Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

[raven]

I've never read the books; though I would have if I were a teen when they came out.

I saw this today and it was good, not great.  Not terribly scary, though younger kids would be scared.  The creatures are well done - can probably thank Guillermo del Toro for that.  TBH I wouldn't have seen this, since I knew it was geared towards tweens, if del Toro's name wasn't attached to it.

The actors playing the group of friends are good, with Zoe Colletti (Stella) and Michael Garza (Ramón) standing out.  Then again, they had the most to do.   There's the usual "why are you doing that" that comes with this type of movie.

The Jangly Man was creepily done by the wonderful Troy James.  I would have liked more of the scary creatures and less of the Vietnam War/Nixon election stuff.  I guess they were going for some kind of parallel but it felt out of place.

Overall I liked it up and there's a set up for a sequel at the end; not sure if I would see that in the theater though.

[krankydoodle]

I liked this too and agree with you on all points. I have some issues with it, but found the movie atmospheric and the cast appealing enough that it didn't really affect my enjoyment.

I was surprised that the showing I went to on Saturday night was half empty given that the movie--initially at least--got a lot of attention because of del Toro's involvement and people's fond memories of the books. I don't know that I need to see a sequel (though I like the idea of Stella working with her dad and Ruth to rescue Auggie and Chuck), but I hope this does better than the sparse crowd at my theater would suggest.

[benteen]

I thought the first twenty minutes, set during Halloween night, was good.  Once Halloween passed and it was the next day, I thought the rest of the movie lost a lot of momentum.  It wasn't a bad movie, mind you but I can see why the Cinemascore wasn't so great.