Countdown to Halloween: “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” (2019)

“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is a series of three collections of short horror stories for children, written by Alvin Schwartz. The titles of the books are: “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” (1981), “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” (1984) and “Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones” (1991).

A film adaptation of the same name was released in theaters in August 2019 to generally favorable reviews. Since I haven’t had the chance to check this one out, I decided to add it to my Countdown to Halloween series!

In the 2019 adaptation, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large in the small town of Mill Valley for generations. It’s in a mansion that young Sarah Bellows turns her tortured life and horrible secrets into a series of scary stories.

These terrifying tales soon have a way of becoming all too real for a group of unsuspecting teens who stumble upon Sarah’s spooky home.

I remember reading these books a lot when I was younger -  a long time ago! Once I saw that there was a film adaptation, I’ve always wanted to check it out. And now that I’ve finally seen it, this adaptation of the beloved books is a really good time for both adults and the older children.

“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” does stay faithful to the source material’s creepy vibe as the movie’s atmosphere can get rather eerie and the monster designs (mainly practical) are really great. In fact, this movie does a fairly decent job being a “Goosebumps” for adults in a way.

There’s a lot of moments scattered throughout this movie that can get on the scary side, yet not too scary. There’s a scene that takes place in a hospital hallway that’s illuminated by red lights and flickering lamps and we see a pale, large woman with a placid smile and black eyes. The entire scene can actually be on the suspenseful side and the Pale

Lady looks very similar to the original illustrations in the books.

Now, if you’re a tiny bit afraid of spiders, you may not enjoy The Red Spot where a character finds a spider bite on her cheek that grows massive. The bite eventually explodes into a group of tiny, swarming spiders. My favorite monster character in the movie is Harold the Scarecrow and the creature does look really awesome and creepy.

The 2019 movie did a decent job weaving multiple short stories together from the books into a single, coherent narrative. While some of the scares weren’t the best, the scare factor isn’t too bad for a PG-13 horror movie. So, if you’re looking for a good scary movie to check out with the older kids (or if you just simply enjoyed the books), make sure to give the film adaptation of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” a shot!

MPA: Rated PG-13 for terror/violence, disturbing images, thematic elements, language including racial epithets, and brief sexual references   (runtime 108 minutes)

You can currently stream “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” on both Peacock and Tubi, among other PVOD streaming/rental platforms.

And up next for my Countdown to Halloween series for the Oct. 8 edition: the recent release “Tarot” (2024) and the 1987 horror flick that ultimately became a cult classic over the years due to home media and eventually streaming “The Monster Squad.”

• The poster art is based on the story Harold, which is featured in the third book.

• While Stella is first going through the book of stories, several stories from the Scary Stories book series can be seen such as The Cat's Paw, The Attic, and The Wendigo.

• Albinism is a double-recessive genetic trait, which means that Sarah Bellows had to inherit it from both of her parents. Given its rarity and the relatively small population of 19th century Pennsylvania, the twisted problems of the Bellows family may have included incest, though the marriage of first cousins at the time was also not uncommon.

• The film is based on the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" book series published in the 1980s, written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell.

• Independent film producer John R. Blythe had early discussions with the Alvin Schwartz estate in the 2000s about optioning the book rights for a feature film version.

• CBS films acquired the rights to the book series in 2015. Five years later it was announced that Guillermo del Toro would cowrite and produce the film adaptation. Del Toro decided to create a joint narrative that incorporated some of the more prominent monsters and wasn't going to shy away from the horrifying source material. He wanted to create a film for younger viewers that The Hollywood Reporter now describes as 'arguably essential to fostering the next generation of horror fans.'