Alvin Schwartz’s and Stephen Gammell’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark illustrated books have provided decades of nightmare fuel for readers, and a film adaptation has been lurking in the works for years. Now the project is taking a step forward into our reality with a director now set to take the reins on the spooky project.

Deadline reports that Trollhunter and The Autopsy of Jane Doe director André Øvredal is set to helm a movie based on the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book trilogy for CBS Films.

While Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark feature a wide range of terrifying tales, the movie will focus on "a group of young teens who must solve the mystery surrounding sudden and macabre deaths in their small town." Production on the movie is expected to start in the summer of 2018.

Guillermo del Toro was once expected to direct the film, but he will instead produce the project with Sean Daniel, Jason Brown and Elizabeth Grave. Øvredal will work from a latest version of the adaptive script worked on by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman, who have teamed up with Del Toro on his animated series Trollhunters and previously worked on the screenplays for Hotel Transylvania and The Lego Movie.

Alvin Schwartz’s words and Stephen Gammell’s eerie illustrations have haunted Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark readers for generations. For those unfamiliar with the books, the first was released in 1981, with two additional books released in 1984 and 1991, respectively. Each book featured a collection of creepy tales accompanied by even creepier images.

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.