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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) KILL COUNT is the one hundred and ninety eighth video of The Kill Count.
Overview[]
On Halloween, 1968, in the town of Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, three teenage friends—Stella, Auggie, and Chuck—prank bully Tommy Milner. When Tommy and his gang chase them in retaliation, the trio flees to a drive-in movie theatre, where a young drifter named Ramón hides them in his car. Later, they invite Ramón to explore a local "haunted house" which once belonged to the wealthy Bellows family, who helped found Mill Valley. Inside, they find a secret room and a book of horror stories written by Sarah Bellows. Having followed the group, Tommy locks them inside the room along with Ruth, Chuck's sister, and Tommy's date. They escape after being released by an unseen presence, and Stella takes Sarah's book. Stella offers to let Ramón stay at her house for the night after discovering Tommy has vandalized his car.
In her bedroom, Stella discovers a new story, entitled "Harold," being written in Sarah's book. In reality, an inebriated Tommy is stalked by the titular Harold, his family's scarecrow, after it comes to life. The creature stabs him with a pitchfork, causing Tommy to vomit hay and undergo a violent transformation. The following day, Tommy is reported missing; Stella and Ramón investigate and find Harold dressed in Tommy's clothes. Though Stella is convinced that Tommy has been turned into a scarecrow, the others are skeptical.
That night, a new story, "The Big Toe," appears with Auggie as the main character. The pair attempt to warn him about the monster in the narrative: a zombie searching for its missing toe, which is inside a stew that Auggie unwittingly eats. Auggie is attacked by the zombie and disappears after it drags him under his bed.
Realizing they are next, Stella, Ramón, and Chuck attempt to destroy the book; when this proves impossible, they decide to research Sarah Bellows' life in hopes of finding a solution. Meanwhile, a new story, "The Red Spot," is written. When Ruth discovers a swollen spider bite on her cheek, she squeezes it, and it explodes and releases hundreds of tiny spiders. Ruth is rescued by Stella, Ramón, and Chuck, but is traumatized and placed in a mental institution.
The group's investigations take them to a local hospital, where they discover that Sarah's brother performed electroshock therapy on her as a part of a cover-up operation. The family's mill had been poisoning the town's water with mercury, and Sarah was tortured by her family for trying to reveal the truth. At the hospital, Chuck is pursued by the Pale Lady, a phantom from his recurring nightmares, who eventually corners Chuck in a hallway and absorbs him.
Stella and Ramón are arrested for trespassing by Police Chief Turner, who reveals that Ramón is a Vietnam War draft dodger. While Ramón and Stella are imprisoned, Turner's dog begins to act strangely, and Ramón realizes that the next creature will be the Jangly Man, a monster from a campfire story that frightened him as a child. The Jangly Man, able to reconstruct itself from separate body parts, kills Turner before attempting to kill Ramón. Ramón and Stella escape their cells, and he lures the creature away while Stella goes to the Bellows house to try to reason with Sarah.
Stella is taken back in time, living out part of Sarah's experience as the Bellows family terrorizes her. They drag Stella into a dark room, where she encounters Sarah's ghost. In the present, Ramón arrives at the house as the Jangly Man hunts him. Stella promises to tell the real story of Sarah's life if she stops killing. Sarah forces Stella to write the true story in the book in blood before she and the Jangly Man vanish.
Ramón accepts his enlistment and shares an emotional goodbye with Stella before he leaves for the war. Stella drives away with her father and a recovered Ruth, and the film ends as she states her belief that they can still find a way to rescue Chuck and Auggie.
Deaths[]
Counted Death[]
- Tommy Milner - Turned into scarecrow - 33 mins in
- Auggie - Dragged under bed into monster land - 46 mins in
- Chuck - Absorbed by Pale Lady's hug - 1 hr 14 mins in
- Police Chief Turner - Neck broken by Jangly Man - 1 hr 23 mins in
Non-Counted Deaths[]
- The Bellows Family - Destroyed by Sarah with the power of the book and became monsters
- Sarah Bellows - Faded out of existence when Stella wrote down the truth in the book
- The Jangly Man - Faded out of existence when Stella wrote down the truth in the book
- Harold The Scarecrow - Faded out of existence when Stella wrote down the truth in the book
- The Big Toe Corpse - Faded out of existence when Stella wrote down the truth in the book
- The Pale Lady - Faded out of existence when Stella wrote down the truth in the book
- The Spiders - Faded out of existence when Stella wrote down the truth in the book
- Ramón’s Older Brother (Unnamed) - Killed in pieces by unknown soldier at the Vietnam War (Mentioned)