"Scary stories to tell in the dark": why watch the new horror

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This is a truly chilling film from the genre's masters, and at the same time a counterpart to Stranger Things with great actors.

On August 8, a new horror film "Scary stories to tell in the dark" will be released - a screen version of the eponymous series of children's books by American writer Alvin Schwartz.

This is a 1968 story about four teenagers from the small town of Mill Valley. On the eve of Halloween, they find themselves in an abandoned house, where, according to rumors, ghosts live, and find a tome with scary stories there. As it turns out, all the stories in this book come true.

The title of the literary source speaks for itself: it is a collection of short horror stories intended for young readers. Most of them are based on folklore or urban legends. And, of course, dedicated to all sorts of haunted houses, cemeteries, the dead and other traditional themes.

In the film adaptation, the stories were united by one cross-cutting plot and came up with the main characters who have to deal with classic monsters and ghosts. And this approach only benefited the story.

1. Horror masters got down to business

The famous director Guillermo del Toro has planned for many years to bring "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" to the screen: he has repeatedly mentioned that he adores these books. But by the time of filming, he was too busy with other projects, and therefore acted only as a screenwriter and producer.

A quite worthy candidate was found for the post of director. André Ovredal, of course, is less well known, but fans of horror will surely remember such works as "Troll Hunters" and "The Demon Within".

These two authors managed to get the most out of the original source. Ovredal knows how to work with small budgets and create a horror movie not only on the basis of special effects and screamers, but by forcing the atmosphere. Therefore, even such a banality as a damned book looks to him not just a childish horror story, but really scares.

And to this is added del Toro's skill in creating a visual series. It is enough to remember his previous films, for example, "Pan's Labyrinth", to understand: he knows how to show all kinds of monsters absolutely alive.

In his Crimson Peak, the actors who played ghosts were first given plastic make-up, and then computer effects were applied on top: usually they use one thing, but del Toro always tries to achieve maximum sensations.

In Horror Stories, the structure of the film, based on a whole series of stories, allowed to show completely different monsters. And they are all really good: if someone is not scared by a creepy scarecrow or a creature from the hospital, then the spiders crawling out from under the skin will definitely make you tense.

Plus, all the action takes place in the most classic horror locations: an abandoned mansion, an insane asylum, a cornfield. And this is also either a reference to popular horror movies, or just a tribute to the genre.

2. It's like Stranger Things, but with a horror twist

The new film from the very first frames resembles one of the main serial hits of recent years, "Stranger Things". The same small town, the same retro atmosphere, but instead of the eighties, it is the end of the sixties with appropriate references to cultural events: the Vietnam War, the election of Nixon to the presidency, and much more. Although, unfortunately, these references are already less familiar to the modern viewer, and few people will immediately recognize even movie posters on the walls.

But fashion and surroundings are more likely to please. In the film, the sixties style may have come out a little unnatural. But this is exactly how people are used to seeing him on screens: wide beautiful cars, curlers on the heads of girls, jackets of football teams from hooligans. All this creates the feeling that the authors have released not a new horror of 2019, but some colored and improved horror from the seventies.

And the plot also matches those feelings. Classic scary stories, reminiscent of old movie scenarios, are tied with the help of several main characters who fall into the cycle of events.

At the same time, the characters also partly resemble the types from "Stranger Things". Here they presented a slightly different, but still very characteristic for the genre images: the ringleader in the company turns out to be the girl Stella, she is helped by the "nerd" Auggie and the witty Chuck, who resembles Dustin not only with his hair, but also with speech defects. And they are joined by the mysterious Ramon, who came from another city.

As usual, children get into trouble, which they themselves will have to deal with. And in an interesting way, again by analogy with Stranger Things, the compilation of classic plots creates a completely new and quite entertaining story, albeit with a strong bias towards nostalgia.

It is clear that the heroes have to go through all the standard stages: to understand the past, escape from monsters and prove to adults the reality of the threat. But some tight turns and non-standard moves keep you on your toes and keep you on your toes.

After all, in the series, you don't have to worry about the main characters - they have contracts for several years in advance. Anything can happen in a single film.

3. Young actors play great, but remain children

And one more plus here in the leading actors. The myth that most young actors play mediocre was destroyed in the first Harry Potter films. And "Stranger Things" and "It" only reinforced the belief that there is no discount for age: children are not inferior to adults.

In "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark", the main cast is also happy, and most of the leading actors are almost newcomers, there are very few familiar faces.

Adults only appear on the sidelines. To hedge and attract attention, the authors took a couple of fairly well-known serial actors. But children often look even more convincing.

They are entrusted with the whole main dramatic component and the action. But it is important that for all the load of the plot, they remain just children: there are many teenage jokes in the film, and even show a funny revenge on the bully Tommy.

And then the situation is defused by Chuck's constant witticisms or Auggie's tediousness. Even a love line appears, but it is only slightly outlined and does not turn into excessive melodrama. The guys here do not solve any life and social issues at all, they only save themselves from monsters.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a very simple yet addictive horror game for all ages. Moreover, he does not try to enter the territory of serious social statements, as they did in We, Solstice, or even a new version of It. Perhaps he can be attributed with subtext like: "Children have to cope with their fears."

But, most likely, the authors only wanted to entertain the viewer a little and scare him with eternal horror stories about soup with the limbs of a dead man, a haunted house and a revived scarecrow. And they did it very well.