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Are You Afraid of the Dark? was one of my introductions to the horror genre, and a significant source of nostalgia for a lot of my Millennial peers. Not every episode scared me, and not every one of them would hold up to my present-day critical eye, but I think that every viewer who grew up with the show has their particular favorites. Here are some of mine.
1. “The Tale of the Captured Souls”
A girl and her parents are the only guests at an inn whose proprietor is stealing people’s life forces to preserve his youth.
I liked the main character, Danny (don’t call her Danielle); I liked the aesthetics of the villain’s creepy life-draining science lab; and I liked that so much of the horror happened in the sunlight.
2. “The Tale of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
A teenage loner gains supernatural powers that link him to a long-dead sorcerer.
I already talked about this episode in a previous post. Does Dean’s actor give a good performance? I could not possibly tell you. Does he give a memorable performance? I would say so, especially when he’s lounging on a stage in his leather jacket and drawls “Hello, Ahhhhhhlllllix” as his friend shows up to try to reason with him.
3. “The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle”
Mike starts seeing the ghost of his friend Ricky, who died in an accident while they were riding bikes together years before.
Maybe this is because I’ve been watching Mike Flanagan’s shows recently, but when I look back on this episode, it seems like something that he might write. The story used the supernatural to explore grief, survivor’s guilt, and redemption, all in less than twenty minutes and in a way that is accessible to kids. There are no monsters or villains in this episode, just a compelling race against time to stop another tragedy.
4. “The Tale of Watcher’s Woods”
Good girl Sara and rebellious Kelly have to rely on each other when they find themselves in their summer camp’s haunted woods.
This story was an excellent example of the summer camp horror subgenre, from the use of camp legends to the opposites-attract friendship arc between teenage girls. Also, the mysterious women that they encounter in the forest remind me a lot of Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch from Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books, which gives the episode extra points.
5. TIED: “The Tale of the Bookish Baby-Sitter” and “The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner”
Both of these episodes blur the lines between storytelling and reality, so I wanted to talk about them together.
In “Bookish Babysitter,” the titular babysitter tries to convince her charges that books can be just as engaging as TV (an interesting stance for a TV show to take, but let’s just go with it). She accomplishes this by trapping the children in stories so that they have to use their imaginations to return to reality (we follow one kid who does survive, but it’s implied that some of the others don’t). I loved the “write your own way out of a dangerous story” premise, and Belinda’s Chaotic Good (or maybe Neutral?) approach to her mission.
“Ghastly Grinner,” in which an aspiring comic book artist accidentally summons a Joker-like supervillain who turns family members and neighbors into smiling zombies whose mouths leak blue goo, leans further, and very effectively, into the scares. I can also appreciate the focus on comics as a worthy artistic medium, even though I wasn’t really reading them myself at the time.
Honorable mentions: “The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor” and “The Tale of the Chameleons” for scaring me so much that I could never rewatch them to the end.
Did you watch this show when you were younger? Which episodes do you remember fondly (or with fear)?
1. “The Tale of the Captured Souls”
A girl and her parents are the only guests at an inn whose proprietor is stealing people’s life forces to preserve his youth.
I liked the main character, Danny (don’t call her Danielle); I liked the aesthetics of the villain’s creepy life-draining science lab; and I liked that so much of the horror happened in the sunlight.
2. “The Tale of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
A teenage loner gains supernatural powers that link him to a long-dead sorcerer.
I already talked about this episode in a previous post. Does Dean’s actor give a good performance? I could not possibly tell you. Does he give a memorable performance? I would say so, especially when he’s lounging on a stage in his leather jacket and drawls “Hello, Ahhhhhhlllllix” as his friend shows up to try to reason with him.
3. “The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle”
Mike starts seeing the ghost of his friend Ricky, who died in an accident while they were riding bikes together years before.
Maybe this is because I’ve been watching Mike Flanagan’s shows recently, but when I look back on this episode, it seems like something that he might write. The story used the supernatural to explore grief, survivor’s guilt, and redemption, all in less than twenty minutes and in a way that is accessible to kids. There are no monsters or villains in this episode, just a compelling race against time to stop another tragedy.
4. “The Tale of Watcher’s Woods”
Good girl Sara and rebellious Kelly have to rely on each other when they find themselves in their summer camp’s haunted woods.
This story was an excellent example of the summer camp horror subgenre, from the use of camp legends to the opposites-attract friendship arc between teenage girls. Also, the mysterious women that they encounter in the forest remind me a lot of Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch from Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books, which gives the episode extra points.
5. TIED: “The Tale of the Bookish Baby-Sitter” and “The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner”
Both of these episodes blur the lines between storytelling and reality, so I wanted to talk about them together.
In “Bookish Babysitter,” the titular babysitter tries to convince her charges that books can be just as engaging as TV (an interesting stance for a TV show to take, but let’s just go with it). She accomplishes this by trapping the children in stories so that they have to use their imaginations to return to reality (we follow one kid who does survive, but it’s implied that some of the others don’t). I loved the “write your own way out of a dangerous story” premise, and Belinda’s Chaotic Good (or maybe Neutral?) approach to her mission.
“Ghastly Grinner,” in which an aspiring comic book artist accidentally summons a Joker-like supervillain who turns family members and neighbors into smiling zombies whose mouths leak blue goo, leans further, and very effectively, into the scares. I can also appreciate the focus on comics as a worthy artistic medium, even though I wasn’t really reading them myself at the time.
Honorable mentions: “The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor” and “The Tale of the Chameleons” for scaring me so much that I could never rewatch them to the end.
Did you watch this show when you were younger? Which episodes do you remember fondly (or with fear)?
