Scary Stories: Dark Web (2020)

Interesting facts

Scary Stories: Dark Web is a 2020 supernatural horror anthology directed by Bryan Renaud and produced by Random Acts, written by Renaud with additional material by Savanna Rae and Crystal Skillman. Originally developed as a live performance, the production was reimagined as a film, beginning production March 6, 2020, before the similar pandemic-era film Host. The film is notable in that it serves as an anthology with unconnected shorts, described in the plot as being found on the dark web. The story follows a group of friends who unleash a long-dormant demon when stumbling into the dark web.

Production

In 2016, Random Acts began developing a stage comedy inspired by Are You Afraid of the Dark?. In early 2019, Savanna Rae joined the production and assisted with a rewrite that changed the overall tone to more straight horror with comedic elements. A live production entitled Scary Stories: Are You Afraid? played a sold-out run at Otherworld Theatre in Chicago throughout October and November 2019.

Faced with canceling almost all events planned for 2020, Renaud and Rae (along with writer Crystal Skillman) re-adapted the story to be set in the present day, during the pandemic. After a private screening in September 2020, the writers quickly devised a new scene to connect the majority of the film to the final moments, completing reshoots only days before the premiere.

Exal Iraheta, who wrote the "Date from Hell" segment, spoke with Chicago Reader about writing for pandemic-era project and telling scary stories online. He states, "My story is about trying to meet someone online. I think it speaks to loneliness we’re all experiencing in quarantine...There’s like this hovering need to connect, you’re left asking so much sometimes: Who are we really meeting and talking to on the other side of that screen?" Iraheta…

Chicago Tribune announced the official cast on September 26, 2020.

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