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When I first saw the cover ofScary Stories Vol.
1, it was astounding, said del Toro.
I found the [stories and illustrations] so chilling.
They had the powerful simplicity of a story told at a campfire.
We went to huge lengths.
We did it like an animation, sculpted it, dressed it.
We didnt do a [CGI] approach.
That counts for a lot.
Its a very ethereal, doughy pale woman with a beatific little smile.
Shes almost cute, but shes the scariest thing youve ever seen.
Its a YA movie about childhood around a time when things were changing forever, around 1968 and 1969.
We adapted the characters to the story.
(Normally in these stories, its a bunch of boys with a sidekick thats a girl.
I wanted to flip that and make her the lead, said del Toro.)
Calamity ensues but a family-friendly sort.
I want this to be a nice family horror film.
We wanted to honor the material and the stories.
The setup is theres a corpse looking for its big toe, deadpanned del Toro.
Im gonna eat this stew, he says.
He pauses for a beat.
I dont know, someone made it!
he says, irritated, before he hangs up.
Naturally, the boy ignores her, and slurps up the gangrenous toe in full.
Suddenly, he hears a disembodied voice: Wheres my toe?!
At the end of the clip, del Toro laughed heartily.
The teen boy from the clip stood up a few rows behind del Toro and waved at the audience.
Hes alive and well!
Honey, you better do something about that, says her friend disapprovingly.
The girl races to the bathroom; by the time she gets there, the spot has grown exponentially.
She pokes and prods at it, whimpering.
It grows redder and hotter until, suddenly, a thin spiders leg extends out of it.
The girl begins screaming and clawing at her face.
Both men said theyd love to, but that it depended on the movies reception.
Its important to have heart, said del Toro.
I havent read a single studio note, ever.
If you have the right heart, humanity is there before the scare and gore.
Del Toro paused for a moment before asking if he could add on to his previous comment.
The real tragedy of horror is not to have your parents talk to you about it, he said.
When youre a kid, youre curious about two things: sex and death.
The rest you’ve got the option to figure out in a manual.
A lot of parents shy away from those things.
But we live in the real world.
When we live in a great world, we can avoid these things.
But we need to know the darkness to know the light.
Its something to bond over.
I wish my father and mother watched [horror] with me.
Horror movies tell you: There is a dark side, dont worry.
I think thats really important.
