One of the oldest genres in Hollywood today is that of the ghost or scary story one. Sometimes it can bleed into the horror genre, however it is its own genre. Whereas horror is simply a blood bath in living Technicolor, a ghost or scary story typically allows its audience to reach into their imaginations in order to scare themselves. This is what I felt was intriguing about "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark".
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, PA where, for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah (Kathleen Pollard), 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 including Stella (Zoe Margaret Colletti), Ramon (Michael Garza), Auggie (Gabriel Rush), Chuck (Austin Zajur) and Ruth (Natalie Ganzhorn) who discover Sarah's terrifying home. These teens must solve the mystery surrounding sudden and macabre deaths before the book of scary stories becomes their undoing.
Others to round out the cast are Dean Norris as Roy, Stella's father, Gil Bellows as Chief Turner, Lorraine Toussaint as Lou Lou and Austin Abrams as Tommy.
This was grittily and intensely directed by Andre Ovredal ("Future Murder" 2000, "Trollhunter" '10, "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" '16) plus shorts. The intensity of this filmmaker certainly coincides with Guillermo del Toro--the producer and one of the writers in which the screen story is based. I can't help but think that Ovredal was influenced by the style of del Toro which, in my book, is a compliment. The work of del Toro ("Hellboy" '04, "Pan's Labyrinth" '06, "Pacific Rim" '13, "The Shape of Water" '17) plus others, is definitely a body of work that could, and should, be an influence to anyone in the filmmaking arena. Ovredal has a definite ability to play his characters in a way where it's horror...or is it a scary story? It keeps his audience consistently guessing all the while biting their nails wondering what's going to happen next. If you like his brand of directing, his "Mortal" is in post-production for a 2020 release. It was wonderfully written by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman (animated TV and work where the story was based on them), based on a screen story by Guillermo del Toro, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, which is based on the novel by Alvin Schwartz. What actually amazes me is that considering these two writers' experience lies mostly in the animated realm, I am perplexed in how this screenplay could be as well thought out, cohesive and tight as it was. Ghost stories, horror and the like are not my favorite film fare, however as I viewed this, I was totally pulled into its story--it was riveting. Many of the stars in this are not A-list actors, but when seeing this, it is not for anything other than pure storytelling at its finest of which it's why it was made. Everything else including visual effects, photography or editing pales in comparison to the way this story was being told.
This film gives a one two punch where, like in other films, it doesn't depend on the visuals or special effects makeup to keep you on the edge of your seat. The pure storytelling, intense direction and awesome sound design gives this film a huge stamp of approval.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 108mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment