Pre-release guesses
Stories that will be adapted into the film.
Most likely the more popular ones, including...- The Haunted House
- Confirmed. The ghost woman appears at the end of the teaser trailer.
- Sam's New Pet (Bonus points if the "pet" looks more like the grotesque thing in the illustration than a sewer rat.)
- Mostly jossed. The creature doesn't appear, but the story is referenced as a short story Stella is writing herself.
- Oh, Susannah! (Most likely the story itself won't be adapted, but the infamously irrelevant illustration may end up in there somehow.)
- Jossed.
- Is Something Wrong?
- Jossed.
- Thuuuuuup (Obviously the story itself won't be adapted, but the ghost itself may appear, perhaps appearing on the ceiling of one of the protagonist's bedroom.)
- Jossed.
The film will allude to other people who found Sarah's book
Since they can only work in so many stories, the history of the Reality-Writing Book will mention other readers who had supernatural encounters of their own...not all of whom survived. Stories like:- A sailor who was dragged to the sea bottom by his murdered rival.
- Two friends who were chased one night by a zombie-like creature...a year before one died of an illness that made him resemble said creature.
- Two boys discover a bloodstained drum in the woods, and one feels compelled to play it...
- A woman who walked into a Sunday mass for the dead.
- Confirmed. While none of the above stories are mentioned, it is revealed that Sarah's family were killed by her creatures. For example, her father was killed by the Wendigo.
The Jangly Man is the corpse from "What Do You Come For?"
This is a stretch, but it's a prediction that many have made. The main reason is the comparison between the name "Jangly Man" and the corpse in the story being referred to as " a great, gangling man."- Confirmed at Comic-Con 2019. Like in the story, the Jangly Man is apparently first introduced as his body parts fall from the chimney.
- While he is technically inspired by the story in design, his in-universe story is Me Tie Dough-Ty Walker.
The Jangly Man is Aaron Kelly.
The reason no one's been clear on who he's supposed to be is that it makes the reveal more amusing. Perhaps in the filmverse, Aaron was a friend of one of the kids who died and left behind a girlfriend who got together with said kid. Since the book reads your fears, this guy would be haunted by his dead friend returning to get revenge for taking his love. In the end, the protagonists defeat Aaron/Jangly Man by agreeing to play him a violin jig, and he happily dances back to his grave like the original story.- Somewhat confirmed? The Jangly Man is a Composite Character of three stories, one of which is "Aaron Kelly's Bones". It is unknown whether his name is actually Aaron Kelly in the film, however.
- Jossed as far as his in-universe name being Aaron Kelly. In-universe, the Jangly Man is based on a campfire tale that scared Ramon as a kid.
When the ghost girl Sarah Bellows herself appears at the end of the film...
She'll appear in the form of the eyeless ghost woman from "The Haunted House".- Possibly confirmed, though it's not clear if the ghost at the end of the trailer is supposed to represent Sarah.
- Confirmed. The recent "Myth" TV spot confirms that the ghost featured in the trailer is indeed Sarah Bellows.
The monsters are all physical manifestations of the book illustrations.
Hence why the Pale Woman looks exactly like her illustrated counterpart.- Jossed. Sarah Bellow's book doesn't have illustrations.
Stephen Gammell will make a Creator Cameo.
Bonus points if he ends up being the Big Bad, and it turns out he's the one who created the monsters.- Jossed.
The film will have Creative Closing Credits in the style of the book illustrations.
Whether it be the original illustrations, or new illustrations recreating scenes in the film.- Somewhat. While the illustrations are just images of gnarled tree branches and blood drips, they are done in the same drippy style as Gammel's art. However, they are black and red instead of black and white.
"The Hearse Song" will be the film's theme song.
Maybe it'll play during the end credits.- Yes and no. It doesn't play over the credits, but it does play several times during the film and was apparently Sarah Bellow's favorite song.
The monsters are all distortions of Sarah Bellow's family members.
While I don't know if this information is accurate, the Wikipedia page for the film currently lists several actors playing the roles of Sarah Bellows and her family. One of her family members is Harold Bellows, possibly a brother to Sarah. If this information is accurate, it could mean that Sarah's scary stories are actually her writing the monsters as exaggerated, distorted versions of her family members as a cathartic activity. The Wikipedia page currently lists two female family members (which could correspond to the Big Toe corpse and the Pale Lady) and two male family members (the Jangly Man and Harold, obviously). As for the Red Spot, it could be that Sarah owned a pet spider or something similar. Overall, it will be revealed that their spirits are somehow trapped in the book and are manifesting as the monsters Sarah painted (or wrote) them as.- Somewhat implied, but never explicitly confirmed or denied. The connection between the Harolds is obvious, and Sarah in the Past!House is being hunted by Ephraim at the same time as Ramon is being hunted by the Jangly Man in the Present!House, hinting at a connection, but this could be a coincidence.
Lou Lou was a servant of the Bellows family.
Lorraine Toussaint's character Lou Lou can be seen in the official trailer lamenting that the kids shouldn't have taken the book. Perhaps Lou Lou was actually once a servant of the Bellows family. The reason she is still alive is that she is actually a voodoo practitioner. She's the one who gave Sarah the empty journal to write in as she was Sarah's confidant. Sound familiar? Yep, that's basically the backstory behind the infamous Robert the Haunted Doll.- Confirmed, although the details are slightly different. She was a child when she served the Bellows, explaining why she is still alive. Part of the Sarah Bellows urban legend is that Lou Lou's mother taught Sarah black magic, but this is debunked.
