Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

[detective392]

‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ Gets Interesting New Writer

CBS Films’ Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark adaptation is under some safe hands – and could be tipping off someone else involved.

Deadline reports that BAFTA-nominated John August – who is a regular Tim Burton collaborator, penning both Big Fish and Frankenweenie – will adapt the iconic book series by Alvin Schwartz that had children of the ’80s and ’90s hearing bumps in the night.

Could this mean Tim Burton’s involvement is not far behind? Let’s hope so because the books’ art, by Stephen Gammell, channels the iconic artist/director.

The three-book children’s series that’s sold more than 7 million copies worldwide began with 1981′s “Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark,” continuing with “More Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark” (1984) and “Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones” (1991). The collection of folk tales and urban legends also memorably haunted generations of youngsters with its surreal and nightmarish illustrations by award-winning artist Stephen Gammell.

Sean Daniel and Jason Brown of Sean Daniel Company and Elizabeth Grave of 1212 Entertainment are producing, while Roberto Grande and Joshua Long will executive produce. Mark Ross and Alex Ginno are overseeing for CBS Films.

[detective392]

Huge fan of these books. Can't wait to see how they adapt them for the big screen.

[Astro Zombie]

I still have the first book; I used to read it all the time when I was a kid. Could be interesting!

[Beachguy]

I forgot about this movie. I do hope that it comes out good.

I'll definitely watch it and give it a chance.

I owned the trilogy of books as a kid but never made my way through all of them. I only read various stories from them.

[lolwut]

These books were terrifying/fascinating to me as a child. Hell, the illustrations alone are still terrifying for adults I'm sure.

[camper]

Originally Posted by lolwut

These books were terrifying/fascinating to me as a child. Hell, the illustrations alone are still terrifying for adults I'm sure.

They certainly have not lost much creepiness factor in all these years.

I'm looking forward to this. Had these as a kid, and now my 10 year old has read them.

I hope they're PG, and even though I personally don't care much for stop motion I think that's how these films need to be made to help capture the story and the elements from the drawings.

[motorheadache95]

I had nightmares for weeks when I read these books as a kid. And it wasn't the stories as much as it was the illustrations. Those drawings are creepy as hell.

[JimSmith]

Originally Posted by detective392

‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ Gets Interesting New Writer

Love these Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books! I just hope that they use the awesome, creepy, outlandish and imaginative artwork of the books as a template for how the special effects are going to look.

[Makarov]

Grew up with these books and I'm pretty confident this is going to suck, Guillermo Del Toro or even Tim Burton involved just reinforces that notion. My favorite stories were seriously disturbing not quirky / fantastical.. Nothing like a bunch of teens investigating stuff, and nothing like those directors have made.

[jlk5844]

Yeah, I accepted long ago that this is not gonna be the movie I want. But the plot doesn't even resemble the books at all. This is turning into Scooby-Doo or Hardy Boys.

What I would want would be hard to pull off because the vision I have for a Scary Stories movie is unlike what most directors in Hollywood would do with the material. I don't envision it as the cookie cutter mainstream horror movies that are made today. It'd be artsy, dark, disturbing, shadowy, foggy, haunting, dreamlike, and yes the occasional episode would be darkly humorous (perhaps as levity between the scarier segments). It'd be fueled more by atmosphere, dread, emotions, mood, and imagery than plot, characters, or dialogue. I'd aim for a pure cinema horror experience, to build a mysterious world in which terrible things happen to people and the grotesque subjects of our fears and nightmares exist alongside everyday human beings. The camera observes these horrible happenings omnisciently like a documentary (though it wouldn't be shot handheld or anything), and the story would consist of multiple vignettes adapting the short stories. I'd try to capture raw fear/terror, and the chilling creepiness that comes with the unknown and the unexplained. It would be shot on black and white film. I imagine any funny songs I include from the books would play over zany, unhinged, positively kooky animated shorts. KNB would be hired to do the special makeup effects. CGI would only be used for more abstract visuals or to enhance the background to increase atmosphere and create more haunted settings (kind've like Sin City but less obvious, more blended). Goes without saying, but Stephen Gammell's aesthetic would be followed as closely as possible. It would also make for a fantastic anthology television show. Imagine what Noah Hawley could do with it.

