Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 9, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
16
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisAug 8, 2019
Blessed with some firm hands on the terror tiller and a winning cast, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a handsome, and deliciously horrible, horror movie. Read full review
80
ScreenCrushMatt SingerAug 8, 2019
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is drenched with symbolism and layered with ideas about lost innocence and the power of stories — and the power of creating something that resonates with an audience for years and years. I suspect this movie will do exactly that. Read full review
80
IGNRosie KnightAug 7, 2019
The fun and frightful Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark will introduce a new generation to the joy of being scared. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyAug 9, 2019
Thanks to Øvredal’s visual flair and visceral dedication to the monsters of Guillermo del Toro, clearly a major influence on the “Trollhunter” director’s bittersweet approach to the field, this satisfying though far from innovative dish boasts comforting flavors throughout. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 8, 2019
As gross and spooky and, yes, occasionally frightening as these terror tactics get, they never quite cross over into the deep end of truly grownup horror. That’s intentional, and a key to the film’s fun: It gets away with everything it can on a PG-13 leash, smuggling some real scares to the under-18 crowd. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 8, 2019
The film finally gets into gear around the midpoint and zooms to a satisfying finish. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 8, 2019
The movie’s good even when it goes in too many directions at once, because it gets the kids right. Read full review
75
TheWrapMonica CastilloAug 7, 2019
True to its word, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark delivers an entrancing thriller that explores the power of narratives with a few screams to boot. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoAug 8, 2019
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is gateway horror that treats intended audiences to many a scream, pulling no punches nor watering down nightmarish conjurings that remind how healthy fearful emotions can be at any age. Read full review
67
The VergeNoah BerlatskyAug 9, 2019
Øvredal is to be commended for simultaneously staying true to a beloved franchise and twisting its head around to face in an unexpected direction. Thanks to him, the film isn’t just a collection of scary stories. It’s a meditation on why the stories we tell ourselves shape us and why that’s the scary bit. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 10, 2019
Three-fourths of a good horror movie and one-fourth disappointing. The film, constructed as a series of episodic vignettes connected by an umbrella story, remains solidly engaging until it gets to the ending. Read full review
63
ObserverOliver JonesAug 9, 2019
Øvredal also coaxes mostly strong performances from his young cast. This is especially true of Zoe Colletti (Showtime’s City on a Hill) as protagonist Stella. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineHenry StewartAug 8, 2019
Once it gets past what feels like submission to genre demands, the drama reaffirms its focus on the central themes. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerNick VadalaAug 8, 2019
Jump scares are the film’s most-used horror device, but it does feel like Øvredal and del Toro are pushing the envelope of the film’s PG-13 rating with how creepy some of the stories get. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleAug 8, 2019
Even if the material — a haunted scarecrow, a young woman’s vengeful ghost — can feel stale off the page, Øvredal’s filmmaking is fresh and vibrant. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 8, 2019
At times the film seems like a horrifying Nancy Drew story or a more sophisticated Scooby-Doo episode without the dog and with a face full of spiders. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 2, 2019
Scary Stories hits with the scares as much as it misses with the storytelling, levelling out to a glass half full. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansAug 25, 2019
The film’s teen protagonists, meanwhile, are chaste children’s book heroes, but the horror, based on illustrator Stephen Gammell’s drawings, has a gruesome quality that feels too full-on for youngsters. Read full review
60
The GuardianMike McCahillAug 22, 2019
The kids – particularly Zoe Colletti as the sensitive Stella – are very good, and it just about functions as a brainstorm of primal fear scenes, the movie equivalent of a horror-comic summer special: good for the odd giggle and shiver, if naggingly disposable. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinAug 19, 2019
The scares and monsters are effectively conjured, but if you’re not familiar with Austin Schwartz’s source material, you may be left a little cold. Read full review
60
CNNBrian LowryAug 9, 2019
A sort of welcome throwback, a horror movie cleverly designed to be more spooky than truly grisly. That leaves it, however, in a bit of a no-man's land, as this PG-13-rated film is still too scary for the tweens that might be drawn to the challenge and not jarring enough for older horror buffs accustomed to far worse. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 8, 2019
The pity is that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark will mostly be seen by jaded genre completists and nostalgic fortysomethings. Wrong demographic. You owe it to your kids to take them to this. It’s training-wheels horror done right. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 8, 2019
“Stories heal, stories hurt,” we hear in voiceover, and while any horror film would unavoidably literalize such a claim, this one can’t hold a candle to the power of the page, as read by a thirty, ghoulish mind. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 8, 2019
f you’re not in the mood for messages or social commentary, however, “Scary Stories” is still fertile enough with its accessible gross-outs and giggle shocks to serviceably add to a legacy of kid-centric mainstream mayhem Del Toro clearly loves. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 8, 2019
There is absolutely nothing original in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which just goes to show that you don’t need originality to be effective. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 8, 2019
Whether it’s the scene-setting blast of Donovan (“Zodiac”), the low-height Steadicam work (“The Shining”), the red-suffused hallways (David Lynch) or “Night of the Living Dead” playing at a drive-in, the movie takes from the best. Read full review
58
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanAug 8, 2019
While some viewers may get enough of a nostalgia kick out of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, the film doesn’t feel entirely fleshed out. There are elements that make for creepy experiences, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat, but they often serve as short bundles of anxiety in a serviceable story. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 7, 2019
A movie that’s scary enough to get under your skin, but not scary enough to stay there. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 15, 2019
If you’re already on to the more sinister stuff, this is probably an unnecessary retreat into mild ickiness. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 8, 2019
Ultimately undone by some less than remarkable character development and an unnecessary, if currently contemporaneous, pseudo-political undertones. Which isn’t to say it’s not a blast to see Gammell’s eerie, Francis Bacon-esque illustrations come to herky-jerky and horrifying life, because it is, absolutely. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichAug 7, 2019
All of these beasties are "scary." Though they'd be much more so if they felt less like franchisable IP and more like fervent expressions of the ills of the eras on which the film aims to comment. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 7, 2019
The emotions of the stories have been lost. We could be watching the standard ghoulish CGI effects that take place in any horror movie of the week. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 8, 2019
Isn’t scary and isn’t worth the nearly two hours it eats up. Read full review
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