Touches You

The first must-see film of the year.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Scary stories around the campfire gave this show an edge never mastered again by Nick. The midnight society were everyday kids who met up once a week to deliver tales ranging from the supernatural, paranormal and psychological horror mixed with the innocence of high school. A special treat was having first stars from famous teen heart throbs at the time like Melissa Jian Heart, Tia and Tamera Mowry and Tatiana Ali making it a time capsule to the past.Both child and parent could sit down to a half hour program to be scared, laugh and be moved by a clever, slick variety show with the teller's personal life or the story unfolding on the screen. Some of my favorites were the suspenseful ones about zebo the clown or ghosts rising out of the water to drown you and with in walls. Other times it could be dramatic or even have a heart warming message like the cold ghost trying to help his family find the gold to save their house or shiny red bicycle where one warns his friend to save his brother from the same date that befall him.The opening always say the mood, reminding me wholehearted of the twilight zone, as it draws upon ordinary everyday objects and gives it a sinister look. The magic bag sparking the fire to life set the mood with a Forrest surrounding.The latter two seasons was an attempt to revive the series which was lighter in time and none of the attitude the earlier eps had save for a few sprinkles throughout. Are you Afraid of the Dark is for sale and I highly recommend buying the complete series.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? is based on the Nickelodeon television series about a club of kids called the Midnight Society. The members of this club entertain each other with ghost stories around a campfire. The premise of this game is that you, the game player, are attempting to gain entrance into the society by telling a ghost story of your own.It's a very clever idea, and it works very well. This is one of the first games I've played that I would wholeheartedly recommend to older kids.The story you're "telling" in this case is about Alex and Terri, a brother and sister who sneak into an abandoned old theater one night. The theater, "Orpheo's Palace," was once the venue of a famous magician of the same name. Unfortunately, the magician, his family, and his employees all disappeared or died in very mysterious and highly questionable circumstances over fifty years ago, and since then the theater has been closed.Starring: Ross Hull, Jodie Reshter, Raine Pare-Coull. Director: Jacques Laberge, Scott Peters.

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.

I grew up watching old school Nickelodeon and Snick. Nickelodeon is trash compared to its earlier Snick years. Who could ever forget the line ups they had. Ren and Stimpy, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Clarrisa Explains it All, The Secret World of Alex Mac, Pete and Pete, Hey Dude, Salute Your Shorts, Keanan and Kell, Doug, Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, Clarrisa Explains it All, Guts, Double Dare, What Would You Do, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Hey Arnold, that's all I can think of for now.Now the newer Nickelodeon is NOTHING compared to the old. The only shows worthy of mentioning are Spongebob and Fairly Oddparents. The quality of the shows are down now a days, the acting is horrible and they stories are not entertaining. If they were smart the people over at Nickelodeon studios would air some old shows for the kids of today to get a taste of what good TV is. I grew up in the golden age of Nickelodeon cartoons, I feel bad for the kids of today who have to put up with these new shows that are not entertaining at all or are to scientific for them to understand.