Scary Stories- Run from the Monster. Run from the Monster. Run from...

Movie Reviews- Scary Stories to tell in the Dark (2019)

The summer movie horror is never usually a competent tale as studios like to leave their best horror flicks for the October period right around the corner. However, Scary Stories is a surprisingly competent and well crafted movie. If you are into horror tales then there are enough jump scares and decent story for this movie to live up to its name. But, the film has one glaring problem: how similar the stories are. Each narrative can be summed up with the line ''child runs from monster'' with the child being swapped out for a Bully, Nerd, Joker and other cliche stereotypes. What stops the film from being a dud is the better than expected performances from the majority of the cast. So, as long as you are willing to put up with a few cliches, its a horror movie so it was always going to have its fair share, then you will enjoy this movie.

It was clear from the trailer that Scary Stories was capitalising on the success of the IT mania just two years prior as the gang of children working together to solve the mystery felt aesthetically similar. But, the film took one thing from the IT film that saved both movies: an excellent set of child actors. In particular, Austin Zajur's comedic delivery did a lot of the heavy lifting for the enjoyment of the film. His banter with the other members of the group was a great joy to watch and is an ode to his comedic timing as well as the casts chemistry. He is not the only credible actor in the cast though as each one at least gets a handful of moments that are certain to get them more work in the future. Usually a child actor over sells their performance and exaggerates in unnecessary places, this was not present in this film making it an enjoyable watch. The only flaw on the actors part was the occasional line by Zoe Margaret Colletti not hitting the right note, but for being the lead and having so much more lines to learn then the rest of the cast she can certainly hold her head high.

Every horror flick has its fair share of cliches as genre story telling puts tight limitations and a specific set of narrative toys to play with. This film was never going to be an exception. Though it attempts to pad out the characters, not many horror flicks do, they are ultimately the stereotypical set of kids you find in every film: the bully, the nerd, the joker, the pretty girl, the weird girl that likes horror movies and the mysterious new boy. It is these kind of cliches that are expected in a summer horror movie, but what was not to be expected was the similarities between the stories. For a film that the title boasts ''scary stories'' you would think there would be more than one story archetype used. Nearly all of the stories are the same: from the opening the gang run from bullies, the bully runs from Harold, the nerd runs from the alive corpse, the joker runs from a lady monster, the mysterious newcomer from a double jointed monster and so on and so forth. If that read as tiresome, then this movie is not for you. Though visually all the monsters and settings are distinct, the premise of each is the same. There are more things a horror movie can do than show someone being chased, but it is the easiest and cheapest jump scare, and this movie is packed with them which for a summer popcorn horror is the highest of compliments.

This movie does just enough to be considered good. It is not going to revolutionise the horror genre, nor will you remember it after the slew of better horror movies hit in the next couple of weeks. But, for how dry this years summer season has been, it is good enough to recommend a watch.