The ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ Plot Has Been Revealed
Update:We’ve received word from CBS Films that the synopsis making the rounds is inaccurate. We’ve updated with the correct Scary Stories to Tell the Dark plot below.
TheScary Stories to Tell in the Darkmovie starts shooting very soon, as directorAndré Øvredaland producerGuillermo del Toroattempt to turn the iconic, traumatizing children’s books into a memorable motion picture. The books are comprised of short stories, so how do you turn them into a film? Is the adaptation presented in an anthology format, likeCreepshow? Or will only one specific story be adapted? We now know the answer. Read on for theScary Stories to Tell in the Darkplot.
Colliderhas the info on theScary Stories to Tell in the Darkplot, and it’s…not what I was expecting. I have high hopes for this project: I’m a fan of Øvredal and del Toro, and, more than that, the books are sacred to me. As a horror-obsessed kid, I spent hours pouring over the pages of Alvin Schwartz’s folkloric tales of terror, marveling at the horrifying, stylistic artwork of Stephen Gammell. Those Gammell illustrations are whattrulymade the books so memorable, which immediately makes me wary of a film adaptation. It would be near impossible to translate them to the screen. Still, I remain as optimistic as I can about this film.
But I have to say, this synopsis gives me pause:
Synopsis removed at the request of the studio.
Right off the bat, this “vengeful spirit using scary stories to attack teens” idea is a bit goofy. Øvredal and del Toro might have been wiser to go a full-blown anthology film route, a laCreepshowor theV/H/Sfilms. Individual stories, one after another. But that’s not what’s happening here. Instead, there’s a main narrative unfolding, with the scary stories being used as background coloring.
Still, there’s hope.Haroldis my favorite story from the three books – it’s a tale of two farmers who put together a scarecrow, only for the scarecrow to come to life. Things don’t go so well (spoiler alert: the story ends with the scarecrow skinning the farmers). HavingHaroldbe a part of the film is a plus, and I’m immediately interested in any movie that uses Halloween as a setting. It’s still way too early to know howScary Storieswill turn out, and I will remain optimistic for the time being, and hope for the best.
TheScary Storiesscript hails fromKevin HagemanandDan Hageman, who co-wrote with del Toro andPatrick Melton&Marcus Dunstan. At one point, del Toro wasplanning to directthe film himself. Last year, however, hehanded directorialduties over to Øvredal. While I’d personally prefer to see del Toro direct this himself, Øvredal is a great horror filmmaker, responsible forTrollhunterand the spooky, atmosphericAutopsy of Jane Doe, so the movie is in good hands.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Darkwill open sometime in2019.Update:Here is the correct synopsis, per CBS Films:
