Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Tale of the Lonely Ghost

Opening Credits: Creepy door with some clouds and smoke. I'm guessing we don't get to the other ones til later on in the seasons.

The Foreplay: Someone's got a crush on Kristen. Who could it be? David, of course! David sneaks up on Kristen who seems to have trouble finding the secret writer's group and sufficiently scares the crap out of her. Why did he scare the shit out of her? Oh because he wanted to give her a birthday present, how thoughtful!

"How did you know it was my birthday next week?" she asks. Because before the invention of Facebook, if you didn't know someone very well, chances were you had no idea what their birthday was. So, how did you know, David? Creeping through her diary? Sniffing her underwear and checking out her calendar? Not surprised. But no time to figure out how our stalker really found out her birthday, it's time for David to tell us his story.

The Story (According to Wikipedia): Laura Bertram (from Ready or Not and Andromeda) plays a girl that is tricked into visiting a house haunted by a lonely, mute girl in search of her mother.

The Story (According to Someone Who Doesn't Want to Fix Up Their Resume): Our story starts off with a very bad pair of pants. Amanda, our Hero, is forced to go spend the summer with her UGHcousin, Beth, who is your run-of-the-mill redheaded bitch.

I don't get the hate towards redheads, by the way. I quite like redheads. They make me smile in times of sorrow and if they happen to live at The Burrow then they're welcome to visit my life whenever.

Right, enough about HPiddy for now, it's time for some AYAOTD commentary.

The chatty aunt who is a real estate agent, because what woman in the 80's/90's isn't, informs us that the house next door is for sale but no one wants to buy it. I think I smell a plot device. Oh, no. It's just the mold forming on Beth's crazy large stuffed animal collection. No, I'm not exactly sure how old these girls are supposed to be, but Beth looks like she is much too old to have so many plushies in her room. I mean, fair enough, I have my fair share and I am nearly twenty years old. But these things are taking over her room. I have a couple on my bed (used mostly as extra padding under my pillows), two in the closet and some random tiny ones on display (I think one of them was a gift anyway). So, I mean, there's a few and then there's too fucking many. And Beth, yours are too fucking many.

Okay, so Beth is a bitch. And why is she a bitch? No idea. Rude to her cousin (which isn't nice, even if she dresses horribly), rude to her mother and rude to her nanny. Who apparently has some sort of disease because Beth informs Amanda that if she is to touch "Nanny" (because she doesn't have a name), she will never touch her stuff again. Poor Nanny. She's just sad and really, working for someone like Beth must be difficult but really, lady. This girl is practically an adult, she doesn't really need a nanny. Which is Beth's entire argument for hating on her. Even the mother hates on Nanny a bit. Saying that she would fire her but she has no where else to go. Good for you, Beth's Mom. That's the way to sainthood.

Alright, so Beth informs Amanda in a bitchy rage that she is not allowed to hang out with her friends unless she (dum dum dummmm) goes into the ~haunted house~ next door. And why is this house haunted? I will break it down for you.

- Family of three
- War time
- Dad gets sick
- Mum goes to heal him
- Child is supposed to go to grandma's
- Random children bully child back into her home
- Random children lock girl in her room
- Mother comes back weeks later to find child dead
- No word on the father or the bullying children

Beth now makes Amanda go inside the house with a flashlight and dares her to go into the little girl's room, claiming the rest of her friends also had to do this. Which, of course, is your standard 1990's lie.

RULE #2 OF THE 1990'S: NO ONE HAS EVER GONE INTO A HAUNTED HOUSE FOR A DARE - IF THEY SAY THEY DID, THEY'RE LYING

Now, Amanda is walking through the dark house and somehow manages to easily find this room. She scares herself silly at her own reflection, probably because she saw how hideous her pants were.

That's the other thing. Most of the girls in this episode looked like they were being dressed by Howard Wolowitz from The Big Bang Theory. And I know this is common 80's/90's fashion, but really kids. Simon Helberg can pull it off. And unless you're Simon Helberg, I suggest you find something less... Howard to wear.

Anyway, she looks at the wall and in backwards handwriting it says "HELP ME". Funny, backwards writing? It couldn't possibly be a reflection, could it? Oh. Oh yes it is, because when she looks back, a creepy ass girl is staring her down as she yells to the Heavens, hoping someone will save her (they don't).

