It’s the Debut Trailer for the Jack Black-less Sequel ‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’ (VIDEO)

2015's Goosebumps was an above average family horror comedy that coasted by thanks to an inspired premise and a terrific performance by Jack Black as author R.L. Stine. So, how did they decide to follow it up? By dumping the entire original creative team and Black in favor of a new cast that includes, gulp, Ken Jeong, for Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.

While the first film sported a story by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs Larry Flynt), this one comes to us from the guy who wrote this year's Peter Rabbit, and the director of 2016's embarrassingly bad The DUFF. Basically, it's a downgrade across the board for this sequel, which brings back evil ventriloquist dummy Slappy for more Halloween antics.

In the first film, Black also provided the voice of Slappy, but he's not currently listed to reprise the role on imdb, leading me to believe it's Jeong who's going to be handling voice duties this time around. Yeah, you can go ahead and keep this one. I don't see how they could possibly improve upon the first one, and it doesn't seem like they're even trying to, honestly.

Also, you can't blame Black for not returning, since he'll be appearing in what looks to be the infinitely superior family horror comedy The House with a Clock in its Walls. If you're not as discerning as he is, however, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween opens on October 12.