Editorials
[TV Terrors] Revisiting the Childhood Nightmares of the Original “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”
Horror and science fiction have always been a part of the television canvas, and constant attempts have been made over the years to produce classic entertainment. Some have fallen by the wayside, while others became mainstream phenomena. With “TV Terrors,” we take a look back at the many genre efforts from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s, exploring some shows that became cult classics, and others that sank in to obscurity.
In this installment we revisit the original version of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?“.
- Aired from 1990 – 2000
- Aired on Nickelodeon; YTV
Even for all of the preteen fluff it touts today, once upon a time Nickelodeon was a network anxious to take risks and break the mold in the realm of children’s television. They were never afraid to get experimental (Remember “Roundhouse”?), they often challenged their audience (“Nick News”), and often times they also never hesitated to get a bit edgy. “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” is celebrated today as a fond relic of the nineties, but also as one of the many approaches to entertainment aimed at kids that treated them with the utmost respect.
Looking back on it today, while it is a bit tame in corners, “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” was intense. If you could imagine being a child on a Saturday night, cozying up in front of the television, leaving the safety of “Clarissa Explains it All” and entering in to the spooky realms of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” then you’re almost where most kids were in that era. Was there anything better than tuning in to SNICK every Saturday night to watch what Nickelodeon had in store for you before bed time? One of the most memorable facets of SNICK—hell, one of the highlights of the 90s era of Nickelodeon—was “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”
Created by DJ MacHale and Ned Kandel (of “Ghostwriter” fame), “Are you Afraid of the Dark?” premiered in 1990 and was a single camera horror anthology series that dripped pure horror and fantasy from every pore. The series featured a variety of horror, mystery, and science fiction oriented short tales as told by a collective of teenagers named “The Midnight Society.” Every episode began with a group of kids that would gather in the woods around a campfire during the night, united by their love for terrifying tales, and tell a scary story that usually had a connection to something going on in their lives. Though the series itself was an anthology, the show’s bookends revolved around the recurring characters of “The Midnight Society.”
Every episode began with some minor conflict or occurrence at the start of a meeting which would inspire one of the members to tell a haunting campfire tale. While every episode garnered creative and original stories (as well as presenting modern twists on classic urban legends and American Folklore), the writers also made sure to include subtle life lessons that the audience could take away. Each story explored complex concepts and themes like dealing with grief, the consequences of stealing, the price of lying, the cost of superficiality, greed, and claiming responsibility for your actions. The themes were always subtle, though, and never actually preached to the intended audience.
Half of the time though episodes like “The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner” and “The Tale of the Night Shift” were there just to scare the bejeezus out of us before Nick at Nite came on. It also helped that the mysterious characters from “The Midnight Society” were genuinely likable individuals, relatable in their utter enthusiasm and creativity. Though the campfire was a frame work to introduce the stories, there were also conflicts that occurred among the teens that could sometimes jeopardize the group. The show captivated viewers because it tapped into a common, somewhat ancient ritual among horror fans and storytellers. Who among us hasn’t, at one time or another, told a scary story in front of a campfire or by candle light?
Watching the series effectively made you one of The Midnight Society’s unofficial members.
Among some of the best episodes featured in its seven season (91 episodes) run was “The Tale of the Twisted Claw” in which two young boys receive a magical claw from a neighbor that grants them three wishes a piece. As with the classic “The Monkey’s Paw,” the boys learn to be careful what you wish for, and that every wish has a morbid consequence. There’s “The Tale of the Midnight Madness” in which a local multiplex is granted a rare print of “Nosferatu” on the stipulation that they play the owner’s other films. When they go back on their promise, the films begin taking on a life of their very own. Another classic is “The Tale of the Water Demons” in which two cousins steal from a collector of sunken treasures, only to learn that the owner of the artifacts is menaced by deadly demons that rise from their watery graves whenever the owner sleeps.
Arguably the scariest episode of the series is “The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark” in which a young boy is dared to steal the nose from Zeebo the clown at a haunted circus attraction. When the boy begins getting taunted by the mysterious clown, he has to figure out how to get it back to its rightful place. “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” is still admired for being bold enough to scare the pants off of its young viewers, while also appealing to older audiences, with tales that were thematically edgy and atmospherically dark. It’s a treasured horror series that brought to life some of the most haunting monsters and demons imaginable. The show has since become a mainstay for many, appearing on various outlets including Teen Nick, and most recently began airing on Pluto TV.
With a reboot of the series now airing on Nickelodeon, “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” promises to win a brand new generation of budding horror fans and storytellers alike.
Is It On DVD/Blu-Ray? “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” was out of reach for some years there, but thankfully it can now be found on many outlets. You can currently watch repeats on Pluto TV, and various episodes can be purchased on Youtube, Vudu, iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Prime Video. You can also purchase the whole series on DVD in volumes.
Horror was thriving so well in the 1980s that movies like Pen Densham’s The Kiss (1988) would understandably get lost in the shuffle, only to then gain their fans later on in life. Even still, this one Canadian-American curio has had a more challenging time than others, as far as contemporary reevaluations go, which is very likely due to the movie’s limited availability—at least as of this write-up.
However, the scarceness of The Kiss, while a bit annoying, makes it like catnip for ‘80s horror completists everywhere. Hopefully, a lot of them will walk away satisfied after watching this hidden gem.
Even though The Kiss was intended as the first of several horror collaborations between Astral Pictures and TriStar, as well as the first feature produced by Densham, Richard B. Lewis and John Watson’s Trilogy Entertainment Group, it ended up being the only one produced from that former union. Once the movie was released, TriStar’s distribution jitters—they opted for a regional rollout—did the $6-million flick no favors. TriStar’s cold feet toward horror releases have been well noted, but The Kiss still did a tad better than Night of the Creeps (1986), another genre outing that flopped due to its regional opening.
