Are You Afraid of the Dark to be like Gremlins & Monster Squad?

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Just a few minutes ago we shared a story regarding super horror screenwriter Gary Dauberman (ANNABELLE, THE NUN) talking about director Andres Muscietti's upcoming follow-up to his hit adaptation of Stephen King's IT: CHAPTER TWO. 

That bit of news came from an interview our buddies over at /Film conducted with Dauberman, and so does this choice bit of an update on his next horror flick adaptation ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK. In this section of the interview, Dauberman was asked what we can expect from his upcoming adaptation of the hit Nickelodeon kids horror anthology series.

Dauberman on whether or not ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK is more "young horror" like GREMLINS and MONSTER SQUAD:

I like your reference to Gremlins. I love Monster Squad. 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. 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.

Dauberman on the film's original story:

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

He continues:

I have an eight-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter. It’s interesting watching them develop that sense of is it too scary for me or is it not? That’s a lesson that we need to apply to the real world. If kids can’t learn that in the safety of their own homes trying to push the boundaries of what’s scary, what isn’t, what’s safe, what isn’t, then it’s a lot more difficult out there in the real world. I think there are those lessons that are taught by horror movies. I think we got a lot more of that when I was growing up. Somewhere along the lines it started to become a little too sanitized.

Personally, I'm glad that Dauberman plans to keep his adaptation of Snick's ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK as scary as possible. Kid's horror has been lacking in the actual scares department for far too long now and this film – along with Del Toro's SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK – just might be the legit return to quality kid's horror movies. We'll see!

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK synopsis:

This spooky anthology series for kids recounts ghost stories told by the young members of the Midnight Society as they gather around a campfire. Each episode opens with members of the Midnight Society at their secret spot in the woods, where they prepare their fire and the night's storyteller announces the title of the his or her offering. However, the cameras soon leave the storyteller and switch to the tale being told.

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK hits theaters on October 11th, 2019.