It’s her, your little Venice witch. Does Lana del Rey’s dreamy cover of Donovan’s 1966 hit “Season of the Witch†for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark make a ton of tonal sense with the film? Not really, but since the new movie written by Guillermo del Toro and directed by André Øvredal is set in 1968, chances are the film’s teens were grooving to all sorts of folk-rock tunes before they, you know, found a book that unleashed an encyclopedia of nightmares on their small California town.
So, how did del Rey’s cover end up in the film’s last trailer before it hits theaters August 9? Turns out, Guillermo del Toro is a big, big fan. “I have admired Lana’s music for a while now and felt in my gut that she would run with ‘Season of the Witch’ – that she would use her alchemy to transform it,†he told Variety. There’s gotta be some role in one of his million upcoming projects for her, right? Nightmare Alley, maybe? She’d be a hard carnival act to follow. Stream “Season of the Witch†now and listen below.