Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Film Review

I Did Not Get What I Was Expecting

If you ever wanted to watch a movie where a bunch of kids have to face their fear after reading from a creepy old book then this is the film for you! I didn’t watch any trailers or watch any reviews so I am about to share with you my first impressions after walking out of the movie theater. I have to admit that I did not get what I was expecting from this movie because I expected an average PG-13 film with cheap jump scares and laughable dialogue. This was one of two movies this year that got a standing ovation from the audience once the film ended and I was quite surprised myself at how good the movie turned out. The film had many creepy moments, memorable characters, an intriguing mystery element, and spectacular visual effects. I was invested while watching the movie and I was genuinely spooked during certain segments, especially the scene with the Pale Lady even though her goofy smile made me chuckle a little bit. Let me go ahead and talk a little bit about the plot before I get into what I loved about this movie.

A Bit About the Plot

The year is 1968 and it is Halloween, a time for scary stories and tricks and treats! A group of teenagers decide to visit a spooky old house because what better way to celebrate Halloween than by rummaging around a desolate looking house. That is what kids like to do, right? I know I didn’t when I was growing up. These kids have nothing better to do so they decide to break in to take a gander at the haunted house when one of the teens, Stella (played by Zoe Margaret Colletti) pulls out a mysterious looking book for the rest of the group to read. She is a horror fan and supposedly knows a little bit about a girl named Sarah who ended up hanging herself back in 1898, which evoked some kind of curse born of rage. We learn pretty fast that the book contains a bunch of scary stories and in true teenage fashion, Stella asks Sarah to tell her a story since she is pretty naive about the whole haunted story concept. This enables a curse that is placed on all the teenagers inside the house where their greatest fear is portrayed in reality. Pennywise, anyone? It also kind of reminded me of The Mummy from 1999 because it, too, was about a bunch of people getting picked off all because they tampered with something they shouldn’t have. Stella discovers that the book has a mind of its own as it starts writing terrifying stories about her friends. Whatever happens in the story seems to happen for real, so the kids must find a way to stop this curse before they all get picked off one by one. Pretty interesting concept, don’t you think? I was on board with the movie once the stories started taking shape. I was getting major Final Destination vibes because every character gets picked off in interesting ways and there is no way to stop it from happening. That is a very scary concept because it is almost like your destiny is being tampered with by evil forces you have no control over. I appreciated this concept and it seemed very unique and scary to me. Now it is time to get into what I enjoyed about the movie!

What Was Good?

1. The monster designs were fantastic! I was a big fan of the Pale Lady and her segment was probably the best in the whole film. There is nothing scarier than a naked fat lady taking her sweet time to give you the hug of a century. Try to name something scarier down in the comments section!
2. The characters were memorable in their own way with my favorite being Stella, as a horror fanatic who blames herself for her mother abandoning both her and her father. She also seemed to be the smartest one in the group and there is nothing more satisfying in a horror movie than a character who doesn’t make dumb decisions. She actually tried returning the book back to the house rather than keeping it and that made me like her character a lot more because I would have done the same thing. The others in her group fit their role just fine and I don’t have anything bad to say about them.
3. There were a lot of moments where I was on the edge of my seat because there was a great deal of tension in this movie. I felt like there were times where the monster could pop up out of nowhere and there was no irritating jump scare music to indicate when the scare was going to take place. I appreciated that in the film because jump scares can get old after a while and I only counted three effective jump scares which is anything but a negative. Most of the scares come from atmosphere and the creature effects. Whenever a monster showed up, all I could hear in the theater was sheer terror. A few people in the row in front of me had to turn away a few times in the movie and that can only mean that the film is doing its job.
4. I thought the pacing was excellent in the film! It is impossible to be bored while watching this film because the scares are clever and the tension is high throughout the course of the movie.
5. The CGI was superb and I never felt like the visuals looked too computer generated. This is no where near the levels of Matrix Reloaded bad when it comes to visual effects. If it would have been horrendously bad then the film would have been ruined. If a movie looks like a video game then it is nearly impossible to take it seriously, especially if it’s in the horror genre.
6. The dialogue felt very natural and the delivery was top notch. I felt like every actor did a great job portraying terrified kids with no means of escape. There was one kid that made me laugh whenever he spoke because of how bad his delivery was but he gets taken out almost instantly, which is a fantastic death scene.

What Wasn’t So Good?

• Some of the humor was flat out bad… One character happens to be wearing a clown outfit and they kept reusing the same, “I am not a clown, I am this” shtick and I did not find it funny in the slightest. When a movie thinks something is funny when it isn’t and keeps shoving the joke down your throat then it gets rather annoying after a while. Thankfully, once Halloween is over with, the movie abandons the whole mistaken clown identity joke that doesn’t land.
• Tommy was a typical bully and I felt like the actor portraying him wanted to fall asleep while delivering his lines. Seriously, what was he thinking when he gave that dull performance? Every line from the guy seemed so under-cooked with almost no emotion attached to the line. I already got enough of that in the Lion King remake. I don’t need any more of that. His performance was laughable when he tried to act threatening because he mumbled most of his lines. I just wanted to reach inside the screen with a megaphone to tell the movie to cut just so he can add some spice to his lines. Tommy was a joke and I am glad he died off early on, otherwise, the movie would have suffered whenever he popped on screen.

In Conclusion

I found the movie to be way more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be. I felt a real connection with the characters, especially Stella, I appreciated the tension throughout the film, I loved the creature effects, and I was genuinely terrified during certain scenes. I can not think of anything wrong with this movie other than Gabriel Rush’s portrayal of Tommy in the film. He was so monotone to me and I feel like he could have given a much better performance with much more emotion. I also didn’t much like the ending because it doesn’t quite tie everything together as good as it could have. I won’t spoil anything but I feel like they are trying to bait the audience in for a sequel and I hate it when movies do that. There should be a satisfying end to a movie and if the movie is good then you can possibly tease a sequel without going full on sequel bait. Everything else was good in the movie and I will have to give this movie a recommendation. I suggest checking this movie out if you are a big into horror and enjoy being spooked out of your mind. I am going to give this movie 4 stars out of 5! If you enjoyed my review then be sure to share this article around on social media! I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!