The Times Diary at 50: The Antidote to the News
Book
Over the past 50 years, The Times Diary has provided a daily dose of mirth, gossip, innuendo and...
Blackbeard
TV Show
The most feared and famous name among names during the Golden Age of Piracy, Blackbeard, is on the...
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Movie
Well, bless my beautiful hide! Director Stanley Donen invests this rollicking musical with a hearty...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) in Movies
Aug 21, 2019
And that's too bad, for SCARY STORIES is a pretty well put together film. Telling...well...a series of scary stories that come true (to the detriment of the teens that these stories are written about).
Based on the YA series of novels of the same name, Director Andre Overdal stitches together (in some instances quite literally) a creepy (enough) tale of teens in danger by things that go bump into the night. There are good (enough) scares, some real (enough) spine-tingling chills and just (enough) death and destruction to keep things interesting.
And that's good for the cast is pretty bland. Zoe Margaret Coletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush and Austin Zajur are "fine" (but interchangeable) as the 4 teens caught in the crossfire of these stories. Their performances/characters are almost good enough to sustain things, but, ultimately, brought nothing new or interesting to their roles. Neither do Lorraine Toussaint, Gil Bellows and Dean Norris, 3 usually dependable actors that just sort of drift in and out of this film with not much to do.
But that doesn't really matter for the special effects, scares and story threads are what you are there to see and the special effects are good (enough), the scares are scary (enough) and the story is just interesting (enough) to let you have a decent (enough) time at the theater.
Letter Grade: B-
6 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
The Auditory System at the Cocktail Party: 2017
John C. Middlebrooks, Jonathan Z. Simon, Arthur N. Popper and Richard R. Fay
Book
The Auditory System at the Cocktail Party is a rather whimsical title that points to the very...