An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
Spoilers! If you don’t want spoilers – check out the Spoiler-Free post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at 2019’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark based on the series of books of the same name by Alvin Schwartz.
When a group of friends find and steal a book from an abandoned mansion they accidentally awaken the vengeful spirit of it’s owner whose scary stories come to life.
Is it Scary?
While there are a few jump scares, you won’t be terrified by the end of the movie. You’ll most likely be unsettled by some scenes and the monster designs which are really well done. Overall it’s more entertaining than scary.
Detailed Plot:
The movie opens with a narrator telling us “stories heal, hurt, and if repeated often enough become real” so I’m assuming that is going to be our main theme for this movie, especially since the movie is called Scary STORIES to Tell in the Dark.
She then says she learned this in the last autumn of her childhood and we see text pop up telling us the movie takes place in 1968. A car then passes a sign and we see we’re in Mill Valley, Pennsylvania on Halloween.
Over the next 5-10 minutes we meet all our characters in different scenes each getting ready for Halloween night. Our main character Stella, who is a writer (played by Zoe Colletti), brings food to her father, Roy (played by Dean Norris). She then goes to her room to lie down telling her father she doesn’t want to go out with her friends for Halloween.
But her friends Auggie and Chuck (played by Gabriel Rush and Austin Zajur respectively) aren’t having any of that boredom life and call her on her walkie talkie to convince her to join them.
They point out this may be their last Halloween together and Chuck reminds her they’re not going trick-or-treating, they are instead going out for payback.
At a gas station we see another character Ramon (played by Michael Garza) filling up his car with gas when the police chief (played by Gil Bellows) pulls up asking him if he knows where he’s going. Ramon tells him he’s just following the harvest. After the cop leaves someone gives Ramon a flier for a Halloween drive-in movie marathon.
In the middle of a cornfield we see Tommy (played by Austin Abrams) and his little gang throwing glass bottles at a scarecrow named Harold (played by a scarecrow) because I guess that’s how kids had fun back then?
Before they leave Tommy grabs a bat and swings at Harold one last time.
We then cut to Chuck’s house where he is pulling shit out of the toilet and putting it in a paper bag. What is going on? We also find out his older sister Ruth (played by Natalie Ganzhorn) is getting ready to go out on a date and his mom has made him a Spider-Man costume that is actually just a spider costume.
Auggie, dressed as a clown, arrives and the two head over to meet with Stella who is now dressed up as a witch.
The group wait around for Tommy to drive by and steal their candy, something we’re told he does every year. But this time it appears Chuck has something up his sleeve as he holds out his pillow case filled with “candy”.
Tommy’s car turns the corner and we see Tommy’s unhappy date is actually Ruth who is wondering why they’re driving around with Tommy’s two friends instead of being at dinner. Tommy spots our main characters and signals his backseat friend who reaches out snatching the pillow case from Chuck’s outstretched hand.
Turns out the bag contained dirty men’s underwear causing Tommy to hit the brakes. Our main group starts pelting his car with eggs as he reverses towards them. Chuck then lights the bag of shit on fire and throws it into Tommy’s car landing directly in his lap. Gross.
Tommy very lightly crashes into a wooden fence and his gang exit the car where Chuck realizes his sister was with Tommy. The gang grab several wooden bats and start chasing our main group through the streets, some woods, and finally ending up at the drive-in movie theater.
There, our main group enter Ramon’s unlocked car and though he questions what the hell is going on, overall he seems oddly cool with the group jumping in. They introduce themselves to Ramon and he and Stella bond slightly over the movie, Night of the Living Dead.
But the fun stops when Tommy and his gang sans Ruth find them.
Luckily Ramon has learned his lesson and his doors are now locked. He then tells Tommy he smells like shit. The owner/manager(?) of the drive-in theater appears and tells Tommy he has to leave as they’re disrupting the other patrons. Tommy reluctantly agrees but not before threatening our group and teases Stella about her mother running away.
After they leave Stella stands outside the car crying as we learn from Chuck and Auggie that her mom abandoned her and her dad years ago. Since they’re in a small town, this became prime gossip leading many to tease Stella causing her to become an outcast.
Stella returns to the car and offers to take the Ramon to a haunted house as it’s still Halloween.
The group arrive at the house and Stella fills Ramon in on its past. We learn the house belonged to the Bellow’s family, one of the first in the area who also ran the paper mill that created the town. We learn from Chuck that the house was boarded up some time ago due to the death of a child.
But this doesn’t stop our group from breaking in as Ramon uses a pen to pick the padlock on the door. The group enter the dilapidated house and we learn more about the Bellow family. The family had a secret daughter named Sarah that they kept hidden for some reason and removed her from all portraits.
