Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

R.L. Stine’s Goosebump book series was once again brought to life in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. Once again, an R.L. Stine manuscript wreaks havoc in a small town. This time, the town is Wardenclyffe, New York. The town Nikola Tesla built the Wardenclyffe Tower.

When two boys, Sonny Quinn (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Sam (Caleel Harris) discover a magical book. The magical book would awaken a ventriloquist’s dummy called Slappy the Dummy (Mick Wingert).

Sam, Sarah, and Sonny in Halloween costumes in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Slappy is looking for a family. More specifically, Slappy desires a mother figure in his life.

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween brings to life the children books you may have read in your youth. While it’s not a great movie, it’s definitely a movie you could watch with your children and enjoy.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

1. Sarah Quinn (Madison Iseman):

Fear is something everyone feels.

Sarah, Sonny’s sister, is writing her entry essay for Columbia University. She’s trying to figure out exactly what to say but is struggling to make the essay engaging.

She does state a great line. She says fear is something everyone feels.

I believe this is true. Even as a leader.

You will feel fear as you lead. Fear you may not be able to measure up to the previous leader or fear you’re going to screw something up or fear you’re going to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime.

Know fear is something everyone feels. You are normal for feeling fear. It doesn’t make you less of a leader.

2. Beware the company you keep:

Tyler (Bryce Cass) is the love interest of Sarah’s at the beginning of Goosebumps 2. He sneaks into Sarah’s bedroom as she’s trying to write her essay.

Sarah tries to tell him she has to focus. He keeps pushing her to pay attention to him. When she said she needed to focus on the essay or she’ll miss the deadline to apply to Columbia University, he rebuffs her and says something a bad influence would say.

Tyler tells Sarah if she misses the deadline she could spend for more years in Wardenclyffe. She didn’t need to go off to college. She could stay with him and his friends.

Uh oh! Danger Will Robinson!

Do you see what Tyler tried to do? He tried to talk Sarah into settling for less than she deserved. This is what bad company will do.

They will tell you being where you are is okay. You don’t need to continue to improve. Just settle.

Don’t listen to these guys. You are better than that. You can thrive and succeed in life if you keep pushing yourself to improve.

3. You can go overboard with what you love:

Mr. Chu (Ken Jeong) was the Quinn’s neighbor. He was also a lover of decorating his lawn for holidays.

You know these guys. They’re the ones who go overboard with decorations. Lifesized blowup monsters, caskets, cobwebs all over the place.

His lawn looked like a scene out of a horror movie. And he loved it.

For some, this would be gaudy. For him, it was heaven.

I want to issue a warning here. Mr. Chu went overboard with his Halloween and holiday decorating. He did this because he loved celebrating the holidays. Yet his decorating also caused an eyesore to his neighbors.

We, as leaders, can do the same thing. We can go overboard in leading and building teams because it is what we love.

This obsession with leadership can be dangerous. We can begin to neglect our families and our responsibilities because of our obsession.

Be careful. Make sure you’re not going overboard and neglecting the other parts of your life.

4. Get your name out there:

Sam and Sonny were starting up a small business. Their business was cleaning up junk from neighbors. For their name, they chose Junk Brothers.

The name fit and they were happy to do the work. What they were also happy to do was get their name out to the community.

They would post flyers all around town. Doing this let people know who they were and what they did.

We can neglect to share who we are and what we do with those around us. We can fall into the leadership trap of thinking others already know what we do.

Make sure you’re sharing what you do and who you are with your community and neighborhood. By letting people know who you are and what you do, new opportunities will present themselves.

5. Tyler:

Don’t wait for college to start having fun.

While Tyler was a bad influence, he did have a good piece of advice for Sarah. Sarah was so focused on college she began to neglect to have fun.

Tyler saw this. He reminded her that you shouldn’t wait to have fun or do things to take care of yourself.

Your life may be busy. You may think you don’t have time for a hobby or to take care of yourself. I’d say you’re wrong.

You’re actually in a dangerous area if you wait and put off what brings you joy (sure, there are times when this is a must but those times are few). Make sure you’re finding you time and taking care of yourself.

6. Don’t believe everything you hear:

Slappy the Dummy came alive. He promised Sam and Sonny a lot. He told the boys he could make all their problems go away.

For a time, he did. He finished their homework. He folded the laundry. And he took care of a couple of bullies.

But, then something happened. He began to do things that went against the true heart of the boys. Slappy went as far as to attempt to hurt Sonny’s mom, Kathy Quinn (Wendi McLendon-Covey).

There will be people who promise you the world. They will tell you they can solve your problems and make your world better. And they may… For a time.

Beware of anyone promising to solve all of your problems. They will find shortcuts, do shoddy work, or do something unethical.

7. Check on people:

In an attack on Sarah, Sam, and Sonny, Slappy jumped on their vehicle. He was holding onto their hood and Sarah was trying to get him to let go.

Sarah eventually hit a tree and Slappy went flying. Once Sarah realized what happened, she began to check on Sam and Sonny. She was concerned they were hurt.

Leaders know people will hit bumps along the road. They will face challenges and difficulties. These are the times your team needs you the most.

They don’t need someone to tell them what to do. What they need is someone to check in on them. To make sure they’re okay.

Check on your people. Make sure they know you care and are there for them if they need anything.

8. Say the right thing:

Sarah called Mr. Shivers. Mr. Shivers was the president of the Goosebumps fan club. Or so we’re led to believe.

When Sarah called, her call went straight to voicemail. She began to leave a message saying she needed to talk to R.L. Stine (Jack Black and Mr. Shivers’ real persona).

As she’s saying this, R.L Stine’s finger moves toward the delete button. Then Sarah says the right thing. She mentioned how there was trouble and one of R.L. Stine’s books had come to life.

This stopped his finger from pressing the delete button. He also promptly left for the town of Wardenclyffe.

You can say a lot of things. Some of those things will turn people off. Yet, if you say the right thing, you will trigger the right reaction in people.

Know who you’re talking to. Figure out what they need to hear. Then say it.

9. People will use good things for evil intent:

Tesla had built the Wardenclyffe tower for good. He desired to find a way to transfer electricity long distances. His intent was good.

Slappy, on the other hand, desired to use Tesla’s good device for evil. He wanted to use the Tesla Tower to transfer his magic and bring to life all of the Halloween themed items in Wardenclyffe.

Both used the tower. One for good, the other for bad.

You need to be aware that your creations can be used for good. They can also be used for evil.

You can’t prevent how people will use what you’ve created. However, you have to be able to live with the consequences.

10. Sonny:

Stop screwing around.

Sam and Sonny had snuck into Tommy Madigan’s (Peyton Wich) house. They were there to look for the R.L. Stine book that Tommy had taken earlier in the movie and the book that caused all of the trouble they were now facing.

Sam saw a bowl full of gummy bears. He reached for them and the Halloween themed bowl grabbed his hand. Sonny saw this and knew they needed to get back to business so he told him to stop screwing around.

You will have the opportunity to do what’s right. You will also have the opportunity to screw around and do things that don’t matter.

Choose wisely. You will need to knock off the screwing around and do what’s right.

11. Sonny:

No, this is my house.

Sonny and Sam had to get into Sonny’s house. They were surprised to see pumpkins guarding the door. This is when Sam suggested they find another way in.

Sonny wouldn’t have this. He claimed the authority he had over the house. It was his house. He wouldn’t have some pumpkins prevent him from going in.

Sonny began to move towards his house. As he did, he took care of the evil pumpkins… He made his way in while smashing pumpkins!

You have authority in what you do. You were given influence over those you lead. Don’t back down.

Claim the authority you have. Move forward and make sure you’re getting things done.

Caveat: Be careful not to abuse your authority.

12. Beware of counterfeit wins:

Everyone was vying for the Haunted Halloween manuscript R.L. Stine had started but never finished. It came down to a battle between Sarah and Slappy.

Sarah gained control over the book and Slappy demanded it back. Sarah obliged… Except she didn’t.

Sarah tossed Slappy a counterfeit book. Slappy thought he’d won this round. He didn’t.

You may be so focused on the win that you forget what really matters. When you win, you realize the win was a counterfeit win. It didn’t matter in the end.

Make sure you’re chasing what matters. If you’re not, you will end up with counterfeit wins.

Question: If you’ve watched Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, what leadership lessons did you take away from the movie? If you haven’t seen the movie, what Reel Leadership lessons from Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween that I shared resonated with you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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