Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark review

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK:

FILM ADAPTATION OF POPULAR BOOK SERIES IS CREEPY FUN!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

LIONSGATE AND CBS FILMS

An ancient book’s horrifying curse will be unleashed in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

            A group of kids break into a creepy, abandoned house, find an ancient book, and unintentionally unleash a nightmare upon a small town in the new horror film, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark based on the series of books of the same name by Alvin Schwartz. Here’s a shocker, I’ve actually read some of these books in middle school and the best I can describe them are Goosebumps for tweens and young adults and like Goosebumps it’s a tongue-and-cheek kind of scary and more about having fun being scared rather than nightmare-fuel. 

            The stories themselves are basically generic plots and situations seen in horror movies and while Goosebumps took a similar approach with its stories, Scary Stories had the advantage of being a picture book with some of the most haunting imagery ever seen, the stories themselves are cliché scary stories but it’s the illustrations and horrific monsters that everyone remembers.

            Now we have a film adaptation produced by Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy 1 and 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) and directed by André Øvredal (Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Mortal) following in the footsteps of the recent Goosebumps movie that came out a few years ago where the monsters from the book are accidentally unleashed into the real world. 

            Very much like that movie, this acts as a gateway for younger horror enthusiasts rather than a legit scary movie. But unlike the Goosebumps movie where it was geared towards families, Scary Stories is mostly aimed for older kids, teens, and adults with grotesque-looking monsters, ghastly imagery, and death (No blood, but still). 

             So, does Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark do justice to its iconic source material? In my opinion, yes. This is a very fun scary movie with plenty of the imaginative monsters from the book’s haunting illustrations come to life, a generic but self-aware horror movie plot, and some solid performances by its young cast. 

            Set in 1968 Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, the film follows a group of teenagers consisting of horror-obsessed amateur writer Stella (Newcomer, Zoe Margaret Colleti) and her friends Auggie (Newcomer, Gabriel Rush), and Chuck (Newcomer, Austin Zajur) and a drifter named Ramón (Newcomer, Michael Garza) who decide to explore an old haunted house on Halloween night. While there, they come across a mysterious book of scary stories that once belonged to a girl named Sarah Bellows. However, they soon realize that the book is writing its own stories and what happens in the story happens in real life. 

            Soon, their neighborhood is attacked by all kinds of horrors such as a grotesque scarecrow with a pitchfork, a corpse looking for her missing toe, The Jangly Man, and a giant zit (I’m not kidding). With no one to turn to, Stella and her friends must uncover the mystery behind Sarah Bellows and figure out a way to get the monsters back into the book before Mill Valley turns into a town of nightmares.

            The film also stars Austin Abrams (The Kings of Summer, The Walking Dead, Brad’s Status) as the neighborhood bully Tommy, Dean Norris (Lethal Weapon 2, Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) as Deputy Roy Nicholls, Gil Bellows (The Shawshank Redemption, Ally McBeal, The Agency), and Lorraine Toussaint (Any Day Now, Law & Order, Selma) as Louise “Lou Lou” Baptiste, Javier Botet (REC trilogy, Mama, The Conjuring 2) as the voice of The Toe Monster, and Andrew Jackson (Merlin’s Apprentice, Kyle XY, Twists of Terror) as the voice of The Jangly Man.

            Overall, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark probably won’t keep you up at night like its source material but makes for a spooky, fun time watching a horror movie. Obviously, this movie is “slightly” more family-friendly than other scary films so you won’t see kids getting killed in gory ways or anything like that (Save that for It: Chapter Two), but it still has a PG-13 edge to it to act as a gateway to the horror genre for younger viewers without ever going too far.

            The designs for the monsters are imaginative and ripped right from the illustrations of the books so nostalgic readers can relive those haunting, nightmare-fueled memories. Something I really appreciate about the monsters and effects in this movie is that they’re mostly done practically with little CGI and incredible makeup work with del Toro on standby, but whenever CG is used it’s meshed with the practical effects very well and gives more of an illusion compared to most mainstream movies these days.

            Luckily the effects don’t get in the way of the story and characters that while a tad cliché and stereotypical keep you invested in the situations that are happening in the film. Sure, they follow various horror movie tropes like the geek, the socially awkward person, the jock, and the guy who gets roped into helping them, but each of the characters are given depth and interesting stories and personalities of their own to make you care about them and the actors do a solid job representing these characters, not quite the Losers Club from It, but close enough. 

            If I had to point out an issue with this movie it would be the ending is a little anti-climactic and there’s not much of a payoff. Not saying it’s bad but it just felt like an attempt at sequel-baiting a More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie rather than a satisfying conclusion to the movie I just watched, but that’s mostly a small gripe. 

            Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is fright-filled fun for horror enthusiasts or fans of the original books young and old. Terror, imaginative monsters, and a sense of fun, these are “Stories” definitely worth telling.