Fais-moi peur!

In the late 1990's, when I was in my late 30's, I was a news junk. If the news was bad for the day, I would surf the channels. This Are You Afraid of the Dark show was awesome. Soon I was watching it everyday at around 5pm. What I liked most about the show was that each episode was unique and it kept you interested through the whole show. There was no real sex or violence, instead there was a really good story line and good acting-something that seems rare today. It was the type of show that you could watch with your kids and not feel ashamed. I really liked the way the story always seemed to wrap up on time at the end of the show and you felt good. Lots of famous and not so famous actors as well made it interesting time after time.

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).

Clever, fast paced and scary show should appeal to both kids and grown ups. It is about a group of school kids called The Midnight Society that gather around a camp fire on Saturday nights to tell each other some scary stories. Some of my favorites are an intense eposide about a paper clown who has his nose stolen. He haunts the kid who took the nose. A thoughtful one about a young girl who gets everything she every wanted, but the clerk takes something away from her that the girl takes for granted. And my third favorite would have to be an updating of the headless horseman legend. Rated Y7 when it was on TV there are some intense moments and off screen or hinted at killings, but no on screen deaths. Neve Campbell once starred as an employee at an upscale restuarant where your darkest fears come true. Melissa Joan Hart was in one about a cold ghost. Another one found the twins from the show Sister Sister dueling it out. Many many more guest stars.

This show was a must see for Snick on Saturday nights when I was growing up. Some episodes actually scared me. I loved it and still would like to see it. Better than some of the crap they have on tv for kids now. Everybody remembers this show and loves it. Silly and campy as it was, it was good.

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.