Scary stories to tell in the dark- review

The movie takes place in 1960/70s America during Halloween; the main group of friends uncover the haunted book owned by haunted Sarah Bellows. The book starts adding new scary stories which come true. The main dilemma comes from trying to stop the stories and to try and save those who have been doomed by the tales written. Yet this movie seems grounded even with the darker and odder story with references to Nixon and the war.

Visual variety- the horror scenes take place in varied places, unlike other horror movies which feature one place where the scares take place, this movie has multiple settings. A haunted far at night, a school, a hospital, a police  station and a haunted house. These settings emphasise tension and never lose the scares unlike some movies. The production design is outstanding for this movie based on the books of the same name, the monster are very well realised from the illustrations from the books.

The actors in this movie are overall good- each bring a surprisingly good job to such little roles. Yet for some characters this comes at a cost as the main character seems to be written more at the cost of other characters. Yet this isn't the only acting in the movie with a physical performance of the Jangly man (the same performer who played Baba Yaga in Hellboy 2019). His lurking presence and constant twisting adds a sense of unease to an already scary character.

The movies use of camera shots are particularly effective in delivering the scares; my personal favourite uses of camera shots comes with the toe-less corpse under the bed. he camera mostly switches between two shots a POV which is used to significantly add tension and a close up of the character hiding under the bed which shows the horror as we know something isn't right ( the character just realizing the situation he is in).

Though this movie draws many similarities to Goosebumps- the movie at times does seem to have a lacklustre story with many lines being very typical of the horror genre. The movie like the books are unsuitable for children with many graphic scenes (the movie definitely deserves its 15 rating with many horror filled, tense scenes and truly disgusting visuals).

I would recommend this movie for those who are just starting to get in horror, similar to the books. The visuals and scares will definitely live up to the title of the movie. This surprise success of this movie has hopefully introduced people to the horror genre- a more adult Goosebumps.