#janglyman

I'm the Janglyman!

I make limbs meet.

Just like any man

I work with my hands.

Film Review | Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (2019)

The way they went about adapting this is A++. The mechanic of a story character bringing the rest of the collected stories together in this mysterious way really worked for me.

What DIDN’T work that almost completely pulled me out of it was the treatment of POC characters. Ramon is a racial pariah; the white characters are like “you’ve got a switchblade don’t you??” and then he does. It’s fucked up. He’s painted as a draft dodger (which, why??) as if his race alone, the Sheriff giving him shit, and WET BACK painted on his car weren’t enough. The characters make this goofy ass decisions throughout the film too - mostly when in the Bellows mansion. 

I think the right intent was there in adapting this to the big screen, but I think it stumbled a little. Overall, good PG-13 scares and imagery, bad characters.

96 of 365.

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