Even the MS is scared for her. Gary, however, calms them down and allows David to finish his story. It seems as though Gary has a sense of calm about him, being the alpha male in the pack of poorly dressed misfits. Perhaps this is why The Weather Network hired him to tell us about partly cloudy Tuesdays in June.

The next morning, it seems as though Amanda has snitched on Beth and now Beth's mom is pissed. "WHY DID YOU WRITE ALL OVER THE WALLS? BLAH BLAH BLAH". Typical mom shit. So, buckets of soap and sponges in hand, Beth and Amanda go to clean up the walls, which are now covered in "HELP ME"s. Really, if Amanda had stopped screaming and just listened to this little girl, maybe the girl wouldn't've gone ape shit and fucked up the walls. Just a thought.

Anyway, so I guess Beth is a bitch again and the little girl doesn't like that, so the mirror in which she lives turns into a reflection of the little girl's room which has more stuffed animals in it than Beth's. Being a greedy whore, Beth falls through the mirror, smitten with the idea of taking a dead girl's toys. And in return, who is Amanda left with? Oh! The dead girl! And she's got something.

Well, while Amanda is huddled against the door in the fetal position, the little girl calmly walks over and gives her a locket. And you know, up until this point, I didn't have much of a complaint in the story's structure. I mean, sure it's cheesy and whatever, but it's been a pretty solid story. Until this part which kinda tweaked me the wrong way. Upon one look, Amanda realizes (still in terror) that the woman in the locket is, in fact, Nanny. And with little time to reason (even for someone who isn't being confronted by a ghost), she automatically deduces that Nanny must have been her mother. Now, I mean, it could be a lot worse, structure-wise. And I understand that the timeslot wouldn't've allowed a logical train of thought, but I don't know. It irked me.

Amanda books it back to her house to find Nanny, who is conveniently moving away that day. Which I also didn't really like but whatever. She tells Nanny that she has to go with her to the old house, Nanny flips out and then Amanda shows her the locket. The locket just happens to be matching the other half of the locket with the little girl's photo in it, which is sort of touching. So, after a lot of pulling on Amanda's part, she gets Nanny inside the little girl's room and the little girl goes and hugs Nanny and takes her by the hand and leads her through the mirror. When the camera pans to the mirror, we see Nanny (in 1940's clothing) playing with the little girl and they both look extremely happy. So cute.

But lol wait, Beth is still stuck in the mirror. After some smoke, somehow Beth's posse of bitches rolls up beside Amanda and they force Beth into promising that she'll be nice. Turns out that Beth was just stuck in the closet after the smoke effect. Which would explain her rather butch, violent behaviour. But that's for another blog.

After the story is done, David reminds Kristen that she has to open his gift. She opens it and it's a locket, exactly like the one in the story David told. Now, I mean, I am all for cuteness in the MS, but I don't think it's particularly cute to give someone a locket after a ghostie in your story was playing around with one? I don't know, it would've creeped me out. "Oh, wow. A locket. Like the one. In your really creepy story. Gee, wow. I guess I'll be a bad parent and make sure my daughter gets locked in her room while I'm gone for weeks. Thanks!"

1990's: Where Art Thou? Favourite 80's/90's staples of the episode.
- Jean vests
- Overall shorts
- Shorts+socks+sneakers
- Haunted houses
- Lockets
- Tapered pants
- Scrunchies
- Beanie Babies

Then and Now: What sucks about this concept is that now, if this were to be on television, there would be this overdramatic moment between the mother and the daughter and it would never be included in a 'scary story'. It would be at the end of some season finale and it would be more of a cop out than anything.

Rating: To be honest, I really liked this story. It's one of the ones that I remembered vividly from when I was a kid. When I was younger, it scared the shit out of me and even now, the little ghost girl didn't sit right with me. Sort of like a demonic Mowgli from The Jungle Book. Maybe it's just little kids in horror settings that creep me out. I've never been a fan. Hmm. Oh well.

For actually being kind of creepy and including the terror that is children in horror features? 4.5/5

The Tale of the Phantom Cab

Opening Credits: Now, being born in 1990 myself, I was accustomed to seeing the creepy swing and that creepy clown and the spooky shutters at the beginning of my episodes of AYAOTD. Now, going back and rewatching Phantom Cab, I realized that the random door in some clouds also seemed to trigger my inner child to twitch with a violent terror. Oh Creepy Door, how you must have scarred me as a child.

