‘SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK’ Review

It’s hard to believe that Alvin Schwartz’s collection of short stories came out the same year as me and those stories still have the potency almost 40 years later. I think most of that is also due to the credit of the stringy monochrome nightmarish illustrations from Stephen Gammell. It was those illustrations that definitely got stuck in my head and bounced around when the sun went down. I don’t think I was alone in that feeling as you may recall back in 2011 when Gammell’s art was replaced by more kid-friendly artwork. It wasn’t any surprise that it would be adapted to film or television at some point in time. With horror as hot as it is right this minute, it looks like the time is now. Boasting the talent of Guillermo del Toro and André Øvredal, I figured the property was in good hands.

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What could have been easily another horror anthology has decided to take a different path by bringing the multiple stories from the first collection to life via a “curse device” ala The Ring. The film starts off on Halloween 1968 and the feel couldn’t hit all the right notes even harder. Imagine the opening sequence from Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers mixed in with Lady in White and you’ll get an idea of the small town picture being set.

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Stella, Auggie, and Chuck are childhood friends that run into Ramon when trying to escape a local bully and his gang and when the coast is clear, they decide to have a little Halloween fun by visiting the town’s abandoned house which has a local legend to be haunted. The house was inhabited by the Bellows family, who built the mill that essentially built the town. Horror-film obsessed Stella ends up taking a book off the shelf in the room of the family’s neglected daughter, Sarah Bellows. Sarah was confined in secret in the basement of this house and well…let’s just say the family had some issues. Once home, Stella notices that there are stories written in the book and as she beginnings thumbing through the pages, a story begins to write itself.

While the iconic stories from Schwartz and Gammell’s pretty seamlessly get integrated into our story, which has some things to say about the era this is happening in and feels maybe a touch overly reflective to today’s times (then again, I guess shit hasn’t evolved too much), the set pieces are essentially those stories and boy do they pack a punch.

Even though Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a PG-13 film, it definitely doesn’t feel too light. There’s some heavy stuff in this film and some of the monsters are truly unnerving with The Jangly Man being the most non-PG-13 monster (seriously, this thing might do some damn damage if your kids aren’t ready).

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The kids are great in this film even if this script falters in the last half with some hokey, cookie-cutter dialogue. Gil Bellows’ Chief Turner character doesn’t do the film any favors nor does the very clumsy and schmaltzy ending. If you can look past that, Øvredal and del Toro have crafted something to be proud of. The film stays in tone with the books and isn’t afraid to be unapologetic. Cinematography and the atmosphere that the filmmakers evoke are pitch-perfect. This is a great film for pre-teens (the audience it is aiming for) who may have an interest in horror but just because that is said, don’t think this is a kids movie. If anything, it is a young adult adaptation. For fans of the books, you may come out with mixed results (depending on when you read it) but will admit that it was great watching the monsters in motion.

The only shame is that I’m sure this movie won’t make it to the home market in time for Halloween because I’d love to watch this outside with a chill in the air and firewood burning. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is Autumn’s spooky imagination put onto film. This is something I can see a few viewers make a Halloween watch staple.

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK is in theatres now!