Histórias Assustadoras para Contar no Escuro

In 1968, in Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, the outcast teenager Stella Nicholls (Zoe Colletti) is an aspirant writer that has only two friends, Auggie Hilderbrandt (Gabriel Rush) and Chuck Steinberg (Austin Zajur). On the Halloween night, the trio of friends decide to play a prank on the bully Tommy Milner (Austin Abrams) and flee to a drive-in theater where the stranger Ramón Morales (Michael Garza) hides and protects the teenagers. They decide to spend the night visiting the haunted house of the Bellows family, where Stella finds the book of stories of the notorious Sarah Bellows (Kathleen Pollard). She brings the book home and soon she realizes that Sarah is writing one horror story per day with each one of them and she tries to find a means to stop Sarah.

"Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" is an entertaining horror film with short stories linked by a lead story with Stella and Ramón. The plot is not gore or scary and disappoints fans of the genre. But if the viewer likes mystery and fantasy films, he or she will certainly enjoy this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Histórias Assustadoras para Contar no Escuro" ("Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark")

Note: On 09 March 2025, I saw this film again.

I've never read the books but that didn't seem essential to enjoy the movie. A few scary moments but very predictable for most horror fans. However, I think its quite good for its target audience, early teens making the first steps into horror movies. I'll definitely watch it again with my kids when they are a little older.

Good: The main story that is tying the 'scary stories' together is interesting and a fresh take as the 'scary stories' are short and filler needs to be made for a feature film. The direction from Øvredal is great finding the right amount of scares to be had with built suspense from the grisly production by Del Toro.

Bad: The cast is fine, nothing spectacular or atrocious, it is something you would expect from a horror film. Some lines are cheesy and laughable. The main story could have been shortened.

Overall: Although there is nothing innovating it is still a solid fresh straight-up(less jump scare, more imagery) horror of 2019 that can pass the time with entertainment and chills to be made.

3.5/5

It's Halloween, 1968 in the town of Mill Valley, Pennsylvania. Stella Nicholls is out with her friends Auggie Hilderbrandt and Chuck Steinberg. They are pursued by bully Tommy Milner after the friends pull a prank on him. They find sanctuary in Ramón Morales' car in the drive-in. Stella leads the group to a haunted house. They escape from scary things including Tommy's revenge. Stella takes an old book from the abandoned house. You don't read the book as much as the book reads you. It belongs to Sarah Bellows who lived a tragic life and died horribly.

It's a good in-between horror between the kiddie spooky stories and outright adult gore-fest horrors. I like all the characters. I like the teen actors. I like the spooky and slightly scary stories. I like the idea of the book and the body horrors. The zombie looks good and I expected nothing less from a Guillermo del Toro production. It is not quite an adult horror but it's a good step up from a kiddie campfire story.

Film directed by André Øvredal and co-written with Guillermo del Toro, Histórias Assustadoras para Contar no Escuro (2019) benefits from an efficient Halloween atmosphere, an excellent photography, the nostalgic 60's dress code, impressive old cars and rather talented young actors. On certain aspects, in particular the ineluctably-fatalistic side, the film makes me think of A Hora do Pesadelo (1984) directed by Wes Craven in which a psychopath sadistically haunts teens during their sleep.

After the showing of a cult film (A Noite dos Mortos-Vivos (1968)) in a drive-in theater, a group of teens arrives, we do not really know how, in a time-worn mansion on the edge of town, abandoned for ages after an unexplained murder. By chance, they find a book. A cursed book! The small town will then suffer a wave of atrocious deaths. Stella and Ramón will have to face their own worst demons in order to stop the carnage and save the inhabitants.

As a synthesis: an efficient teen movie for getting started with cinematographic thrills. 6/7 of 10