‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ Film Will Feature All-New Stories

According to screenwriter Gary Dauberman, he will be delivering audiences all-new tales of terror in the upcoming theatrical adaptation of Are You Afraid of the Dark?

“It is a completely original story I came up with, but it still has the Midnight Society and it still has the campfire,” Dauberman shared with SlashFilm. “It’s still a story being told.”

The Nickelodeon series recreated a similar format to HBO’s Tales From the Crypt, though it toned down the subject matter to appeal to younger audiences. Each week, a group of teens, dubbing themselves “The Midnight Society,” would gather around a campfire in hopes of delivering one another a spooky story.

Between the original run of episodes and its revival seasons, the series delivered audiences nearly 100 tales of terror. The screenwriter went on to detail the importance of delivering audiences age-appropriate frights.

“That show is so important to me. I didn’t want to age it down too much because for it’s time, it had some really disturbing episodes and some really dark episodes. Not every story the Midnight Society told ended with happily ever after or a person learning their lesson and it will never happen again,” Dauberman admitted. “I really embraced that side of things and I think it’s been a long time. I think fear is healthy for kids. I don’t think we have to always sand down the edges of things and that’s something I really wanted to do with Are You Afraid of the Dark? I think it is scary and I think kids will be scared watching it at times, and also they’ll laugh at times. I think it’s got a great message. I think it’s got a great heart to it but it is still scary. I think that’s great. I think it’s going to open it up to a wider audience.”

Recent years have seen a stronger presence of horror geared towards kids, as well as revivals of popular horror staples of the ’90s.

Films like Monster House, Coraline, and ParaNorman may have all been animated adventures, though they all garnered PG ratings due to their inclusion of macabre subject matter.

In 2015, Goosebumps hit theaters, adapted from the series of horror novels for kids from author R.L. Stine. That film was successful enough that it earned a sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, which lands in theaters this fall. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a trilogy of creepy short stories for young readers, is currently being adapted into a film.

The Are You Afraid of the Dark? film is slated to hit theaters on October 11, 2019.

Do you wish the film would bring in familiar elements from the TV series? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T SlashFilm]