Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark , Based on a book with the same title by Alvin Schwartz, the film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark presents a horror story of 111 minutes which seems to be able to spoil horror movie lovers in Indonesia. Even more interesting, viewers in Indonesia can watch this film first, considering that the release of this film in the US falls on August 9, 2019.

Directed by André Øvredal (The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Trollhunter) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark picks up some of the stories that Alvin presented in 3 titles of his books which were released in 1981-1991.

How interesting is the storyline of the film that also hooked the filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone) in this producer bench? Come on, just take a look at the review here!

Set in 1968, the film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark focuses on the life of Stella Nicholls (Zoe Margaret Colletti), a teenager who aspires to be a writer and has two best friends named Auggie (Gabriel Rush) and Chuck (Austin Zajur).

Living in a small town called Mill Valley, not only makes these three friends feel a stagnant life, but also grows up with the story of the urban legend ‘Sarah Bellows’. Not an ordinary woman, Sarah is a child of the Bellows who is said to have magical powers and a habit of telling scary stories from behind the walls of her house to the Mill Valley children.

Entering Halloween night, the three friends accidentally met Ramón Morales (Michael Garza), who then led the four of them to explore the haunted house of the Bellows family to prove the urban legend about Sarah Bellows.

But unexpectedly, their experience exploring the Bellows residence became the starting point of terror, when Stella took Sarah Bellows’ storybook. Can these teenagers escape and survive the terror of creepy creatures? You can find out the full story by watching Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark at the nearest favorite cinema.

As someone who didn’t grow up with the typical stories from the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, this film reminds me a little of the nuances of the IT film and also the Strangers Things series. This is due to the time setting and a group of teenagers who are at the center of the story. But despite the familiar atmosphere, this film has its own way of building a story and telling the stories of Alvin Schwartz’s works through the characters.

For those of you who hope to continue to be surprised by the jump scare scene, maybe you have to bite your fingers, because this film doesn’t give surprises too often through the appearance of a creepy creature. However, director André Øvredal was able to create an atmosphere of terror and adrenaline when creating monsters.

Interestingly, the typical monster presented in this film reminds me a lot of Guillermo del Toro’s signature style through his previous films such as Pan’s Labyrinth and Devil’s Backbone. The appearance of the monsters may not be too scary, especially for those of us who are used to living with the figure of a supernatural being typical of Indonesia. But the atmosphere of terror that managed to make me surprised is a plus of this film.

Light in terms of storyline, but this film has a little flaw because it doesn’t provide details about the background from which Sarah Bellows got her strength, and seeing the ending, I feel this film opens the possibility for a sequel, considering the story from Alvin’s book still has dozens of other interesting stories to be appointed to the big screen.

The film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has started airing on various Indonesian cinema screens with adult audience ratings. For those of you who want to watch horror films but don’t want to bother thinking about a complicated storyline, this film can be the best choice to fill your spare time. Have a good time watching!