As Tubi expands its ad-supported streaming footprint, the platform is developing an interconnected cinematic universe based on R.L. Stine’s children’s horror short stories, anchored by filmmaker Jem Garrard and Vice President of Original Scripted Content Josh Van Houdt.
The Bottom Line
- Tubi launched its Stine universe strategy with the October 2025 release of Pumpkinhead, which spent two weeks in Luminate’s streaming Top 10.
- The franchise expands with Pumpkinhead 2, featuring Cassandra Peterson, and a third installment adapting Afraid of Clowns.
- Unlike comedic film adaptations or animated projects, the streamer targets an ’80s and ’90s aesthetic, leaning into practical effects and “vegetable gore” to secure a TV-14 rating.
Vegetable Gore and the Strategy Behind the Redhaven Universe
When developing the modern screen adaptation of Stine’s Nightmare Hour short story, the creative team faced strict content parameters for the streaming platform. The resulting production follows a young teen boy named Sam, played by Bean Reid, searching for his missing brother in a town plagued by an evil crop curse. To navigate content boundaries while securing a TV-14 rating rather than a TV-PG classification, the production relied on creative compromises with standards and practices.
When I was talking to S&P, and we asked what we can show if we do TV-14, not TV-PG, my favorite response from them was, ‘You can do vegetable gore, but not regular gore,’
Van Houdt told The Hollywood Reporter. I was like, we can have pumpkin guts, but we can’t have blood. Great, we can work with this. Vegetable gore it is.
For three decades, Hollywood has adapted Stine’s sprawling catalog of over 300 middle-grade and young adult titles across platforms like Disney+, Sony, Warner Bros., and Skydance TV. However, Tubi identified an opportunity to capture a mixed demographic among its 110 million monthly active users by steering away from hard horror while retaining genuine scares.
We have such a large audience, and we have such a mix of audience [demographics],
Van Houdt noted. I was trying to determine if there were ways we could bridge some of them together — try to meld them and figure out if we could have content for them that isn’t the hard horror if they don’t want that. R.L. Stine fit in perfectly because R.L. Stine’s a brand himself.
Building a Franchise Out of Redhaven
The adaptation pipeline stems from a three-picture deal with Front Street Pictures, the production company behind the 2010 anthology series The Haunting Hour. Rather than relying solely on nostalgic period pieces, the creative team crafted the fictional town of Redhaven as a permanent anchor for the emerging cinematic universe, deliberately blending retro elements like tube TVs with modern touches without locking the narrative into a specific decade.
Following Pumpkinhead’s October 2025 debut as part of the “Terror on Tubi” programming block, the film resonated well enough on viewership charts to greenlight a continuation rather than a standalone sequel. Pumpkinhead 2, which debuted on October 9, tied up Sam’s narrative arc while expanding the town’s mythology through the addition of Cassandra Peterson, whose witchy character was rewritten to match a distinct aesthetic.
The big question I always ask when adapting Stine’s work is why, and that started to build this whole backstory of this curse, and included creating the town of Redhaven for the movie,
Garrard explained to The Hollywood Reporter. When we were looking at a sequel and other stories in that universe, it was like, let’s use Redhaven as this town where these weird things happen, and expand on that mythology.
| Project Title | Source Material | Release Window / Status |
|---|---|---|
| R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead | Nightmare Hour Short Story | October 2025 |
| R.L. Stine’s Afraid of Clowns | Nightmare Hour Short Story | In Development |
Expanding Into Clowns and Point Horror
The third film in the initial Front Street and Tubi partnership adapts Afraid of Clowns, shifting the narrative threat away from crop curses while maintaining the established tonal balance. While the project features a new cast and distinct storyline, it remains canonically connected to the events in Redhaven.
The world that we built with Front Street Pictures is Pumpkinhead, Pumpkinhead 2, and then Afraid of Clowns,
Van Houdt noted. Afraid of Clowns will have a different cast and a different story, but it’s all relevant to each other.
Beyond the creature features and carnival scares, the platform is also branching into young adult territory with an upcoming adaptation of Point Horror’s The Babysitter. Garrard will write and executive produce the project, aiming to capture a sustained sense of tension reminiscent of classic thriller cinema.
