History Series / AreYouAfraidOfTheDark

The show also had a tie-in video game, ''VideoGame/TheTaleOfOrpheosCurse'', released in 1994.

!!This show provides examples of:

* BackToBackBadasses: The Midnight Society in ''Curse of The Shadows'' fight the Shadow Man back to back with improvised light weapons.

* TheCameo: [[spoiler:The original Sardo makes an appearance during a flashback in the last part of "Curse of the Shadows".]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Mostly due to the higher budget and changing trends in media, the reboot series has more of a cinematic vibe with harder [[JumpScare hitting]] scares and less of the [[NarmCharm '90s goofiness]] of the original series - although with some comedic, [[LampshadeHanging self-referential]] dialogue. While "Carnival of Doom" sometimes recalls the simmering dread of the original run, its chills tend to veer towards climactic set pieces.
* DarkWorld: Quite literally the Dark House in ''Curse of the Shadows''.

* FamilyBusiness: Sardo's Magic Mansion is revealed to be one in ''Curse of the Shadow''.

** "Curse of the Shadows" opens up with Luke's dad waking Luke up by joking that there was a "kid-napping" (but he woke him up). As the episode progresses, the members of the Midnight Society learn Connor was spirited away by the Shadowman.
** Also in "Curse of the Shadows", [[spoiler: the Midnight Society look on as they witness June Murphy's past, and spot an ominous silhouette standing outside her bedroom, whom they assume is the Shadowman come to kill her. ...Only for it to reveal it's merely her dad. It's only later in the flashback that the kids learn they were technically right on the money, as Mr. Murphy cast the curse that made him into the Shadowman.]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: How Gabby [[spoiler: realized that "Connor" was actually the Shadow Man in ''Curse of the Shadows'']]

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Some of them really are. You have the "Fire Ghost" and the "Frozen Ghost", for instance.

* RemakeCameo: At the very least confirmed at the New York Comic Con panel the week before premiere. No other details as of yet.

** The episode "The Tale of the Prom Queen" originally had "In The Still of the Night" by The Five Satins played during the final scene, but it was removed in the DVD release.

** The last names of the Midnight Society in ''Carnival of Doom'' are references to famous horror directors.
** Among the various [[CallBack Call-Backs]] found in Sardo's shop in ''Curse of the Shadows'', you can also see a Slappy the Dummy from [[DuelingShows Goosebumps]].
** Hanna's nightmare in ''Curse of the Shadows'' is very reminiscent of the iconic bed scene in ''Film/{{A Nightmare On Elm Street|1984}}''.

* SpookySeance: The Midnight Society holds several in ''Curse of the Shadows'' in order to get in contact with the spirit of June Murphy.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In "Curse of the Shadows", our heroes nearly lose progress on the trap they set when [[spoiler: the Shadow Man (disguised as Connor) tells on the kids to their parents, who instantly [[YouAreGrounded ground]] our heroes. They may be on a dangerous mission to banish an evil curse, but they are also still kids who have school to go to, curfews to adhere to and (in Gabby's case) obligations to consider.]]

** In ''The Tale of Night Frights'' (the second episode of ''Curse of the Shadows'') when Luke dreams about following Connor into the lighthouse.

** Hanna's nightmare in ''Curse of the Shadows'' is very reminiscent of the iconic bed scene in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet''.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Erin]] in "The Tale of Jake and the Leprechaun." He's a very likable, cheery old Irish man... who happens to be an evil soul-sucking banshee. Other examples include [[spoiler:Ms. Valenti]] in " The Tale of the Mystical Mirror", [[spoiler:Stanley]] in "The Tale of Vampire Town", and [[spoiler:Ellen]] in "The Tale of the Lunar Locusts".

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Erin in "The Tale of Jake and the Leprechaun." He's a very likable, cheery old Irish man... who happens to be an evil soul-sucking banshee.

* IfIHadANickel: In "The Tale of Station," a supernatural radio station operator for the undead, upon being told that his latest "customer" isn't actually dead, responds that, if he had a nickel for every time someone said they weren't supposed to be dead... it wouldn't matter to him beacause he's dead and has no use for money.

The pilot of the show was broadcast on October 31, 1991, and the show originally lasted for five seasons from August 1992 to April 1996. The show was then revived in February 1999[[note]]with one of YTV's rivals, Creator/FamilyChannel, taking over the Canadian broadcast rights to that run, in addition to producing it with Nickelodeon[[/note]], running two seasons before ending again in June 2000. The show was revived again in October 2019 as a limited run series before being renewed for two more seasons, in which it became a ThematicSeries with a different Midnight Society cast and horror scenario per season.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Felix is on the receiving end of this speech in "Tale of the Night Shift."

* NamesTheSame: Both "The Prom Queen" and "The Shiny Red Bicycle" have a ghost called Ricky who died of drowning. In both stories he drove something off a bridge; a car in the former, a bike in the latter.

