I feel old writing this even though I’ve barely reached my mid-twenties, but when I was learning to read the internet was nowhere near as popular or prevalent as it is today. When teachers wanted us to be quiet they would send us to the library, and at my school there was no collection of short stories more popular than Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. Featuring bizarre and surreal stories of the macabre, with equally terrifying images to match, this book (or collection of books) has single-handedly ended the peaceful slumber of millions of young people worldwide, and according to a new report from THR it’s finally being adapted for the big screen.

CBS Films has picked up the rights to Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark and acquired an accompanying pitch by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the duo wrote a number of entries in the Saw horror franchise. The pair will now write a script using the horror folktale anthology as a jumping off point and incorporate some of the book’s short stories, while concentrating on a group of kids who band together to save their town from living nightmares. How the film will present the idea of a town under attack from living nightmare, or how this plague of nightmares will come to strike the city, remains to be seen.

I, for one, am in favor of an Urban Legends update that takes cues from the book. Call me crazy, but if you look at Urban Legends: Final Cut and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary there already seem to be a few references in play (specifically – face spiders).

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark was initially published in 1981 and went on to sell seven million copies. Several sequel books followed. No additional information about the adaptation is available at this time, but we will do our best to bring you update as new details begin to surface.

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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