Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps

[Silver Nemesis]

There have been lots of great horror anthology TV shows over the years, but my favourite has always been the Canadian show Are You Afraid of the Dark? This series originally aired on Nickelodeon back in the nineties and was shown on CITV here in Britain. I loved it as a kid, and I still regularly watch the DVDs as an adult.

Here in the UK, AYAOTD used to be on Saturday mornings right after Batman: The Animated Series. That was the perfect way for any kid to start his weekend. Later they started showing both AYAOTD and BTAS on weeknights too. Lots of famous child actors appeared in the series, including Melissa Joan Hart, Neve Campbell, Ryan Gosling, Hayden Christensen, Tatyana Ali, Aaron Ashmore, Emily VanCamp, Elisha Cuthbert and Will Friedle (who later went on to voice Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond). Occasionally they'd also have adult guest stars such as Charles S. Dutton, Bobcat Goldthwaite, Gilbert Gottfried and even the Riddler himself, Frank Gorshin.

Many episodes were adapted from classic horror literature, but with the stories relocated to modern day Canada. For example, 'The Tale of the Twisted Claw' was an adaptation of 'The Monkey's Paw' (1902) by W. W. Jacobs, and 'The Tale of the Midnight Ride' was based on 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' (1820) by Washington Irving. Sometimes the plots were inspired by classic horror films. 'The Tale of the Midnight Madness' features a vampire who escapes from an old silent movie and is clearly modelled on Count Orlok from F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922). There are many classic episodes to talk about, and I might come back to highlight some of them in the future. But to begin with I wanted to mention one particular episode which might interest the members of this site: 'The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner.'

Just as other episodes took their inspiration from film and literature, this one takes its cues from comic books. The story concerns a teenage boy and aspiring comic creator who is invited to the opening of a new comic book store. Part of the fun of this episode is seeing all the nineties comic memorabilia in the background. Of course there's a ton of X-Men stuff, since X-Men was the one title every comic fan seemed to be reading back then.

There's also some Reign of the Supermen art on display (this episode was broadcast in 1994), as well as numerous Batman-related images. The store is run by a young woman who gives the boy a rare edition of a comic called The Ghastly Grinner. The Grinner is said to have been the most terrifying comic book super villain of all time. He's an evil clown who dresses like a harlequin and has a permanent smile fixed on his face. Sound familiar?

In addition to superhuman strength, the Grinner also possesses the ability to drain people's emotions. This reduces his victims to mindless cackling zombies with creepy smiles and blue slime oozing from their lips.

In case it wasn't already obvious, the Ghastly Grinner is basically a supernatural version of the Joker. He doesn't actually kill people, but he does drive them insane and leaves them with smiles on their faces. Some Joker art can be seen hanging on the wall in the background of certain shots. I like to think this was the production team's way of acknowledging the character's influence on this story.

The Ghastly Grinner's creator had mysteriously disappeared while in the process of writing the final issue, which would have depicted the Grinner's death. We see samples of his artwork throughout the episode and the imagery is delightfully creepy.

The Grinner escapes into the real world following a mishap with a microwave. It's not long before his victims start cropping up.

When the Grinner himself finally appears, the costume and makeup effects don't disappoint.

The makeup effects on his smile are similar to those of Nicholson's Joker.

This episode was always one of my favourites. It appealed to my childhood love of ghost stories and comic book superheroes and mixed the two together. Modern audiences would likely find it cheesy, but for kids back in the nineties this was awesome.

Of course Are You Afraid of the Dark? wasn't the only kids' horror anthology series in the nineties. Another noteworthy show was Goosebumps. I was a big fan of the Goosebumps books by R. L. Stine and had collected and read more of them than anyone else in my school. But I was always disappointed by the TV show. Maybe it was because I loved the books so much and that AYAOTD had set such a high standard for kids' horror shows, but the Goosebumps adaptations usually felt cheap and rushed. They had to condense full length children's books into 20 minute episodes, and the results very seldom did justice to the source material.

There were however two exceptions: 'The Haunted Mask' and 'Attack of the Mutant'. These were two of my favourite books in the Goosebumps library, and they were both adapted as 2-part stories, which meant they had 40 minutes instead of just 20. These were perhaps the only two Goosebumps adaptations that actually did justice to the books they were based on.

