Menu
  • Podcast
      • Slice of SciFi 1047: The LakeIndie Creature Feature: Director Lee Thongkham on “The Lake”
      • Slice of SciFi 1046: Children of the Corn (2023)Indie Horror: Discussing “Children of the Corn”
      • Slice of SciFi 1045: Discussing "The Reading"TV Horror: Discussing “The Reading”
      • Slice of SciFi 1044: Discussing "Daughter"Indie Thrillers: Discussing “Daughter”
    • View all
  • Movie Reviews
      • Review: Missing (2023)“Missing” is an engaging, taut, twisty mystery
      • Review: Plane (2023)“Plane” is a non-stop ride perfect for action fans
      • Review: M3GAN (2023)“M3GAN” deftly mixes genuine scares and comedy
      • Review: Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)“Avatar: The Way of Water”: Breathtaking Visuals cannot overcome story shortfalls
    • View all
  • TV Reviews
      • "Project Blue Book"“Project Blue Book” explores the threads of UFO reports
      • Manifest Season 1: 5 Episodes In5 Episodes In: “Manifest”
      • 5 Episodes In: Reverie5 Episodes In: “Reverie”
      • 5 Episodes In: Marvel's Cloak and Dagger5 Episodes In: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”
    • View all
  • DVD Reviews
      • DVD Review: Dual (2022)DVD Review: “Dual” (2022)
      • Discussion: The Spine Of Night (2021)Indie Talk: Another Look at “The Spine of Night”
      • Review: Creepshow S2 Blu-rayBlu-ray Review: “Creepshow Season 2”
      • Batman: The Long Halloween (2021)“Batman: The Long Halloween”: an effective if over-long story
    • View all
  • Columns
  • News
      • TV News
      • Film News
      • DVD News
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Geeky, Funny & Weird
      • Online Entertainment News
      • Music News
      • On Stage
      • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Horror Happenings
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Contact Us
    • About Us
“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” isn’t quite sure how to tell its tale

“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” isn’t quite sure how to tell its tale

August 11, 2019 By Noah Richman Leave a Comment

First published in 1981, the book “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” became the first of a series of horror stories aimed at younger audiences. The stories catered to a similar crowd as RL Stine’s Goosebumps books but Scary Stories author, Alvin Schwartz, researched folklore and urban legends to draw upon for his tales. In the process he wound up creating one of the American Library Association’s most frequently challenged book series due to its gruesome and disturbing imagery aimed at younger readers.

Now in 2019 we get the movie version, produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Trollhunter and Autopsy of Jane Doe director André Øvredal. However, instead of adapting the stories faithfully as an anthology the film creates an overarching narrative to tie the tales together. The movie focuses on Stella Nicholls (played by Zoe Margaret Colletti) a young woman who acquires a book from a haunted house. This book contains a number of blank pages on which horror stories begin to appear, written in blood. These stories come to life as they are being written, effecting the lives of those around her.

Scary Stories is a film that engages with a classic B-movie pace and style. It successfully captures the feel of urban legend storytelling and crafts its jump scares effectively to keep its audience on edge. It contains imagery that is gruesome and creepy, alternating at times between comedic and scary, and will likely make a strong impression on the middle school set.

As a movie it does have some serious shortcomings, however. While the idea of using a singular narrative to tie the stories all together may be commendable, the execution comes off as hokey. It simply isn’t scary to watch writing appearing in the book and to subsequently see Stella running to try and save her friends. The movie would have been much more effective if it had simply let itself be an anthology collection, just like the short stories it is based on. The film seems to have a bit of an identity crisis (though admittedly this may also be true of the books) in that it clearly aims itself at a younger audience but then contains strong horrific imagery that would seem to be more than most younger children could enjoy. It also wraps its broader narrative story up too neatly in the end. It also inexplicably decides to set itself in the late 1960s and uses background imagery of Nixon, Vietnam, and draft dodging to no particular purpose.

Overall, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a reasonably entertaining B-movie that should appeal to middle schoolers and older audiences that have had a few beers on a Saturday night. It contains enough compelling and over-the-top imagery to entertain and engage for most of its two hour running time. However it is very much a “jump scare” funhouse ride of a horror film that won’t stick with you after it’s over. Its overarching narrative is weak and its ending is unsatisfying. This is the type of film you see and enjoy once and won’t have much need to go back to again.

3 out of 5 stars


It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind… but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying tome.

Starring: Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussaint, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn
Directed by: André Øvredal
Written by: Daniel Hageman & Kevin Hageman, Guillermo del Toro

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
3

Summary

Scary Stories is a film that engages with a classic B-movie pace and style. It successfully captures the feel of urban legend storytelling and crafts its jump scares effectively to keep its audience on edge. It contains imagery that is gruesome and creepy, alternating at times between comedic and scary, and will likely make a strong impression on the middle school set.

As a movie it does have some serious shortcomings, however. While the idea of using a singular narrative to tie the stories all together may be commendable, the execution comes off as hokey. It simply isn’t scary to watch writing appearing in the book and to subsequently see Stella running to try and save her friends. The movie would have been much more effective if it had simply let itself be an anthology collection, just like the short stories it is based on.

Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Email

Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: horror

About Noah Richman

Noah Richman is President of the Phoenix Fantasy Film Society, the longest running group dedicated to sci-fi/fantasy movie fandom in the Phoenix area. An avid board gamer, he has also amassed a library of immersive sci-fi/fantasy themed strategy games. A life-long film buff, Noah enjoys film commentary and criticism and has been having a blast writing film reviews for the Slice of SciFi website.

Related Posts You Might Like

Talking Dark Fantasy & Scifi: Director Pearry Teo, Actress Britne Oldford
Women in Horror: Ax Wound Film Festival
Reviewing "Green Room"
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2017

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsiHeartRadioStitcherPodchaserTuneInRSS

Listen to Slice of SciFi

iTunes
iHeart Radio
Player.FM
RSS
 
  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • janet p on “The Equalizer 2” explores retribution and consequences: “hope for equalizer 3”
  • Bb on Reviewing “Return to Sender”: “I HATED she killed Bennie the dog. Bennie recognized that Miranda is off kilter. Both Miranda and Finn are serious…”
  • Neil Ottenstein on Rom-Com Horror: “Reginald the Vampire”: “Renewed! https://deadline.com/2023/01/reginald-the-vampire-renewed-for-season-2-at-syfy-1235222353/”
  • DanVzare on “Halloween Ends” Wraps Up the Franchise Well: “Did we watch the same movie? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. But I enjoyed it because it…”
  • DS9 Forever on Ira Steven Behr talks “Deep Space Nine” at SDCC: “I really miss DS9. Everything that Picard is doing now, DS9 did 25 years ago. And better.”
Tweets by Slice of SciFi
death to humans 160x600
Save 10-50% on in-stock toys at TFAW.com.

Slice of SciFi
415 Pisgah Church Rd #302
Greensboro NC 27455
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
Horror Happenings
SciFi Shop Talk
Slice of SciFi TV

Copyright © 2005–2023 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in