Scary film nothing to fear

Basically, the whole thing just feels very creepy. Even the ever-present jump scares are elevated by the ratcheting dread that underpins them.

While the plot is assembled in a slightly paint-by-numbers structure (I accurately predicted, by the end of the first act, the precise order various characters would die) it also flows extremely well.

And the embedded themes work very nicely to augment the horror tale as well, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon’s presidential election, forcing you to ask: who is really stealing your children and sending them to die?

The young lead cast also delivers some excellent and believable performances, keeping all the weirdness grounded and relatable.

My only real criticism is that the movie almost squanders its biggest hook: those scary stories.

The concept is that these classic horror stories all come true and kill the people named in them, but we don’t really get told any of the stories in the film — just the fear or creature at the heart of it.

If we were told these stories first, it might have built a much more terrifying sense of dread knowing that is supposed to happen and watching it forming and unfolding.

Or maybe the assumption is that the audience will be reasonably familiar with the stories from the books. Who knows.

The filmmakers are clearly leaving room for more movies in the series so perhaps more answers will come in time.