When I saw this I was all alone. In a theatre all by myself. Seems like this movie flied under people’s radar even though it is a flick related to Guillermo del Toro. Directed by André Øvredal that made one of my favorite films of 2016 The Autopsy Of Jane Doe I felt confident this was going to be a blast. Especially since I was the only one in the theatre.
There is an ongoing trend amongst soft horror filmmakers. That is to have a group of kids solve a scary mystery Scooby Doo style and frankly if it’s not the IT kids I am not having it. Imagine my shock when I actually enjoyed the dynamic relations between the kids in this. It might have something to do with the main character Stella being a huge nerd and as a huge nerd myself growing up I could see a lot of myself in her.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is set in a sleeping town in the US in the late sixties. It’s Halloween and a group of kids finds a cursed book belonging to a young girl that is a legend in the small town. From here we go from scary story to scary story with some good twists and genuinely good monster designs.
The actors are good enough to drive the story and the progression feels natural. It’s not really a scary movie by my standards but this is something I could see at a scary movie night in some 13 year old’s basement with their friends.
If you are to watch this as an adult just enjoy the monster design and the brief moments that has Dean Norris in them (cause who cannot love the mineral man). I just really hope this fad of Scooby gangs dies out real soon cause it is getting stale rather quickly. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is what I would call a teenager family horror flick and should be treated as such.
