'Guillermo is a master storyteller that I've learned so much from,' Andr© ˜vredal

Mumbai: “Stories heal. Stories hurt. If we repeat them often enough, they become real.” That’s what happens in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a horror tale drawn from the iconic but deeply eerie book series by Alvin Schwartz. Urban folklore, campfire tales and accounts of the chillingly inexplicable suddenly disrupting ordinary life have left children and teens cheerfully terrified for centuries. Brought to India by PVR Pictures, the movie is set to release on 9th August 2019.

All along, Guillermo Del Toro was in search of a director who was ready and willing to play freely in the creative sandbox that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was destined to provide. He found exactly that in the Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal. The appeal of Øvredal to Del Toro was simple: “André has a great sense of character, a great sense of humour, a great sense of pacing, and he makes very scary movies.”

For Øvredal, receiving the script was the start of his own fantastic adventure. “I was not familiar with the Scary Stories books before,” he admits, “so learning about them started me on the very joyful experience to get to know this incredible world of Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell.”

“Guillermo is a master storyteller that I've learned so much from,” Øvredalsays. “Just his understanding of how to tell a story on screen, not to mention his brilliance with creating stunning creatures, was crucial to doing this film. He has an acute sense of how to heighten everything he touches.”

A deep rapport opened up between Del Toro and Øvredal, says producer Dale. “When Guillermo produces, he is very supportive and brings in a lot of ideas, but he also really wants the director to be able to put their own fingerprints on the movie. Luckily, André is also a very visual guy, so, he and Guillermo spoke that language with each other. They were constantly talking about things like palette and camera style in a very detailed way.”

Watch Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark on 9th August 2019 in India.