Looks like we might have scooped the folks over at the Canadian Film Programmes Blog on this one!

News just hit the web that Midnight Madness audience member Guillermo del Toro (yes, you read that right - did you not hear his girlish screams when he was watching all the films in 2001?) will be producing a remake of the cult 70s made for TV film, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

And the director he picked to helm the project is none other than Canadian Troy Nixey, who's creepy and fun short, Latchkey's Lament (pictured below) played last year's Short Cuts Canada programme. I got to meet Troy at an impromtu cocktail for Midnight Madness last year and he talked of the possibility of working with Del Toro, who in many ways, is a patron saint of Midnight Madness, despite never having a film in the series. Big congrats to Troy from us here at TIFF. Check out this short interview with Troy from last year's Short Cuts Canada blog.

From the our source of fresh grisly news over at Bloody-Disgusting.com (and via Hollywood Reporter):

Comic book artist-writer Troy Nixey will make his feature directorial debut with the adaptation of ABC's 1973 cult classic. Del Toro is adapting Nigel McKeand's teleplay with Matthew Robbins, his writing partner on the 1997 horror film "Mimic" for Miramax's former genre label Dimension.

"Dark" centers on a young girl, sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend, who discovers sinister creatures that live underneath the stairs.

Nixey wrote and directed the 2007 supernatural thriller short "Latchkey's Lament," a mix of CGI animation and live action. He has attained cult status for illustrating "Batman" and "Matrix" comics as well as writing and illustrating Dark Horse Comics' "Trout," which is in development at Phoenix Pictures.

"It has always been a dream of mine to work on a project with Guillermo, my favorite filmmaker," Nixey said. "I had no idea it would be on my first one out. Miramax's faith in me is everything a first-time director could ask for."