Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. 2019. US. Directed by André Øvredal. Written by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman. With Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Zajur. In English. DCP. 108 min.
In small-town America of the late 1960s, a group of teenagers discover a book of scary stories in an abandoned house that also happens to be haunted by a monster. As these stories become horrifically true for the hapless teens, a long-buried secret is revealed, exposing the quiet evil in the seemingly idyllic small town. Guillermo del Toro’s screenplay explores the world-making power of stories: as teenage protagonist Stella (Zoe Colleti) explains, “Stories hurt, stories heal. If we repeat them often enough they become real, they have that power. They make us who we are.” Also lurking in the background is the Vietnam War, casting a foreboding pall over this dark, claustrophobic film, and driving home how the power of myths and stories shapes culture. The redemptive kinship between Stella and the monster is a trope that del Toro frequently returns to in his work