Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a 2019 horror film directed by André Øvredal, based on the children's Urban myth-based book series of the same name by Alvin Schwartz. The screenplay was adapted by Dan and Kevin Hageman, from a screen story by producer Guillermo del Toro, as well as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan.

Plot
The shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large in the small town of Mill Valley for generations. It's in a mansion that young Sarah Bellows turns her tortured life and horrible secrets into a series of scary stories. These terrifying tales soon have a way of becoming all too real for a group of unsuspecting teens who stumble upon Sarah's spooky home.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The whole story is completely ruined; Instead of an anthology series, just like the book, it's now a Final Destination and IT-esque movie, except it's now coming from a book’s anti-heroes and villainous entities.
 * 2) It isn't scary enough. It's just some dull mystery, similar to a Nickelodeon or Disney production. No suspense or dread of any kind. Yes, it's a PG-13 film, but it should've added dread and suspense, just like The Ring and Poltergeist, which FYI were rated PG-13 and PG respectively.
 * 3) * In fact, it's flooded with obnoxious and lazy jump-scares and leaves no room for actual ones.
 * 4) * It also doesn't really qualify as horror. It's more of a historical-based urbanized fantasy fairytale, due of the time period the film takes place.
 * 5) The script is rather weak, and the characters are left underdeveloped.
 * 6) The film leaves no room for the audiences to use their imagination to think of what happened next, unlike the book.
 * 7) There a few plot holes in the movie.
 * 8) Somewhat inaccurate storyline; the original Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was first published in 1981, but the film takes places in 1968, which makes no sense. Mostly other then, pushing some political themes, like the Vietnam War conscription issue for a example.
 * 9) Some unfaithful moments to the book, like how Harold (the scarecrow) turned his victim into a scarecrow, when in the book, he skinned him and hung his skin out to dry.
 * 10) While the designs are pretty good, the CGI is not all that great to watch.
 * 11) It's bland, generic, and cliché to the bone.

Good Qualities

 * 1) The performances from the actors are great, especially from Zoe Colletti and Gabriel Rush.
 * 2) It's scary atmosphere and tone fits the film pretty well.
 * 3) The designs of the monsters are really creepy and faithful to the book.
 * 4) While the CGI is not pleasant to watch, it is still very impressive.
 * 5) It still stays faithful to the stories from the books. Especially the costume designs like the pale woman from the Dream short story and the scarecrow from the "Harold" short story.
 * 6) The set designs are good and they still look like 1968, which gives the movie a nostalgic feel.
 * 7) The main anti-villain, Sarah Bedfollow’s tragic backstory could sometimes do work and could feel tragic, if the writing team didn’t ruined her, by just portrayed her as a hypocritical main antagonist.
 * 8) Decent soundtrack by Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich.

Reception
Despite Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark receiving positive reviews from critics, with an 78% on Rotten Tomatoes and the site's critical consensus reads, "Like the bestselling series of books that inspired it, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark opens a creepy gateway into horror for younger genre enthusiasts.", it was seen as a major disappointment from fans of the books, with a 6.2/10 on IMDb and a "C" on CinemaScore.