A wannabe writer and a successful writer take turns
telling each other scary stories during a blackout. COMEDY/HORROR
|
Scare Me (2020)Written and Directed by Josh Ruben
Starring Josh Ruben, Aya Cash, Chris Redd, Rebecca Drysdale |
Scare Me had a limitless well of potential. Two writers, one successful and one not, tell each other scary stories during a blackout in a winter cabin. Sounds perfect on paper. Josh Ruben leans more towards comedy than horror, which is fine, but squanders what could've been a memorable anthology tale with a predictable ending and an unfair implication that the stories would be supernaturally real. I get that the latter issue isn't Ruben's fault, but it is somebody's. That being said, the film isn't bad, and some of the stories are at least intriguing.
Fred Banks (Ruben) is trying to be a writer, but none of his ideas are clicking. He goes to a cabin in the woods to isolate himself and write. He meets Fanny (Cash), a super successful horror writer who constantly needles at him and calls him a hack. When a blackout occurs, she goes to his cabin and they take turns telling each other scary stories. Right from the go, you're led to believe that Fred is a dick and Fanny is arrogant, which leads to their storytelling differences. I was onboard until the final story involving demonic American Idol and the pizza guy (Redd). I really wanted to like Scare Me, especially since I'm really looking forward to Ruben's new horror comedy Werewolves Within. For the most part, Scare Me is an entertaining horror comedy. But there's something holding it back. I think it might be the writing, which never fully commits to either horror or comedy. |