Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Ein angenehmer Soft-Film. Nicht genügend gespensterhaft und blutig, nur mit einer hochwertigen Arbeit mit dem Milieu/ der Ausstattung und schön gestalteten 80ern (in ihnen würde der Film besser aussehen). Heutzutage sind Horrorfilmzuschauer*innen – auch die jüngsten – an intensivere Genre-Erlebnisse gewöhnt, von denen man mehr Gänsehaut bekommt und auch mehr erschreckt wird. Obwohl es dümmere Werke mit einer schlechteren Regie sind. Aber wegen der Intensität werden sie besucht. Hier gibt es nicht viel davon. (13.09.2019)

The result is pretty much by the upper boundaries of the realistic expectations for a PG13 adaptation of a scary book for children. The scenes that adapt the scary stories are brilliant. They can be tense, scary and sometimes even give you the chills. Obviously, the viewer would wait in vain for blood and gore, but even then, it seems that the creators were allowed surprisingly plenty for a “kids” rating. Certainly, there is more horror in Scary Stories than in, for instance, the third season of Stranger Things. I’d love to see more of these scary short stories; more monsters and beasts. But, unfortunately, the binding between the “stories” is a problem. It’s not interesting enough, especially given how much time it gets. The main characters aren’t much of a problem, though it can’t be said that most of them are very likeable. I thought how it would have been if the creators had ignored the story and the entire town would somehow “read” the book, and the monster mayhem started. Overall I’m satisfied, I liked the film. But this year I’ve given four stars to far more significant and interesting horror films, and, also, the previous two works by Øvredal were stronger, so Scary Stories will have to make do with a three. (09.08.2019)

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% (09.08.2019)

Durchschnittlich, und das noch mit Ach und Krach. Vom Regisseur des Films The Autopsy of Jane Doe habe ich mehr erwartet, besonders dann, wenn auf ihn Guillermo del Toro aufgepasst hat. Der Anfang war ziemlich vielversprechend – mein Lieblingslied "Season of the Witch" von Donovan, neue und angenehm gewöhnliche junge Heldinnen und Helden, Abstand und ein Ausflug in ein Spukhaus. Dann ist aber etwas schiefgelaufen. Die einzelnen Geistergeschichten sind ziemlich voraussagbar, es fehlt ihnen an Spannung und (vielleicht mit Ausnahme der ersten) an Überraschungen. Die Schreckmomente sind alle gleich, das Drehbuch hat keine Logik, aber es tut so, als ob es irgendeine hätte und vor allem… Und vor allem benehmen sich die Figuren manchmal wie Genies (sie lösen schnell die Rätsel; sie wissen gleich, dass sie unter das Bett schauen sollen) und manchmal wieder wie Idioten. Ich hatte den Eindruck, als ob es sich um einen Fernsehfilm mit einer besseren Ausstattung handeln würde, bzw. – im Hinblick auf das Ende – um einen Piloten einer Serie. Nichts Besonderes. (13.08.2019)

Die Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark erinnerten mich in bestimmten Momenten an Der Fluch von Darkness Falls und Gänsehaut, von der Geschichte her auch mit "urbanen Legenden", Rache und "gefährlichen Geschichten aus Büchern" gearbeitet wurde. Mir haben die Monster gefallen, auch wenn man bei Guillermo del Toro, der den Film mitgeschrieben hat, "poetischere" Kreaturen gefunden hätte. Ich lobe auch die Wahl der Schauplätze und die Gestaltung der Kulissen, sei es ein rotes stilisiertes Krankenhaus, ein Spukhaus oder ein Maisfeld (das selbst am helllichten Tag gruselig aussieht). Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark strotzt (für mich zum Glück) nicht vor Grusel und hektoliterweise Blut, sondern bietet ein paar atmosphärisch unangenehme Szenen und damit eine leicht überdurchschnittliche Geschichte darüber, wie "Geschichten schmerzen, aber auch heilen". Bessere drei Sterne! (10.09.2022)

So, as I was going through the user comments on this film, I came across several references to a "70s/80s vibe" for a film set in 1968. Which reveals an interesting fact about how it doesn't really matter when any film is set, because the only thing that matters about that era is that it's retro and the whole illusion of the era is just a kind of winking backdrop that, in various elements, harkens back to a time that might not have been. The retro here is really instantaneous, because despite the old cars, Nixon on TV, and recruitment centers in small towns, you don't feel like you've gone back in time at all, but you can feel exactly how half a meter behind the camera the rest of the crew are boredly scrolling through Twitter on their phones, looking for what to buy on Amazon. Several times I found myself wondering why the characters don't just use their phones, before realizing that it was actually the sixties. Because everyone here is behaving at the very least in a contemporary way. The redheaded freckle-faced nerd the film convinces us is somehow outsider-ugly is evocative of the forty-year-old porn actress who makes ponytails so her video can be labeled "barely legal", the Hispanic hunk has as much acting and visual equipment as anyone on the Disney Channel, and the last of the foursome – Merry and Pippin – are riding the acting school of teen comedy supporting roles in their second half. When I add in the utterly incompetent patchwork that someone dared call a script and whose character work is in crayon, then my rating doesn't make much sense. Well, that's of course the fault of the supervising del Toro, who is very likely behind the design of the three monsters the film brings us. And as much as we don't enjoy the first one, and the last one is such a digital piece of junk, the second monster, which I've dubbed 'Mommy', and its brief scene make for more horror than the rest of the film. That's when the real horror peeks out for a moment, the real and basic horror premise of something slowly akin to something seemingly ridiculous and therefore disturbingly hideous. That sequence actually generated a full three stars. (08.11.2019)

I don’t consider this film to be particularly good. I was expecting a horror film, but I would probably need an instruction manual or explanatory notes to find an actually scary moment. This way, it seemed like a horror film for a considerably younger demographic, which I found a bit boring. (01.03.2020)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is an American modern horror movie and an example of what people want. However, I could not get into it at all, although it is great that there is a horror movie with a pretty strong narrative that has some potential. I almost wonder if it would not have been better to have read the original books than watch this movie adaptation, which cannot decide if it is purely for adults only or also for a younger audience. (13.03.2020)

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. (15.08.2019)