Kids would come from all over to sneak a peek of Sarah but they could only hear her behind the walls. Sarah would pass the time telling them scary stories and soon kids started dying from poisonings. The town blamed Sarah and the adults went to the home to find her but she had already hung herself.
The group separate with Auggie and Chuck heading upstairs and Stella and Ramon investigating the first floor, where they find a hidden latch behind some silverware.
This leads them downstairs where Stella uses Ramon’s switchblade to pick another padlock leading to Sarah Bellow’s hidden room. Back upstairs Chuck hides in a closet in order to scare Auggie. But, when he peeks out, he sees the room is no longer decrepit, instead, it is now a brightly lit room and someone is watching him.
Chuck quickly slams the door closed as we hear footsteps approaching but they’re revealed to be Auggie’s when he opens the door. The room is now back to normal which freaks Chuck out and demands they leave. The two head downstairs to find Stella and enter Sarah’s hidden room.
There, Stella finds Sarah’s book of stories which, according to the legend, is written in children’s blood. Chuck once again demands they leave but someone slams the door closed. It’s then revealed to be Tommy along with Ruth who is trying to convince him to leave the group alone.
After she threatens to tell the police chief, Tommy tells her to open the door but as soon as she does, he pushes her in. Tommy then closes the door and locks it, leaving the group along with Ruth with no way out.
As Auggie, Chuck, Ramon, and Ruth bang on the door, Stella reads from Sarah’s book and requests a story be told to her just like the legend. We then see black smoke arise from a rocking chair nearby. DUN DUN DUNNN
The black smoke secretly unlocks the door for the group and they escape only to find Ramon’s car completely vandalized. I guess Ruth couldn’t give them a heads up. Stella apologizes to Ramon for getting him involved and offers to sneak him into her home for the night.
Later that night with Ramon in the basement, Stella, in her room, reads through Sarah’s book and notices the ink on the last story still hasn’t dried. This tells us the story Harold, was written very recently.
We then cut to our main douche, Tommy, arriving home drunk and being yelled at by his mom to deliver eggs to the neighbors since he didn’t do it earlier. This requires him to walk through the cornfield and pass the scarecrow Harold… hey wait a second, that’s the name of the story!
Walking through the cornfield Tommy sees Harold appear in other parts which is weird because scarecrows can’t walk… right?
Coming around another corner he then sees the pole where Harold used to be hanging from. Harold then appears in front of Tommy, perfectly capable of walking, and begins to chase after him. Tommy trips over a pitchfork and uses it to attack Harold, stabbing him in the center of his body for some reason.
This is confusing as Harold has a large hole in the center of his body with only a pole connecting his upper body and lower body and yet Tommy believed this was the perfect place to attack.
Harold pulls the pitchfork from Tommy and stabs him through his stomach though it looks like straw protrudes from the wound. Tommy struggles to escape the cornfield but begins turning into a scarecrow himself. As he reaches the exit he falls to ground and vomits straw. We then cut to black because I’m pretty sure he’s dead.
The following day we find out Tommy has been reported missing when the chief of police approaches Ramon at the auto repair shop and questions him. Since someone reported Tommy chasing after someone and Ramon’s car is damage, the chief believes he had something to do with it. He then asks for Ramon’s last name, Rodriguez, and tells him to not leave town for a few days.
At school Stella shows Chuck and Auggie the Harold story which coincidentally has a character named Tommy who turns into a scarecrow at the end. As Tommy didn’t appear at school, the three argue whether something weird is going on, with Auggie refusing to believe it and Chuck pointing out the weird room and the woman from the Bellow’s house.
Later Ramon and Stella head to the cornfield to investigate and find Harold wearing Tommy’s jacket. Stella believes that Harold is actually Tommy but Ramon laughs off the idea.
Fearing something is going on, Stella returns Sarah’s book back to the house where nothing weird happens which feels like a missed opportunity by Sarah. Back at home, Roy has to work a double shift with gives Stella the opportunity to invite Ramon back to the house.
There, Stella is shocked when she finds Ramon reading Sarah’s book claiming he found it on her desk. Stella rightfully freaks out, taking the book from Ramon but when she opens it they both see a new story being written by an unseen force.
Stella rips out the pages but the story just reappears continuing to write itself.
Auggie’s name then appears in the story and Stella rushes to call him on the walkie. We see Auggie at home, alone, taking a bite out of pot of stew when Stella’s call comes in. Stella and Ramon attempt to get Auggie to not eat anything but Auggie brushes them off.
They read the story to him, warning him a corpse will come looking for it’s missing toe exclaiming “who took my toe?!” Auggie says he’s heard the story before but isn’t worried as he’s all alone and doesn’t hear anyone calling out for a toe.
