#aron tager

"It knows what scares you..."

🍵

WATCHING

Probably on of my favorite episodes/films so far in the series. With this semi-fictional Edgar Allan Poe played by the incomparable Jeffery Combs.

If surrounded in this manner, approach from a south-easterly direction under cover of nightfall. Use cavalry only at great need. If, in the event of a spring flood, cross the river before...

Are You Afraid of the Dark in 500 Words Or Less: Season 1 | Episode 2 The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark

Instead of us starting at the campfire, we start with a story already in progress. When Betty Ann – this week’s storyteller – mentions clowns, Kristen freaks out and starts to leave. After being mocked by the rest of the gang, Kristen decides to stay in order to prove she’s not a chicken shit. Now we can start the story!

The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark is not only one of the clunkiest story titles we get over the course of the series, it’s one of the most iconic episodes of the show. We are introduced to an amusement park called Playland and our protagonist Josh. Josh is a redhead therefore by Are You Afraid of the Dark rules he is coded as an awful, awful human. This series is chocked full of horrible red headed kids so buckle up kiddies! Other characters include Weegee (yes you read that correctly) who for some reason is friends with Josh despite Josh being an absolute dick to him 24/7 and Weegee’s sister Kathy. Both Weegee and Kathy are too afraid to go in Playland’s haunted house “Laughing in the Dark” which earns them a teasing from Josh.  

The very next day, Kathy informs both Josh and Weegee that “Laughing in the Dark” is haunted by a cigar-smoking clown named Zeebo who stole money from Playland and was chased into the haunted house attraction by the police. What happens next is absolutely bonkers. Apparently Zeebo’s cigar ends up sets the place on fire and Zeebo gets trapped inside. Josh mocks Kathy which leads Weegee to dare Josh to go inside “Laughing in the Dark”. Josh accepts the dare and even says he will steal Zeebo’s nose which Weegee will have to wear at school for a week should he prove successful.

The kids head back to Playland and Josh enters “Laughing in the Dark”. He reaches the final room, finds the door Zeebo is behind and takes the clown’s nose. Bad move, Josh – bad move. Immediately after taking Zeebo’s nose, the clown begins to haunt Josh at his home by turning his spaghetti into cigars, placing a clown shoe-sized footprint in his pudding and blowing up balloons underneath his bedroom door. A rightfully freaked out Josh runs back to Playland, after hours I might add, and not only returns Zeebo’s nose but gives him an offering of Cuba’s finest cigars. Now hold on just a second here – how does a pre-teen boy get a box of cigars in 1992? Did he take them from his dad? Did he steal them? We never found out. What we do know is that Zeebo is pleased with the gift and decides to stop haunting Josh. End of story.  

Are You Afraid of the Dark in 500 Words Or Less: Season 1 | Episode 1 The Tale of the Phantom Cab

We’re immediately introduced to the Midnight Society. Gary’s the leader. Kiki’s the tomboy. Betty Ann, the quirky one. David the shy kid. Kristen is the ultimate girly girl. And then there’s our resident snot – Eric. More on him in later installments of this blog. There’s a new person seeking entrance into the Midnight Society. His name is Frank and the only way he can become one of the cool kids is to tell a spooky story they all approve of.

The Tale of the Phantom Cab introduce us to Denny and Buzz, two brothers who hate each other so much I couldn’t help but wonder why they went hiking together in the first place. Right off the bat, it’s established that Denny is the cool brother and Buzz is the smart brother. The two get lost in the woods and are directed to the house of a doctor by a stranger they happen upon. He assures them they will be able to get help.  

Buzz and Denny end up at the cottage of one Dr. Vink (Not Fink, but Vink…with a vuh-vuh-vuh). Dr. Vink proves to be a complete wackadoo yet these two, out of complete desperation, still enter his cottage in hopes of using his phone. In order to use his phone, Dr. Vink asks the two of them to solve a riddle. Because Buzz is established as being the smart brother, he is expected to solve the riddle – but he doesn’t. So, no phone for the brothers and just like that Vink sends them on their way - but not before letting them know there is a cab that runs in the woods who can take them home.

Sure enough, there is indeed a cab that shows up and the stranger Flynn they ran into earlier is the driver. Without reservation, the two boys get into the cab and they quickly learn this is a poor decision on their part. Flynn is not just a cab driver – he’s a dead cab driver. He, too, was unable to solve Dr. Vink’s riddle so his hand was chopped off instead? Oh – and then he ended up crashing his cab into a tree. He is now charged with ferrying those who are able to solve Dr. Vink’s riddle to their doom.

After way too much back and forth between the brothers, Buzz finally makes himself useful and solves the riddle just in time to keep the two of them from perishing in a fiery car wreck. The brothers are found by a park ranger and as Frank ends the story, we learn that when the authorities attempt to located Dr. Vink’s cottage, they are unable to find anything.