The Foreplay: Before each story, there is always an intro to the regular gang of misfits that seem to sneak out of their homes at ungodly hours of the night to go tell each other mediocre stories. In this episode, Gary (Ross Hull Student Bodies, The Weather Network) tells us all that the group of insomniac children are from 'different schools with different friends' but the one thing they all have in common, other than a really bad sleep schedule, is their love for spooky stories. Oh and the dark. He gives us a warning that we will be leaving the light and 'stepping into the world of the supernatural'. Now, I don't know if any of you watched this the way I did, but I recall every light on the floor that I was on being turned on when this show came on. Leaving the world of the light? I don't think so, Gary. My parents might be paying double for their electrical bills, but fuck if I'm going to watch this shit in the dark.

So, in short - Gary's sporting his rather spiffy Coke-bottle-glasses and they recruit a new member into their cult. And of course, newbie is blindfolded and has no idea where the fuck they've taken him because it's a secret location. Looks like a forest to me, kids. Forests aren't secret. I'm sure teenagers with things better to do, like smoke copious amounts of weed and binge drink and have unprotected wilderness sex have stumbled upon your little campfire ring. But fine. It's your party and you can blindfold people if you want to.

Gary sits upon his stone throne and gives Dave, the sponsor for newbie, the Magical Sack of Sand, to throw into the flame to begin our tale.

The Story (According to Wikipedia): Two brothers get lost in the woods and come across a mysterious cab driver, as well as a reclusive backwoods scientist by the name of Dr. Vink. In order to prevent their death, they must solve the riddle: "What is lighter than air, can be seen by the naked eye, and if you put it into a barrel, it will make the barrel lighter?". In the end, the kids are able to solve the riddle (the answer is a hole) and free all of the spirits originally trapped by Vink's curse.

The Story (According to a 1990's Survivor): The first thing we see is a boy walking through a forest, because the 1990's were a time of wilderness and sports. And sneakers, apparently. And really bad jeans. Anyway, I suppose this isn't a fashion blog, I am supposed to just tell you the story.

Denny (Douche), the older brother, is your stereotypical 1990's jock with a brain.
Buzz (Hero), the younger brother, is your stereotypical 1990's nerd with a heart of gold.

Denny and Buzz are walking through a forest when the narrator tells us that Buzz will be able to prove himself to Denny on this hiking trip. Foreshadowing is a wonderful literary tool.

Denny is also a wonderful tool for referring to his brother as "Tanto" within the first minute of our tale. A+ job, Denny. Not only are you going to be the reason for countless years of therapy for Buzz, you're also going to look like a douchebag to the audience.

We need Denny's douchebag-osity to stand out against Buzz's wimpy kid persona. Without the overabundance of selfishness and put downs, how else are 90's kids supposed to learn to be nice and stuff, right? Stellar. Enough character chit-chat, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this episode.

So Buzz gets the pair lost in the woods and the map gets spilled on with water. Rendering the map useless. Good thing our hero knows the trails off by heart. Buzz nearly falls to death, Denny saves him, Buzz feels like a dork. Denny says he should've let Buzz fall. 1990's children everywhere are horrified.

They obviously get lost and obviously, it 'doesn't make sense'. Because they should've been out of this forest. Oh but, no. Buzz is apparently new to this compass device and has been following the compass the wrong way this entire time. What a hilarious twist.

After some more running in the forest, which is turning out to look more and more like the visual representation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the two see a light in the fog. Why, it's our good buddy Flynn, who looks absolutely psychotic. Let's hope that Buzz's Jason reference wasn't right and this guy isn't going to hack them to pieces. Although at this rate, it'll probably be the best part of this episode. After some vague comments, Flynn tells the boys he'll take them to a doctor who can help them.

RULE #1 OF THE 1990'S: DON'T. TALK. TO STRANGERS.

"Btw how good are you guys at solving riddles?"

Well, damn. I was unaware The Riddler was going to be in this. And in a flash, Flynn disappears. Into thin air. Spooky, don't you think?

Well, Doctor Hagrid seems to open the door and invites the boys in for riddles and soul-swapping. Always fun to be had at the shack in the woods. Maybe we'll get to see Harry and his crew. Evil Hagrid has now had the most ADD conversation with himself that I have ever heard.

RIDDLE #1: How far can you walk into the woods?

"Half way" our hero replies. And Hagrid awards him by not slaughtering him to death. It's like Saw but far more intellectually compelling.

