Scary Stories to tell in the Dark * * *
I'm always amazed at the lack of inventiveness with monsters today. I can't say I have been disturbingly, or even pleasantly surprised, for a long time. I struggle to think of the last time a "Horror" film showed me something which might be described as terrifyingly beautiful. Something that leaves me wondering - how could anyone think up such a thing? A monster that is as much a disturbing philosophical concept as it is a work of art.
The monsters we see on screen today strike me as first draft ideas: silly notions, which I would have thought most writers would dismiss. But they don't. They run with it and put a lot of time and money into them as though greater investment will improve the concept. Thus we end up with a twisted body that presents itself by falling down the chimney and the re-assembling itself. (Actually when I wrote that last sentence it did sound pretty scary, but funnily when I watched it I was nearly falling asleep). Same with this thing that looked like a big ultra white naked old lady, or spiders coming out of someones pimple. I don't know why, I just sat there thinking, really, is that it?
This teen horror is based on a short stories from the eighties. Perhaps these concepts were in the original stories by Alvin Schwartz so they just went with them (Schwartz himself would have drawn from folklore). I suppose I should also bear in mind that his audience was adolescent: horror for beginners. And maybe the producers wanted physicality before concept. "Give 'em a monster you can actually see."
Scary Stories gives us a familiar set up: A small town in America., a tight group of teen friends. They visit the local haunted house for a giggle, they learn of a frightening story in relation to the house. They take something from the house, and then bad things start to happen.
The characters themselves are quite well developed. They're the "different" kids: geeky, dorky, frequently subjected to bullying etc. So it seemed a little unfair to me that they become the victims.
As a story it's not bad. It's just that the monsters are pathetic. But there were plenty of teens in the session I saw, and they all seemed to be having a good time with it, so good for them.
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| About as scary as a the tuck shop lady |
This teen horror is based on a short stories from the eighties. Perhaps these concepts were in the original stories by Alvin Schwartz so they just went with them (Schwartz himself would have drawn from folklore). I suppose I should also bear in mind that his audience was adolescent: horror for beginners. And maybe the producers wanted physicality before concept. "Give 'em a monster you can actually see."
Scary Stories gives us a familiar set up: A small town in America., a tight group of teen friends. They visit the local haunted house for a giggle, they learn of a frightening story in relation to the house. They take something from the house, and then bad things start to happen.
The characters themselves are quite well developed. They're the "different" kids: geeky, dorky, frequently subjected to bullying etc. So it seemed a little unfair to me that they become the victims.
As a story it's not bad. It's just that the monsters are pathetic. But there were plenty of teens in the session I saw, and they all seemed to be having a good time with it, so good for them.
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