The spirit of the ’90s is alive in the horror genre, with the upcoming adaptation of the Nickelodeon anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? reportedly scoring a director with D.J. Caruso, as reported by Bloody Disgusting. The film was written by IT writer Gary Dauberman and has an October 11, 2019 release date.
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Caruso previously delivered audiences thrillers like Eagle Eye and Disturbia, having most recently directed xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.
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 series delivered audiences many memorable stories, though Dauberman previously confirmed that the film would deliver fresh stories to audiences.
“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 writer’s comments seem to imply that the narrative will put more emphasis on the storytellers as opposed to merely being a collection of creepy stories. He also detailed why it’s so important to deliver younger viewers creepy stories.
“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.”
Stay tuned for details on Are You Afraid of the Dark? before it lands in theaters on October 11, 2019.
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