'Attack of the Mutant' can be seen as the Goosebumps answer to 'The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner'. The book was published in 1994, while the TV adaptation was broadcast in 1996. I remember reading the book in the summer holidays when I was 11 and strongly identifying with the main character because he was a comic book fan like myself. I imagine anyone who was a kid in the nineties and collected comics will get a nostalgic kick out of this story.

Like the Ghastly Grinner, the plot concerns a comic book super villain who escapes into the real world. He's known as the Masked Mutant and has the ability to change his shape into any form, provided it's not liquid. The fact Stine named him the Masked Mutant perhaps reflects the popularity of the X-Men comics and cartoon show at that time.

The main character – a boy named Skipper – is obsessed with the Mutant and knows everything about him. He's also a fan of another character called the Galloping Gazelle, who is the Masked Mutant's heroic arch nemesis.

One day Skipper is travelling on the bus when he spots a building that looks identical to the Masked Mutant's hideout from the comics.

The production values in Goosebumps were never as good as those in AYAOTD, and there are some dreadful chroma key effects here to prove it. But I always appreciated the ambition that went into these episodes. They tried to capture the scope and imaginative visuals described in the book. And considering they were working with a comparatively low TV budget, I think the results have a certain charm to them.

Following the example of the Ghastly Grinner, the Masked Mutant makes the leap from the printed page into our world. The costumes here are very typical of nineties superhero productions, with sculpted rubber masks and padded muscle suits.

The Mutant himself has a bit of a Freddy Krueger thing going on; he's constantly cackling and verbally tormenting Skipper, and the control room of his hideout even resembles a boiler room. He's nowhere near as creepy as the Ghastly Grinner, but he's definitely one of my favourite Goosebumps villains. Sadly he didn't appear in the 2015 feature film. Hopefully they'll put him in the sequel.

Returning to the TV show, Skipper freaks out when he receives the latest issue of the Masked Mutant and discovers he himself is now a character within its pages.

In the end, he ventures into the Masked Mutant's fortress to confront him. And this is where the Batman connection comes in – for who should Skipper find tied up in the Masked Mutant's hideout, but the Galloping Gazelle. Watching this as a kid, I remember thinking the actor who played the Gazelle was really funny and that he reminded me of Adam West. It wasn't until years later I found out it actually was Adam West. I think this was probably the last time he ever donned a mask and cape to play a live action superhero. It was exactly thirty years after he'd first played Batman. He was 67 years old at the time!

West later reprised his role as the Galloping Gazelle in vocal form for the 1997 Attack of the Mutant PC game. The Gazelle is the pompous leader of the League of Good Guys, which is obviously based on the Justice League. He has the ability to move at super speed and is essentially a cross between the Silver Age Batman and the Flash. However unlike Batman and the Flash, he ultimately proves to be a clumsy and incompetent crime fighter who is no match for the Masked Mutant. But it's great to see West in costume again. Having him portray the Gazelle added an extra layer to the character that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

So that's the Ghastly Grinner and the Masked Mutant. As I said, I'll probably revisit this thread in the future to highlight some other interesting episodes of AYAOTD (and maybe Goosebumps too), but for now I just wanted to shine a light on two of these lesser known super hero productions from the nineties. Was anyone else a fan of either of these shows? If so, do you have any favourite episodes? Any you recall as being particularly scary or memorable?

[Silver Nemesis]

Nickelodeon is bringing Are You Afraid of the Dark? back for a new miniseries this October! Here's the first teaser:

The original AYAOTD remains one of my top 10 favourite TV shows of all time, so this revival has a lot to live up to. But I can't wait to see it.

[thecolorsblend]

No offense, SN, but for as many episodes of this show as I know I watched, it's kind of shocking how little I've retained.

[Silver Nemesis]

I found the 1999-2000 revival (seasons 6 and 7) fairly forgettable, but I can vividly recall every episode from seasons 1-5.

Nostalgia is a major factor here, so a person's appreciation of this show will likely depend on how old they were when they first saw it. I was about 9 when they started airing it in the UK. I was already heavily into The X-Files at the time (another top 10 show of mine), even though that was really a bit too frightening and adult for a child of that age. While The X-Files terrified me, AYAOTD offered safer and more age-appropriate thrills to offset the horror of Mulder and Scully's investigations. Unfortunately I got into horror films when I was very young, and by time I was 10 I was already watching movies that were far too old for me – films like Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, The Shining, etc. My parents tried to stop me seeing those movies, but I always found a way. Looking back, I regret watching some of those things at such a young age and wish I'd waited until I was a bit older. But kids love horror, and that thirst for the macabre must be sated.

