Let me kick this off by saying that I'm a massive fan of Nickelodeon's 90's kid-horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark?. I own every episode on DVD (come on Blu-ray collection!) and, yes, I can hand over some choice episode recommends (see below). And it's armed with this love of all things The Midnight Society, that one of the upcoming horror movies that I'm looking forward to the most is Paramount's big-budget feature film adaptation.

And today we have word that the upcoming film has snagged its director in the form of D.J. Caruso. Caruso is best known for helming such films as xXx: Return of Xander Cage, I Am Number Four, Eagle Eye, and The Salton Sea. But don't let that deter you from being excited about the man's possible involvement with this upcoming kid-horror movie. Caruso also has films like Disturbia and Taking Lives under his belt. But... he also helmed the recent borefest The Disappointments Room. So I guess we'll just have to hope he's gotten his groove back a bit more.

Caruso is apparently "in talks to direct the feature" so this is still within the realm of rumor for the time being. That said, if Caruso does take on the job of directing Are you Afraid of the Dark? he will be doing so with the aid of a screenplay written by Gary Dauberman. Dauberman is known around the horror community for penning such films as Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, IT, and The Nun, along with upcoming projects such as IT: Chapter Two, Annabelle 3, and DC Universe's Swamp Thing TV series. Dauberman made his move to directing himself recently as he helmed the upcoming third entry in the Annabelle series, which stars Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mckenna Grace, and Madison Iseman.

For those of you that didn't grow up in the '90s, Are you Afraid of the Dark? was a Canadian horror anthology series that aired on Nickelodeon's Snick from 1992 to 1996, and then again from 1999 to 2000. It was created by D.J. MacHale and Ned Kandel and recounted ghost stories told by the young members of the Midnight Society as they gathered around a campfire.

As for the above-mentioned episode recommendations to get you started on the series if you don't already know the pleasures contained within, start with these two episodes and call me in the morning. First, I recommend The Tale of the Dead Man's Float. The episode centers on a (sometimes) invisible demon living in a school's pool, just waiting to drag kiddies down to watery deaths. It's creepy as hell. And once you're finished with that episode, make sure to check out the second episode the show ever produced, The Tale of Laughing in the Dark. This genuinely terrifying tale centers on the ghost of a killer clown (heaven help us) that goes after some ginger brat after said brat steals the nose off the face of his haunted house avatar. Trust me, this episode will give you and your loved one's nightmares for days.

Paramount is all set to unleash their Are You Afraid of the Dark? feature film into theaters come October 11, 2019. Bloody Disgusting first delivered the heads up!