First Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark footage debuts during Super Bowl

Just when you thought you shook the haunting images of Harold, the disgruntled Scarecrow from Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones, from your childhood memories, Guillermo del Toro resurrects the creature for the big screen. Your summer is ruined / saved.

A film adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has long been in the works, but as the first footage from the del Toro-produced spoopy flick suggests, which debuted during the 2019 Super Bowl, the terror is right around the corner.

Much like the recent Goosebumps film, Scary Stories adapts a number of Schwartz’s short stories, as well as translates illustrator Stephen Gammell’s sparse, black-and-white images to live-action. To bring the scary-but-not-too-scary-but-actually-pretty-damn-scary tales to life, del Toro hired André Øvredal, who made one of the great horror comedies of the 21st century (Trollhunters) and struck Amblin-esque gold with 2017’s underrated, underseen The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

Along with the Super Bowl premiere footage, Lionsgate also debuted the movie’s first poster, which puts Harold front and center. We swear this movie is supposed to be for audiences of all ages.

Lionsgate

Assuming you don’t lose your cool by then, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark arrives to theaters on Aug. 9, 2019.