Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

The cute, soft film is neither scary nor gory enough, but it shows some quality work with the environment/set designs and nicely captures the 1980s. It would have been more successful if it had also been made in that era, as contemporary horror viewers – including the youngest ones – are used to a more intense, goosebump-inducing experience and jump scares, even in movies with worse writing and direction. But intensity is what the audience craves, and intensity is lacking here. (2019-09-13)

André Øvre has done it again and after The Autopsy of Jane Doe he serves another solid horror film that will not be missing in this year's TOP 5. It's a kind of children's adventure set in the 70s on Halloween. The kids find a book in an abandoned house that starts writing stories that immediately become reality. At times it en reminded me of Final Destination. No link in the story is weak, but each has its own thing and a perfect central evil (wonderful practical effects!!), plus a decently dense atmosphere that thrills, chills and at times scares. I was sweating like a gymnast at the end and that hasn't happened in a long time. The kids are quite likable, the visuals are solid, the pace is very fast and the film doesn't get boring. there hasn't been a pure horror entertainment like this in cinemas yet this year. For me, a great satisfaction and as an appetizer before It: Chapter 2 I couldn't get anything better. 80% (2019-08-09)

A tired 2.5 stars. The best thing here is clearly the exposition and period atmosphere, but that really ends the list of positives. Until the stories are "discovered" and start being told, it's pretty good for the reasons mentioned. Overall, though, it's a terribly routine affair that offers nothing new at all, and which unfortunately is neither scary enough nor comic enough. In fact, the whole thing felt like eating three-day-old bread with butter. You can eat it, and you will eventually (if you have nothing else at home), but you'd much rather have something fresh and more nutritious. (2019-08-15)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark reminded me at certain points of Darkness Falls and Goosebumps, where the story also worked with urban legends, revenge and dangerous stories from books. I liked the look of the monsters, even if we’ve seen more "poetically" designed creatures in Guillermo del Toro, who co-wrote the film. I also praise the choice of locations and the production design, whether it was a red hospital, a haunted house, or a cornfield (which looks eerie even in broad daylight). Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark doesn't (fortunately for me) overflow with an abundance of scares and hectolitres of blood, rather it offers a few atmospherically uncomfortable scenes and, as a result, a slightly above average tale of stories that hurt but can also heal. Better three stars! (2022-09-10)

Average, and barely that. I definitely expected more from the director of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, especially with Guillermo del Toro overseeing it. And the beginning was promising enough – my favorite Donovan song, "Season of the Witch", the unassuming and pleasantly ordinary young heroes, the hyperbole, the trip to the haunted house. But then it all went wrong. The individual ghost stories are pretty predictable and lack suspense or surprise (with the possible exception of the first one), the stunts are literally all over the place, the script has no logic but pretends it does, and most of all... mostly, the characters alternately behave like geniuses (they solve mysteries in a flash, they know immediately to look under the bed) and idiots. It struck me as a slightly more narrative TV movie, or possibly, given the ending, the pilot episode of a TV series. Not great. ____ P.S. The Czech subtitles hold up to the quality of the film, as at one point we read "Morons! It's 9 o'clock!" instead of the correct "Morons at 9 o'clock!" or when the police chief is referred to as "the boss". (2019-08-13)