As many of you are familiar with, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” was a series of scary short stories written by Alvin Schwartz and released in various forms over the years. You’ve probably heard a story from these books, whether you know it or not. These were the type of scary stories that got passed around through elementary schools, all slightly different retellings and all under the pretense that the stories were true. These stories have always held a special place in my heart, so imagine my surprise when, in 2021, I discovered a movie adaptation of the books already existed.
In 2019, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released. André Øverdal, probably best known for his movie The Autopsy of Jane Doe, directed this film. Guillermo del Toro helped produce this movie, one of my personal favorite filmmakers of all time. His more popular works include Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, as well as his work on The Hobbit films. Two extremely talented horror and sci-fi artists got together to produce an adaptation of the popular scary stories book trilogy and what they created was… definitely something.
I want to start off this movie review by saying that I absolutely love this movie, probably more than most people did. I’ve been obsessed with it for the past four years. I’ve been obsessed with the actors and their other works as well. I’ve put a lot of mental space into thinking about this film. That is why I feel entitled to criticize the plot holes, concerning age gap relationships, misused politicism, and missed opportunity for an amazing sequel. I have an entire script in mind for a second movie so if anyone knows how to get in touch with Andre Overdal, that would be much appreciated.
The movie starts out with a short introduction of sorts from our main character, Stella. She makes a point to mention the importance of stories and how they can change your life. In the grand scheme of things, this introduction isn’t needed. It feels really cliche and also makes it feel that you’re about to watch a kids version of a horror movie, despite the PG-13 rating. I personally think they should’ve committed to an R rated horror movie, because then they wouldn’t have felt the need to have moments like this that cater to a younger audience.
We are introduced to Stella as she bikes around her small town on a random day in the fall. The movie is set in the 1960s, and we are shown that through the characters’ wardrobe, appearance of cars and building, but most importantly, political propaganda. This leads to my second issue; politics are thrown around as a sort of C-plot in this movie and it comes off very weak. I would’ve loved if they dwelled more on the politics of the era at the time, but it almost feels like the political topics were included as an afterthought, and in a very lazy manner. For example, the next character we’re introduced to is Ramon. Ramon is a Mexican American who is fleeing the draft after his brother died in battle. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the horrible reality that was the Vietnam war, and how many young people lost their lives during battle. However, this whole aspect of his character is pushed to the side as the supernatural aspects of the movie come into play.
Ramon’s character is extremely difficult for me to decide my feelings on. For one, he is obviously eighteen or older if he is being drafted by the military, yet he is supposed to be Stella’s love interest despite the fact that Stella is, at most, 16. I know that’s only a two year hypothetical age gap, but there’s a lot more about their relationship that bothers me. For one, he owns a car, is actively on the run and living on his own, and is extremely vague and secretive about his past. There’s a scene where Stella talks about how she dreams of leaving her small town and going to the big city to pursue writing. Ramon immediately shuts that down and says the city is bad. Later on in the movie he also snoops through her things and starts reading her journals?? On top of that, he is very controlling throughout the movie, despite having just met all of the characters. I want to root for Ramon, especially given that he’s the only person of color in this movie, but he is a weirdo the entire movie and it irks me to my core.
Back on the timeline, we get to meet Stella’s two closest friends, Chuck and Auggie. These two are the epitome of the black cat and golden retriever duo. Chuck is a prankster, a jokester, a class clown if you will. Auggie is extremely serious, stone-faced, and pessimistic. At this point in the movie, we also get to see into their homes and we are shown how different all of the characters’ lives are. Chuck lives in a cramped, messier home with his mom and older sister, Ruth. His palette throughout the movie includes a range of colors, patterns and textures; his house, on the other hand, is very darkly lit and decorated. Auggie’s home is large and spacious, with brighter colors and symmetrical decoration. He lives with his mother and step father, who he has a strained relationship with. Stella lives in a small and cramped home with her father, though her home seems much more comfortable than Chuck’s. The rooms are lit with warm lights and warm colors, a contrast to the dark lighting and muted colors of Chuck’s house. I could go on and on about the fantastic set design and wardrobe of this movie as well as the implications of those things, but that is for another time.
