Are You Afraid of the Dark Thread

[HarleyQuinn]

Since I just got through Season 1... here are the episodes that stand up mostly well. All have some creepy characters or creepy scenes. I was surprised at how Jake & The Leprechaun and Pinball Wizard really didn't hold up very well though. Anybody else re-watched any episodes? Thoughts? Nostalgic memories?

Are You Afraid of the Dark? Season 1
1.03 The Tale of Laughing in the Dark [Zeebo the Clown Episode]
1.04 The Tale of the Twisted Claw [Spin on the Monkey's Paw story]
1.06 The Tale of the Super Specs [Wear glasses and see black clothed figures] - Bonus for introducing (Mr.) Sardo
1.07 The Tale of the Captured Souls [Guy runs a hotel and steals souls] - Notably for a solid acting job by the "villain" of the episode
1.12 The Tale of the Prom Queen [Spin on the Prom Night Death/Never Gets Picked Up story]

 

[hyperchord24]

How are you watching them? Youtube?

 

[BUTT]

The episode with the Dream Girl made me cry when I was 8. So glad my brother didn't catch me or he'd never have let me forget it. But it was a sad ending. The poor kid was dead and he didn't even know it!

 

[HarleyQuinn]

How are you watching them? Youtube?

Other means. One way has all 7 seasons

 

[Epic Springs]

The episode with the Dream Girl made me cry when I was 8. So glad my brother didn't catch me or he'd never have let me forget it. But it was a sad ending. The poor kid was dead and he didn't even know it!

That episode was supposedly the inspiration for the Sixth Sense.

 

[Aero]

Teen Nick was playing mini marathons a month or two ago and I caught a few episodes. The one with Dr. Vink's restaurant that sells the $100 bowl of soup made from people's fear was pretty decent, outside of awful special effects when the demon gets loose.

Generally any episode with a clown in it freaked me out when I was little.

 

[Twisted Intestine]

I remember the intro freaking me out more than anything.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Finally made my way through Season 2. Here are the episodes that stood up pretty well either through a solid story, decent acting, or even solid special effects/costuming.

2x03 The Tale of the Hatching - Brother & sister attend a new school with a sinister plot
2x06 The Tale of the Midnight Madness - Movie theater going out of business strikes a deal with Dr. Vink
2x08 The Tale of the Magician's Assistant - Kid gets hired by a magician and learns the importance of wand use
2x09 The Tale of Old Man Corcoran - Two new brothers get invited to play a game of Hide & Seek in a cemetery
2x11 The Tale of the Whispering Walls - A babysitter and brother/sister end up making a wrong turn and wind up in a different location than intended. Best of the Season IMO
2x13 The Tale of the Dark Dragon - A boy seeks a potion from Mr. Sardo after an accident in order to impress a girl for a school dance with bad side effects

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Season 3 was pretty up and down overall.

3x05: The Tale of The Doll Maker (A family moves away next door and a girl who moves in with her Aunt & Uncle finds a doll house in the empty house)
3x07: The Tale of the Carved Stone (A new girl moves in and is given an Egyptian Friendship stone by Mr. Sardo)
3x09: The Tale of the Quicksilver (A girl tries to banish a spirit but dies in a fire and a new family moves in) - Bonus: Has Tatiyana Ali in it
3x12: The Tale of the Crimson Clown (A little brother is a jerk and a red-haired clown stalks him)

 

[BUTT]

My brother and I loved the Tale of the Dream Machine and still find Count Sean the Asian vampire to be absolutely hilarious. I guess we're both racist assholes.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Very blah season overall and these episodes aren't the strongest in the series but are solid enough for the season itself.

Best of Are You Afraid of the Dark: Season 4
4x04: The Tale of the Quiet Librarian (Two classmates are working on a project, go to retrieve their forgotten notebook, and discover a hidden door)
4x08: The Tale of the Room For Rent (Two girls see a neighbor whom brings a man back from the dead who wants to rent the room)
4x09: The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner (A comic book artist's Jester creation comes to life upon being microwaved)
4x13: The Tale of Train Magic (A boy's love for trains intensifies after his Dad's death and he gets a chance to be a conductor for a mysterious model train)

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Best of Are You Afraid of the Dark: Season 5
5x02 The Tale of Prisoners Past (During a prison tour, a ghostly prisoner pursues two boys to tell what happened to him)
5x03 The Tale of C7 (A family moves into a home, where the playing of a jukebox summons a girl from the water) *Fun Fact: The little sister is shown reading an issue of Ghastly Grinner in one scene and Eureka's Sheriff Carter is in it!*
5x11 The Tale of the Dead Man's Float (A boy befriends a girl who tries to help him overcome his fear of swimming, only to discover a monster in the closed down pool)
5x13 The Tale of Station 109.1 (A kid into the macabre seeks out a radio station he stumbles upon designed to help souls pass over)

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Epic and I were talking about my Top 5 Episode Countdown last night in chat. Check it out! Links galore, thoughts, and some unique episodes omitted.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Trailer dropped! Not sure how I feel about them basically making it into a Goosebumps Movie type retread (e.g. story becomes real for the storytellers) but so long as they include the theme song, go for it. It at least looks like it should have some creepy scenes and be more effective in the creepy imagery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqPCBdOViOQ

 

[Epic Springs]

They actually did the whole "story turns real" trope on the series. I would have been satisfied with 3-4 bigger budgeted remakes of some of the more classic tales (Dark Dragon, Laughing in the Dark, Pinball Wizard, Dead Man's Float, etc.).