[Darth Marcus]

Source: Collider

Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Scary Stories’ Movie Lands Lead as Plot Details Leak
BY JEFF SNEIDER - AUGUST 22, 2018

Fresh off her turn in Paul Dano‘s acclaimed directorial debut Wildlife, up-and-coming actress Zoe Colletti has landed the lead in CBS Films’ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, sources tell Collider.

Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal (The Autopsy of Jane Doe) is set to direct the adaptation of Alvin Schwartz‘s popular trilogy of books, which feature chilling illustrations by Stephen Gammell. Guillermo del Toro is producing alongside Sean Daniel, Elizabeth Grave and J. Miles Dale, and The Shape of Water director also co-wrote the script with The Lego Movie scribes Kevin Hageman and Dan Hageman, as well as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan.

According to CBS Films, Scary Stories follows a group of teens who must solve the mystery surrounding a wave of horrific deaths in their small town. However, Collider has learned quite a bit more than that.

According to sources, Colletti will play Stella Michaels, a young girl still haunted by her mother’s disappearance on Halloween night — an incident that she suspects her father knows more about than he lets on. Years later, Stella and her friends are involved in a Halloween prank gone wrong. But are they really at fault, or was it the work of a vengeful spirit — a female ghost who uses her scary stories to come after the teens when they begin to investigate the disappearance of several children? Those who have read the script say that the film will feature the human scarecrow from “Harold” and the girl who has spiders crawl out of her face in “The Red Spot,” both of which appeared in Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones.

From what I personally gather, Scary Stories is shaping up to be a shameless rip-off of It, Stranger Things and Goosebumps, and del Toro’s segue from director to producer is hardly encouraging, as his imprimatur did nothing to help Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark or the Pacific Rim sequel, though he is coming off Oscar wins for Best Picture and Best Director. Del Toro may not get much help from his fellow producer, Sean Daniel, who was most recently behind The Mummy and Ben-Hur, which boast Rotten Tomatoes scores of 15 percent fresh and 25 percent fresh, respectively. Meanwhile, CBS Films’ last genre movie, the acquisition Winchester, clocked in at 14 percent fresh, though to be fair to the studio, that film performed well, and we’ve also heard that its upcoming horror movie Hellfest is testing well.

Scary Stories is a longtime passion project for del Toro, who owns several of Gammell’s original illustrations, and recently announced on Twitter that filming will start next week in Toronto. Schwartz’s spooky short stories were first published as a collection in 1984, and the three books have sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. CBS Films is co-producing and co-financing the project with eOne, and the film is expected to hit theaters next year via CBS Films’ distribution partnership with Lionsgate.

Prior to Wildlife, Colletti appeared in the Annie remake and the TV series Rubicon. She’ll soon be seen in the skinhead drama Skin alongside Jamie Bell, Vera Farmiga and Mike Colter.

[Monterey Jack]

One thing I love about movies produced by Del Toro is that they often feel like they were directed by Del Toro...his fingerprints are everywhere. It's not like the usual "Wes Craven presents!" or "John Carpenter presents!" bullshit where the famous horror director in question just slaps their name on anything for an easy paycheck.

[jacobsever]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

One thing I love about movies produced by Del Toro is that they often feel like they were directed by Del Toro...his fingerprints are everywhere. It's not like the usual "Wes Craven presents!" or "John Carpenter presents!" bullshit where the famous horror director in question just slaps their name on anything for an easy paycheck.

That's the exact reason I don't like them, lol.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Sounds like it'll be a Goosebumps ripoff, my excitement plummeted personally.

[Mystic]

This movie doesn't sound like anything to get excited about, but we'll see what the finished film is like.

[Himmel]

Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussaint Join ‘Scary Stories



Deadline

[Hellraiserfan]

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

Sounds like it'll be a Goosebumps ripoff, my excitement plummeted personally.

Same here. At least I still have my hardbound collection of those stories to read every once in awhile.

[Himmel]

In Theaters August 9th, 2019

[Creed]

[jayman3]

Originally Posted by Creed