Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark: Film Version

So this is out now, and apparently getting favorable reviews.

That ought to make my sister happy.

I really enjoyed the movie. I wouldn't exactly call it kid-friendly like some reviews do; some of the set-pieces are seriously nasty(albeit bloodless) and there's the racist bully character who might raise discussion of a choice slur, but the film is well-done and a good gateway to the really horrifying stuff.

I'm thinking that comes from the fact that it would have fallen into PG rather than R were we in the pre-PG-13 era.

How scary is the Pale Lady's scene? Like, how well is it done?

The artwork for The Dream legit traumatized me many years ago. So I'm curious how they managed to bring her to life.

Apparently it's one of the movie's defining scenes.

It's quite unnerving and tense.

You and me both. x_x

I only saw that part in the trailer so far (I haven't seen the movie yet but I'm looking forward to it) and it's already making me think of Alma from the first F.E.A.R..

It didn't help that my sister printed off copies of the picture and hid them around the house.

And then the picture seemed to follow me around online, popping up in random places.

Aw geez. Sorry to hear that. :(

I remember stumbling upon a version of the "The Dream" picture that moved. Definitely a "Wait, what?!" moment for me.

Wow, I really enjoyed this. Was not expecting there to be a social commentary angle - it's set in the Age of Nixon, obviously filling in for the Age of Trump, and has a recurring theme of people who are "others" or social outsiders being blamed for things they didn't do.

And did I see a Sequel Hook? I think I did! Wonder if it'll be a trilogy, like the books?

I mean it's appropriate since Nixon laid the groundwork for Trump with his southern strategy.

Indeed, as I understand it Nixon is the reason American conservatism is the way it is now.

The stories themselves didn't really have all that many parallels with the social commentary though, which I thought was odd.

I saw the movie earlier today. It was just as scary as the original books it came from. And I loved every minute of it.

Personally I felt they should have gone with an anthology approach as the story into which the, uh, scary stories was inserted did absolutely nothing for me whatsoever.

But perhaps it wasn't aimed at me.

Can't say I picked up on the 'blaming others' angle but now you mention it...still doesn't add a whole lot for me. But eh. Pale lady scene was very well done.

An anthology thing a la AB Cs of Death or VCR?

ABC's of death is what I was thinking about more, because VCR still has a wraparound story and it was the attaching of the scary stories to an overarching narrative that I didn't particularly enjoy. Having them standing on their own would have worked better, I felt. But I like that structure so I would say that.

'Cos, like, in an anthology - as with scary stories in general - you can leave an ending more ambiguous, you don't have to show something bad happening or what specific bad thing happpens. Can leave it up to the viewer to fill in the blank whichever way makes 'em most uncomfortable.

With this film they had to have SOMETHING bad happen because otherwise the characters wouldn't be concerned. If people had just got spooked the threat wouldn't have loomed so, and the SOMETHING bad just...didn't really do much for me. But I've had worse times.

And like I said, the red room bit was pretty bang on. Just real short.

Edited by JJMarmite on Aug 25th 2019 at 11:27:41 AM

It didn't feel that short to me.

Saw this again tonight (first movie I've seen twice in the theater in a long time) and actually liked it even better this time! Noticed a lot of things I didn't the first time.

Sorry for the double post, but...

...a thought.

Sarah died in the hospital under the "care" of her brother. Her brother who had all the motive in the world to shut her up, and, as a respected doctor and scion of the town's most powerful family, all the credibility in the world to get away with it.

...are we absolutely sure she hung herself?

Edited by HamburgerTime on Sep 9th 2019 at 10:12:20 AM

Any talk yet of sequel(s) once COVID's done? With the ending this movie had it'd be weirder if there WASN'T one.

A sequel has been green lighted IIRC but with the current situation who knows if/when it will actually go ahead.

Oh, cool. Have a link?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/scary-stories-tell-dark-sequel-works-1291608

https://www.thewrap.com/paramount-eone-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-2/

Not sure how reliable those are or if it's "reporting on reports" but at least it's rumoured if nothing else.