Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Guillermo Del Toro-produced film drops four nightmarish teasers at Super Bowl

The new horror film adapts the series of children's books written by Alvin Schwartz, which drew heavily from folklore and urban legends

Four teasers from the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark debuted at this year’s Super Bowl.

The new horror film adapts the series of children’s books written by Alvin Schwartz, which drew heavily from folklore and urban legends, and became famous for its surreal black-and-white illustrations by Stephen Gammell.

Directed by André Øvredal, the CBS Films production released for teasers online for the stories “Red Spot,” “Pale Lady,” “Jangly Man” and “The Big Toe” dropped online, with “Red Spot” – which deals with the infamous urban legend about spider bites – being heavily pushed on air during the game.

The film is set to revolve around a group of teenagers who “must solve the mystery surrounding sudden and macabre deaths in their small town.”

The official synopsis reads: “It’s l968 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 tome.”

Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Gabriel Rush, Gil Belllows, Kathleen Pollard, Dean Norris and Lorraine Toussaint star.

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark will be released in US cinemas on 9 August. A UK release date is yet to be announced.