Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has finally made its way to the big screen, but does the movie include a post-credits scene? Based on the short story collections by Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories has been in the works at CBS Films since 2013. However, it didn’t really start to move forward until Guillermo del Toro got involved with the project three years after that. The Oscar-winning storyteller ultimately served as cowriter and producer on the film, with André Øvredal (Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe) directing.

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie takes place in a small town called Mill Valley, Pennsylvania circa 1968. There, a trio of teenaged misfits - horror buff Stella (Zoe Colletti) and her nerdy friends “Auggie” (Gabriel Rush) and “Chuck” (Austin Zajur) - and a mysterious outsider who goes by Ramón (Michael Garza) find their way to the town’s local haunted house, the Bellows mansion, on Halloween night. However, when Stella stumbles upon a book of frightening short stories written by the Bellows’ troubled daughter, Sarah, and decides to keep it, she unleashes a terrible curse that threatens to kill them all, one by one.

For those who are wondering, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark does NOT have a post-credits scene. Those who hang around during the film’s end credits will get to listen to Lana Del Rey’s rendition of Donovan and Shawn Phillips’ classic psychedelic rock song, “Season of the Witch” (which was recorded specifically for the movie’s soundtrack). However, there aren’t any additional clips or stingers after that.

While it’s true Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark doesn’t have a credits scene that sets up a sequel (or simply provides a last-minute scare), this certainly doesn’t rule out the possibility of a followup, either. The movie only adapts a handful of Schwartz’s original stories, so there’s plenty of additional source material to mine for another film. And without diving too deeply into spoilers, it’s fair to say Øvredal and del Toro even provide a few hints about where a future Scary Stories adaptation (should it eventually come to pass) could go and what it would be about.

For now, though, there’s been no significant discussion of a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark sequel happening. That may or may not change once its opening box office results are in, especially since the film does, in fact, have the potential to jump-start a franchise. If not, then it’s no big deal. The movie works perfectly fine as a standalone project, and even treats audiences to a cool Lana Del Rey cover at the end before sending them on their way back to the (hopefully, less terrifying) real world.

  • Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Release Date: 2019-08-09