Zoe Colletti

Dean Norris

Michael Garza

Gabriel Rush

Gil Bellows

Natalie Ganzhorn

Austin Abrams

Austin Zajur

Kathleen Pollard

Lorraine Toussaint

Deborah Pollitt

Victoria Fodor

Marie Ward

Mark Steger

Javier Botet

Troy James

Will Corno

Kyle Labine

David Tompa

Karen Glave

Stephanie Belding

Hume Baugh

Jane Moffat

Will Carr

Amanda Smith

Brandon Knox

Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll

Anna Fraser

Alex Spencer

Matthew Smith

Daniel Gravelle

Colton Gobbo

Ajanae Stephenson

Divan Meyer

Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard Nixon

Walter Cronkite

Dusty Reeves

Mia Sturup

Trason Fernandes

Cheryl Ross

Anton Van Rooyen

Jacqueline Robertson Cull

Jane Flanders

Gilles Corbeil

Doug Lavender

Rob Ballantyne

Douglas Wilkinson

Spencer Gray

Mark Cyre

Guillermo del Toro

Patrick Melton

Alvin Schwartz

Marcus Dunstan

Sean Daniel

Elizabeth Grave

Jason F. Brown

Joshua Long

Roberto Grande

André Øvredal

Norman Lesperance

Kevin Carter

Alexandra Anger

Alanna Dickie

Andrea Brown

Shadi Enayati

Everett Biggar

Alex Hadjiantoniou

Simon March

Nicholas Müller-Osborne

Steve Bryant

Owain Harris

Jonathan Kovacs

Heather Carlson

Rory James

Lauren Batcher

Linda Cheung

Jack Schuster

David Gruer

Mark Lukac

Missy Morris

John Hinz

Ryan McCaffrey

Janine Fung

Mario C. Cacioppo

Alexander Narizni

Victor 'Chikko' Quon

Bobby Johanson

Jeffrey Roy

Mauricio Ruiz

Claudia Pinto

Laura Kennedy

Matthew Beightol

Theresa Shain

Michael Lee Taylor

Nicole Stephenson

Tim Phoenix

Ameya Adchule

Peter C. Strange

Cristian Camaroschi

Vincent Proce

Phillip Tellez

German Camardella

Ihor Kaniuk

Tija Smith

Bill Higley

Paul Lynch

Tyler Whitham

Yuting Chen

Andrew Carruthers

Chris Hagfors Dahlmo

J. Alan Bradshaw

Colleen Catton

Barb Benoit

Dennis Berardi

Lucian Boicu

Jyoti Bhalchandra Deshpande

Markus Dahlstrøm

Sagar Dhondge

Bhardwaj Divyanshu

Dan Hageman

Kevin Hageman

Rich Delia

Roman Osin

Patrick Larsgaard

David Brisbin

Patricia Larman

J. Miles Dale

Marco Beltrami

Anna Drubich

Colin Penman

Cliona Furey

Steve Medeiros

Peter Luo

Etienne Gravrand

Horror

Thriller

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

1212 Entertainment

Double Dare You

Entertainment One

CBS Films

Rolling Hills

Hivemind

Starlight Culture Entertainment Group

Canada

Hong Kong

United States of America

English

Manuel São Bento

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :)

This might be the very first film of 2019, which I knew absolutely nothing about going into the theater. Usually, I avoid trailers for most movies, but it’s almost impossible to not catch an image or a clip here and there. However, for Scary Stories, since it wasn’t heavily marketed in my country (at least), the only things I knew was that Guillermo del Toro was involved and that it was a horror flick. Knowing del Toro, I also remembered myself that this wouldn’t just be a straightforward horror story, filled with predictable jump scares, and a bland narrative. That’s my first advice to my fellow readers: if you expect a film similar to those of The Conjuring Universe, then you’ll be disappointed.

It’s also not the other extreme. It doesn’t follow the ambiguity and weirdness of Jordan Peele’s installments, so if you’re one of those people that don’t appreciate that type of horror, you’re safe as well. Having in mind the latest movies released from the genre, it’s hard to find one that balances these two separate takes instead of choosing one of them. Scary Stories spends its first half slow-building their characters, but mainly its story. There’s a massive build-up to something that’s pretty much the premise of the film, so it struggles to reach the actual “action” without it becoming a tad boring or too long. It’s a “breath of fresh air” (in the genre, I mean) to have a good set up, with decent character development, and an exponential interest in the main story, instead of jumping into silly horror sequences fifteen minutes after it started.

André Øvredal does an excellent job in directing. He really knows how to generate suspense and create a genuinely creepy build-up. There’s tremendous camera work involved in some fantastic sequences that don’t rely on jump scares to provide the “fear” factor. It’s the never-ending suspense, that feeling of claustrophobia even if the character isn’t in a confined space. Except for one scene, we can always see what’s happening. The “monsters” don’t appear out of nowhere, they don’t screech at you precisely at the third time a character looks another way, and the actual jump scares are rather efficient. However, they’re not scary, as well as the movie itself…

It’s not simply a scary film. It doesn’t have that heavy and dark tone that we feel in other horror movies. At first, I thought it might be a bad thing, but Scary Stories establishes this distinct tone from the very beginning. Even without knowing a single thing about the film, I understood from the first few minutes that it was going to be “different”. I would advise caution to not judge this movie by its trailers if they indicate that this is one of those films to make you scream every five minutes. There’s definitely a message to be transmitted, and I think it was well-delivered in the ending. It might be too cheesy for some or lack impact for a movie that asks the audience for a bit of patience, but for me, it worked well enough.

