Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Nearly Included This Iconic Story

The idea of adapting the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series into a film was a seemingly [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

The idea of adapting the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series into a film was a seemingly overwhelming concept, as the three books have delivered readers dozens of terrifying tales. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has long been a fan of the series and, while he was previously attached to direct the adaptation, instead handed over directorial duties to Andre Ovredal, with del Toro opting to serve as a producer. While the filmmaking team had their work cut out for them in the selection process, not all of their picks made the final cut, with del Toro revealing how close he came to including the "High Beams" story from the series.

"There were many stories we wanted to include but we couldn't – or we did and we removed them," del Toro detailed in a Twitter Q&A. "Particularly a story called 'High Beams'. The character it was linked to…I thought it was not good to give that story to that character. And we removed it."

In "High Beams," a girl finds herself seemingly being terrorized by a truck driver who keeps shining their high beams on her, until she eventually gets to her home and gets out of the car. With the driver wielding a gun, he reveals that he saw someone attempting to attack her in her backseat, with the attacker hiding every time the truck driver flashed their high beams. This story was adapted for the film Urban Legend in 1998.

Luckily, even though we didn't see this story in this year's adaptation, del Toro previously teased his interest in bringing the story to life in a possible sequel.

"There is 'High Beams,' [Ovredal] wants very bad," del Toro shared with ComicBook.com. "And 'The Ribbon,' I love. I think it's also one of those, the outcome of that story is so memorable, and it's very, very short. Has such a great visual gag."

In the movie, it's 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying home.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark lands in theaters Friday.

Do you wish this story had made its way into the movie? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

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