The "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" series were the coolest books ever when I was a kid. They were these kids' books with horror stories and old urban legends retold with these awesome, gruesome illustrations that were almost better than the stories. They were about a spider laying eggs in a girl's face, a scarecrow coming to life, a husband and wife eating a corpse's liver for dinner, and things like that, with those awesome illustrations bringing the horror to life. As a horror obsessed kid, I loved these books, so i was excited to check out this documentary about the books and their impact on the world.
Being gory and full of horrifying events, these books came under fire over the years from people who thought the books should be banned, which of course made the books even more interesting to kids (gotta have whatever the adults don't want us to have!) Here are some of the illustrations from the books:
As you can see, the illustrations were just as creepy as the stories, if not Moreno. The books have been re-released without the original illustrations, and they're not the same...they're not nearly as fun without these pictures. This documentary shows how kids all over the world latched onto these books and made them legends. We also get to hear from R.L. Stine and other writers who wrote scary stories for kids. Stephen Gammell did the illustrations for the books, and he did a great job. I still see these pictures in my nightmares sometimes, and I'm a grown adult (allegedly). Remember I told you about the girl who had a spider lay its eggs in her face? This is how she ended up:
Try getting THAT picture out of your head! I love these books, and so I loved this documentary. I recommend it for any other fans of these books.
No comments:
Post a Comment