'Scare Me' Review
NR
Runtime: 1 Hr and 44 Minutes
Production Companies: Artists First, Irony Point, Last Rodeo Studios
Distributor: Shudder
Director: Josh Ruben
Writer: Josh Ruben
Cast: Aya Cash, Josh Ruben, Rebecca Drysdale, Chris Redd
Release Date: October 1, 2020
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.
You’ve seen Are You Afraid of the Dark? You’ve also seen Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Now, with Josh Ruben’s debut feature, Scare Me, you get comedians telling scary stories. The film’s set-up is solid where you’re introduced to Fred (Ruben), a mediocre writer who escapes to the Catskills to get inspiration to write his magnum opus horror novel. During one of his runs, he meets a successful bestselling horror novelist named Fanny. When the power goes out in his cabin, Fanny comes over and challenges Fred in a friendly competition to tell a story scary enough to spook her.
Scare Me is a comedy that delivers on its promise: two — which eventually becomes three for a brief moment –– people telling each other scary stories similar to the nature of a campfire tale mixed with an improv class. Cash and Ruben often do voice impersonations and silly movements to make their tales more immersive.
Scare Me prospers from an ambitious experimental angle, for it often plays with sound design and lighting during the scary storytelling sequences. Hell, it has better sound mixing than Nolan’s Tenet. Since you’re not getting any other form of reenactment for the stories, the cinematography does most of the heavy lifting where certain shots help raise the tension and the shadows on the wall take the form of the creature they’re discussing. It’s cinematic improv with a spooky campfire theme.
Ruben’s script offers an accurate depiction of male fragility where Fred is so caught up with being a lazy, insecure asshole that when it's time for him to put his money where his mouth is and tell scary stories, he chokes up, whines, complains, and gets rightfully criticized by Fanny. He represents the large percentage of White male writers who get by without a single creative bone in their body — the ones who aren’t clever and can’t write a good story to save their life — as they wallow in their own mediocrity. Josh Ruben does a good job triple heading as the director, writer, and lead actor. He has such lively chemistry with Aya Cash and Chris Redd. Since all three have comedic acting backgrounds, it’s no surprise that they all shine and deliver delightful, funny performances.
Aya Cash has a knack for switching her powers of intimidation on and off. She can command the screen with her energy and charm, but can still give you chills with a single glare. I would love to see her in a leading role in a big-budget comedy movie. Between Scare Me and her terrifying performance in The Boys, Aya Cash has proven herself as the real deal and she very much has the capability to be as big as Melissa McCarthy or Kristen Wiig.
As fun as Scare Me is, it’s also a slow burn. While it may play out like a comedy show masterclass on a budget, it loses its novelty because of the slow pacing. There comes a point where the jokes and stories peak, yet you still have roughly thirty minutes left in the running time. Despite the well-executed gear shift at its climax, the impact is lost because, by that point, the film has worn out its welcome. That being said, Scare Me would be an enjoyable watch with a group of friends –– or virtual parties, if Shudder has that feature –– or in the background as you work on other projects. It’s a great background movie to have because you can still look up ever so often and laugh at the shenanigans happening onscreen. Heck, get high and watch it. Since we’ve just hit spooky season, it’s a fun comedic fare that’ll put a smile on your face.
