Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a 2019 supernatural horror film directed by André Øvredal, based on the book series of the same name by Alvin Schwartz.

The screenplay was adapted by the Hageman Brothers, from a screen story by Guillermo del Toro (who also produced), as well as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan.

The film was well received by critics with praise for its depictions of the horror features from its source material, and went on to gross $105 million at the box office, becoming a financial success.

On Halloween Night in 1968, in the fictional Pennsylvania town of Mill Valley, teenagers Stella, Auggie, Ramón, and Chuck visit the supposedly haunted home of the Bellows family.

At the hospital, the group discover recordings that reveal Sarah's brother had ruthlessly performed electroshock therapy on her to get her to confess to killing the children.

[7][10] In February 2016, CBS Films hired screenwriting brothers duo Dan and Kevin Hageman to polish the draft written by August.

"[24] Del Rey's version of the song was released for digital download and streaming on August 9, the same day as the film's premiere.

Mirko Parlevliet of Vital Thrills praised the pairing of Del Rey's sound and the film's vintage aesthetic.

[25] Savannah Sicurella of Paste stated, "Del Rey managed to capture the prickly, macabre feeling of the popular Alvin Schwartz stories on which the film was based.

On August 5, 2019, a third trailer was released, featuring a cover version of the Donovan song "Season of the Witch", by Lana Del Rey, performed for the film's soundtrack.

[3] In the United States and Canada, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released alongside The Kitchen, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and Brian Banks, and was projected to gross $15–17 million from 3,000 theaters in its opening weekend.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Like the bestselling series of books that inspired it, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark opens a creepy gateway into horror for younger genre enthusiasts.

"[35] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[4] Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote that "the movie faithfully re-creates the peak moments of half a dozen of Schwartz' most popular stories," but "doesn't totally embrace the Gammell vision," referring to the infamy of the illustrations in the original book series.

"[40] Alan Jacques of Limerick Post gave the film two points out of five and stated "This movie is definitely not meant for a pre-teen audience.

There are one or two genuinely creepy moments that would leave your precious nippers sleeping with the lights on until they finish college.... For a young audience coming to horror for the first time, this isn't a bad place to start, but for anyone with a real appreciation of the genre this might feel rather dull and unoriginal.

Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was supposed to be the summer's virtuoso meta-fiction, but its rewritten happy ending, musing on the impotence of writing, seems a lot less bleak than Scary Stories' acknowledgment that some scripts will take you far away where you'll never be seen again.

"[42] Tomris Laffly of RogerEbert.com gave the film three stars out of four, stating "Still, Scary Stories is a strangely uplifting throwback to old-fashioned clans of investigative teens.

While it doesn't break any new ground, there is plenty of vintage fun to be had with kids who feel their way through life's impending fears and live to tell the tale.

"[44] The New Yorker's Richard Brody mentioned "There's authentic charm to the fine-grained didacticism of the plot of "Scary Stories", which embodies the very virtues that it promotes.

"[45] David Ehrlich of IndieWire added "André Øvredal's film adaptation, as clever and well-crafted as it is, can't help but invert the formula that the source material relied upon for its success.

"[47] David Fear of Rolling Stone gave the movie three stars out of five, commenting "It's all a lot of chain-rattling, black-cat-screeching fun, though not such a blast that you don't notice how generic and ramshackle the whole endeavor feels...

The resulting folkloric aesthetic makes Scary Stories' brand of fantasy all the more effective as fun visual horror.

Club gave the film B grade and wrote "Like scouts huddled around a campfire, each trying to send a bigger chill down the others' spines, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark keeps coming up with new gruesome attractions, piling one on top of the next.

"[50] The Times of India's Neil Soans gave the film three stars out of five, noting "The screenplay ends up as a jumble of unexplored ideas onscreen rather than a cohesive narrative.