Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Title: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Director: André Øvredal

Cast: Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Austin Abrams, Gabriel Rush, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Javier Botet, Mark Steger

Release: 2019-08-08

Runtime: 111

Plot: A group of outcast kids stands up to their fears to save their town when nightmares come to life.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

If you were a kid in the eighties or early nineties, then Stephen Gammell's illustrations for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones were probably the most terrifying things in your elementary school.

Now they've made a movie combining the highlights. While the live action versions aren't as scary as the illustrations, they're much closer than I'd have expected for a movie targeted toward children.

Last trailer ("Season of the Witch"):

 

[Tommy R]

Those illustrations gave me nightmares back in the day.

 

[Radioman970]

reminds me of scarecrows from late 80s.

 

[Jason_V]

This reminded me of a 1980s horror movie: the creature designs, the complete production design buy in of the setting, the way the actors read their lines, everything.

It does take far too long for the story to get to the scary parts, which is what the audience has come to see. I understand setting up the world and the characters, but yeesh. For me, the film itself runs 10 minutes too long and I think the issue is the beginning. Otherwise, it moves at a pretty decent clip without dwaddling or being gruesome.

I did cringe at one element of the story; it wasn't for anything we see. Rather, it's for what we hear.

Spoiler

Two of the protagonists find a wax cylinder in a mental hospital and listen to a women undergoing electroshock therapy. Hearing the screams and knowing this was a common practice-and still may be in some places-is the scariest part of the film.

 

[Malcolm R]

Cinemascore grade was "C", so audiences didn't seem to care for it much on opening weekend.