by: Jay Carlson – Editor-in-chief

I was eight when my third grade teacher introduced our class to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark around Halloween. I was immediately OBSESSED with creepy tales, that legitimately scared the hell out of me. To this day, when I think of New England Falls during my childhood, I always think of jumping in piles of orange and red leaves, Halloween dances  and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

I’m beyond excited to find out that Guillermo del Toro has come on board to develop, and hopefully direct a film adaptation of the Scary Stories. As Trick r Treat has proven there is a market for horror anthology films, especially when done well. GdT is a perfect match for this material, someone I hadn’t considered before, but now that the idea is in my head, I know there is nobody else who could do it better.

The stories by Alvin Schwartz and the nightmarish art  of Stephen Gammell have caught a lot of heat over the years for being considered by many to be too scary for children. This resulted in the series landing as the most challenged children’s book of the 1990’s by the American Library Association. The 30^th anniversary edition of the book replaced the original art for images considered a bit tamer.

I’m very excited for the project now that GdT is on board. I’d love to see him bring those stories to life with his dark imaginative visuals.