Are You Afraid of the Dark?

When I was a kid, I loved this show. It scared me all the time, and I probably lost a lot of sleep because of it, but it was worth it to see all of these stories told by regular kids. It sparked my love for horror. The absolute scariest episode for me was "The Night Shift" where vampires invade a hospital. I can still remember parts, and they still scare me. One of these days I'm going to start my own Midnight Society...in broad daylight...with soap operas...and cheese fondue. Pretty scary, huh?

...There was "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" - a kid-friendly horror show revolving around a group of teenagers, called the Midnight Society, who sit around a campfire in the woods and tell ghost stories, and then we segued directly into each bone-chilling kid-friendly horror tale.

What prompted this sudden review and stroll down memory lane is that one of Nickelodeon's adjunct cable networks is airing reruns of this great kid-friendly horror show that was most popular during the original Nickelodeon's hey-day back in the early 1990s. I was about 9 or 10 in '93 and '94, respectively, when "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" was at its peak. I remember that on Saturday nights, it was the fourth and final show (the other three were "Doug," "Rugrats," and "The Ren & Stimpy Show" - in that order) on Nick's "Snick" two-hour block. Boy, those were the good ol' days.

Like those other great shows, Nickelodeon quickly descended into idiocy (and continues doing so as I write this, although some credibility has been restored with "Avatar: The Last Airbender") when it began taking many of its greatest shows off the air for reasons unknown and replacing them with the likes of "Spongebob Squarepants" and other idiotic, mindless crap.

"Are You Afraid of the Dark?" was one of Nickelodeon's earliest and best shows. It was actually scary, but fun, and horror made just for kids. The ghost stories themselves were mostly typical good-vs.-evil-type stuff. Some episodes pushed the limits of its "kid-friendly horror" label (which, ironically enough, may have led to the show's early demise). A lot of famous teen actors (and film veterans) from the time made guest appearances in a number of different episodes, including Tatyana Ali (from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"), Danny Cooksey (from another great Nick show canceled way before its time, "Salute Your Shorts"), Melissa Joan Hart (from "Clarissa Explains it All"), Tia and Tamera Mowry (from "Sister, Sister"), Danny Tamborelli ("The Adventures of Pete & Pete"), and veteran film actor Charles S. Dutton.

Of course, problems began to arise with "Are You Afraid of the Dark" due to several unfriendly cast shake-ups both early on and later in the series, and Nickelodeon tried unsuccessfully to revive the show in 1999. Also, the episodes' content seemed to get watered-down later on in the series, thus loosing that teenage horror "edge" that made it great during its early run. Another factor was that author R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" titles may have also had a hand in "Are You Afraid of the Dark's?" demise in the mid-'90s. But thankfully, nostalgia, and possibly incessant fan demand, or the upcoming Halloween season, have allowed this great kid-friendly horror show to see the light of cable network television just one more time.

So, now you know one of Nickelodeon's best shows from its hey-day, and one of my personal favorite shows from its hey-day. Halloween is just around the corner, and so now it's great to go back to a time when this once-great cable network had an ounce of decency and honor and common sense left in its tank.

10/10

This is to kids ages 7-12: You probably would like this show if you don't get too afraid from ghosts and demons. The plot is just that a group of people tell spooky stories. None contain any real scare and none contain visual killings. Rated Y7 for parts that may scare kids. Anyone over 12 might want to find a new show. I don't think you would be scared by it and it wouldn't appeal to you (probably).

Are You Afraid of the Dark was a favorite for anyone who was a kid aged between 5 or 6 to mid teens (maybe older even) when it was on starting in 1992. It served as a special point in the original SNICK Saturday night programming, as it was the last show to air before the channel reverted to TVLAND programming. Even when an episode didn't entirely work or was too goofy for its own good (and there were a few times, lets admit it fans), there was always a sense of excitement and anticipation to see where the next scary story would head next at that time of night before bed. Some of the essentials were the movie theater episode (Nosferatu, anyone? who hasn't wanted to go through the screen from this episode); the one that sticks quite prominently involving a clown in an amusement park (his nose!); ones with big doses of tongue-in-cheek (dark) humor like with the comic-book villain posed very much like the Joker; even a trippy one, like with the see-through glasses that featured figures of death ala Bergman.

There were many others, feeding directly into phobias and other ticks that held some kids in a panic, or at least interest, if presented right in the episode. And even the gimmick of the Midnight Society was not too old fashioned; having kids tell stories around a campfire, proving worth of the member based on how good the story could get, was essential to making this not only about how scary a story could get, but about the act of storytelling itself. Can a kid get rightfully engrossed and shaking in their shoes in half an hour? Would the cliffhangers give enough leverage to stay through the commercials? If memory serves me right, most of the episodes that were most effective stuck long after the episode ended, with little pieces of episodes still staying prevalent to this day nearly fifteen years later. And luckily, aside from a few glaring exceptions in fashion style (and a slightly different level of technology), the show is not dated either in seeing the same episodes again. For older audiences they aren't always spooky, which may make them all the better to hold onto for the next generation to scare the hell out of them.

At the least, it's worth seeing just for the opening titles; the first two shots look like they're out of a true horror movie, or a scary anti-drug ad.

I remember watching the early episodes. My favorites involved Dr. Vink ("with a V-V-V"). Last year, I watched the final episode, when Gary comes back and the Midnight Society is an actual part of the episode, rather than just telling a story about it. My favorite was "The Tale of the Dangerous Soup". I know I'd instantly crack if I were in that room! Each episode always surprised me, but I loved the music most of all.