Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a horror film directed by Andre Overdal. The film is based on the children’s book series of the same name by Alwin Schwartz.

The film sets in the small town of Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, in 1968. On Halloween night, four teenager friends visit a local haunted house which belonged to the Bellows family. Inside the house, they find a secret room and a book of scary stories belonging to Sarah Bellows, who was abandoned and left alone to die in that room by her family. One of the members in the group, Stell (Zoe Colletti), who is a horror-obsessed amateur writer, keeps the book for herself, and then they leave from there with this little adventure. Not so long into the film, Stella discovers that Sarah’s book is not just an ordinary book but it is something supernatural, which is causing the death/disappearances of her friends one by one.

The film’s story is fresh but it has some similarities with Goosebumps (2015) and Final Destination (2000). The film does have some jump scares but it does not rely totally on those. Along with jump scares, the scary effects in the film along with creepy background sound works really well. But after some time into the film, the horror elements lose their gravity, and it feels like an average horror film. One more drawback of the film is its screenplay that the film is dragged with unnecessary character development. The performances of the characters are complementary to the story.

Verdict : It is an average horror film with some newness to its plot.

Rating : 2.9/5

Check the trailer here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlya92LZqZw