We then see a toe floating in the stew but Auggie doesn’t see it and eats a huge spoonful of toe stew. Biting into something weird he pulls out a toe from his mouth and freaks the fuck out.
In worse news, Auggie hears footsteps and then hears a voice yelling out “who took my toe?!” Ramon and Stella rush to Auggie’s house (why weren’t they already doing this?) as Auggie hides under his bed.
A toeless corpse then wanders down the hall and opens Auggie’s door. When it appears to have left, Auggie peeks out from under his bed only to be dragged back under by this thing.
Auggie is then pulled into the black abyss under his bed, so apparently beds aren’t safe anymore. Stella and Ramon arrive too late and only find scratches left on the floor from when Auggie was dragged away.
The following day Stella and Ramon meet with Ruth and Chuck to break the news of Auggie’s disappearance and to warn them about the book. Though skeptical at first, Chuck freaks out when he reads Auggie’s story and wants to formulate a plan on what to do. Meanwhile Ruth believes it’s a prank and leaves to prepare for her school musical.
The remaining three attempt to burn the book but it doesn’t work. When they search through the ash they find the book back in one piece. They then decide to do research on Sarah Bellows by looking through the newspaper archives.
They discover the year before Sarah hung herself, her family disappeared one by one, their names corresponding to other stories in the book. Before they could debate why Sarah would write the stories, another story entitled The Red Spot begins to write itself.
Ruth’s name then appears in the book and the three leave to find her. Earlier in the film there was a quick scene of Ruth applying makeup to a red spot on her cheek and claiming it was a spider bite she received from the Bellow’s house. We cut to Ruth at school, getting ready for the musical, applying makeup to the same red spot, only now it’s much larger.
In the bathroom the spot continues to grow as what appears to be a long black hair protrudes out of it. Meanwhile Ramon, Stella, and Chuck have arrived at the school and search the bathrooms for her.
Ruth tries to pull on the hair but it starts to move revealing itself to not be a hair at all and instead, the leg of a spider. The spider then breaks out of her face followed by multiple spiders. SO MANY SPIDERS.
Stella and the group find her covered in spiders and Chuck grabs a pale of water throwing it on her seemingly saving her. Meanwhile Stella sees the shadow from earlier form into the silhouette of a woman, presumably Sarah Bellows.
We next see Ruth, still alive, taken by paramedics and Chuck growing more paranoid of them being next. The following day the group visit the home of Louis Baptiste, one of the former servants of the Bellow’s home.
Before they get there, Chuck tells Stella of a nightmare he’s been having of a ‘red room’ where a pale lady tells him to run. I’m sure that will come into play later.
At the Baptiste home, the elderly Louis asks to see the book and tells them they angered Sarah’s spirit when they took it. She then starts to sing about worms causing her daughter to enter and kick the three out. Before they leave, Louis mentions Sarah actually hung herself in the hospital and not her home.
The three then head to the hospital and are forced to sneak in after they’re denied Sarah’s records. They find out the records are kept in the ‘Records & Evaluation Dept.’ AKA the R.E.D room causing Chuck to refuse to carry on further.
Stella and Ramon proceed to the room as Chuck attempts to stay hidden as to not raise suspicions. This doesn’t work for too long as several orderlies spot him and start to chase him through the hospital.
Meanwhile Stella and Ramon have found Sarah’s records and discover she had albinism which caused her family to locked her away in the basement and admit her to the Pennhurst Asylum. We find out Sarah’s own brother was her doctor who forced various treatments onto her including electroshock therapy.
They also find a wax cylinder allowing them to hear a recording of Sarah with her doctor/brother. We hear Sarah denying hurting or poisoning the children as her brother calls her a liar and shocks her. Sarah then tells him the children were poisoned by the mercury coming from the mill and entering the water, this causes her brother to deny the claim and shocks her again.
Sarah’s voice then becomes scratchy and menacing as she starts telling a story of Charlie and the Red Room. Stella pulls out the book and sees a new story being written involving Chuck.
We then cut to Chuck who is still running through the hospitals when the alarms go off causing the emergency lights to turn on, turning the halls red. Chuck starts to scream for help but only sees a pale women far away down a hall approaching him.
Turning the other way the pale women appears at the end of that hall but closer. Chuck runs down multiple halls but each time the pale women appears, getting closer each time.
Eventually the pale woman reaches Chuck and hugs him, absorbing him into herself. The women disappears and Stella and Ramon arrive finding only his pen on the ground. Meanwhile hospital security arrive and arrest the two.
We cut to a little while later with Stella and Ramon at the police precinct. Stella calls her father telling him she would never abandon him but she fears she’s going to die and to not look for her. After she hangs up the chief of police reveals Ramon’s real last name is Morales and he’s a draft dodger.