AYAOTD was perfect for children who liked horror, but weren't old enough for R-rated scares. Even now, it offers a great entry point into the genre for youngsters. Particularly if they're the kind of kids that take an interest in intertextuality and like to research the origins of the stories they're watching. Many AYAOTD episodes were inspired by classic works of literature, referencing writers such as Washington Irving (The Tale of the Midnight Ride), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (The Tale of the Magician's Assistant), H. P. Lovecraft (The Tale of the Reanimator), Gaston Leroux (The Tale of the Last Dance), W. W. Jacobs (The Tale of the Twisted Claw), and Stephen King (The Tale of the Dream Machine).

Other episodes were essentially family-friendly variations on classic horror films: The Tale of the Midnight Madness is derived from F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), The Tale of the Captured Souls was supposedly influenced by Dan Curtis's Burnt Offerings (1976), The Tale of the Water Demons borrows liberally from John Carpenter's The Fog (1980), while The Tale of the Super Specs is clearly inspired by Carpenter's They Live (1988). The Tale of the Crimson Clown lifts its eponymous antagonist from the clown doll scene in Poltergeist (1982), The Tale of the Nightly Neighbours and The Tale of the Full Moon are both heavily indebted to Tom Holland's Fright Night (1985), and The Tale of Oblivion is a variation of the 'Drawn and Quartered' segment from Vault of Horror (1973), which in turn was adapted from Tales from the Crypt Vol 1 #26 (October 1951). So there are plenty of connections to earlier works, both literary and cinematic, for AYAOTD fans to investigate.

There were also plenty of original stories, many of which contained twist endings in the tradition of 1950s EC horror comics. Many episodes dealt with things relevant to the lives of nineties kids, such as videogames (The Tale of the Pinball Wizard, The Tale of the Wisdom Glass, The Tale of the Renegade Virus), cyber pets (The Tale of the Virtual Pets), comic books (The Tale of Ghastly Grinner, The Tale of the Misfortune Cookie), and laser tag (The Tale of the Laser Maze).

Nowadays most children's television shows tend to be animated, comedic or reality based, but AYAOTD hailed from an era when scripted drama programmes were still being produced for kids. The writers did a great job of condensing self-contained narratives into 22-minute episodes without making them feel rushed. There was always an A-plot concerning the central element of horror, as well as a B-plot concerning the more personal stakes. From a visual standpoint, most episodes employed real locations, practical effects and low-key lighting for a simple but effective aesthetic that was well suited to the budget. The 16mm photography also lends a graininess to the show's visual identity that is evocative of low-budget horror films from the late seventies and early eighties. AYAOTD is certainly not the glossiest-looking show, but the visual style fits the subject matter and helps complement the sinister atmosphere.

Objectively speaking, the best anthology TV show ever is The Twilight Zone. I think most people would agree with that. Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Night Gallery would also rank high on the list, as would The Outer Limits and the HBO Tales from the Crypt. But I'd argue AYAOTD is superior to practically every other anthology show out there, including Tales from The Darkside, The Hitchhiker, Amazing Stories, Goosebumps, Monsters, Hammer House of Horror, Tales of the Unexpected, Freddy's Nightmares and Masters of Horror. I'm not going to say it's underrated, because it generally is held in high regard. But perhaps "overlooked" would be a better description.

I don't know if someone seeing it for the first time now would necessarily react the same way those of us who watched it when it first aired did. But for viewers with an appetite for horror and nineties nostalgia, it's well worth checking out. Here are just a few episodes I'd recommend as a starting point for anyone who hasn't seen the show (they're all on YouTube):

The Tale of Dead Man's Float

This story kicks off with a pretty dark prologue in which a little boy (played by a young Jay Baruchel) is flat out murdered by an entity haunting a swimming pool. The pool is boarded up, only to be discovered many years later by some kids who use it as their private hang-out. But in reopening the pool, they also unleash the evil spirit lurking within (which looks like Tarman from Return of the Living Dead).

