Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark features a lot of Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell's creations. But the big screen adaptation will include a brand-new monster named the Jangly Man, who is the focus of the latest poster. Jangly Man was also the focus of the exclusive Comic-Con footage shown over the weekend and producer Guillermo del Toro is extremely proud of the way the new character came out.
As we saw at /tag/SDCC this weekend, Jangly Man has the face of a decomposing corpse, which is alive. He also has a lopsided face with a "menacing expression, including two sets of teeth in one smiling mouth." Sometimes he has six appendages, and contorts his body to deliver maximum scares. Contortionist Troy James plays Jangly Man in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark while wearing a foam and latex suit. The design is an "amalgamation of a few drawings" by iconic source material artist Stephen Gammell.
In the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark footage Guillermo del Toro unveiled at Comic-Con, the Jangly Man was introduced. "One by one, his body parts fall down a chimney and splatter all over the floor," says one description, as the Jangly Man comes into focus as what we see in the latest poster for the horror movie. While fans of Alvin Schwartz's source material may be bothered to know that Guillermo del Toro and crew created a new creature, it should be good news to hear that the design of Jangly Man is all based on the artwork of Stephen Gammell. For the most part, it looks like the movie is staying true to Gammell's original ideas.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark takes place 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind... but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time-stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying home.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark primarily uses practical effects to bring Stephen Gammell's creatures to life, which should also be good news for fans. The practical effects seem to be making a comeback after years of CGI overload. For some, nothing beats real costumes and puppets delivering the scares and it gives work to the incredibly talented designers. It lets them get back to their craft, which has been a bit of a lost art over the years. You can check out the Jangly Man in the latest Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark poster below, thanks to CBS Films.