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Just finished up part 1 and really enjoyed it. The other 2 parts of airing over the next two Friday nights. There's a lot of re-airings of part 1 in case anybody wants to try it out. Part 1 definitely had the AYAOTD vibe to it and placing it in Oregon works for me in terms of helping with a good mood setting. I loved the take of using the intro music although I kind of was hoping for the original intro video but understood why it wasn't used. I did miss the lack of the title splash too but again understood why it wouldn't be used.

Cast looks solid, including the kid who played Ben in IT. I liked the background and setup for the Midnight Society, although the path to the area seems a bit convoluted but that's a minor nitpick. I'd be up for this continuing into a possible show with the same cast. There's enough possible personality to help make things different from the original (e.g. the writing out of the declaration, the 'trial' questions I thought was a very cool addition prior to the location, etc.) while still retaining a similar feel for my generation.

Story wise, it kind of is what it is with an evil carnival from the story eventually turning out to be coming to the area in real life. The lower budget helped by not needing to show Mr. Tophat too much and letting the mood be centered around the sounds/score than actual jump scare moments. I liked the quick cuts from fire to story to the group along with the random questions from Graham and the voice over narration throughout. All true to the show concept.

I could see this (probably more-so with Parts 2 & 3) being scary for that 7-12 age range. I like that they didn't teen this up and instead tried to keep it to its roots. This won't be that scary for older teens/adults but the aforementioned age range, it felt like a show that'd be up their alley without being a PG-13/R level.

 

[BUTT]

Watched the first few minutes of this and was very disappointed by the lack of French-Canadian names in the credits.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Didn't like the 2nd part as much as it was boiler plate scary made for TV teen movie stuff. Kind of wish they had gone with a 2 parter and then a "premiere" of sorts for a possible TV spin off using the same characters.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

3rd part was very solid, straight forward and very well paced. Even the 'villain' of Mr. Tophat fit into the AYAOTD ethos where the villain is more supernaturally powerful and not overtly physically powerful (and can be defeated by a prop they utilize). Still hoping they may spin this off into its own series proper down the road.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

It's BACK! New mini-series? coming next Friday called Curse of the Shadows

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Watched the 1st episode... again, the theme gave me goosebumps in a good way when it came on screen. Also noticed that they tried to hew closer to the original with some more sound effects thrown in during it. I enjoyed the callbacks and the plot seems fairly solid. Loved the introduction of

Spoiler

Sardo's Grandson along with his own Magic Shop. He did a very credible imitation of the original actor's voice too

. The creature suit was nice to see it not be CGI and gave the episode more of a low-budget, slightly modernized 90s vibe.

Not sure how I felt about them basically replacing the original cast as the storytellers but it seems like they're going 6 episodes with this one so I'll be curious how they pull it off. I'm a little wary of the plot being like the 2019 3 episode run where they ran with a 2 parter idea and overly stretched it out.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Enjoyed the second episode and continue to dig the creature design (very wood/stag element to it) and the scene with one of the girls on her jog at night & the creature just popping up everywhere was pretty unsettling. The only thing I didn't really like was how long it seemed to take the group to figure out that the Shadowman didn't like lights given they are supposed to be in that 14-16 age range. Felt like the plot 'dumbing them down' to advance the story longer.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Enjoyed the series and freaked when the original Sardo appeared in the final episode. It was a little long at 6 episodes and could've been shrunken down by 2 episodes at least. The opening theme score still gives me goosebumps though.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Another mini-series event is coming July 30th Ghost Island... I get the idea behind it as mini-series are probably cheaper to produce and easier to sell over a 3 week "event" but just give me the anthology show already!

 

[HarleyQuinn]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1541535146876276737

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Reminder that the limited series Ghost Island drops its first 2 episodes this Saturday, 7/30 at 7 PM ET/6 PM Central then the 3rd episode is August 6th.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Solid first couple of episodes although like the last series, it feels like a story that could be greatly condensed for its benefit. Some good shots including the pan-around in Room 13 with the fade-outs between the guests. Dean Israelite directed it and he also had directed the Power Rangers movie reboot thing and this definitely had that vibe at times along with the teen cast and such.

There's some good, solid scare shots & some fairly gruesome imagery for this kind of level. Nothing revolutionary or anything but the tension/camera work makes it a solid pre-teen/young teen horror type entry. I can see this generation of kids watching it and remembering it years later.

It did feel its length though. Like I said, the story itself isn't super deep, so going at least 5 episodes with different stories "with-in" keeps it connected but also elongates it all.

The one thing I hated was the constant use of "soundtrack" songs in it. Felt very out of place and took away from the AYAOTD vibe to make it more of a "teen horror" movie type atmosphere.

 

[Epic Springs]

Season one was officially added to YouTube recently. Made for good Halloween night binging!

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Fuck yes! For a series that really never "re-aired" after its initial run, it has had incredible staying power. Glad other generations will get to see it/enjoy it.