Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

On Halloween 1968, Stella and her two friends meet a mysterious drifter, Ramón, and uncover a sinister notebook of stories.

Director:

André Øvredal

Writers:

Dan Hageman (screenplay by), Kevin Hageman (screenplay by)

Stars:

Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zoe Margaret Colletti	...	Stella Nicholls (as Zoe Colletti)
Michael Garza	...	Ramon Morales
Gabriel Rush	...	Auggie Hilderbrandt
Austin Abrams	...	Tommy Milner
Dean Norris	...	Roy Nicholls
Gil Bellows	...	Chief Turner
Austin Zajur	...	Chuck Steinberg
Natalie Ganzhorn	...	Ruth Steinberg
Lorraine Toussaint	...	Lou Lou
Kathleen Pollard	...	Sarah Bellows
Deborah Pollitt	...	Mrs. Steinberg
Victoria Fodor	...	Mrs. Milner
Marie Ward	...	Mrs. Hilderbrandt
Mark Steger	...	Harold the Scarecrow / Pale Lady
Javier Botet	...	Big Toe Corpse

Storyline

It's 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time-stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying tomb.

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Plot Keywords:

scarecrow | haunted book | haunted house | monster | hospital | 

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Taglines:

Based on the iconic book series.

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for terror/violence, disturbing images, thematic elements, language including racial epithets, and brief sexual references.

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Check is sneaking around the insane asylum, some orderlies can be heard discussing George Foreman becoming the heavyweight champion in '73. George Foreman does in fact become the heavyweight champion in 1973 when he KOed Joe Frazier.

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Goofs

The walkie talkies shown in the film were of 1970s, not 1960s, vintage.

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Quotes

Stella Nicholls: They locked her away because she was different.

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Connections

Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Scary Stories Tell in the Dark (2019)

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Soundtracks

Season of the Witch
Written by Donovan (as Donovan Leitch)
Performed by Lana Del Rey
Courtesy of Polydor UK Ltd
Under license from Universal Music Operations Limited
[plays over the first half of end credits]

User Reviews

Could have been darker & better

As a kind of anthology sort of feature, Scary Stories wasn't actually a bad movie but it didn't fulfill my expectations, specially in terms of scare factors. As a huge fan of André Øvredal (director of Trollhunter & Autopsy of Jane Doe), expected it bit more twisted & eerily creepy particularly around the different monster/entity encounters at different segments. Among the ghostly entities, The Jangly Man & The Pale Lady were the most interesting; and while they could have done more with The Pale Lady (looked like a creepy character from a Japanese manga), the intro to this character was kind of disappointing & somewhat same like Harold the Scarecrow. The Jangly Man was the most satisfactory one...wondering what James Wan would have do with it?! Speaking of Wan, at times it just came to my mind that considering the format & the stories...I think Wan or Mike Flanagan would have been a better choice for this film than Øvredal.

It got potential to be more darker, scarier & entertaining but PG-13 approach turned out to be a let down for me. Overall, found it kinda mediocre, though the effort was fairly decent.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site Official Site [Japan]

Country:

USA Canada Hong Kong

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 August 2019 (USA)

Also Known As:

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,915,346, 11 August 2019

Gross USA:

$68,947,075

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$104,545,505

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Films, Entertainment One, Roling Hills Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1