Remember that collection of short horror stories that you loved (or feared) to read in middle school? Yeah, the one with the weird pictures. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Well, it’s going to be a film! Depending on how you felt about the chilling tales, that may be good or bad news. But there’s one piece of news that’s bound to be good. Guillermo del Toro is co-writing and co-producing the film. Del Toro recently won the best picture Academy Award for his film, The Shape of Water.
Daniel and Kevin Hageman joined del Toro in writing the script. The Hageman brothers are best known for writing The Lego Movie and Hotel Transylvania. This begs the question of what kind of audience this film will cater too. While capable writers, the Hagemans’ films are often targted at children while del Toro’s are decidedly not. The original collection appealed to children while remaining unsettling for older readers, so it’s possible the film seeks to do the same.
One thing that is certain is the plot of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. According to Hollywood Reporter, the film will focus on a group of kids who become embroiled in the mystery surrounding the strange deaths occurring around their town. The film will evidently be a loose adaptation of the book, written by Alvin Schwartz. It’s possible that it will attempt to tie several of the stories together with an overarching plot, similar to the recent Goosebumps film. However, de Toro has stated that the films seeks to incorporate some of those spooky illustrations by Stephen Gammell.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Ovredal has previously directed Trollhunter and The Autopsy of Jane Doe, which are both more in line with the scarier themes of the book series.