So the spooky season is finally upon us once more. The leaves are falling off of the trees, an ominous breeze blows through the progressively cooler streets, and the cinemas are jam packed with horror movies. This is, it should go without saying, a cracking time to be a movie fan. After all, horror is a damn fun genre, regardless of the film's actual quality. The cool thing about this season is that if a film can evoke a spooky mood or atmosphere, then it kind of enhances the whole experience, and makes any flaws largely forgivable. Flawed horror films can be so damn fun, moreso than in any other genre. Yes my friends, it's Autumn again, the season of film festivals, awards contenders, and fun as hell horror movies, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark heralds us in nicely. This is an ideal pre-Halloween movie. It nails the late Autumn atmosphere, with enough scares to make it fine viewing for Halloween prep. This is undoubtedly the best thing about Scary Stories, which, overall, has too many issues for me to call it an actually good movie. At it's best, it's a damn fun time, an anthology horror based on a series of books that I haven't read, nor was very familiar with before I saw it. Going into this blind, I found myself pretty pleasantly surprised with it, so let's dive in. The year is 1968, and it's Halloween in the sleepy town of Mill Valley. A group of kids stumble upon a mysterious book written years ago by Sarah Bellows, a figure of much myth and legend in the town. Upon reading this book, the kids find themselves becoming part of the grotesque stories within the pages, being taken out one by one by the things they fear most.
So far, so Stranger Things, but Scary Stories actually utilises that kind of throwback horror in a really fun way. It establishes itself as a pure love letter to the Halloween season from the start, with the leadup to the horror immediately setting a really strong atmosphere. And if the opening introduces the film's greatest strength (the look and feel of late October), then it also sets up its greatest weakness just as quickly. The film's writing was never going to be it's strong suit, but the script here is seriously poor: hokey at best and a complete mess at it's worst. The characters are archetypes, thinly written caricatures that I'm not actually sure if we're supposed to care about. I mean I get that the first characters to die in a movie like this are never going to be particularly well developed, but there wasn't a single character in this that I really cared about, even towards the end. Nobody here is that interesting, or sympathetic, and it doesn't help that the dialogue is clunky and unnatural, and definitely not what real people would actually say. It can definitely be argued that that was the point, that it tries to capture the same endearingly schlocky mood that Creepshow did, and sometimes it almost does, but the actual storytelling lets the film down time and time again, and it's only marred by that dialogue. The characters here make some weird decisions, and the scares are telegraphed way too much, to the point where it kind of took me out of the experience. The hospital scene especially suffers from this, with one character repeatedly setting up the ensuing scares, and then making some nonsensically bad decisions that feel more questionable than legitimately scary.
Even so, the scares themselves are actually a riot. When the stories come to life, the film really begins to have fun with itself, and is genuinely quite fun. The scarecrow scene is an early highlight, with other standout shockers being the toe stew and the absolute joy that is the Jangly Man. This guy is a real treat, balancing genuine fear with a delirious silliness that makes every scene he's in an absolute blast that's also really freaking creepy. If the other stories never quite reach these heights, then they can't be faulted for trying. The red spot is decent body horror, and the scene in the hospital just about overcomes it's clunkiness with some creatively disturbing imagery. When it's scary, it's the fun kind of scary. Think Creepshow, and Poltergeist, and Gremlins. It's not hardcore horror by any means, but it was never trying to be. Instead, it relishes in it's PG-13 horror delights, with some (usually) well placed jumpscares that fit well into the strong, haunted house kind of vibe. It's definitely imagery over ideas, and I think it's a good gateway horror for people who want to get into the genre, and aren't quite ready for anything too hardcore. Its nothing too heavy, with most of the spooks being in good fun, and it's so earnest in it's horror that it's hard not to have a good time.
Less fun is the social commentary, which, not for lack of trying, doesn't always work. The film is set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, which is always just.... kind of there. Even when it does start to tie into one character's plot, it still never justified in why it's there. No spoilers for the film's ending, but the way in which Vietnam is integrated is so incredibly basic, and never actually says anything interesting about the horror of war or it's effects, which is disappointing because of Guillermo del Toro's involvement. Considering commentary-laced horror is kind of his thing, it's a real shame that Scary Stories just kind of glosses over the social and political context of it's setting, with any attempt to address it being pretty ineffective and uninteresting. Unfortunately, this is a film where the fun factor definitely outweighs any juicy thematic content, which, given just how enjoyable this film's scares are, isn't that bad, but it still feels like it scratches the surface of something that's more interesting than what we ended up with.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is very much a popcorn horror. Yeah, it has its fair share of issues, but when it's fun, it's an absolute blast, with scares that revel in equal amounts of silliness and creepiness. Hell, it even makes its jumpscares work, timing them well and pairing them with a legitimately spooky atmosphere. Okay the writing is heavy handed, the commentary is misplaced and the characters are blander than plain rice, but if you can look past all of that, there's a good time to be had here. This is not a game changing horror, hell, it's not even that scary, but it's clearly made by people who acknowledge the fun side of the genre, and the fact that that aspect of the film is so well done makes it less of a shame when the rest of the film isn't quite on that level. Is it a good film? Maybe? There's definitely good stuff here, but the issues with the plot and the writing are kind of hard to look past, and looking at it objectively, it's definitely not the best thing ever. But it's harmless fun, a Creepshow-lite that is really only there for a cheeky scare. In many ways, it captures the spirit of the Halloween season, embracing the fact that this is a time for cheeky fun rather than hardcore horror. Look at it like that and it's a delightfully spooky romp that's destined to be viewed on countless October 31sts. If you're looking for anything deeper than that, you'd be better off looking elsewhere, because for all of the fun, there's little substance. Still, if you're in the mood for some spooky fun, it's well worth a look into Sarah Bellows' book
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