Those nightmare drawings come to awful life in the Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark trailer

Like Goosebumps, Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark seems better suited for an anthology series/film than the “group of kids discover the stories from the books, letting all the creatures inside loose” treatment we’ve been given. But you have to hand it to director André Øvredal, co-writer/producer Guillermo del Toro, and their production team for Scary Stories, though: damned if they didn’t do a fine job interpreting illustrator Stephen Gammell’s original renditions of the tales. Which is to say: they’re wonderfully awful.

Is it a bit disappointing the spider-zit girl looks like a beauty queen instead of like someone threw acid on Shelley Duvall? Sure. But how about that doughy, bloated, black-eyed lady from “The Dream”? That is absolutely rotten, in the best way.

Have a look with the film’s full trailer. Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark will give a new generation some wretchedly indelible nightmare imagery when it hits theaters August 9.

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