(This article is not spoiler free)

Earlier this October Disney+ released a new Goosebumps television show taking place in modern times. It tries to take things from the original tv series and rework them in new light using several different classic items from the original Goosebumps series.

The first episode follows a teenage high school quarterback named Isiah (played by Zack Morris) who throws a party at the old Biddle house with a group of his friends, Margot (Isa Briones), James (Miles McKenna), and his girlfriend Allison (Rhinnan Payne) when he finds a bunch of strange objects in the basement of the house and takes a camera out from among them. Isaiah puts the camera in his bag before leaving the basement and pulling a prank on his friends, he ends up taking a photo of his girlfriend and one of his best friends Margot. As they set up for the party his girlfriend gets mad at him for inviting Margot and later leaves the party because she’s jealous of Margot being close to Isaiah and believes that Isaiah is in love with her.

Allison walks through the forest seeing a figure who she calls out to before she encounters a burning man. Isaiah goes to talk to Margot about it but she ends up being attacked by Biddle too while she’s grabbing something in the vending machine and has an allergic reaction to the foodshe was grabbing. Isaiah sees this happening in the polaroid he took of Margot and rushes to help her. Isaiah freaks out and tries to show his friend James the photo and tell him it’s a freaky curse, but James doesn’t believe him and takes a photo of him to prove him wrong.

Isaiah freaks out and goes to ask Margot for help but she doesn’t believe him and is sick of him constantly using him. Feeling out of options Isaiah smashes the camera and thinks his problems are solved. Going to the football game, he gives a grand speech and goes to grab his helmet from his locker before seeing the camera again. He begins to have a panic attack on the field until he sees the same burning man as Allsion and Margot saw and ends up breaking his arm running away. The episode ends with Isaiah in the hospital and Isaiah’s dad talking to a girl who seems to know something about the burning man he saw on the field.

I believe that this episode does a good job of setting up the mystery of the show as well as doing a good job of being marketable and still having some spooky moments throughout. I really enjoyed the return of some older Goosebumps elements like the return of the cursed camera from the original series. I think the returning cursed items is a nice touch and plays well into nostalgia as well as into a twist later in the series. Although I don’t like the romance elements that the show sets up for Margot and Isaiah, making Allision only a plot device for their relationship for a couple episodes and barely showing her again.

All around the first episode of the series does a good job setting up the intrigue for the series and it’s a relatively good watch as the series goes on. It doesn’t quite feel like goosebumps does in the original series by any means but it is a good modern take on the series.