Divisive horror movie full of 'grotesque monsters' now streaming on BBC iPlayer

Metro

07-06-2025

If you fancy making your weekend a gruesome one, look no further than a 'grotesque' horror movie from 2019 that's been added to BBC iPlayer.
Directed by Andre Ovredal and co-written by Guillermo Del Toro, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released in 2019 and became a box office success.
Made on a budget of $25million (£18.5m), it performed better than expectations on its opening weekend six years ago and made back $104.5m (£77m) in total.
Starring Zoe Colletti and Michael Garza, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is based on the book series of the same name, written by Alvin Schwartz, who died in 1992.
The film follows the story of Stella, Auggie, and Chuck, who visit a haunted house and find a book of horror stories written by a long-deceased author named Sarah Bellows.
Bellows' stories soon come to life, and the scary monsters and creatures they contain emerge in the real world, putting Stella, Auggie, and Chuck in more danger than they realise.
In 2019, critics watching the film in its early weeks after release were broadly positive, with its current Rotten Tomatoes rating sitting at 78%.
Fans received Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark positively as well, with 72% of Rotten Tomatoes users saying they would give the film a score of 7.0 out of 10 or more.
On X, user @Muesquehere said that the introduction in the film of the creature known as The Pale Lady was among the most disturbing scenes of any horror film.
@English_Shamar said: 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a really good movie to watch' when another user asked for the scariest horrors their followers had seen before.
On Letterboxd, film critic Matt Singer said the movie was proof that 'it is possible to make a genuinely scary PG-13-rated horror movie'.
User Tom Bowen also commented: 'The period setting is cool, all the kids are great performers, and I was surprised by just how creepy it was with some eerie designs and disturbing sequences.'
Joining the cast of the 2019 film were Breaking Bad star Dean Norris, who played Hank Schrader, and Orange is the New Black actress Lorraine Toussaint, who played Yvonne in the Netflix series.
The books upon which the film is based were released in 1981, 1984, and 1991 and were published shortly before author Schwartz's death at the age of just 64. More Trending
In 1981, the first book was titled Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, while later editions were titled More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was famously illustrated by artist Stephen Gammell, whose drawings of 'grotesque monsters' became iconic among horror fans.
As of 2017, the stories had sold a collective total of seven million copies and have appeared on numerous bestseller lists for children's and young adults' fiction.
Watch Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark on BBC iPlayer.
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