‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Will Now Be a Scary Story Told by Writer of ‘Frankenweenie’

It's been almost a year since we've heard anything about the big screen adaptation of beloved children's horror book series ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.’ But rest assured, CBS Films is still fully committed to this odd adaptation, and have now hired screenwriter John August, who last wrote the 2012 Tim Burton film ‘Frankenweenie.’ As that film was both a return to form of sorts for Burton and delivered a charming, spooky and kooky kid-friendly narrative, the hiring of August could be promising.

Previously, writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, who had written a few of the ‘Saw’ sequels, were attached to adapt the series for the big screen. The story was something along the lines of outcast kids banding together in their town when their nightmares become real, which sounds sort of like the plot of Stephen King's ‘IT.’

But Deadline reports that CBS Films is taking a new approach with the adaptation, and has now brought August on board to write a brand new script based on the source material. August has also written screenplays for Tim Burton's ‘Dark Shadows,’ ‘Corpse Bride,’ ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ and ‘Big Fish,’ and based off of that resume alone, we could be feeling kind of pessimistic right now, but he also gave us films like ‘Go’ and ‘Charlie's Angels,’ so make of that what you will.

At any rate, ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ is one of the more curious adaptations floating around right now. These books collected scary myths, ghost stories, and urban legends for kids, but it was the artwork by Stephen Gammell that really made these books so exceptional. If this adaptation can capture the specific spirit of what these books were to weirdo, horror-obsessed kids like me, then it might work.