Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: A prologue to stories
Scary Stories is an adaptation of the legendary children’s books of the same title. I don’t think it is much of a stretch to think that for most people the stories ranged from hokey to downright creepy and although they got your attention, it was the artwork that truly remained memorable. Stephen Gammell’s work was striking, grotesque and provided a sense of dread for the reader. It provided the reader a starting line of imagining the horror, and once mixed with the stories themselves the mind would be racing with thoughts of what these creatures were capable of. Now, years after the original books, it is time for a movie to try to bring these creatures out of the artwork and onto the screen to scare a new generation of children. A movie that has its hills and valleys it does a admirable job of being a great starting point for kids eager to dig into the genre.
The movie starts on Halloween with a montage of the preparations of the day. From jack-o-lanterns being placed to children getting their costumes together or planning out their pranks of the night. The way this is all filmed brings a nostalgic feeling for a classic Halloween in a small town and gets the mood just right to make you wish Halloween was right now. This well-done atmosphere is something that continues throughout the film. Mood building in the film is strong and allows for a film filled with some decent dread.
Another aspect that mostly works is the creature designs. In many ways the monsters all look like they came straight from the books. There is an obvious respect for the original artwork in the design of the characters. This does have its drawbacks at times though. For instance, the Fat Lady works well on paper, but in the film comes off as cheesy, to the point that people were laughing at her appearance in our screening. Other characters, like Harold, come off as genuinely creepy in the film and the Jangly man is unsettling. Other than some minor missteps, the monsters are effective.
The acting is fine for what it is. The cast handling the kids does a good enough job, and the group of friends comes off as realistic. Award-winning acting couldn’t have saved some of the dialogue unfortunately. When I first saw a trailer for this film, the line of “You don’t read the story, the story reads you.”, gave me a serious headache. I prayed it would just be something for the trailer, but nope it is still in the movie. This is the worst offender of groan inducing lines, but there are other parts sprinkled in that are worthy of eye-rolling.
Regarding the plot of the film, it is simple. Kids break into a haunted house and take a book that writes horrific events that are about to happen to those that broke into the house. It’s filled with genre stereotypes as well. Characters making horribly stupid decisions? Check. Random jumpscares? Of course! Sequel baiting? Oh boy, does this do that! That might be the biggest issue with this film, a lot of plot points are left open to be finished later down the road, and the ending is all about setting up a sequel. I have no issue with wanting to set up a sequel, but when you open up plots points with no intentions to closing them until another movie it can get very annoying. However, despite these complaints, the movie is designed for as an introduction for children to dip their foot into the horror pool. In many ways it is the perfect step up from movies like Goosebumps, providing some fright and some edginess. From that perspective it makes sense that the film uses a lot of the classic horror stereotypes.
Scary Stories is a good movie for children to watch as a gateway into the genre. It provides enough chills and thrills for kids to be highly entertained. For everyone else, the movie is still fine enough. It is not going to be a movie that sticks out as being memorable. It hits a standard formula and does it decently enough. However, the creature designs help the movie quite a bit, as well as directing and cinematography that helps create a spooky atmosphere. If you are someone who has read the books, I recommend checking it out. The atmosphere and monsters that haunted your childhood combine to create an entertaining enough time.
3 / 5
