Graham Ryckman

Honest review time: This movie borderline glorifies abuse. The central plot of this movie is two people falling in love, one figuring out he has cancer, them getting married despite it, and him dying. The way they executed this movie though, is absolutely baffling to me. This movie lacks structure completely. The passing of time is incredibly hard to judge, never clarified, and often had to be inferred most of the time. They meet at the beginning of the movie, and within the first 8 minutes of this film they’re moving in together. Their relationship is hollow and feels like watching imaginary people living out a sickly sweet fantasy world. Both of our main characters have incredibly close friend groups who are for some reason, present during any important parts of the film. Said friends gets overly involved in their relationship, and after his diagnosis, take it upon themselves to plan their wedding that was originally going to be cancelled. As we get further into the planning, which is founded by crowd donations, the groom becomes increasingly weary of the daunting task of getting married amidst a cancer diagnosis. The bride though, only becomes more insistent about the wedding, despite her fiancé’s genuine concerns about his ailing physical state. He expresses at one point that he wants to end his cancer treatment early, for he is experiencing such adverse effects from the chemotherapy. In response to the first time we see any real human emotion from these otherwise bland and meaningless characters, she vehemently attacks him and refers to him as a “selfish prick”. She has zero regard for the pain he is experiencing, and when he tries to express it, she completely dismisses it. She wants to get married, regardless of his health and him battling terminal cancer, if he wants to or not. It’s extremely unsettling how the movie frames this behavior as normal, and if anything goes out of it’s way to reward her. The bride says that loosing her husband taught her the deep moral lesson of, “valuing those closest to you in the short time you have with them on this Earth”. If this is the case, why didn’t she listen to him when he was still alive and expressing genuine cries for help, and then demonize him for not putting her first, despite it’s him with the terminal illness?? He is in such dire condition when they get married he dies before he gets to go on their honeymoon- It’s insane to me. People in this movie act like completely lifeless caricatures of actual human people, vaguely trying to resemble emotion. It’s sick how he is treated throughout this film and literally pressured into marrying this women only to die weeks/months later. There is such lack of regard to the groom we don’t even meet any of his family. Not one. He is barely given a voice to express his opinion. He is a outline of someone that should, as your central protagonist, be completely fleshed out. But no one is. In this lame attempt to make something meaningful, they made something completely forgettable, tasteless, and rewards an abusive manipulative spouse.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a lovely retelling of the classic books written by Alvin Schwartz. We see live action versions of the central creatures terrorizing a small rural town in the 60's. ▪Spoiler Warning! (Kinda?) ▪ This retelling was respectful and did an adequate job of not jeopardizing the resource material. The stories had to be changed to better encompass the plot, which irked me a tad, but in retrospect, I understand. The central cast of 4 rambunctious teens were fun to watch (for the most part) and I felt somewhat attached to them as they struggled in their unique tales of horror. Like some other reviews, the universe could have definitely been further explored. I was saddened that they chose such a picturesque era and did very little to represent it. The costuming seemed off, especially Stella's. The late 60's (1968) had a very distinctive look and it was kinda glossed over to make room for action sequences, which I feel lessened the realism of the overall film. I suppose a trivial error, but one that impacted my viewing experience regardless. I did appreciate how they used era-appropiate cars for the drive in scene, though. But, the 1960's was a perfect time period to choose for the movie's plot because things that were happening in the real world at the time (mainly the Vietnam War and the Nixon presidency) directly correlated with the fictious struggles happening to the characters with in their universe. These conflicts in real life and the fictious one directly butt heads when Ramón admits to having been drafted into the Vinetam war but was running away to avoid being enlisted, all the while being attacked by the living corpse from 'Me Tie Doughty Walker'. Facing death is what caused him to run away from the prospect of the war in the first place, yet here he was, looking death directly in it's eyes. The CGI wasn't terrible like it's been made out to be, the only creature that gave me problems was the 'Me Tie Doughty Walker' beast. The corpse was gruesome, sure, but realistic?... No- not so much. Dialogue was also something that was lacking. Their were lines that took me out of the movie because they seemed so out of place. The exchange with Sarah's spirit and Stella bothered me the most. It didn't have the potency that it needed to wrap off the final conflict, and left me feeling unresolved. Other than that, the film was respectful, it was good, and most importantly, it was scary (though a large part was jump scares). I had a good time watching it and loved Lana Del Rey's rendition of 'Season of the Witch' that played during the credits. Final rating: 7/10 Would recommend with some friends if you're looking for a thrill.

This show is absolutely stupendous! Am I huge fave of the Y/A genre of media? No, not necessarily, but this series is a huge hit for me. The idea of three girls all suffering from some form of trauma invokes a closeness that comes off as genuine and convincing. I love this series dearly and can only hope for a season 2!