Interesting approach to the fabled nightmare stories of my generations youth... gateway horror that lands somewhere between Goosebumps and It—utilizing setpiece style scares reminiscent of the latter, and managing to feel just as sincere (if not more?) than either.
I absolutely LOVED the first act of this movie: the mood, setting, season of the witch needle drop, editing, and how the story unfolded was right up my alley—mixing legit better than/darker than expected scares and big set piece after big set piece for each of the recognizable nightmare illustrations come to life. I was totally invested and ready to slap 4 stars all over this but unfortunately for me it lost a little steam in the last act as the generic…