On Shudder now

‘What’s the story?’ 

Having been to a few writing retreats, spent time telling scaring stories in cabins and castles, the premise of this movie was instantly appealing to me. The brainchild of Josh Ruben, best known until now for his directing work on The Late Late Show with James Corden and Adam Ruins Everything, as well as starring in and directing lots of comedy shorts, Scare Me is definitely a vehicle which showcases what an all-rounder he is.

Taking a break in an isolated mountain cabin, writer – and director, and actor as he tells taxi driver Rebecca Drysdale – Fred (Ruben himself) is trying to come up with ideas for his next project. In actual fact he works in advertising, blagging the whole writer thing, which works fine until he comes across the bestselling author of his favourite horror novel Venus, Fanny (the wonderful Aya Cash, last seen causing mayhem in The Boys as Stormfront), who is doing the same thing in a nearby cabin.

During a power outage, Fanny calls round and the pair end up in a kind of ‘scare-off’ – making up and telling each other horror stories by the light of a roaring fire, eating popcorn and drinking beer as a storm rages outside. Fanny’s keen to hear his werewolf idea (what she later titles ‘The Little Boy Who Cried Werewolf’) chipping in helpful advice as he goes along. While her first contribution is the creepy tale of a grandpa and his pet dog. During the course of enacting these, sound effects come into play and their imaginations go into overdrive.

Spooked by the pizza delivery guy, Carlo (Saturday Night Live’s Chris Redd) who seems ‘like a fella who might be interested in some scary stories’, they invite him to join in. And indeed he is, not only listening to but joining in with their fun and games, which now include doing coke and recreating Venus which happens to be Carlo’s favourite book as well. After a Satanic musical number, Carlo has to get on with his deliveries, and as the night winds down things take a turn for the darker, but to say any more than that will spoil the ending.

I went into this one thinking that the telling of the scary stories was a framing device, a bit like the old Amicus portmanteau movies. That we’d segue into fifteen-minute short films about a werewolf, creepy grandpa or whatever… But that expectation was soon turned on its head and I’m very glad it was. The enacting of the tales by Ruben, Cash and Redd is a major part of the fun of this one, pitched exactly right – I could very easily see this one being a stage production, in the same vein as Ghost Stories. There are nods to and mentions of everything from Labyrinth and Lord of the Rings, to The Shining (not simply the Nicholson impression, but check out the name of the pizza delivery company), Silver Bullet, Jaws and Tales from the Crypt. This is a film for fans of the genre, made lovingly by fans of the genre.

Verdict: Scare Me is as funny as it is tragic and, at points, utterly terrifying. What makes it so special though is that it also has something very important to say about our industry, and gender in the genre. But to say any more than that would again be to spoil things for you, so I’ll just recommend this wholeheartedly and tell you to keep watching through the credits for an extra twist. Pretty much perfect. ‘Hit me, scaremaster!’ 10/10

Paul Kane