Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Review!
When I was 8 years old, my local newspaper would hold weekly contests for kids in the Sunday edition. These contests usually had kids submit a short story or a poem, and the winners not only got published, but got to choose a book from a short list. One week for a project in school, my teacher had us write a short story and submit it to the paper, and somehow, my story won. My teacher handed me the list of books to choose from and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark immediately caught my eye. I remember her trying to talk me out of it (the book series was apparently incredibly controversial at the time) but I stood my ground. The book finally arrived and I was hooked. Goosebumps had been the only scary thing I had read up to that point, and Scary Stories made Goosebumps feel like Sesame Street. The old folk tales paired with the bone chilling artwork is something that I have revered for a long, long time, so when I found out that the series was being adapted for the big screen, I was ecstatic!
I chose to open my review with that throwback to my childhood as a reminder to everyone who might be planning on seeing this movie, that it is in fact, made for kids. This isn’t a new development, so it’s really been the one thing bothering me about all the reviews that have been popping up recently. Adult fans leaving the theater disappointed that they didn’t have nightmares the way that they had when they were in the second grade. Even if Guillermo and company had decided to take the R-rated route, the film would never have that nightmare inducing effect on us at this point in our lives! But you know who it would do that to? The 8 year old now, who is currently discovering these books for the first time the way we once had. That kid is going to walk out of this theater with their little mind blown and hide under the sheets for a week after seeing this movie.
One of the biggest points of contention with this film has been that it decided to subvert the expectations of the audience by choosing to forego the most obvious story telling device: the anthology. I’m not going to lie, an anthology structure would have worked great here. The three books are comprised entirely of short stories, so the film adaptation was practically designed for the format. Take the stories and write a wrap around segment reminiscent to Are You Afraid of the Dark? and you’d have a film that would blow 90’s babies minds. But again, this movie isn’t specifically for our generation. I would have enjoyed seeing that as much as the next guy, but if the filmmakers were to go down that route, why not just turn it into a series instead?
I respect the choice that the filmmakers made here to write an original story and cleverly tie in the most well regarded stories and monsters from the book. While they weren’t able to include EVERYTHING fans might have wanted, they certainly offered us up a greatest hits, while sneaking in a few fun little Easter eggs that most fans should easily pick up on (remember the hearse song?). This film plays out like a more mature version of the big screen Goosebumps adaptation we got a few years ago. The central story revolves around a group of kids breaking into a haunted house on Halloween night, and finding a secret room where a tortured woman was locked away by her rich family. To pass the time, she would write Scary Stories. Of course the kids find her old journal where these stories were written down and end up awakening her angered spirit who decides its time to write some new stories with the group of kids becoming the main characters. As you would expect, what happens to the kids in the stories, ends up playing out in real life.
With this oversimplified explanation, it might sound like this movie reuses a lot of old & tired horror tropes. I suppose that in a sense it does, but while I was watching it, it didn’t feel that way at all. I was never bored with this movie, and I imagine if I was a second or third grader with an interest in horror I would have been on the edge of my seat the entire time. I can see the younger generation that this movie is intended for incorporating this film into their yearly Halloween film rotation. Not only does it offer up some gorgeous monsters, the Halloween set pieces really set the tone for the season. To sum it all up, I really had a good time with this movie. The original books hold a place near and dear to my heart, but I understand that as a 25 year old, the material really isn’t intended for me anymore. It’s still fun to revisit from time to time, but I don’t expect it to scare me like it did 15 years ago and neither should you. If you’re of the mindset that a group of kid’s stories should have matured with you, then I don’t think there is anything that will convince you that this is a good movie. But if you can accept that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a great gateway to get a new generation hooked on horror, then I think you’ll have a blast with this film.
Let us know what you thought of the movie down below if you end up checking it out! Also, the video above is a pretty cool making-of feature that we highly recommend checking out!
