Jangly Man's gonna jangle in this new Scary Stories trailer

The Jangly Man, who Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’s producers described to us as a “composite” of creatures from the original books, is front and center in this new trailer for André Øvredal’s riff on the dark world of Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell. We’re starting to think, though, at least based on this clip, that part of the composite is Harold The Scarecrow. Like, you can’t kill someone whilst impaled on a wooden pole.

Set in 1968, the “Amblin-esque” horror movie centers around a weathered book of scary tales that begin coming to life for a group of teenagers. “You don’t read the book. the book reads you,” intones one such teen, and, boy, we’re hoping the scares are better than the script.

Watch the trailer above ahead of the film’s August 9 opening. Better yet, revisit the previous trailers, which highlighted the books’ Pale Lady and godforsaken red spot.