* GainaxEnding: The final scene of the last episode, where it is shown that [[spoiler:Gary's grandfather was telling "The Tale of the Silver Sight" to that generation's Midnight Society. Did the events of those episodes really happen, or was it just shown with familiar characters and a modern setting we know for our convenience? He could ''not'' have possibly known all the names of the Midnight Society members yet to come or that he'd have grandchildren for sure]].

* KillItWithFire: How do you defeat a vampire? Burn its coffin. How do you defeat a witch who gets her power from a MagicMirror? Throw it in the fire. Need to stop a demon coming after you? Threaten to burn his "precious woods." Evil dollhouse that turns people into dolls? Burn it. This was used so often that the the tales of "The Bookish Baby-sitter" and "Many Faces" deliberately deconstructed it.

* UnexpectedlyRealMagic: In the episode "Jake and the Leprechaun", a play in which the protagonist's character is turned into an elf turns out to be a real ritual [[spoiler:which will subject him to a BalefulPolymorph and give the villain his lifeforce]].

** "The Tale Of The Wisdom Glass" ends with both Jimmy and Allan trapped and screaming inside the (locked) limo and being dragged back to be ''[[OffWithHisHead executed by guillotine]]''.

** "The Tale Of The Wisdom Glass" ends with both Jimmy and Allan trapped and screaming inside the (locked) limo and being dragged back to be ''[[OffWithHisHead executed by guillotine]]''. And this was Quinn's first story!

** "The Tale of Vampire Town" ends with Adder about to be attacked and presumably turned into a vampire himself. This was after he'd killed Dreyfus and was starting to get over his vampire obsession, only to remember that it wasn't possible for Dreyfus to have committed the attack he'd read about a week prior, meaning that there was ''another vampire''. This was also told by Quinn.

** "The Tale Of The Wisdom Glass" ends with both Jimmy and Allan trapped and screaming inside the (locked) limo and being dragged back to be ''[[OffWithHisHead executed by guillotine]]''.

** "The Tale of Vampire Town" ends with Adder about to be attacked and presumably turned into a vampire himself. This was after he'd killed Dreyfus and was starting to get over his vampire obsession, only to remember that it wasn't possible for Dreyfus to have committed the attack he'd read about a week prior, meaning that there was ''another vampire''.

** "The Tale of Vampire Town" ends with Adder about to be attacked and presumably turned into a vampire himself. This was after he'd killed Dreyfus and was starting to get over his vampire obsession, only to remember that it wasn't possible for Dreyfus to have committed the attack he'd read about a week prior, meaning that there was ''another vampire close by''.

** "The Tale of Vampire Town" ends with Adder about to be attacked and presumably turned into a vampire himself.

-->'''[[spoiler:Stanley]]''': "I hope you like Vampire Town, because you'll be staying here a long long time!"

-->[[spoiler:Stanley]]: "I hope you like Vampire Town, because you'll be staying here a long long time!"

* WholePlotReference: "The Last Dance" to ''Literature/PhantomOfTheOpera'' - except with a violinist rather than a singer. This one appears to have a happier ending [[spoiler: with Tara implying to visit the 'phantom' and play for him]].

The pilot of the show was broadcast on October 31, 1991, and the show originally lasted for five seasons from August 1992 to April 1996. The show was then revived in February 1999[[note]]with one of YTV's rivals, Creator/FamilyChannel, taking over the Canadian broadcast rights to that run, in addition to producing it with Nickelodeon[[/note]], running two seasons before ending again in June 2000, and then revived again in October 2019 as a limited series, running another two seasons before ending in March 2021.

While the original Midnight Society went through a few new additions and farewells over the seasons, the show's first revival replaced the ''entire'' cast except for Tucker, the [[TagalongKid little brother]] of the previous leader Gary, who now led the new Midnight Society. The entire flavor of the stories also changed, becoming less creepy and surprising, and more about leading up to an {{Anvilicious}} {{A|nAesop}}esop. The second revival hit the air after a [[TroubledProduction lengthy production]] in which it began life as a planned [[TheFilmOfTheSeries film adaptation]][[note]]In November 2017, a film adaptation of the show was announced as in the works from Creator/{{Paramount}}. ''Film/It2017'' writer Gary Dauberman was set to write the screenplay with Matt Kaplan producing. The film was scheduled to be released on October 11, 2019, but was [[https://1428elm.com/2019/02/28/are-you-afraid-of-the-dark-removed/ removed from the schedule]] in February 2019.[[/note]], eventually morphing into a limited series format. The second revival is done in an limited series/anthology format, focusing on a new Midnight Society group dealing with real horrors each season.

