Guillermo del Toro on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: This Was a Chance to Honour the Book by Telling a Bigger, Scarier Story

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, based on the iconic but deeply eerie book series by Alvin Schwartz, is set to release on August 9 in India by PVR Pictures. Produced by Oscar-winning Guillermo Del Toro and directed by André Øvredal, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark uses many of the iconic themes and monsters from the books to create a tale that lives upto the title. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Trailer: Guillermo del Toro Gives Us Nightmarish Creatures That Won’t Let Us Sleep Easily at Night – Watch Video.

In a statement to the media, Guillermo Del Toro talks about adapting the books as a movie. "We wanted to recreate some of the most cherished, scary, fun and entertaining horror tales that are found in Alvin Schwartz’s books. But we do it in a way that is seamless within one story about a group of friends in the 1960s,” explains Guillermo Del Toro, who has explored the power of horror to move, thrill and illuminate throughout his career from Cronos, The Devil's Backbone to Hellboy and Crimson Peak.

"The beauty of these stories is that they have the eternal appeal of campfire tales that invite people to shiver together in anticipation, even when you hear them again and again," says Del Toro, "In our movie, we add to the fun of that themes of friendship, belief, compassion, and the idea that stories can damage, or they can heal."

Del Toro started with the idea of the supernatural book that writes itself—and shifts reality in the process. "This was a chance to honour the book by telling a bigger story that would be very scary but also full of the playful spirit of youth, it was also a chance to look at the weight and responsibility of storytelling, so relevant in our world of social media today. The book basically customizes a story before your eyes to tap into fears of the person reading it. This gives you the delicious thrill of seeing a story coming for each character you’ve gotten to know and then bracing yourself in preparation." Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark stars Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, and Lorraine Toussaint.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 05, 2019 10:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).