Easily one of the most anticipated horror releases of 2019, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark brings with it an almost impossible level of expectations. The stories themselves are efficient little zingers that induced countless kids to have endless nightmares. Then there are the absolutely stunning and minimalist illustrations that populated the pages of the horrific tome. How would anyone turn these classic stories into a feature-length movie? Well, producer Guillermo Del Toro, writers Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman, and director André Øvredal have tried From what we saw at a special presentation from CBS Films, we think they may have achieved the impossible.
Don’t believe us? Fair. Check out the trailer that they released.
“It’s not an anthology,” explained director Øvredal, “This is one story.” Del Toro developed the story anchored in a time of uncertainty and fear of the unknown. Set in 1968 the action takes place in the small town of Mill Valley. It is here that Sarah Bellows lived on the outskirts of town in an ominous mansion with her secluded family and a swarm of legends and rumors. Sarah kept her stories in a seemingly timeless book, that depicted her tortured life and dark secrets. It would be fine if the ominous mansion were left alone, but that isn’t what a group of teenagers has in mind when they discover the home, the book, and stories that come to life picking each one of them off.
Hmmm, ok. That’s a lot of legwork to get to these stories. Then they showed us a clip. HOLY SH*T. We got to see the Big Toe story. A young man finds stew in the fridge as his friends are trying to warn him not to eat anything via walky-talky. 1968, remember? No smartphones. How do they know something is about to happen? His friends have Sarah’s book and are literally watching the words appear on the page describing their hungry friend’s every move. “You are gonna hear someone asking ‘WHERE’S MY BIG TOE?’ Just run! Don’t eat anything!” If you know the story, you know exactly where this is headed. If you don’t well, you have a glorious surprise coming.
The look of the creatures attempts to mimic the look, the feel, and even what the sounds of these marvelous illustrations should be. Remember, Del Toro is producing, so, this is legit. Aiming for a PG-13 rating Del Toro described this “Like a rollercoaster, you know, but with a safety bar.”
From all of the stories in over three volumes of books, how in the world did they decide on which to use, much less how they would all work together? “We picked stories that would work to play on the characters we created,” explained Del Toro. ” It was kind of like American Idol how we were all in the room judging each one.”
With the release of the two recent posters below, we knew we had something to look forward to. Speaking with Natalie Ganzhorn who plays the picture perfect Ruth, featured in the recent teaser poster we asked, “What is it like, being the face of ‘RED SPOT’?” She laughed and explained, “It’s awesome, but like, Everyone I show it to is grossed out.” Understandably so as the poster shows the vain Ruth studying a gigantic blemish on her face that seems to have a bug-like leg sticking out of it, twitching. Yeeeeesh!
In all honesty, though, watching the “Big Toe” clip, meeting the cast, seeing how passionately both Del Toro and Øvredal spoke of the process of developing these stories int a film, I can’t help but feel optimistic. The footage we saw made this hardened horror hound wince and cringe just enough to know this has the potential to be amazing.
CBS Films, Lionsgate and eOne will release SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK in theaters everywhere August 9, 2019