The Pale Woman will turn out to be benevolent.
Just like the book version.- Jossed. Oh so very much, jossed.
Post-release guesses
Stella is actually the reincarnation of Sarah Bellows.
Simply put, they have a lot in common. They're both horror-obsessed social outcasts who feel blamed by tragic events in their pasts and who channel their inner turmoil into writing creepy stories. The fact that Stella is mistaken for Sarah Bellows in the Past!House could be seen as an indication that she, in a way, is Sarah Bellows. If she's not a direct reincarnation, she definitely has some significant connection to her, which could be explored in a possible sequel. Stories that may end up in the sequel.
Feel free to add some of the ones mentioned above.- "Sam's New Pet". Perhaps instead of mistaking a sewer rat for a dog, a character will find a cute little dog, only for the dog's true form to be revealed to be the hideous creature from the illustration.
- As this story was actually written by Stella herself and not by Sarah, whatever supernatural entity is manipulating the stories this time will specifically use it against her.
- "Is Something Wrong?". One of the characters will be chased by the hideous skull creature, who will undergo Adaptational Villainy like this film's rendition of the Pale Lady.
- "Alligators". Stella and her father are blatantly working together going forward, and metamorphosing them into grotesque alligator creatures would be a fitting use of Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome in spirit.
- "The Girl Who Stood on a Grave". Instead of being dared to stick a knife in a grave and the resulting death being an accident, the character has to stick it in for some reason, and there's a genuine reason that they're being held back when they try to escape. Possibly even several characters with several graves, allowing there to be fake-outs.
- "The Viper". One of the characters will get a phone call from "the viper", and think it's a monster from one of the stories, only for it to turn out to be a friendly window-wiper with an East European accent.
- A composite story that adapts "Something Fell From Aloft" but the falling corpse is the titular creature from "The Thing". It likely won't happen on a boat. The end of the film implies that Stella, her dad, and Ruth are going on some kind of road trip to unravel the secrets of the book. The body could mysteriously fall out of the sky while the group is driving on a rural highway. The body hits the windshield, causing them to swerve and stop. It rolls off the road and into a cornfield (that way, it can emerge from a cornfield as it does in the original story). Stella's dad, still not as well-versed in the whole situation, will stop and decide to offer help to the body while Stella and Ruth, well aware that it's a story coming true, will try to stop him.
- "Thuuuup!". The "blowing a raspberry" part will not be adapted, but there will be a short setpiece where one of the characters is stalked by the ghost in a bedroom. Perhaps it will kill them by sucking out their soul.
- A variation of "Maybe You Will Remember" to explain Stella's Missing Mom. She did not leave her family voluntarily, but died and it was covered up to avoid a scandal (or possibly criminal charges, if her death was the direct result of someone else's actions). Stella may have even been left in her mom's care when the latter "disappeared", like the girl in the story, which could have contributed to her feelings of betrayal and trauma if she was alone and frightened for a long time before her dad could come get her. Stella believes her mom abandoned them now because someone convinced her of it to cover it up. Unfortunately, Stella will only learn this when her mom Comes Back Wrong as a creature (from another Scary Stories) bent on revenge in a sequel, so Stella and her dad will have to stop her before they can all reconcile and she can move on a la Sarah Bellows.
- "The Drum". The titular drum probably won't appear, but I can see a character's mother disappearing and a new mother with glass eyes and a wooden tail replacing them like in the story.
- "No Thanks". One character will be stalked by the deformed man from the story as he repeats "Nice sharp knife". Instead of turning out to just be a salesman, however, he will use the knife to kill the character.
- "The Window". In this version, the vampire will end up killing its victim before it escapes.
- "Oh, Susannah". The illustration will probably be adapted instead of the story itself, with a character having a dream about being dragged through a warped sky as a huge skeletal figure reaches down at them.
The sequel will be a Denser and Wackier Horror Comedy.
If it ends up adapting any of the "funny" stories. The main antagonist will be Sarah's family.
At the end of the film, Sarah lets go of her rage and moves on. Because we still need a ghostly antagonist to manipulate the stories, it will instead be the ghosts of Sarah's family members, having been turn into tortured spirits by being killed by Sarah's stories. If the film leads into a trilogy (to mirror the trilogy of books), the ultimate main antagonist will be Sarah's father, who was killed by the Wendigo. Similar to how Sarah appeared as the ghost from "The Haunted House", her father's ghost will manifest as the Wendigo, having become the very creature that killed him. The Pale Lady was trying to be helpful.
Since what she ends up doing when she catches Chuck is to hug him until she absorbs him into herself, at which point she looks at the area with a... rather warm, if still very disturbing smile. It's possible that, in her twisted mind, this is her way of making sure he's away from the "evil place". Sarah's ghost still has some influence but will aid Ramon and Stella.
Even before turning entirely good at the end, Sarah was benevolent enough to let the children out of her room when they'd been locked in. Considering that Stella at least tried to tell the truth about Sarah's death but wasn't believed, she may keep an eye on them out of gratitude. Ramon will have a lot of near-misses in combat that can be chalked up as improbably good luck, and Stella will be directly aided in finding Chuck and Auggie with the use of the book. Stella's mom was also a victim.
Stella's mother disappears, which her dad suggests was without a trace; a large theme of the movie is people making up unflattering (and false) stories about others, so it would be only fitting if she turned out to have somehow gotten involved with the Bellows legacy and attracted Sarah's attention, rather than running off and willingly neglecting her family.