Streaming on Netflix.
If you, like me, were a kid obsessed with horror, there’s a good chance you grew up with Alvin Schwartz’s wonderful “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” trilogy. Schwartz drew on folklore and urban legends to tell genuinely creepy tales of terror, and the stories were further enhanced by downright terrifying illustrations courtesy of Stephen Gammell. In 2019, director André Øvredal teamed up with Guillermo del Toro to create a film inspired by the books, with pretty swell results. I really dig this movie, although I do have some issues. For one thing, I think an anthology film approach would’ve been better suited to the material. In addition to that, I’m actually pretty annoyed with how the film changes the details of some of the stories (“Harold,” one of the best and scariest tales from the three books, is completely altered here for reasons that absolutely baffle me). That said, the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” movie is a fun bit of gateway horror for younger viewers, filled memorable practical creature effects.
Set in the 1960s, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” follows a group of kids unleash a curse surrounding a now-dead girl named Sarah Bellows. Sarah was accused of being a witch and died young, leaving behind a book full of scary stories in her old, spooky haunted house. Soon, the horrifying events of the stories begin to come to life, which, yes, is pretty much the same concept behind the “Goosebumps” movie starring Jack Black. While aimed at a young audience, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” tries to be genuinely scary, and that’s commendable — kids need scary movies, damn it!