Guillermo Del Toro's Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark Drops First Look

No one loves monsters quite like Guillermo del Toro. The Oscar-winning director is a huge horror nerd and he'll be contributing all that love and knowledge to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Based on the short story collections of the same name, the live action movie aims to give everyone the heebie-jeebies. Look for no further proof than the first poster for the film, which features a certain scarecrow familiar to those who know the books.

The poster for the film was sent with the message "This Sunday Will Be Scary," which was probably a hint to the first trailer dropping during the February 3 Super Bowl.

Directed by André Øvredal (Troll Hunter) and written by Daniel Hageman, Kevin Hageman, and Guillermo del Toro, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is based on a series of short stories from Alvin Schwartz. The stories were a lot of horror fans' introduction to the genre, and the books feature some real skin-crawling monsters and frights.

We've been left to guess just how frightful the live-action film will be, but now we have our first real indication that it will be quite creepy. A new poster for the film is making its way across the internet and it features an off-putting scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield. Those who have read the short stories will likely be able to pinpoint the identity of this guy pretty darn quick.

Harold is a scarecrow that served as the subject of one of the short stories. Simply titled "Harold," the story followed two farmers who treat their scarecrow poorly until one day when the scarecrow begins to show signs of life. Eventually, Harold is walking on the roof in the middle of the night and really takes the saying that there's more than one way to skin a cat (or a farmer) to heart.

Not too much is known yet about Scary Stories or which of the written tales will be included in the film. The plot will follow a group of teenagers who must solve the mystery surrounding sudden and macabre deaths in their small town. Deaths that I assume include farmers that are mean to scarecrows.

Thanks to the talent involved in Scary Stories, the film is drumming up lots of hype among horror fans. If you've ever seen Troll Hunter, than you know that André Øvredal has the goods to bring the book to life and del Toro doesn't have anything to prove at this point.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is scheduled to arrive in theaters on August 9, 2019. There are bound to be more updates (like a trailer, probably tomorrow!) soon enough, so be sure to stick with CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated as soon as the information is available. In the meantime, keep yourself occupied with everything else that will be hitting theaters this year with our handy 2019 movie release schedule.

Matt Wood

Matt has lived in New Jersey his entire life, but commutes every day to New York City. He graduated from Rowan University and loves Marvel, Nintendo, and going on long hikes and then greatly wishing he was back indoors. Matt has been covering the entertainment industry for over two years and will fight to his dying breath that Hulk and Black Widow make a good couple.