The most terrifying children’s books of all time – aside from maybe Flowers in the Attic (seriously, why did teachers make kids read that?!) – is finally coming to theaters courtesy of CBS Films and Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan, the writers of Saw IV-3D and the long-gestating feature film adaptation of the hit videogame God of War. The story comes from Deadline, which reports that there was a bidding war for Melton & Dunstan’s script, one that incorporates some of the short stories from the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series into a single narrative about a group of kids who must band together when nightmares become a reality in their town.
There’s no word on whether Dunstan – who also directed the cult horror movies The Collector and The Collection – will direct Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, or whether they’re writing the script for an as-yet unnamed director. Whoever winds up behind the camera, however, they have their work cut out for them. Although author Alvin Schwartz’s stories were damned scary – particularly “Harold” (above), which gave me such god damned nightmares I may never forgive Schwartz if I live to be a hundred – the artwork by Stephen Gammell has elevated the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark franchise to classic status. They are nightmares in pen and paper, and were often so terrifying by their lonesome that reading the actual “book” part of the book became superfluous. Look at this damn thing!
Gah!
These stories were marketed to children, damn it! But we digress. Any director who tries to bring Stephen Gammell’s horrifying illustrations to life had better do a damned good job, that’s all we’re saying.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
