Like many, I grew up reading Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. I was already a young horror fan and a big reader when I discovered the books, but I credit the series for helping cement my love for both reading and horror. Schwartz and his books were a big inspiration to people my age, so this should’ve been a can’t-miss combination of informative documentary and childhood nostalgia. Too bad its focus is so scattershot that it fails on both counts.
Early in the film, we learn Schwartz died thirty years ago, and that illustrator Stephen Gammell only ever gave one interview. So, up front we know that whatever insight into the creation of the books we get is going to be very slim. Schwartz’s son, Peter is interviewed, but he didn’t have the best relationship with his dad, so he winds up not being much help either.
Coming to the realization you can’t get blood from a stone; the filmmakers should’ve turned this into a short subject and moved on. Instead, they keep going. They then turn their focus on the books being banned, which isn’t the worst angle to work with. Even then, the info on that is somewhat limited, so they start focusing on how the books inspired another generation of artists to paint, sculpt, and photograph their interpretations of the books’ illustrations.
I did like the little animations that were inspired by the illustrations that are used occasionally as segue ways or recreations. However, there are not enough of them to make up for the dull talking head interviews. Heck, info on the books is so skimpy that we wind up learning just as much about the creation of Goosebumps from interviewee R.L. Stein as we do the Scary Stories series!
The ending is weak too. The face-to-face sit down between Schwartz’s son and the woman who tried to ban the books decades ago is awkwardly staged, uncomfortably forced, and rings hollow and false. Most of the Scary Stories had some kind of twist ending. I guess the twist to this ending is that it’s completely unsatisfying.
Do yourself a favor and skip this lifeless documentary and stick with the books (or even the 2019 movie) instead.
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