Scary Stories

2018

Action / Documentary / History

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 66% · 13 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 66% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 608 608

Plot summary

A documentary about children's horror classic Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It includes the author's family, scholars, folklorists, artists, and children's book authors such as R.L. Stine, Q.L. Pearce, and more.

Director

Cody Meirick Photo
Cody Meirick

Top cast

R.L. Stine Photo
R.L. Stine as Self
Daniel Schwartz Photo
Daniel Schwartz as Self
Adam Selzer Photo
Adam Selzer as Self
Barbara Schwartz Photo
Barbara Schwartz as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
779.56 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds ...
1.41 GB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Reviews_of_the_Dead 7 / 10

Review for Scary Stories

This was a documentary that I debated going to see a few years ago when it came to the Gateway Film Center. This would have been in 2019 or around there. The title caught my attention and when I looked into it, I realized it was about the series of books that I used to read growing up. When I saw this streaming on Tubi, I decided to put this on late in my work day, treating it like a podcast. I listened to this, looking down to see if something was particularly interesting.What this does well is helping us get to know the author, Alvin Schwartz. He had passed away so he wasn't available, which is a bummer. What I liked here though is that they interviewed his son, Peter. It sounds like they were estranged for a good stretch. This almost seems like a cathartic thing, helping him connect better with his father's lasting legacy.Something else that I like is that this explores both sides of its impact. There is one side asking people who have been influenced to make their own art. Whether that is songs influenced, sculptures, paintings or even tattoos. There's another side though, parents wanted these books removed from libraries. They focus on one lady, who was part of the PTA, who was leading the charge in I believe Seattle. She actually participates quite a bit in this, going as far as meeting Peter. That felt a bit odd, I'll admit, especially since I don't think she ever got her lasting question resolved.I'm not in favor of banning things. My parents took the stance that they'd police what I watched. They didn't keep most stuff from me, knowing that if they did, I'd more than likely find a way to watch it. I can see why they wanted to ban these books. Many didn't even want it outright, just not in elementary school libraries. There was a heartfelt moment where a father, whose daughter read these, was excited that she showed interest in the books. There is something to be said about finding something that interests and inspires.I'll then end by saying that I thought this was made well enough. I can see the argument that it is a bit all over the place. It tries to jump between subjects instead of fleshing one aspect out before going to the next. That does work a bit better when dealing with a fictional narrative. It wasn't as bad listening to this while working, I'll admit that. For me, learning more about the books, their lasting legacy and their cultural impact was enough for me.My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Reviewed by digitalbeachbum 1 / 10

Terrible job

I expected a lot more when I clicked on this to watch on Halloween Eve. I thought that they might go in to the stories, and tell them, but they just had a bunch of talking heads express their concerns about the graphic pictures which elementary kids must have seen. They didn't really cover anything about the books, only what people thought was good or bad about it.The entire production could have been done in 20 minutes and they dragged it over 84 minutes. Boring.They needed to read more from the book, show the pictures, and have it narrated by some one with a sinister voice to spice things up a bit.
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