The Tale of Laughing in the Dark

A kid dares his friend to venture inside a fairground funhouse that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a criminal clown who was immolated there many years earlier. AYAOTD featured several stories that preyed on coulrophobia, but I'd rank this as the best of them. This was also the first episode I ever saw, so it holds special nostalgic value. On the subject of creepy clowns, Gary Dauberman, screenwriter of It (2017), It Chapter Two (2019) and several of The Conjuring Universe films, is also a big fan of AYAOTD.

The Tale of the Dream Girl

Although this one's not a particularly creepy episode, it does contain one of the show's best twist endings. M. Night Shyamalan claims not to have seen it, but there's some undeniable foreshadowing of The Sixth Sense to be found in this story.

The Tale of the Midnight Madness

A cinema manager reneges on his agreement to allow a mysterious filmmaker to exhibit silent movies in his theatre. This causes a vampire to be unleashed from one of the films, which then begins stalking the cinema at night and feeding off its occupants. This episode did the whole monster-emerging-from-a-movie-screen trope years before Ringu did.

The Tale of the Midnight Ride

This one's great to watch around Halloween. It's an adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, albeit with events relocated to a nineties high school. Ichabod becomes Ian, Katrina becomes Katie, and Brom is renamed Brad. But the dynamic between the three central characters remains intact, and the plot follows the original story far more closely than many of the big screen versions of this tale (including Tim Burton's).

Anyway, those are just a few of the many classic episodes. I'm surprised there aren't more fans of this show on Batman-Online, but hopefully some of our regulars will check out the new series when it launches in October. Is the revival necessary? Hell no. I'm not sure it'll even work without the nostalgia factor. But I'd rather have new TV episodes over the feature film Paramount has been planning.

[thecolorsblend]

I always thought of the Goosebumps series as sort of like kissing cousins with Are You Afraid Of The Dark. So, maybe this is the best thread for this?

I watched a fair amount of Goosebumps. And obviously, network TV offered no small number of content restrictions. Which is just as well anyway since, as far as I know, the Goosebumps books were pretty tame anyway.

Still, there were some effective episodes of Goosebumps. "The Haunted Mask" from the first season might actually be the entire show's peak, frankly.

And "The Haunted Mask" has a fan following to this day.

All in all, I think Are You Afraid Of The Dark? is the superior show. But Goosebumps is still worth recommending.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm a childhood Goosebumps reader and also watched the show. I used to get the books ordered via the school monthly subscription club. I still have fond memories of the series and sought out my old copies when I started getting back in to Harry Potter. Honestly, if I was going to write a book series, I'd do something like Goosebumps. Creatively scary concepts but with dark humor that appeals not just to children but all ages. That said, the Jack Black movies missed the mark. They went too light. There should be a good chunk of mystery and darkness in the Goosebumps experience.

[Silver Nemesis]

I always thought of the Goosebumps series as sort of like kissing cousins with Are You Afraid Of The Dark. So, maybe this is the best thread for this?

I watched a fair amount of Goosebumps. And obviously, network TV offered no small number of content restrictions. Which is just as well anyway since, as far as I know, the Goosebumps books were pretty tame anyway.

Still, there were some effective episodes of Goosebumps. "The Haunted Mask" from the first season might actually be the entire show's peak, frankly.

And "The Haunted Mask" has a fan following to this day.

All in all, I think Are You Afraid Of The Dark? is the superior show. But Goosebumps is still worth recommending.

The Haunted Mask is by far the best adaptation from the Goosebumps TV show. It's my favourite episode and is among the classic Halloween movies and TV specials I watch every year in late October. I've got it on DVD, but I also still have my original VHS copy that I received as a birthday present when I was a kid. In recent years it's become a tradition of mine to have The Haunted Mask on in the background when I carve the jack-o'-lantern. It's perfect Halloween viewing for kids who want something dark and creepy but are still too young for grownup horror films, and it's equally entertaining for adults of our generation thanks to the nineties nostalgia factor.

As a literary adaptation it's largely faithful to R. L. Stine's book, but with a few minor alterations. For one, Carly Beth is described as being small and having round features and long brown hair in the book, which is obviously not how Kathryn Long looked. Also the book makes it clearer that Chuck and Steve are friends with Carly Beth and Sabrina, and that the four of them hang around together in the same social group. The TV adaptation makes it seem as though Chuck and Steve aren't friends with Carly Beth, and they instead come across as two mean classmates who bully her. But aside from those minor changes, it follows the book well.

