The much-awaited horror film, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is all set to release on August 9, 2019, in India. “Stories heal. Stories hurt. If we repeat them often enough, they become real.” That’s what happens in this movie, the tales of which are drawn from the iconic but deeply eerie book series by Alvin Schwartz. Urban folklore, campfire tales and accounts of the chillingly inexplicable suddenly disrupting ordinary life have left children and teens cheerfully terrified for centuries. Count us in. The online buzz for the movie is spectacular. 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.

All along, Guillermo Del Toro was in search of a director who was ready and willing to play freely in the creative sandbox that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was destined to provide. He found exactly that in the Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal. The appeal of Øvredal to Del Toro was simple: “André has a great sense of character, a great sense of humour, a great sense of pacing, and he makes very scary movies.” 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.

For Øvredal, receiving the script was the start of his own fantastic adventure. “I was not familiar with the Scary Stories books before,” he admits, “so learning about them started me on the very joyful experience to get to know this incredible world of Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell.”

“Guillermo is a master storyteller that I've learned so much from,” Øvredal says. “Just his understanding of how to tell a story on screen, not to mention his brilliance with creating stunning creatures, was crucial to doing this film. He has an acute sense of how to heighten everything he touches.”

A deep rapport opened up between Del Toro and Øvredal, says producer Dale. “When Guillermo produces, he is very supportive and brings in a lot of ideas, but he also really wants the director to be able to put their own fingerprints on the movie. Luckily, André is also a very visual guy, so, he and Guillermo spoke that language with each other. They were constantly talking about things like palette and camera style in a very detailed way.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 07, 2019 05:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).