The acting is mostly good. Zoe Colletti (Stella) and Michael Garza (Ramon) are undoubtedly the standouts, and they do a good job of carrying the narrative forward. They both have compelling backstories, but for the time that the film spends developing its characters, I wish they went more in-depth with Stella. She has a particularly intriguing past, and I don’t think we get enough out of it. Gabriel Rush (Auggie) and Austin Zajur (Chuck) have great chemistry, but their comic-relief roles are a disservice to an otherwise pretty solid movie.

Technically, there are some beautiful shots from the DP, Roman Osin. Usually, sequences at night in low-budget films suffer a lot with lack of clear visibility, but Osin does a remarkable job, playing with lighting in a truly unique way. I’m curious to know what audiences will think of this movie. If I had to bet, I think people will leave disappointed due to the lack of more generic jump scares, and a straightforward narrative. Truth be told, the slow pacing doesn’t help, especially when the character development only works for two. Finally, the “scary stories” that Sarah tells are entertaining and imaginative, and the whole concept of this film is incredibly captivating.

All in all, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a distinct horror flick, with well-developed leads, and a creative approach to an unique premise. It doesn’t follow the rules of generic horror, by not relying itself too much on jump scares, and making the actual story and characters the main interest. Beautifully-produced by Guillermo del Toro and co. as well as brilliantly directed by André Øvredal. The “scary stories” are indeed dark and creepy, providing a whole second-half of excellent horror scenes. 

However, the first-half takes its time to set everything up, and the lack of more “action” might leave some viewers disappointed. Only two characters are genuinely engaging, which proves that the slow build-up didn’t entirely pay off as it should have. It’s meant to be a divisive movie, but I definitely recommend seeing it!

Rating: B-

SWITCH.

There’s just enough scares to appeal to the under-15s with disposable income, but very little for anyone else looking to get into the real Halloween spirit. ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ has the potential to be really unique, but is let down by its blandness and lack of originality. Yes, there’s a hint at a sequel at the end of the film, but I hope for our sake that the book is closed on any more of these scary stories.
- Charlie David Page

Read Charlie's full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-a-harmless-tale-that-wont-haunt-you

Gimly

I was a little bit disappointed by _Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark_, but I say that with the caveat of it being one movie that I went into with **high** expectations - something I generally try to avoid having if I can. There is a lot I liked, creature effects, probably top of that list, but the story feels disconnected and for me had an unsatisfying resolution. 

_Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._

Jack

I have no idea why I was expecting an anthology before I started watching this film. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. While I dislike the increasingly high number of horror films which take place in 1960s/70s/80s nowadays, I still enjoyed watching this one.

Surprisingly, each scary scene in the film is better than the one before, which makes the film better as you keep watching it.

Would I watch it again? Yes. Would I make my friends watch it? Why not?

Repo Jack

Most "Haunted House" attraction movies are horrible. "Haunt" is the rare exception. The directors also wrote "The Quiet Place" and Eli Roth was involved. Regardless, this is a slick Halloween thriller.

For a horror fan, this series is outstanding. And if yoi are not a horror fan, it is suggested strongly that you stop reading or watch and turn to something else. 

Each episode, Eli Roth focuses on the most classic movies in a specific sub-genre while getting commentary from that movies director/writer/actor or a deep bench of horror/film aficionados such as Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino.

Be warned, If you are new to horror, or haven't seen all the movies featured, it will spoil everything. It showcases the most famous and/or best scenes of each referenced movie. 

For the rest of us horror peeps, its a great hour long recap / analysis of what should be our favorite films.

Martha

I had high expectations for this movie. The books means so much to me. I found them when I was a lonely kid in School who was picked on and what day went to the library and found a book called scary stories to tell in the dark. I fell in love with the stories due to my Macabre nature. I've always held all three books in the series close to my heart. However this movie didn't really bring what the books bring which is a sentence of sheer terror. I felt like there weren't enough scary moments. There wasn't enough short stories. It felt like we were focused on the one girl's story and her tacked on love interest. I did love the few scary moments it did have and the one gross one with the big toe. I just felt like it needed more and could have done more. It's not a horrible movie it just feels like it's not finished and like it wasn't enough.

CinemaSerf

It must be old age but 2019 has produced half a dozen so-called "horror" films that are about as terrifying as running out of milk. This has one of the better, though still pretty derivative, storylines; and at times can be quite dark, but the use of teenagers as the conduits for the fear just isn't convincing. The plot, such as it is, is remarkably forgettable and the effects rely heavily on (admittedly some very effective) sound editing. Won't have your quivering unless you're sitting in a draft....

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

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