the films, which he knew would differ from the books. Stine jokingly admitted that his life and work aren’t R-rated compared to the slasher films.
While the Netflix trilogy might’ve been too much for him, the author really enjoyed the television adaptations of his beloved books. Of course, at the time, Stine was still churning out the Goosebumps book series, so he didn’t have time to work on the iconic horror anthology. He recalled what it was like seeing other writers’ interpretations of his work on the small screen, saying:
The TV adaptations that they did back in the ’90s, it was fun for me to see. I was busy writing a book a month and so I couldn’t really have much to do with the TV show. So it was fun to see what other writers would do, taking my story and then making it their own and going in different directions.
Where other authors might get territorial over their books, Stine appeared to enjoy each writer’s take on his stories. Of course, Stine has penned a lot of works, so the adaptations didn't cover everything he ever wrote for the Goosebumps series. Thankfully, the renowned author approves of what appeared on the small screen.
If you want to revisit the original Goosebumps TV show, you can all four seasons of the anthology by subscribing to Netflix. You can also watch the Fear Street movie trilogy among other amazing TV shows on Netflix. For more news on the new Goosebumps series, keep checking back with CinemaBlend for updates.