While the original Midnight Society went through a few new additions and farewells over the seasons, the show's first revival replaced the ''entire'' cast except for Tucker, the [[TagalongKid little brother]] of the previous leader Gary, who now led the new Midnight Society. The entire flavor of the stories also changed, becoming less creepy and surprising, and more about leading up to an {{Anvilicious}} {{A|nAesop}}esop. The second revival hit the air after a [[TroubledProduction lengthy production]] in which it began life as a planned [[TheFilmOfTheSeries film adaptation]][[note]]In November 2017, a film adaptation of the show was announced as in the works from Creator/{{Paramount}}. ''Film/It2017'' writer Gary Dauberman was set to write the screenplay with Matt Kaplan producing. The film was scheduled to be released on October 11, 2019, but was [[https://1428elm.com/2019/02/28/are-you-afraid-of-the-dark-removed/ removed from the schedule]] in February 2019.[[/note]], eventually morphing into a limited series format.

While the original Midnight Society went through a few new additions and farewells over the seasons, the show's first revival replaced the ''entire'' except for Tucker, the [[TagalongKid little brother]] of the previous leader Gary, who now led the new Midnight Society. The entire flavor of the stories also changed, becoming less creepy and surprising, and more about leading up to an {{Anvilicious}} {{A|nAesop}}esop. The second revival hit the air after a [[TroubledProduction lengthy production]] in which it began life as a planned [[TheFilmOfTheSeries film adaptation]][[note]]In November 2017, a film adaptation of the show was announced as in the works from Creator/{{Paramount}}. ''Film/It2017'' writer Gary Dauberman was set to write the screenplay with Matt Kaplan producing. The film was scheduled to be released on October 11, 2019, but was [[https://1428elm.com/2019/02/28/are-you-afraid-of-the-dark-removed/ removed from the schedule]] in February 2019.[[/note]], eventually morphing into a limited series format.

* YouLookLikeYouveSeenAGhost

''"I declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed."''

''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' was a children's horror show created by Creator/DJMacHale and Ned Kandel for Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada, while it was also aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in the U.S. The pilot of the show was broadcast on October 31, 1991, and the show originally lasted for five seasons from August 1992 to April 1996. The show was then revived in February 1999 (with one of YTV's rivals, Creator/FamilyChannel, taking over the Canadian broadcast rights to that run, in addition to producing it with Nickelodeon), lasting only two seasons before ending again in June 2000.

The story revolved around a club of teenagers called the "Midnight Society" who meet around a campfire in the woods once a week to tell horror stories. Each of the members had their own quirk and storytelling style; one specialized in fairy-tale like stories, one specialized in TrappedInAnotherWorld stories. The show was just like your typical SpeculativeFiction/horror anthology series like ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'' or ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' but for the early teen set.

The nature of the show's scariness can be likened to R.L. Stine's ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' novels (Stine's books themselves were later adapted into a TV series as well). Creative plots, readiness to completely eschew formula, and genuinely frightening imagery more than made up for the limited budgets. ''AYAOTD'' introduced many a child of [[TheNineties the 90s]] to some of their first HorrorTropes, not to mention [[SpeculativeFictionTropes Sci-Fi]] and the occasional dose of [[Creator/FranzKafka Kafka]].

While the original Midnight Society went through a few new additions and farewells over the seasons, a drastic change came when a new production team picked up after a three year gap in new episodes. The ''entire'' cast was replaced except for Tucker, the previous leader Gary's [[TagalongKid little brother]], who now led the new Midnight Society. The entire flavor of the stories also changed, becoming less creepy and surprising, and more about leading up to an {{Anvilicious}} {{A|nAesop}}esop. This ReTool lasted all of a year.

No description of the series would be complete without mentioning its terrifying [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b2G8ySKNgA opening credits sequence.]] If you grew up watching the show, chances are there was a time when you or a sibling would run from the room within seconds of it turning up on the TV screen. In fact, when it aired on the Saturday morning show "Scratchy and Co", a voiceover was added over the intro warning people to switch off if they scared easily.

In November 2017, it was announced that a [[TheFilmOfTheSeries film adaptation]] of the series was in the works from Creator/{{Paramount}}. ''Film/It2017'' writer Gary Dauberman was set to write the screenplay with Matt Kaplan producing. The film was scheduled to be released on October 11, 2019, but was [[https://1428elm.com/2019/02/28/are-you-afraid-of-the-dark-removed/ removed from the schedule]] in February 2019. The film eventually morphed into a three-episode miniseries that premiered on the film’s release date. Said series was renewed for a second season in February 2020 and started airing in February 2021.

''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' was a children's horror show made for Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada and aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in the U.S. It was created by Creator/DJMacHale and Creator/NedKandel. The pilot of the show was broadcast on October 31, 1991. The show originally lasted for five seasons from August 1992 to April 1996. The show was then revived in February 1999 (with one of YTV's rivals, Creator/FamilyChannel, taking over the Canadian broadcast rights to that run, in addition to producing it with Nickelodeon), lasting only two seasons before ending again in June 2000.

''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' was a children's horror show made for Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada and aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in the U.S. The pilot of the show was broadcast on October 31, 1991. The show originally lasted for five seasons from August 1992 to April 1996. The show was then revived in February 1999 (with one of YTV's rivals, Creator/FamilyChannel, taking over the Canadian broadcast rights to that run, in addition to producing it with Nickelodeon), lasting only two seasons before ending again in June 2000.