Classic Nickelodeon Show 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' Will Get a Film Adaptation

Why's that? After all, this is a brand back in the day on Nickelodeon of all places.... And Are You Afraid of the Dark?, while suitably dark and a bit disturbing in ways Goosebumps could never be, wasn't exactly the Saw series or anything.

However, Are You Afraid of the Dark? somehow managed to change the way the game was played on Nickelodeon, almost matching the same freakishness you'd expect from the likes of a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book and only hampered by limited budgets and Canadian accents. Those were the days, but Nickelodeon had something going there for quite a while: the series aired for a remarkable ten years, featuring all sorts of scary stories you'd be surprised would be told by youth after experiencing the "tamer" quality from the just as well-known Goosebumps series.

Here's the great news about a TV series that obviously broke the mold, though.

This film adaptation currently being written will potentially knock the SOCKS off of horror aficionados.

And doing that while keeping with the classic flavor that made Are You Afraid of the Dark? so campy and fun for Nickelodeon lovers.... For starters, it was recently announced that the film adaptation got their screenwriter: the same man who wrote the damn screenplay for the most recent Stephen King film, IT!

Even better.... This is the same guy who wrote the screenplay for Annabelle.... Dear, God....

That would be Gary Dauberman, a wordsmith of sheer nail-biting mentality, and one that can push this brand into a whole new level if done the right way. After all, you do recall that the book IT, while hard-edged as ever, also appealed back in the day to the kid horror movie mentality in line with such brands as The Goonies, Monster Squad, Stand By Me, and much more.

So why not Are You Afraid of the Dark? I'm game. We need more of those hell babies freaking us out without damaging our psyches in ways The Ring or The Midnight Meat Train would've.

We currently have a release date for 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?' set by Paramount as well.

Expect this film to his theaters on October 11th, 2019. Mark your calendars.

Couldn't come any sooner, and thankfully no later as a resurgence of kid-style horror comes back thanks to the likes of IT,Stranger Things, and other properties bringing the fun back into horror the way we remember it.

Dauberman, of course, didn't have much to say about the screenplay he's going to write except for the fact that it will, indeed, be a bit of an anthology film featuring the "Midnight Society" around a campfire, passing the "torch," if you will, to each member telling a story that pans out to the story itself as you watch mesmerized on the screen.

I'm liking what I'm hearing, because horror tends to work quite well that way. When it's a story about stories, or even just one story. That's how horror comes about—as you listen, or read, and get sucked in. Makes sense as you think about everything from that classic film Grim Prairie Tales to Tales From the Darkside: the Movie, or some of the more recent additions of the same trend The ABCs of Death, V/H/S, and the upcoming 60 Seconds to Die.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? will most certainly bring the anthology model to the forefront—for kids AND adults—beautifully.

Don't be afraid to get sucked in by 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?' very soon.

The horror genre's looking fabulous now. Especially since more and more classic Stephen King novels will be hitting the theaters soon, such as the iconic vampire novel Salem's Lot. Although we venture that novel most definitely might not be for kids. And, of course, the second film of IT and the sequel to Goosebumps.

The important thing to remember is it seems more and more content will be catered to all who love the genre. And that's a good thing. Don't get me wrong—I love me some visceral gore. But the great thing about horror is entertaining the masses, getting people to laugh at the jump scares and actually making them want more while simultaneously closing their eyes at the suspense.

That's just scary candy for the soul.