Scary Stories

Film directed by André Øvredal and co-written with Guillermo del Toro, Scary Stories (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 Les Griffes de la nuit (1984) directed by Wes Craven in which a psychopath sadistically haunts teens during their sleep.

After the showing of a cult film (La Nuit des morts-vivants (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

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is the type of book that has most certainly made its impact. At the same time, it's also virtually impossible to adapt directly since it's a collection of short stories. While it would possibly work as an anthology horror, the movie takes a different direction and makes its own story that incorporates characters from the book's stories as villains. With horror maestro Guillermo del Toro as producer, it captures the essence of the book, which is good enough. All things considered, this is really more of an ode to horror as a genre, and to the things that scared us as kids. It incorporates several horror subgenres, which was a great addition. It has ghosts, zombies, body horror, and a monster sequence near the end. Popular characters from the book's terrifying illustrations appear, and they look fantastic. It has a great feel to it, and Del Toro's fingerprints are apparent in it. Unfortunately, it has some drawbacks. The main human cast is bland and forgettable. There's nothing here that you've never seen before. Overall, this is the type of movie that would be great if you're a kid and it's your first horror movie. However, if you were in elementary school when SSTTITD was at its peak, you'd be in your 30s at least in 2019 when this movie came out. Today's kids probably haven't heard of it (although who knows, I knew it growing up in the 00's). It ends on a sequel hook, curiously enough, so that may be on the horizon.

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.

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.

In small town America 1968, there is a dark history that hangs over an old abandoned house regarding the fate of the Bellows family. While escaping the town bullies, a group of teenagers break into the house to hide and it is in this house they find a dusty old book full of terrifying stories but as they take it away with them, new stories begin to appear in the book and the group of friends start to disappear one by one. When I first saw this advertised, I had never heard of the books on which it is based and from the trailer I couldn't figure out who the audience for this story might be. From the trailer I felt it was aimed at young teenagers but then some of the imagery used on screen seemed so terrifying and disturbing i thought it couldn't possibly be. Well it turns out it is aimed at teenagers and if i was a teenager watching this i would probably have loved it. As an adult i did still enjoy it, the horror elements were done brilliantly, scary, disturbing and memorable. It's the bits in between the horror that let it down slightly. I just felt the characters weren't developed enough and didn't really gel together like the young cast of IT did. Visually impressive and a decent story behind it but could have done with some extra time dedicated to character development.