Are You Afraid of the Dark Part 2.

The Tale of the Vacant Lot

A lot of people forget about this episode but it's certainly one of my faves.  The main character in this one is unhappy with her life- she's nerdy, unpopular and really wants to be on the track team. She's in luck however because a strange tent has just set up shop selling everything she could ever want. The woman who runs the shop tells her a trade will suffice for payment and begins taking things that the girl thinks have no value. As it so happens those things do have value and the more that gets taken away from her, in exchange for shallow things- the uglier she becomes. The sores on her face are pus filled and gross and I just get a kick out of this episode. It's not really scary but it has a special place in my heart.

The Tale of the Unfinished Painting

I freaking love this episode. Not only does it star that girl from Flash Forward but it's just all kinds of awesome. Jewel's character is an artist who stumbles upon a strange studio filled with unfinished paintings. All she has to do is complete one and sign her name. The other girls who were there before her soon start disappearing as soon as their paintings are done. When the girl's sign their names they are instantly sucked into the painting where they remain forever. It's pretty creepy and totally reminds me of The Witches. Also there's a head in the cabinet where the magic paint brushes are kept and the scary lady that runs the studio is especially scary...good description I know.

The Tale of the Quicksilver

Another really great episode...oh who am I kidding every episode is great. This one however, stars Tatyana Ali and is generally really creepy. It's about a particularly menacing kind of ghost called a Quicksilver who haunts a specific person. Apparently Tat Tat had a twin sister who died in a fire one night- turns out she died while trying to banish the ghost- but the spell went wrong. The new kid in school has moved into that same house and his little brother is now the target of the quicksilver. It's really an interesting and entertaining episode- the quicksilver ghost is really fucking scary- especially because it just appears out of the wall- and it draws Q's on the wall...and he looks smelly. 

The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner

I'm not a huge comic book fan but this is a really creepy episode. The Ghastly Grinner is this character in a comic book and when our main character who looks like a girl with really greasy hair tries to dry out his copy in a microwave, (genius) the ghastly grinner escapes and possesses people. I just don't like the way the people turn into this giggling maniac it really freaks me out and reminds me of the joker in the original batman. AND of Evil Dead. Oh and there's also this weird blue goo dripping from places and out of people's mouths it's gross. Oh AND the ghastly grinner is this like joker/clown type character which makes him automatically scarier. Are You Afraid of the Dark loves it's clowns.

The Tale of the Closet Keepers

For some reason I'm really really obsessed with this episode. It's really not a very good one but I love the idea of it. A deaf girl gets made fun of by some asshole kid who thinks he rocks at basketball. One day while walking home, the deaf girl discovers a strange door leading to an even stranger place. Men in black suits walk around, there's a weird map on the wall and kids are locked up in cages! It turns out this place is some kind of "zoo" of humans and aliens can come and look at them. The human's cages are like a bedroom only with no real furniture. Soon the asshole boy joins her when he is kidnapped by the black suits and they have to find a way to escape. As it turns out being deaf certainly has it's advantages. I guess it's just the aliens coming and looking at the humans that just freaks me out. I'm not a huge alien fan but I don't fancy being locked in a cage and put on display to an alien family wearing oxygen masks. I also hate the weird jello concoction they get for food. Plus being abducted by scary men in black suits is also not on my to do list.

The Best of Are You Afraid of the Dark Part One.

In honor of me just finding out that Are You Afraid of the Dark is finally on DVD I have compiled a list of some of my favorite episodes. We all have our favorites- but these are where the real nostalgia lays. I can remember everything about each of these episodes and so many of my fears today are in some way connected to these. There are a lot so you may have to sit through a few posts to get the whole list. Deep breath. These are also in no particular order.

1. The Tale of Laughing in the Dark

This is the first Are You Afraid of the Dark I ever saw. My mom yelled at my sister for watching while I was in the room, and I've been hooked ever since. The real kicker of why this one has always been scary to me is that it involves the unofficial mascot of the show- ZEEBO THE CLOWN. Hopefully you've realized by now that I hate clowns, so it should come as no surprise that I find this episode scary. Aside from the clown aspect it is a pretty scary episode. Being in a funhouse alone, the creepy pick a door scenario, being alone in your house and stalked by a scary clown....it's all a llittle jeering. Zeebo makes an appearance in at least 2 other episodes, usually as a character in a comic book or video game. And let me clarify that just because he isn't a "scary" looking clown he is still a clown and therefore scary.



2. The Tale of the Quiet Librarian

I'm still not sure why this one is scary, but I think it has to do with the overall atmosphere of a library- that and it will always remind me of the scary librarian in Ghostbusters. The premise is about a scary looking librarian who carries this box around that sucks up sound. She steals children's voice or souls or something and keeps them locked up in this hidden room in the library. The librarian only comes out at night and all she does is she stalk the library- alright so maybe it doesn't sound creepy, but let's see what happens when you break into a library at night and she comes after you!



3. The Tale of the Super Specs

This still freaks me out sometimes. Especially when I'm getting ready for a real wild night of wearing my super specs. In this one, some super specs are enchanted with magic dust and made to be the eyes to another dimension. Every time the main girl puts them on she sees these scary people covered completely in black. Everything in the alternate world is different and it just really scares me. Also this one like many of the episodes had an unhappy and hopeless ending and those just stress me out.



4. The Tale of the Doll Maker

Typically people's common fears have nothing to do with the fear of being turned into a doll- but if you've seen this episode then I'm sure you'd beg to differ. The main girl's friend in this has disappeared. Turns out she's just been turned into a doll after stepping through a special door and now resides inside the dollhouse that's in the attic. The part where she tries to rescue her friend and her friend is all creepy and "china" looking (as in porcelain not asian), and her hand falls off! Crazy shit.



5. The Tale of Locker 22

This episode although not really scary- was just incredibly awesome. The story, the mystery, the creepiness, and the ending are so smart and well done. I know I'm saying this about a Nickelodeon show but this episode is really original. A new student in school gets a locker in the basement of her new school. Inside the locker she finds a necklace. Whenever she puts on the necklace she gets transported to the the hippie era, and apparently takes the form of a student who was alive back then. She soon learns there was a tragic accident at the high school then that claimed the life of the hippie student. It's up to the main character to figure out what happened and change the past.



That's all for now. Don't forget you can watch all of these Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes on YouTube usually in 3 parts! No DVD buying necessary.