A Reel Review: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

In the 1980’s, the horror genre had a blast playing with the anthology-style of film; several short-films under one feature with only a single theme or event interlocking them…or sometimes none at all. Films such as CREEPSHOW, CAT’S EYE, and TWILIGHT ZONE are the best examples, and even though they are cult-favorites now, many audiences could not latch onto them; perhaps not preferring having to “reset themselves” for a new story every 20 minutes. Seemingly aware of this, the filmmakers behind SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK finds a new angle to the old anthology film, while staying true to its core. 

On Halloween 1968, a group of teens; Stella (Zoe Nicholls), Auggie (Gabriel Rush), Chuck (Austin Zajur), and newcomer to town Ramon (Michael), enter an abandoned mansion and leave with a mysterious book…a book that writes its own tragic stories in blood which come true as they are being written. 

Based on the children’s book series of the same name, SCARY STORIES takes the anthology concept and draws a line through its episodes. Each time a new story is written in the book, one character faces a supernatural threat; you don’t read the book…the book reads you. It’s a singular story as the kids go from one threat to another trying to unravel the mystery behind the book and its former owner, with the stories and threats they face paying homage to the old anthology style. 

Directed by Andre Ovredal and produced by Guillermo del Toro, SCARY STORIES seems simple on the surface but does good character work by way of its spooky threats. Each specter they face is drawn from their past, and the script does clever work in developing characters through that. There’s a lot of showing and not telling which is welcome in a film that has a lot information to pass along; not just backstories but also the history of the book, its old owner, and the mansion it came from in a fascinating story-within-a-story. And storytelling is the point of the film. How stories can affect us is the central theme, and it carries a weight that gives the film meaning and not just scares. 

And when those scares come, they come in horrifying style. The entities come in all shapes and sizes; a scarecrow, a pasty-white woman with bug-eyes, walking skeletons, and a tall lanky creature that comes down the chimney one body part at a time. It’s scary as hell, and doesn’t rely on jump-scares (although there are plenty), but instead a feeling of hanging dread. Being that it’s based on a series of children’s books, younger audiences will certainly be in the seats…and the film deserves a lot of credit for not being afraid to scare the shit out of them (and their adult parents). 

Acting is OK from the young cast. Zoe Nicholls gets the bulk of the film and has the most heavy-lifting to do and is fantastic. Everyone else is fine albeit a little stiff in places. 

The finale is a mind-bender and ends on a bitter-sweet note; not quite a happy ending but not a total loss either. It wraps as one of the most unique takes we’ve seen on the anthology style, and its imagery and scares are good enough to stick with us and show up in our nightmares. With the kids carrying the film and the blood & guts kept to a bare minimum, SCARY STORIES lends itself to the younger crowd that has out-grown light fare like GOOSEBUMPS but aren’t quite ready for chainsaws yet. But anyone who can appreciate a good scary story will certainly find a lot to admire here. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it