RIDDLE #2: What is it? That has no weight, can be seen by the naked eye and if you put it in a barrel, it would make the barrel lighter?

Now, Denny has been rendered useless. It's all up to Buzz now. Who has absolutely no idea what the answer is.

So far, no Phantom Cab, btw.

Hagrid becomes rather OOC and throws the boys out of the hut. He tells them to leave and go wait for this random forest cab that will go pick them up. Pretty sweet, imo.

Oh, wait - another deal. If they give him a part of them, he can help them. He shows them this hand in a jar, which doesn't belong to the Tenth Doctor, and they book it. Screaming, they run off. And Hagrid implies that he'll see them again shortly.

Now the MS gets their panties in a bunch because, apparently, you can't put a riddle in your story that cannot be solved. However, Gary, God of the Insomniac Children of the Forest, has spoken and says that perhaps it can be solved.

Well, everyone pretty much shuts up after that and the story continues.

"Do you really think a cab's gonna come by?"
"Get real, there's no cabs in the woods"

Oh Denny, how wrong you are, my boy.

So the cab pulls up and OH! It's our good buddy Flynn. And he can apparently drive a cab and looks like he could use a tan. Poor Flynn, I would think that living out in the woods would give you ample time to hang out in the sun. But what do I know, I live in suburbia. Now here comes the ever-awesome "Doctor Vink took a specimen from me forty years ago and lol it's my hand and lol btw I'm dead so I'mma kill you too with my cab of doom and this here tree" bit. Never fails for a good story to have all the actual backstory in the middle.

I will say this, though, Flynn drives pretty damn well for a dead guy. He drives sort of like I do.

Maybe I drive really poorly. Who knows, point is that The Flynner's life and license have both expired and now Denny and Buzz feel as though the end is near. Sounding like the Amazing Gonzo, Flynn gets all stoked to kill the kids and himself yet again.

Come on, Buzz. Solve the damn riddle. Come on, you knob, figure it out. Denny, STRANGLING YOUR BROTHER ISN'T GOING TO HELP.

OH BUZZ. YOU KNOW THE ANSWER. IT'S A HOLE.

Flynn is sounding a lot like Crash Bandicoot an- Oh. The evil curse is broken. And they didn't crash. And they're alive. And the cab is gone. And they're saved.

BUT OH NO. ANOTHER CAB SHOWS UP?

Lulz, no. It's a ranger looking for these two idiots who can't read a compass or a map. And guess what! No one ever saw the cab again and when the cops went to check out Hagrid's hut, he had already TARDIS'd that shit out of there and left nothing but a rock foundation covered in weeds.

So now we cut back to our crew and King Gary The Lionhearted says it's time for the vote. And of course - newbie is now in! Hooray!

King Gary congratulates Newbie and puts out the fire with The Bright Red Pail of Water and the smoke and creepy music come back. Fin.

1990's: Where Art Thou? A stunning display of the 90's culture, blending with a bit of the late 80's came up in this episode. Let us recap my favourites.
- The Marty McFly jeans
- The baseball cap
- "Jerk", "dork" and a possible "dweeb"
- Multi-coloured shirts
- Creepy men in forests
- Really bad make up/SFX
- Jean jackets
- Cut off sleeves

Then and Now: Both now and then, getting lost in the woods is never a fun thought. For me personally, I have a recurring nightmare about the very thought (now I am also being chased by a murder, but whatever) and I would think that no one would like to get lost in the dark in general, no matter where you are. However, speaking only from a special effects/storytelling point of view? This ranks as something you could chuckle into your Cinnamon Toast Crunch over.

Rating: Although the story kind of did blow, it had the potential to be really rather frightening. Being lost, forests, creepy dudes with hands in jars. If the show hadn't feared giving children heart attacks, I think there would be real potential for that portion of the story. I could've lived without the cab part, to be honest.

So, for the terrifying portrayal of a crazed doctor possibility? 5/5.

For the way this story was told and including the cab portion of this tale? 1.5/5

AYAOTD: Blogging About the 1990's Through Campfire Stories

It seems that those who were fortunate enough to grow up in the 1990's all have two common schools of thought.

Cartoons made in the 1990's are the best cartoons to have ever been made.


&

Are You Afraid of the Dark? was the scariest shit on television.


This blog will try to explore the in depth social critiques of the 1990's and possibly just laugh about Gary's glasses and collection of fugly t-shirts.