‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Review: Fear and Nostalgia

If Alvin Schwartz's popular "Scary Stories" children's books condensed folklore into an accessible anthology form, "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," an agreeable bit of fan service, performs a similar gateway function for movies. Whether it's the scene-setting blast of Donovan ("Zodiac"), the low height Steadicam work ("The Shining"), the red-suffused hallways (David Lynch) or "Night of the Living Dead" playing at a drive-in, the movie takes from the best.

The nostalgia is presumably the signature of Guillermo del Toro, who produced it. Like "The Shape of Water, which he directed (André Ovredal did that job here), "Scary Stories" spikes its tributes with social commentary. The movie is set in 1968, more than a decade before the first book was published. The ghosts of Vietnam haunt the periphery, and Nixon's election coincides with a gangly goblin's arrival.