Synopsis:
During a power outage, two strangers tell scary stories. The more Fred and Fanny commit to their tales, the more the stories come to life in their Catskills cabin. The horrors of reality manifest when Fred confronts his ultimate fear.

Cast: Josh Ruben, Aya Cash, Rebecca Drysdale, Chris Redd

Director: Josh Ruben
Writer: Josh Ruben

Scare Me from writer-director Josh Ruben is a celebration of storytelling and scary stories told by candlelight. Its entire premise relies on you being entertained by spooky campfire stories. The film’s premise is very simple. Fred (Ruben) is a wannabe horror writer, actor and director — who’s decided to take a weekend up in the woods to work on his big hit: a werewolf revenge story. His first morning in the hills he runs into Fanny (Cash) who is the real deal. She has had worldwide success with a best-selling zombie novel. But she is also on a getaway to work on her next project.

The two meet briefly one morning when they’re both out for a run but it’s later that night when a power outage in the area causes Fanny to wander over to Fred’s place seeking company. When she arrives — more or less inviting herself inside — it’s a night of booze, drugs, pizza and stories with Fanny prodding Fred to test his creative skills. “Scare me, and I’ll scare you,” she says.

Fred starts with his werewolf story, Fanny pulling at every detail like an overbearing creative writing teacher. Each character decision she pounces upon: “why would the police arrive? How did the mother know how to load the gun?” The tiniest descriptive word choices Fred uses are put under the microscope as well. Fanny is well aware she’s the published writer in the room and she’s not afraid to show it. Eventually, the tables turn with Fanny taking her turn at spinning a scary story and she’s very committed to the role-play involved — she even smears peanut butter on her face at one stage for dramatic effect.

For the most part, Scare Me relies on the performances of both Ruben and Cash to be enough to entertain audiences — and to their credit, they are. The film often undercuts its dread by jumping to a joke in the next scene. Scare Me is very much a comedy first, but it isn’t sure how scary it wants to be either.

There are small choices that help elevate the stories. A shadow on the wall turns to a withering branch as Fred describes the sound it would make scratching a window. Subtle sound effects sit under the performances to enhance the on-screen play. Meta bits land, like when Fanny says “if this was a movie this is where the camera would very slowly dolly in.” Of course, the camera does just that.

Just when things start to wind down, Chris Redd shows up as a pizza guy and injects a new level of energy, but it’s not quite enough to justify the runtime. At 104 minutes it’s long in the tooth — this would have sung at a snappy 80.

Scare Me has an interesting premise but doesn’t reach its full potential. It’s stretched too long and the ending needed a re-write to achieve something special. It’s still fun thanks to the performances of both Cash and Ruben, and for fans of alt-horror it’s at least trying something different.

Scare Me is streaming on Shudder from October 1st.

(Scare Me screener provided for review)