With Pacific Rim 2 hovering in a state of quantum uncertainty, neither alive nor dead, director Guillermo del Toro has announced plans to cinematically enhance your childhood nightmares by adapting Alvin Schwartz’ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. Details are scant, as del Toro announced his new movie on Twitter, but this might just signal a new anthology horror film from one of our best living horror movie fabulists.
Guillermo del Toro Announces ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ Movie
I start development on a film based on a favorite book of youth: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! pic.twitter.com/yu31FkCz4K
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2016Even if the title Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark doesn’t ring any bells, it’s a safe bet that the series’ chilling artwork by Stephen Gammell still stalks some dark corner of your brain:
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark did terrible things to my young mind I loved it. Happy GDT has it in hand. pic.twitter.com/0jQ81jYkvJ
— Johnny (@blackchurch) January 14, 2016Ack!
Scary stories to tell in the dark. Great scare when my cousin read it to me as a kid pic.twitter.com/2iJhxJhXN8
— David (@DavidLlaban) December 30, 2015Ew! No! No! Nooooo! Why?! No! No no no no no no no!
Compiled from folklore and urban legends, the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark series is page after page of condensed micro-horror. The first collection contained a whopping 29 stories, with evocative titles like “The Slithery-Dee,” “Old Woman All Skin and Bone,” and “The Hearse Song.”
Who can forget the mutant rat mistaken for a chihuahua?
Illustration from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. They read this to us in Kindergarten. pic.twitter.com/lI1Cyxp63f
— Elana Pritchard (@ElanaPritchard) November 16, 2015Or the girl with a hatching spider egg under her skin?
Whenever I have a zit I think of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. I can't be the only one who is traumatized. pic.twitter.com/BSN0rkDpGV
— Nicole S. (@kaleidocat) October 17, 2015It would be fascinating to see a Guillermo del Toro Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark anthology horror movie land somewhere between the long-form chapters of Creepshow and the machine gun rapid fire of The ABCs Of Death.
As a director Guillermo del Toro is notorious for developing several projects at once, many of which never see the light of the day. But this is only partially the fault of his adorable fanboy enthusiasm. It’s also the case that he has an inordinate number of movies canceled by the studios, such as Pacific Rim 2 (maybe!?). Though his aesthetics call for big budgets, many of his movies, Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak included, are only middling money-makers (often only foreign box office ensures they turn a profit).
Guillermo del Toro’s Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is probably little more than an embryo at this stage. Hopefully Guillermo del Toro can bring this little It’s Alive monstrosity to term.