Stella, Auggie, and Chuck are all getting ready for Halloween, despite being highschoolers. It’s not clear how old they are exactly, but they’re not seniors. I know that because Ruth, Chuck’s older sister, is a senior and her football boyfriend, Tommy, is also a senior. Tommy is one of this movie’s non-monster antagonists. He’s super racist towards Ramon, abusive to his girlfriend, and just a cartoonishly evil high school bully to everyone else. On top of that, he’s played by Austin Abrams (one of my favorite actors of my generation), who does an amazing job with whatever role he’s given. The acting in this movie ranges from really amazing to mediocre at best. For example, the racist cop is a very one dimensional character and it’s clear that the actor did the best he could with what he had. There are also a lot of tense scenes throughout the movie that certain actors and actresses had a difficult time with. There are plenty of reasons that might explain why the acting wasn’t top tier, but at the end of the day, it’s still extremely confusing (and pretty hilarious) to see a character remain pretty stone faced after their best friends just died.
Anyways, back to the timeline, the three main characters get dressed up for halloween and go trick-or-treating. The whole reason they’re doing this is so they can prank the school bully, Tommy (Ruth’s boyfriend. Keep up, guys), by throwing a bag of flaming shit into his car. They end up getting chased by Tommy and his goons into a drive-in theater where they have to hide behind rows of cars. They end up seeing Ramon in his car and, for some reason, Stella open’s Ramon’s passenger side door and hops in. Does she know him? Nope. Do Chuck and Auggie follow right behind her? Yup. If I was Ramon, I would’ve lost my mind. To be fair, he is upset about Chuck and Auggie being there, but he was happy that Stella was there. He started blushing and got all nervous- like what?? I don’t care how hot someone is- if they break into my car, I’m losing my mind on them.
Anyways, Ramon doesn’t have any survival instincts and that becomes more and more clear throughout the film. He ends up defending the three from Tommy, and they all decide to leave the drive-in theater and drive to a spooky old house in the middle of nowhere. This is when we’re introduced to the main supernatural elements of this movie. This old house was owned by the Bellows family, a wealthy family who helped put their town on the map. However, legend says that the Bellows had a secret daughter, named Sarah, that they hid away because she was so… ugly? It’s not exactly clear what about her was so off putting- I believe she had albinism, but that is never directly said in the movie. It is how she is portrayed, though. Anyways, legend says that Sarah Bellows would write these stories that she would read the kids in the town through a pipe or hole in the wall that led out of the house. It’s also kinda unclear how she was able to read to these kids if she was locked away… but she’s magic so who cares. Anyways, the Bellows family found out she was reading to kids and they got super mad and tried to punish her, but legend says she ended up massacring her family. Good for her, they all sucked.
Like any teenagers in a horror movie, the main four decide to break into the old haunted house. Almost immediately, Chuck and Auggie run off together. Considering it was the sixties, they never made it canon that the two of them were in love, but they were. This is another detail of this movie I could go on and on about, but I’ll save that for another time. Anyways, Stella and Ramon explore the house together and end up finding the secret room where the Bellows family kept Sarah Bellows hostage. Auggie and Chuck are upstairs at this point, playing hide and seek. Chuck hides in a closet (like come on…) but he suddenly sees light coming from the other side. He opens in slowly and finds that the old room he once was in was now restored to its original form. There is a large bed in the middle of the room, and an old woman sits on it with her giant dog. They stare at him- he gets scared and slams the closet doors. Auggie eventually finds him and teases him about freaking out, but Chuck is ready to get the hell out of there- and I don’t blame him. However, he and Auggie end up joining Stella and Ramon in the secret basement room.
Okay, considering I’m barely a fourth into the movie recap and I’m already nearing 2000 words, I’m gonna call it here. Next week will be part two- Hopefully I can be more productive in that part and less ramble-y. Anyways, thank you for joining me on this ride. If you are at all interested in this movie and have never seen it, PLEASE watch it. The only reason I like picking this movie apart so much is because of how much I love it. Also, if you’re interested in any of the mini tangents I went on in here and want me to expand on them, feel free to let me know! I could talk about this movie for literal years.
