Story highlights
Alvin Schwartz's "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" is being adapted
The young adult short story collection is known for being terrifying
Screenwriter John August says the movie won't be that kid-friendly
Alvin Schwartz’s “Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark” may have been just for kids, but the movie version won’t be.
CBS Films has been working on an adaptation of Schwartz’s notoriously terrifying short story collection, which debuted in 1981 and went on to give generations of kids plenty of sleepless nights.
At first, “Saw” franchise writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were going to pen the script, but according to Deadline, producers are said to have “switched gears.”
Now, it’ll be “Frankenweenie” and “Big Fish” writer John August who will deliver the “Scary Stories” screenplay.
With Schwartz’s spin on urban legends and Stephen Gammell’s unnerving illustrations, “Scary Stories” was “one of the most controversial (books) throughout our entire childhood,” August recalled on his podcast, Scriptnotes. “It’s a great anthology of all of the stories you remember being creeped out by as a kid. … I’m not supposed to spoil how we’re going to do it (as a movie), but I think it’s going to be … very interesting and innovative.”
What August could reveal is that this won’t exactly be kid-friendly.
“While this book is for children, the horror movie that we’re making out of it I think hopefully captures how scary those books were when you were a kid but is not strictly a kids movie,” he explained. “In fact, you should not take certain younger kids for this movie. I can’t actually take the art into the house, because if my daughter saw it, we would have nightmares. We’re aiming for a PG-13 – the same way that I loved ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘The Ring,’ movies that aren’t gory, but man they can freak the bejesus out of you.”
Deadline notes that August will be digging into the source material for his script, which as of yet doesn’t have a director attached.
Schwartz’s tales were popular enough to spawn a trilogy – soon after “Scary Stories” appeared in 1981, Schwartz delivered “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” as well as “Scary Stories 3.”
All told, the “Scary Stories” series sold 7 million copies worldwide.