Dora and some scary stories

As we head towards Halloween it’s a good time for horror movies, but the first movie I’m going to be reviewing is based on a cartoon for toddlers. And it’s actually pretty good.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold updates the show to live action and makes the title character a teenager, but still maintains the same sweet, precocious quality and celebration of Latinx culture. Isabela Moner gives a star-making turn as Dora, and the junior Indiana Jones quality to the story provides fun for both kids and adults, aided by director James Bobin keeping things moving briskly with just the right tone. More of this from kids’ movies, please.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is another throwback, this time to the urban legend stories collected in book form by Alvin Schwartz in the 1980s. The film wisely set the stories in the 1960s, allowing for some political commentary as well as preventing the sight of kids running from monsters while filming them on their smart phones. The film uses four stories from the books (Harold, The Big Toe, The Red Spot, The Dream, and Me Tie Dough-Ty Walker – the latter very loosely adapted as the Jangly Man) with a wrap around story involving kids reading the book and the stories coming to life. Think the Goosebumps movie but way creepier thanks to Guillermo del Toro’s involvement . The visuals pay homage to the original illustrations and there’s enough dark humour to keep things light enough for PG-13 (while still way too scary for young kids). This deserves to join the ranks of classic horror anthology movies like Creepshow and Trick ‘R Treat.

Finally, Ready or Not is the latest entry in the classic rich people are different subgenre of horror. This time the rich people in question have a quaint little tradition of playing a midnight game whenever someone new joins the family by marriage. The only catch is that if the new spouse randomly picks hide and seek from the list of games then the other family members must hunt them down and kill that unlucky person before dawn. So of course, Grace (Samara Weaving, giving it her all) pulls that card on her wedding night. The plot kicks in early and never stops moving, providing plenty of memorable death scenes and a few twists and turns. The supporting cast is fantastic, especially Andie MacDowell as Grace’s mother-in-law and Adam Brody as the brother-in-law who may or may not be sympathetic to Grace. Soon you’ll be rooting for Grace to go full Sarah Connor/Laurie Strode and get medieval on those rich arseholes. I won’t spoil the ending but let’s say while the full Satanic influence on the plot may be a little much for some viewers, it provides a gleefully bloody resolution.