Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark: Film Version

Let me just say as someone who read these stories as a kid, I am both afraid and excited.

It looks like they've caught the horrifying traits perfectly in the creatures showing up in this film.

How though are they gonna include all these monsters?

Huh, Harold's in the thumbnail but not the trailer itself.

He was the scariest one to me.

I remember these stories.

Guillermo Del Toro's working on this? Neat.

What monster was that in the first part?

I hope the anthology adapts not just the terrifying stories, but the strange and supernatural ones too that are more about gripping the audiences sense of the unknown than simply scaring them, like One Sunday Morning - which is chilling, but not a slasher-fest.

This should be interesting, because a lot of those stories were more traditional ghost stories and such, which in general are made more to be fun-scary than to be terror-scary, a glimpse of the ethereal in mixed bag of a lot of different emotions. Some are even outright hilarious.

As a matter of fact, I really hope they did Is Something Wrong. It’s right up Del Toro’s alley: the art accompanying it is famously freaky and nightmarish, the concept is weird and bizarre and seemingly terrifying, but the whole thing turns out to be actually silly and harmless.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 7th 2019 at 11:51:55 AM

I noticed that they had the pale woman acting like Alma.

So far I've recognized the Pale Woman, the Big Toe Lady, and Harold on the poster. Uncertain of who the lanky monster at the beginning is supposed to be.

An original creation, apparently.

I didn't know it was a lady. I thought it was just a generic undead monster.

It seems to be at least voiced by a woman in the film.

Eh, for me a big part of what made the books scary and awesome for me as a kid was the original artwork. The stories themselves were actually not too scary.

I don't really know if a live action film take on them will be as effective.

I must say I believe in director-of-a-sci-fi-romance-that-somehow-won-Best-Picture Guillermo Del Toro.

There's a funny Twitter post that goes like this:

Guillermo del Toro: I would like to make Hellboy 3 now, please.
Hollywood Executives: I'm sorry, but those films didn't make enough money and were just too weird.
Guillermo del Toro: Fine. Then I will make a movie about a woman who makes love to a sea monster and it will win Best Picture. [releases The Shape of Water]
Hollywood Executives: ...goddammit!

André Øvredal is a phenomenal choice for director. One of the morgue bodies in The Autopsy of Jane Doe looks like it could have carried a Scary Story to Tell in the Dark on its own.

I just realized. So why is the movie hitting theaters in August instead of closer to Halloween?

Lots of horror movies hit in August. Just off the top of my head, there's The Final Destination, the Halloween remake and its sequel, and Annabelle: Creation. It probably has something to do with school year. I dunno.

Edited by Prowler on Feb 20th 2019 at 8:35:41 AM

As long as it has an adaptation of Wonderful Sausage in it, I'm keen to what would happen if they adapted that into the film.

I remember when I first read that story. I especially liked the illustration of the hand coming out of the sausage holding up a fork. After reading it I'd always ask my mom if we could have sausage for dinner. She never guessed why.

I personally hope they adapt "Just Delicious" — it always makes me hungry for fried liver.

Edited by M84 on Feb 23rd 2019 at 4:01:57 AM

Do you think they might include "The Haunted House"? Or would that be overkill, since they have the pale woman?

Really excited for this. It looks like everything the Goosebumps movie should've been. Btw, I heard the Jangly Man is based on the singing creature from "Me Tie Doughty Walker", with elements of Aaron Kelly's bones and "What Do you come For" thrown in.

And as long as we're discussing this series, does anyone have any theories what that eerie figure in the rocking chair with the sky beast from "Oh Susannah" was supposed to be? Or what they had to do with the actual story?

Wasn't the Goosebumps movie (at least the first one) good, though?

Edited by Snailfish on Jul 31st 2019 at 8:12:52 AM

The "Goosebumps" movie should have been an anthology film like what The Twilight Zone movie was.

Sorry to ask again, but anyone remember the crazy illustration for "Oh Susannah" with the sky monster and the rocking chair? I have a feeling Gammell was trying to connect it to the story, but I can't put my finger on it. Anyone have theories?

I remember that one. Some people on YouTube liked the joke I made about it a few years back, that it's the Evil Counterpart of the Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. "I call it a 'Floating Sky Demon Moment.'"