Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark Review

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
Director: Andre Ovredal
Cast Headliners: Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza,  Gabriel Rush,  Austin Zajur,  Dean Norris
Original Release Date: August 9th, 2019



  There's two ways to look at Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. One is as a total outsider where it appears to be an interesting teen-centric horror tale of stories coming to life. However to this writer there's the real world ties of this. This was a pretty popular novel series of childrens horror stories that were found in elementary schools. It was like R.L Stine's Goosebumps but brought to a next level of terror and gore. It's really surprising this was allowed on shelves of schools across the USA especially with their incredibly grim / grotesque artwork. This unique identity would perhaps make for a bit hard to adapt film but this manages to do it more or less.
There's a bit of a unique ambiance to the film as its set during a Halloween night in 1968 bringing in vibes both retro and fall-like spooky in the heat of the summer release season. Horror and prankster loving outsiders Stella(Zoe Collettii), Auggie(Gabriel Rush), and Chuck(Austin Zajur) mix their costumed hijinx with running from bully Tommy(Austin Abrams) and his jock friends. They soon meet outsider on the run Ramon(Michael Garza) and find themselves investigating a haunted mansion with a cursed past.  
A semi-major consideration of the film is that its rated PG-13. This makes it something that can be enjoyed by all ages but also it holds itself back just a bit in terms of gore yet depth too. The script is often juvenile but it can be funny and the leads have chemistry and humor in a play to perhaps be like IT / Stranger Things (particularly Colletti's Stella, Zajur's Chuck, and Garza's Ramon). They mainly have laughs but there's some occasional emotional depth as well especially Stella with her father Roy(Dean Norris in a rare friendly loving role next to his usual gruffness) as they discuss an absent mother. Some other roles around town include Chuck's sister Ruth(Natalie Ganzhorn) , mysterious old Lou Lou(Lorraine Toussaint), and Chief of Police Turnet(Gil Bellows) but most of these exist to just be victims of the spookiness at play. 
Which it must be noted there definitely is much terror to be had despite its rating. The film has the aforementioned effective ambiance with some nice scenery by main director Andre Ovredal. Some of the horror comes from the bit lazy jump scare or pulse pounding variety but there's some decent messed up qualities about what happens at play with the book shtick. For the curse of the mansion is that there's a book and the curse of the book is that its stories come to life. 
This format leads to what is a bit of an anthology without being a anthology. It's “monster of the week” but in “monster of the act” as various fearsome tales become true as the book's ghostly host Sarah Bellows messes with the world the teens find themselves in. It's through these creatures that the touch of producer Gueillermo Del Toro is felt. While often times in film “produced by” doesn't mean much creatively with Del Toro it very often means he has some craft and effort put into the process. The use of practical effects is his trademark and the designs of Harold the living scarecrow, the Pale Lady, and the Jangly Man all feel like both something from the original novel's illustrations as well as other works in the Del Toro repertoire. One almost wishes for a little more than what appears(ignoring some bit silly sequel setup) but there's some inventive spooky sequences aside from some occasional cheese or mundaneness.  Frequent Del Toro music friend Marco Beltrami makes a haunting and at times alrightly beautiful score alongside Anna Drubich as well that helps set the dark mood.

The plot itself and film as a whole won't be remembered in any legends of its own but it provides some simple summer, more even better for a Halloween rewatch, scares. It's a bit unique while also a bit stupid but still the good makes it better than some things out there. One intrigued by the premise should get what they want if they don't mind turning back the clock and rating a bit. Strap in for the scares. 7.74 out of 10