He then questions them about the missing teens and doesn’t believe their story of Sarah Bellow’s book because who would? He then places both in adjoining cells hoping they’ll tell him the truth in the morning.
Later in the night, with the chief the only cop left in the precinct, he notices a new story written in the book entitled Me Tie Dough-ty Walker. Wiping the ink reveals it to be fresh and then asks if Stella wrote it which would be difficult since she’s been locked away this whole time.
The lights in the precinct then go out and the chief hears sounds coming from the fireplace. Stella begs him to tell her who the new story names and he reveals its Ramon. Since all the stories have been connected to each victim, Ramon believes someone called the “Jangly man” must be coming for him.
Back at the fireplace, a head comes tumbling down directly in front of the Chief. It then comes to life and yells “me tie dough-ty walker” causing the chief to shoot it multiple times.
The bullets do nothing as multiple other body parts tumble from the fireplace and they fuse together rebuilding the jangly man.
Back in one piece the jangly man immediately kills the chief by twisting his head 180 degrees. He then tosses the body towards the cells and calls out for Ramon as he crawls into the holding room.
Stella is able to reach between the bars and take the chief’s keys from his body. She then unlocks her and Ramon’s cells, narrowly avoiding the jangly man. The two grab the book and keys to a police car and escape the precinct.
Outside Ramon tells Stella to go to the Bellow’s house and find a way to stop Sarah while he leads the jangly man away. The jangly man pretty quickly and easily catches up to the car and leaps onto the roof. Ramon is able to maneuver him onto the front of the car and then crashes into a truck pinning the jangly man.
Running off Ramon doesn’t see the jangly man dismember himself in order to free himself.
Stella arrives at the Bellow’s house and yells out to Sarah begging her to stop telling the stories. This causes Stella to be transported into the past and enter Sarah’s body. While we the audience see Stella everyone in the home sees Sarah.
Back in the present Ramon arrives at the house and finds the book as it writes a new story called The Haunted House featuring Stella. As he calls out for Stella he hears the jangly man approaching and he runs upstairs.
In the past Sarah’s family search for Stella/Sarah in order to lock her in the basement. After attempting to hide in a room, she hides under a table in the dining room but is quickly found and dragged away dropping her glasses.
It turns out the family knew about the mill poisoning the water and it being the cause of the children’s deaths. They purposely tortured Sarah for her to take the blame and lied to the town. At some point either Sarah manifested her powers by anger or she found the magic book and started to write stories involving her family leading to their disappearances/deaths.
Now locked in the basement the spirit of Sarah appears to Stella and tells her she has a new story for her.
In the present, after being chased all through the mansion by the jangly man, Ramon hides under a table and finds Stella’s glasses. He then tries to call out to Stella, telling her to tell Sarah the truth.
Somehow Stella in the past hears this because when you add time travel elements to your story, there are no rules. Stella then tells Sarah that she’s turned into the monster that those who locked her away accused her of being.
Stella promises to tell everyone the truth of what really happened to clear her name but Sarah must stop her rage. Sarah then gives Stella a pen and tells her to use her blood to write the story. Stella opens the book and begins to write.
Sarah then lets out a piercing scream and the jangly man in the present dissolves saving Ramon just in time. Meanwhile Stella is transported back to the present and finds Ramon.
Sometime later Ramon boards a bus headed to war and asks Stella to write him which she agrees to do so. She then tells him to make sure he comes back home. In a voiceover Stella tells us she believes there’s a way to bring Chuck and Auggie back by using the book. (fuck Tommy)
The film ends with Roy driving Stella and a scarred Ruth to parts unknown to find a way. The ultimate of sequel baiting!
Review:
There’s not a lot to dislike about Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark especially if you’ve read the books. The acting is good, writing is not bad, and the best part are the monster designs. All monsters look creepy and unsettling mainly because, all but one I think, are done with practical effects. I assume this was producer Guillermo del Toro’s doing.
One thing to note is the movie is NOT rated R so you won’t find blood or gore though I don’t think scenes like Tommy’s transformation or the spiders emerging from Ruth’s face suffer at all.
The movie does leave you with a bunch of questions IF you really think about it, like how did Sarah get her abilities, what even are her abilities? I assumed it was reality-warping but then she brought Stella into the past where she dropped her glasses and Ramon found them in the present. That’s time travel!
It makes you feels like some plot points and characters (Louise) were meant to do more but were ultimately dropped. Maybe the studio didn’t have much faith in the movie and forced a short run time? I don’t know but it doesn’t ruin the movie.
It’s an entertaining movie that won’t leave you terrified but you won’t feel like you wasted your time.
Cast IMDB