There was a sequel, imaginatively titled The Haunted Mask II, which was also adapted for the TV show. All of the cast members returned except the kid who played Steve. It's not as good as the first one, but it makes for a satisfying continuation for anyone who's eager to see more of those characters. One thing The Haunted Mask II does better than the first is how it depicts Carly Beth, Sabrina, Chuck and Steve as friends. The dynamic between them in the sequel is closer to Stine's original book.

A few random observations about The Haunted Mask. I always thought it was amusing how the two lead actresses were called Kathryn Long and Kathryn Short. That must've been confusing on set.

Like many Halloween films and TV shows, the adaptation clearly wasn't shot in October. But they did a decent job evoking the autumn atmosphere using Halloween decorations, dry leaves and low-key lighting for the exteriors.

In the TV version Sabrina dresses as a cat for Halloween. In Stine's original book she dresses as 'Cat Woman', which I assume is meant to be the Catwoman. The book was published in 1993, which is the same year as the Catwoman Vol 2 comic launched, and Catwoman was very popular at the time thanks to Pfeiffer's portrayal in Batman Returns. However, the catsuit Sabrina wears in the book is described as being grey like the Catwoman V1 or Batman: The Animated Series versions, and she wears an eye mask like Julie Newmar instead of Pfeiffer's cowl.

I'm a childhood Goosebumps reader and also watched the show. I used to get the books ordered via the school monthly subscription club. I still have fond memories of the series and sought out my old copies when I started getting back in to Harry Potter. Honestly, if I was going to write a book series, I'd do something like Goosebumps. Creatively scary concepts but with dark humor that appeals not just to children but all ages. That said, the Jack Black movies missed the mark. They went too light. There should be a good chunk of mystery and darkness in the Goosebumps experience.

I thought the first movie was ok as a comedy, but felt messy, overblown and unfocused compared to Stine's books. The sequel was more of the same. Neither of them captured the feel of the literary series. The books had some humour in them, but they were also dark and scary for kids, and occasionally even gory.

George A. Romero had intended to make a Goosebumps movie in the nineties based on the first book in the series, Welcome to Dead House. He completed his screenplay, but it never got any further than that. I imagine his Goosebumps film would have been scarier and more serious than the Jack Black movie.

Here's a letter Romero wrote to 20th Century Fox Family's vice president Kevin Bannerman in September 1995.

The TV adaptation of Welcome to Dead House is quite good, but Romero's film adaptation could've been something special. I wish both that and his Resident Evil movie had been made.

[The Dark Knight]

The theme from the TV show perfectly captures the vibe of the series.

That music sends me back to the 90s in a way few things can. I reminds me of suburban life, out on the street, walking around, riding a bike and living a more relaxed lifestyle. That was how I was living and also how the characters from the show/books also usually started their story. That theme captures the mystery, menace and fun that Goosebumps should be. Apparently they're doing a TV series relaunch, and I'll be interested to see what direction they take with it across the board.

[Silver Nemesis]

I've renamed this topic to make it a joint Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps thread. Post opinions, news, reviews and analysis for both franchises here. If anyone thinks they deserve separate threads, we can do that. But I figured the overlap in fan bases would make it logical for them to share a thread.

[The Dark Knight]

I've been going through the original 1-62 Goosebumps books and I've been having a good time.

What I like about Stine's Goosebumps universe is that it's overflowing with monsters but a lot of it is a low level underworld hidden from most people. They're things you yourself could potentially see or witness during your day but not have anybody believe you. I really like that as it amplifies both the mystery and relatability.

I've read a lot of books and I've also abandoned a lot of books. What Goosebumps has going for it is their length. They get to the point and provide readers with a quick tale and a fun experience that compels you to keep turning the page. There's a lot of variety of stories under the banner and the horror/comedy blend is what makes them great. If the books were tailored for an older target audience they wouldn't have the same charm.

The Goosebumps books also wouldn't have been the success they were without the front cover art by Tim Jacobus. They're some of the most evocative and effective pieces of art to grace any collection of stories. They still hold up but kids now wouldn't understand the power of looking at them back in the day. I'd refuse to read a Goosebumps book without the original art.

Jacobus did an interview three months ago on his work which is well worth a listen:

I'll keep reading, and will work on eventually compiling a series ranking.