Reviews for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore

The average rating for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-06-23 00:00:00 Stephen Potter I'm not giving any stars here, only a warning: beware which edition of this collection you choose, for if you choose unwisely, you will be sorely ripped off in more ways than one. I chose unwisely. My edition is the 2010 "updated" version published by Harper Collins with new illustrations by Brett Helquist. To say that it's been sanitized for safe consumption is an understatement. The reason the original 1981 edition became an instant classic and a frequently challenged book in schools and libraries was for Stephen Gammell's ghoulish and nightmarish artwork. I cry foul and bullshit. You don't mess with perfection and genius. Without Gammell's drawings, this collection loses its bloody, beating heart and is barely worth the paper it's printed on. Who thought this was a good idea? I'm incensed, especially for all the kids who might pick up this book expecting to have the bejeebers scared out of them and wind up merely bored or slightly amused. Unforgivable! I was going to rant here about our ill-conceived, often hypocritical efforts to "protect" our children and censor their reading materials, but I'll save that for another day. Perhaps for when I write a real review for the real version of this book, the only one that counts, the only one that should be bought and gifted to any young person seeking his or her gateway drug into the realm of the macabre. This review has also been posted to: Busty Book Bimbo

Review # 2 was written on 2020-04-06 00:00:00 Jason Summers Sometimes you are about to watch a movie when you suddenly realize it is based on a book. Sometimes you choose to care. A collection of short horror stories to scare you senseless, and some to make you laugh. Each story two pages at most and some eerie pictures accompanying each one. The book started nicely. "The big toe" and "The walk", the first two, were very simple and highly enjoyable, two stories to make you jump scare. "Cold as clay" and "The girl who stood on a grave" were also good. Unfortunately the rest of the stories, which were plenty, were unremarkable or plainly forgettable, and a few of them simply a complete waste of time. I think this book can be awesome if you are a kid, but sadly I think I have outgrown child horror stories. *** The movie (2019) was average, or a bit below average (5.5/10). "The big toe" was there, and several more included or mentioned, but I was surprised by the amount of stuff I did not recognize. Maybe I should have read the whole series before watching the movie. Still, it was an ok adaptation, at best. Until next time, ----------------------------------------------- A veces estás a punto de ver una pelicula cuando de repente te das cuenta de que está basado en un libro. A veces decidís que te importa. Una colección de cuentos cortos de horror para asustarte hasta perder el sentido, y algunas para hacerte reir. Cada historia dos páginas cuando mucho y algunas fotos acompañando cada historia. El libro empezó bien. "The big toe" y "The walk", los primeros dos, fueron muy simples pero altamente disfrutables, dos historias para hacerte saltar de miedo. "Cold as clay" y "The girl who stood on a grave" también estuvieron bien. Desgraciadamente el resto de las historias, que fueron varias, no son destacables o directamente olvidables, y algunas de ellas simplemente una pérdida de tiempo. Creo que este libro podría ser genial si sos un niño, pero lamentablemente creo que ya superé las historias de horror para chicos. *** La película (2019) es algo promedio, o un poco menos que promedio (5.5/10). "The big toe" estuvo ahí, y algunas más incluídas o mencionadas, pero me sorprendió la cantidad de cosas que no reconocí. Tal vez debería haber leído toda la serie antes de ver la película. Aún así, estuvo ok como adaptación, cuando mucho. Hasta la próxima,