"Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark" Becoming a Movie

Huff Po – All those late nights that children of the ’80s and ’90s spent curled up with a flashlight, reading “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” will finally get a new life in the form of a movie. That’s right, everyone’s favorite childhood fright-fest is heading to the big screen. Deadline.com reports that CBS Films has accepted a pitch from “Saw” writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan to transform the classic short stories into a movie that centers on a set of outcast kids who work to save the town when their nightmares become a reality. That means “The Big Toe,” “The Hook,” “The Dead Man’s Hand” and some of the other tales that still haunt your every being after all these years could be fodder for cinematic screams. We all know the books’ original illustrations by Stephen Gammell amplified their terror, so here’s hoping they’ll be incorporated somehow. (Contention arose in 2011 when the books were rereleased for their 30th anniversary with — gasp — new illustrations.) Alvin Schwartz wrote three “Scary Stories” editions, each released between 1981 and 1991. Based on folklore and urban legends, the American Library Association named them the most frequently challenged books of the ’90s and the seventh most frequently challenged of the 2000s. There’s no word yet on which tales will be incorporated in the movies, nor who will direct the project.

When it comes down to scary stories from the 90s, there are 3 pictures that sum it all up. The first is this:

 

The second is this:

 

And the last one, and the originator of it all, is the cover of Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark:

If you didn’t read this book when you were a kid and shit your pants a little bit, then you’re either illiterate or you’re the baddest, toughest son of a bitch on the planet. Because these stories were fucking terrifying. I mean I still have nightmares about “Me Tie Dough-ty Walker!” And I still have no idea what the fuck that means or why its even supposed to be scary. Those black and white illustrations were terrifying enough, I flat out don’t know if I’ll be able to handle a motion picture.