Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark hits theaters in August

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

Get ready for a spooky summer! Director André Øvredal (THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE) and producer Guillermo del Toro's (THE SHAPE OF WATER) adaptation of author Alvin Schwartz's SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK book series has begun filming in Toronto! And wouldn't you just know it, the film has just announced its release date: August 9, 2019.

I'm a big fan of the original book series so you can bet I'll be there when the movie finally hits. Plus the film seems to be going for more of a GOOSEBUMPS vibe than a STEPHEN KING'S IT vibe – which works well for dudes like me with kiddos! I'll bring them along. Maybe… We'll see after the first trailer. Maybe it will be more of a date night movie. But I doubt it. I guess we'll find out in August!

Teenage actress Zoe Colletti (see above with Del Toro and Øvredal) takes on the lead role in the film. Her character is said to be Stella Michaels, 

a young girl still haunted by her mother’s disappearance on Halloween night — an incident that she suspects her father knows more about than he lets on. Years later, Stella and her friends are involved in a Halloween prank gone wrong. But are they really at fault, or was it the work of a vengeful spirit — a female ghost who uses her scary stories to come after the teens when they begin to investigate the disappearance of several children? 

Del Toro wrote the screenplay with Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, Patrick Melton, and Marcus Dunstan. Harold the human scarecrow and the girl who has spiders crawl out of her face are among the elements from Schwartz's books that will be making it onto the screen in this film. Sean Daniel, Elizabeth Grave, and J. Miles Dale are also producing the film, which is being co-produced and co-financed by CBS Films and eOne. Lionsgate will be releasing SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK August 9, 2019.