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 & 7 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

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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

The musical theme that plays throughout the film is "The Hearse Song," which is another story from the books.

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Goofs

The railroad cars shown in the movie weren't from the 1960s. Auto racks weren't enclosed yet in 1968 - the railroad companies started putting sides, roofs and ends on the cars in the 1980s. Also, the while the Procor company existed in 1968, the tank cars and the Procor logo looked vastly different.

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Quotes

Lou Lou: You should not have taken that book.

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Connections

References White Zombie (1932)

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Soundtracks

The Hearse Song
Traditional
Performed by Joe Dzuban
[the catatonic woman starts singing the song when the girl opens the music box]

User Reviews

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

In small town America 1968, there is a dark history that hangs over an old abandoned house regarding the fate of the Bellows family. While escaping the town bullies, a group of teenagers break into the house to hide and it is in this house they find a dusty old book full of terrifying stories but as they take it away with them, new stories begin to appear in the book and the group of friends start to disappear one by one. When I first saw this advertised, I had never heard of the books on which it is based and from the trailer I couldn't figure out who the audience for this story might be. From the trailer I felt it was aimed at young teenagers but then some of the imagery used on screen seemed so terrifying and disturbing i thought it couldn't possibly be. Well it turns out it is aimed at teenagers and if i was a teenager watching this i would probably have loved it. As an adult i did still enjoy it, the horror elements were done brilliantly, scary, disturbing and memorable. It's the bits in between the horror that let it down slightly. I just felt the characters weren't developed enough and didn't really gel together like the young cast of IT did. Visually impressive and a decent story behind it but could have done with some extra time dedicated to character development.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site Official Site [Japan]

Country:

USA Canada Mexico

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