When a Mysterious Book is Found, the Horror Within It Comes Alive

Zoe Colletti in "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

When I was in middle school, Alvin Schwartz’s book series, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” would be on display in the library around Halloween.  Although the front covers were shiver-inducing, I couldn’t resist opening the books and gazing through the pages of Schwartz’s bone-rattling tales and Stephen Gammell’s haunting illustrations.  These stories were a staple of October festivities, and they always offered terrific frights.

Director André Øvredal brings Schwartz’s work to life with “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.”  Before this, Øvredal dabbled in horror with the 2010 found-footage dark fantasy film, “Trollhunter,” and the 2016 supernatural-horror film, “The Autopsy of Jane Doe.”  With these two films, he showed potential as a filmmaker, and he makes a confident jump to mainstream, bigger-budget fare with his latest outing, complete with talented newcomers, chilling atmospherics, and respect for the source material.

In Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, on Halloween night of 1968, Stella Nicholls (Zoe Colletti), Ramón Morales (Michael Garza), August Hilderbrandt (Gabriel Rush), and Charlie Steinberg (Austin Zajur), venture into the abandoned house of the Bellows, a troubled family of local lore who helped establish the town.  When they find a book of scary stories and bring it back home, it soon begins to write new stories on its own, and Stella and her friends realize that they’re the next victims of the horrors that the book brings to its pages.

Although the characters are archetypes that we’ve seen before, the young cast members all connect well on screen and seem like they’re having a great time with their roles, all of which helps us become invested in them as they face deadly circumstances.  However, the two standouts of the cast are Colletti and Garza.  Colletti is able to bring out effective bouts of emotion in the film’s more pivotal moments.  And, Garza exhibits restrained, but powerful feelings when he must face his personal problems, being able to show the weight that such issues place on his shoulders.

The screenplay by Dan and Kevin Hageman takes its time establishing the setting.  We spend the first 15 minutes or so getting to know the characters before they find the book, an approach that prevents them from becoming deposable horror-movie characters, but instead characters about whom you care.  When it comes time for the screenwriters to incorporate Schwartz’s stories into the film, the Hagemans are able to find a way to do so without having it feel cobbled together.  Another memorable aspect of the screenwriters handling the stories within the film is how, for most of the characters, they make the tales connect with the fears and personal troubles that they experience, which adds a little more depth to the roles.

The Hagemans utilize the ‘60s setting to a great degree, but one of the most effective aspects is how it connects the Vietnam War to one of the characters and have him face how it has impacted his life.  It’s something that you wouldn’t expect from a mainstream, PG-13 horror film, but it works.

Guillermo del Toro is one of the film’s producers and has a “story by” credit (along with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan), and you can see the influence that del Toro has on the movie, particularly with the creatures of the stories within the film.  From the Toe Monster to the Jangly Man to Harold the Scarecrow to the Pale Lady, these are entities that you can imagine appearing in a del Toro film.  They’re not run-of-the-mill demons with boring designs, but rather have quite a bit of creepiness to them.  The way these creatures are constructed, whether it be through practical or special effects, helps bring you into the unsettling world of Schwartz’s stories.

Øvredal re-teams with his “Autopsy of Jane Doe” cinematographer, Roman Osin, to make effective use of the dark, whether it be in capturing the classic haunted-house setting of the Bellows’ home, or during a tense sequence at a police station in the film’s third act.  One of his most effective uses of Osin’s lighting is during the scene with the Pale Lady in a mental hospital, which has her slowly approach her victim within hallways that are bathed in red light.

Although Øvredal uses a few jump scares that are pretty much telegraphed to you, he does well in building up tension in other parts of the film.  What he does best in the movie is balance the level of horror for different age groups, being able to maintain a level that would appeal to younger audiences and introduce them to the horror-film genre, while also appealing to the older audiences who grew up with Schwartz’s books.

Halloween is still two and half months away, but “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” proves that it’s never to early to begin the frightful festivities.  Just as these are tales that would be read under the covers with a flashlight, or told around a campfire, it’s just as much fun seeing them play out in the darkness of a movie theater.

Grade: B+