News

‘Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror’ is a Must-Have for Nostalgic Horror Fans

Published

4 years ago

March 4, 2020

There’s a kind of magic that happens for horror fans of a certain age when you mention Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a trilogy of books published in the 80s and 90s featuring short scary stories written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell.

Honestly, it’s pretty cool to watch.

Their eyes don’t so much glaze over as they seem to simply be looking back in time remembering their favorite tales and illustrations from the collections. Slowly, a smile spreads across their face, and at the very last moment, a small shiver runs down their spine. Then, suddenly, they’re back in the now sharing their own memories of when they first picked up one of the three books.

The whole process only takes seconds, but those precious seconds of nostalgia can turn a fan’s whole day around.

Most of us horror fans have been chasing that feeling for most of our lives. We search for movies, books, and even video games, that will give us that special thrill all over again. Some, of course, have channeled that into their own creation, and two men in particular, have created the perfect tribute to the books that inspired us, scared us, and set many of us on the path to horror fandom.

Author Curt Tuckfield in collaboration with artist Shane Hunt have created Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror filling it with 34 stories and 60 illustrations that will no doubt earn its place on bookshelves next to the original Scary Stories trilogy.

Artwork by Shane Hunt for Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror

The project’s official website, features four sample stories, and it almost immediately becomes apparent that the time and meticulous study both men put into the project to create a volume that tonally feels like the work of Schwartz and Gammell was well spent. The duo offers new stories that will appeal to fans of the original and can be for an entirely new generation what the work of those previous men were for us.

Take, for instance, “The Time-Out Corner.” In this tale, two brothers, both quite young, play together as their parents host a small part down in the basement. They’re having a good time until suddenly the younger of the two becomes frightened. The shadows have become too dark as the light of day has faded leaving them alone in the only illuminated room in the house.

Beyond the doorway? Darkness. In the corners of the room? Darkness. And then, in one particular corner of the room, the time-out corner where he and his brother are sent when they’re being punished, he sees something, and slowly that something begins to emerge.

The accompanying illustration by Shane Hunt for “When I Wake Up” from Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror

Then there’s “When I Wake Up” which describes a young boy named Bradley who wakes up in the middle of the night to discover that he is all alone in his house. He searches for help and flees the house when he is certain he sees something in the darkness there. He falls asleep in the family van, only to wake up again and find himself in his bunk bed alone once more.

Tuckfield taps into the feel of Schwartz’s writing while still bringing his own storytelling voice to the tales included in the collection.

Of course, each of the stories comes with terrifying illustrations by Hunt who previously worked on the documentary Scary Stories, creating illustrations and animations based on a Gammell’s work on the books. Hunt seems to be able to tap into Gammell’s style creating images that walk the thin line between what is terrifying and what you can still show to your kids.

The combination of the two men’s talents is a potent mixture on a volume that, from the sample, appears equal parts nostalgic and new.

You can take a look at more of Hunt’s illustrations from the 230-page Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror below. The book is now available for order after a successful Kickstarter campaign for only $24. You can order your copy by CLICKING HERE.

We’re not entirely sure what this is, but we definitely don’t want to dream about it either.

Anyone else get a strange sort of Harold vibe from this swine-like creature? (Image by Shane Hunt)

Hunt’s use of light and dark is really on display in this particular illustration from Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror

A ghostly setting for a haunting tale from Scary Story: A Tribute to Terror

We really, really want to read the story that involves…whatever this is.

The more you look, the more you see.

Is this a baseball field? Is the monster in the foreground or is it the shadowy shape in the back? Check out Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror to find out!

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Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

^{High Desert Hell}

^{The Gemini Project}

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Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

^{Happy Sad Confused}

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.