Shot in Montreal, but set in Albany, New York, The Kiss—which was still called The Host just a few months before its October premiere—concerns an average middle-class family and their forthcoming situation. The uncanny problem in store for them was, in fact, set in motion some years earlier. As that hot and dusty flashback to the Belgian Congo shows, a familial curse was set upon the two Dunbar sisters well before Meredith Salenger’s teenage character was born.
Meredith Salenger, Nicholas Kilbertus and Mimi Kuzyk in The Kiss
The Kiss, which was based on a story by co-writer Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch) and penned by both Volk and Tom Ropelewski, has the outward appearance of The Stepfather (1987). This movie, though, is anything but a gender-flipped retread of that classic domestic disturber. For starters, The Kiss is far less grounded in reality—that much is clear from its unsettling opening scene. There, a trusting girl (Priscilla Mouzakiotis) is the victim of her own deceptive aunt (Céline Lomez); the movie’s titular act, and the story’s first shock, becomes the means of transferring an ancient evil from one host to another.
In the present day, Salenger’s role of Amy Halloran, a religious schoolgirl, is dealt a harsh blow in life once her mother, Hilary Halloran née Dunbar (Pamela Collyer), suddenly dies in a freak accident. But rather than a complete stranger sweeping the Halloran widower (Nicholas Kilbertus) off his feet some months later, Joanna Pacula’s character is that chosen temptress. Here, Pacula plays the grown-up version of the afflicted girl last seen in the movie’s opener. Since Amy’s mother is insistent about there being no reunion between estranged sisters, and she even contemplates buying a gun shortly before her tragic demise, it’s presumable that Aunt Felice poses a threat to her family.
The Kiss isn’t a movie ever too concerned about its own predictability. The audience is indeed often one step ahead of the story here, but also keep in mind how every one of those steps is loud. Take, for instance, the death of Amy’s mother; the Halloran matriarch goes out in garish, gruesome fashion, as a supernaturally commandeered truck sends Collyer’s character through a store window first, then leaves her one leg short. The directorial enthusiasm truly comes out in horrific moments such as these.
The Kiss is always sure to revel in its characters’ ills and misfortunes. So if the plot doesn’t impress, then its lurid parts should. Amy’s mother’s exit scene was proof of an eager, first-time horror director proving his worth. Then, bestie Heather (Sabrina Boudot) survives to tell the tale of a bizarre escalator mishap that, despite showing relatively less gore, spikes viewers’ empathy meter. The wilder bits of this movie, however, commence with that inevitable hookup between Felice and Amy’s bewitched father; their kitchen coitus is paralleled by Amy’s feverish classroom terror. The outcome there is a disquieting cross-cut of sex magic and a young woman’s menstrual onset plus hallucinations.
Sabrina Boudot in The Kiss
From foam appliances to bladders, that parade of special effects in The Kiss casts its own spell on the audience. Felice’s familiar, a visibly malevolent cat, was realized here with several models, some more articulate than others. Admittedly, the demon cat’s not as convincing as most of the effects here, but accepting that artifice, as opposed to fighting it, will make the whole experience way more enjoyable. As for the makeup used to manifest Felice’s inner villainy, it is more minimal and subtle than one might like; yet the work done to turn Pacula into an antithesis of herself is nonetheless compelling.
The otherworldly perils and dreadful goings-on wouldn’t work half as well as they do in The Kiss without the story’s contrast effect. Finding frights in picturesque, extremely ordinary settings was something that took off in the ‘80s, thanks to that sweeping shift to locales like the suburbs. And Amy’s home, a replica of a real Montreal suburban house, is the ideal battleground for any proper good-versus-evil story. It’s also prime real estate for this movie’s satanic panic-inspired horrors.
Because of their ostensibly similar plots, The Kiss has been compared to The Exorcist (1973). Except in Densham’s movie, the sinister, non-Christian entity targeting a teen girl lies within something less apparent and, perhaps, more devastating upon its exposure. To an outsider, Pacula’s Aunt Felice is too beautiful and unobjectionable to ever suspect of being a monster. More suspicious is how quickly she rips into the fabric of the Halloran home. Felice’s mere presence upsets the “texture of family life,” according to the director.
The demon cat in The Kiss
Taking out Amy’s mother and best friend, and distracting her father, would suggest The Kiss is playing by a different set of rules. It is initially leaving its adolescent target unsupported in a rather grim scenario. In contrast, though, this story offers up a surrogate parent who does her best to fill in the holes of Amy’s eroding home life. Mimi Kuzyk does good work as that family friend and doctor, Brenda, who guides the lost child without also steering her in any one direction; she is naturally skeptical of Amy’s accusations until it’s almost too late to do anything about them. So although The Kiss does an admirable job of undoing the main character’s support system, it never leaves her without a lifeline. This dark movie, in spite of everything that’s transpired, doesn’t deprive itself of light and hope.
The Kiss is a potent mélange of familiar ideas. If not for the director’s surprise flair for horror, though, the movie would have been less effective. What a shame that Pen Densham didn’t continue with the genre. As for Joanna Pacula, she is, too, owed credit as the wicked vixen opposite Meredith Salenger’s pitiable Amy; she never fails to be unsettling in her role. Pacula makes Aunt Felice a sexy yet intimidating character.
For horror that steadily doles out madness and menace, while also delivering a flashy and ghastly conclusion, The Kiss is certain to please. Yes, it’s cheesy all the way, but most favorably, everyone involved plays everything straight. That kind of commitment goes a long way with this movie.
The Kiss
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