Paramount Pictures’ adaptation of ’90s tween horror anthology ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ may have moved closer to fruition, as it is reported that D.J. Caruso is in talks to direct the feature. As was previously reported, Gary Dauberman– ‘It’ (Chapters 1 and 2), both ‘Annabelle’ movies, ‘The Nun’– is penning the screenplay for this movie.
‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ was a Canadian series that aired on YTV and was carried in the US on Nickelodeon’s Saturday night SNICK block of programming, aimed at older kids and teens. The series ran from 1990-2000 on YTV, but only from 1992-96 on Nick. Either way, it predated the similar ‘Goosebumps’ franchise, which would go on to greater recognition. Each episode of ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ featured a group of high school-age kids called the Midnight Society, who would gather around a campfire and regale each other with scary tales that were then enacted on the screen for viewers.
Fans enjoy recalling that the series featured guest appearances by many future celebrities like Ryan Gosling, Neve Campbell, Jay Baruchel, Hayden Christensen, ‘Firefly’s Jewel Staite, ‘Smallville’s Laura Vandervoort and Aaron Ashmore, and the Marvel Universe’s Emily Van Camp and her former ‘Everwood’ costar Gregory Smith.
Caruso made a splash with his 2007 thriller ‘Disturbia’, sort of a modernized version of Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ in which Shia LeBeouf played a teenager under house arrest who starts to suspect his neighbor is a serial killer. In his low budget 2013 film ‘Standing Up’, two kids learn to stand up to bullies at summer camp, which may give a hint at the direction in which ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ may head.
Unfortunately, the rest of his filmography is nothing to cheer about. ‘Eagle Eye’, ‘I Am Number Four‘, ‘The Disappointments Room’ and ‘xXx: The Return of Xander Cage’ were all flops. At any rate, he is also attached to return for another ‘xXx’ (why?), a revival of ‘GI Joe’ and a horror film, ‘Selling Time’.
Those may have to take a back seat though, as Paramount has already announced that ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ will be released on October 11, 2019.
Source: Bloody Disgusting
