Deep in the groin of Waterloo station, the memories of many a grown-up come to life, but only threaten to be nostalgic.

For me and many other twenty-odd (and perhaps younger) year-olds, R.L Stine’s Goosebumps were pure heaven. A mix of role models to aspire to (I always wanted to be the cool older sibling), horror that wasn’t too diabolical and absolutely excellent 3D book covers proved the series was the voice of a generation.

The immersive experience, written by Tom Salamon, Rob Watt and Gabriel Greene and directed by the formers, has been created as a launching pad for a new interpretation, “giving those involved the feeling of going on a rollercoaster with the anticipation of queuing up, fear building as you slowly rise up the first incline, exhilaration of doing the loop the loop, the relief when you have finished and the weird feeling of wanting to do it all over again”. There are two versions: Kids, which is pretty self-explanatory, and Alive which is catered more towards adults, though a child of 14 present tonight, whilst enjoying himself, wasn’t exactly wetting his pants.

The audience are split into smaller groups, each named after creatures and led into different parts of the experience, which consists of rooms and lots of hallways set around various stories in the Goosebumps ‘world’.

As the first actor runs out and involves you in the experience, the scene is set and though entirely ambiguous there’s an undoubtedly uneasy air. His feels like an iconic Shakespearean character, complete with wild hair and wild saliva flying out of a wild mouth. Very OTT and more space invader than fear injector.

Samuel Wyer’s set design is the strongest aspect of Goosebumps. It’s impressive that such aesthetics exist in this underground labyrinth and both co-exist with huge effect. There are moments that whisper ‘amateur’ but Wyer’s work here inevitably creates the most impact.

Fans of the Goosebumps series and particularly the original books like ‘The Haunted Mask’ may be expecting to revisit their childhood memories. Yet each story is plonked firmly into the twenty-first century and transferred to the UK. Selfies and teen angst are visited themes and, whilst appreciatively ‘current’, could be in any old horror immersive production.

One of the difficulties with this is comprehending the reason two separate versions have been created in the first place. It’s perhaps biased, having not seen Goosebumps: Kids, but Alive is just not scary enough to warrant the distinction. Keeping the story firmly as it is in the books could have been enough and would have created more of a connection with the target audience. It’s a shame that this has evolved to reach a new generation when all that is sought is some delicious nostalgia.

Goosebumps: Alive is playing at The Vaults in Waterloo until 5 May. For more information and tickets, see the Goosebumps: Alive website.