Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark aiming for PG-13 rating

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Writer Alvin Schwartz and illustrator Stephen Gammell's controversial children’s horror book series SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK has inspired an upcoming film from producer Guillermo del Toro and director André Øvredal that will be upon us later this year. The movie looks scary as ten types of hell, but today we have words that Del Toto and company plan to bring the film in as a -PG-13 motion picture.

Del Toro says:

The anticipated rating is PG-13. I wanted to have standees that said, ‘You have to be this tall to see this movie,’ but somebody beat us to it, so what can we do [laughs]? But the idea is the books are a favorite among young readers, and I think that there are two or three generations of parents that know the books, too. So, it's really going to be a ride, but there is a safety bar in it.

Makes sense to me. But let's not forget that Del Toro was also aiming for a PG-13 rating for his remake of DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, but the powers that be behind the scenes at the MPAA slapped the movie with an R-rating all the same due to the movie being to scary. I think this might end up being the case here with SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. But only time will tell. 

Meanwhile, here's the movie's updated synopsis:

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 is directed by André Øvredal from a screenplay written by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman based on a screen story by Del Toro and Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan based on the series by Alvin Schwartz. Del Toro, Sean Daniel, Jason F. Brown, J. Miles Dal, and Elizabeth Grave produce. The film stars Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussaint, Austin Zajur, and Natalie Ganzhorn. CBS Films, Lionsgate and eOne will release the movie in theaters everywhere August 9, 2019.