MOVIE REVIEW – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
It’s 1968 in America and Tricky Dicky Nixon is running for President. Change is blowing in the wind in the cities with demonstrations against Vietnam, but in the small town of Mill Valley, the shadow of the Bellows family still looms large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time–stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying tome.
A group of teenagers get ready for Halloween night, a teenage stranger drive’s into town and gets involved with the other teenagers. They all end up at the Bellows haunted house and find Sarah’s book of scary stories. What could possibly go wrong?
The movie, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, is based on the 1980’s book series by Alvin Schwartz. Each book is a collection of short horror stories aimed at children, similar to the Goosebumps series of books that were popular in Australia. André Øvredal directed the movie (best known for his films Trollhunter and The Autopsy of Jane Doe), while the master of disturbing nightmares, Guillermo Del Toro produced the film. They have taken several stories from the book series (Harold, The big Toe, The Red Spot etc) and rolled them into one.
The movie is obviously aimed at a younger, teen, audience. It has an atmospheric feel to it and while there are a few “shocks”, the gore is kept to a minimum. There are strange creatures, squeaky floorboards and things that go bump in the night, all the hallmarks of classic horror movies.
Starring Zoe Colletti, Austin Zajur, Michael Garza and Gabriel Rush, the film is fun to try and guess who is going to die next and who is going to survive. Richard Nixon appears on televisions in the back ground every so often, but not sure what the director was trying to do with this. It went nowhere. Maybe Tricky Dickie being elected was the real horror in the movie.
Overall the movie is fun and entertaining, but hardly original. Adults will enjoy, it but teens will love it and the ending is left wide open for a sequel.
One for the teens too young to go see the movie IT.
Screening at Hoyts Cinemas from Thursday 26th September.
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