Well, well, well.
Look at who and what is back!
Happy Spooky season everyone! I took 2 months off (this was mentioned on instagram stories) and I needed to not overwork and stress myself out. I originally wanted to be done with this blog but considering I paid for the year (into next June), I might as well use it for the spookiest time of the year!
I have been enjoying my time away, reading books, learning Tarot and getting more in touch with me. But now we’re back and better, more focused and we’re gonna ease into this again. At least for October. After October, I don’t know what will happen because I’m participating in NaNoWriMo in November and that will take up A LOT of my own time so, there are some updates there.
Now, first week back, what do I want to talk about?
I’ve been watching a lot of countdown-like videos on youtube of some of our favorite horror tv shows and one of them grabbed my attention. The videos were more about the actual episodes of the Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark? and he had really interesting choices. Most of the episodes chosen were from the original run but what I enjoyed was I was thinking from a monster/villain perspective. I’ve done a top 10 favorite episodes of AYAOTD which you can read here and I don’t think that list would change much. BUT BUT BUT when it comes to the monsters or villains, it’s like oooh… who would be my top 10?
What is my baseline? What is considered a villain in the show vs a monster that is used BY a villain? Do I go by aesthetics and how scary they look? Are they effective at being terrifying? Is it more of an obstacle than a physical force of nature? These are the questions I asked and now I have a top 10 favorite monster/villain of AYAOTD with some honorable mentions thrown in.
Spoiler Warning!
1. The Corpse from The Tale of the Dead Man’s Float (S5 Ep 1): I still stand by how creepy and effective this monster is. The reveal is worth it after the POV shots, the smells of gas or something burning and the special effects are well done. A leftover grave to make a swimming pool going very, very wrong. 
2. Margot aka the Vampire from The Tale of the Night Shift (S5 Ep 13): Another season 5 episode in a row! As someone who recently read Dracula, I can see the inspiration here of a vampire transporting themselves and their coffin to a hospital incognito and having a huge supply of blood at their fingertips, it’s creepy. The vampire himself, who can transform into anyone like Margot, a night shift nurse to tempt and drain patients. Anything horror that takes place in a clinic or hospital is an automatic win in my book.
3. The Chameleons from The Tale of the Chameleons (S5 Ep 5): Okay, so I clearly have a thing for season 5, haha. I didn’t realize this until just now! BUT what makes this list is the fact that it gives me doppelganger creepiness. Someone or something can take your form and tries to take over your life, etc and that’s terrifying in itself. I don’t want someone trying to take over my life and then pretend to be me. That’s Single White Female, Black Swan or Us where the threat looks just like you but unhinged and determined to take over your life. And both Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry are great in the episode and you are sympathetic and then terrified of what’s going on. 
4. The Ghastly Grinner from The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner (S4 Ep 9): I have a thing for clowns (the shelf of Pennywise items in my bedroom says enough) and this is more of a jester than a clown but the makeup and silliness is still present. I’ve always seen the Ghastly Grinner as the opposite of The Joker. The Joker is clearly unhinged, flamboyant, violent, intriguing, all these things and the Ghastly Grinner is unhinged, flamboyant but not violent in the manner the Joker is. He is more supernatural and in a way, that’s like oh you’re a little too powerful in real life!
5. The Doll from The Tale of the Dark Music (S1 Ep 11): Um, we can all agree this was the scariest thing to come out of that door in the basement, right? Not the carnival scene with the skeleton, THIS THING. WHAT. WHY?? Why did that thing show up? This is coming from someone who collects dolls mostly fashion dolls or horror dolls but not porcelain or baby dolls and that still creeps me out. Effective, yes. But who is the bigger villain? The doll or the main protagonist who may or may not become an accomplice to whatever is living in the basement?
6. Nosferatu from The Tale of the Midnight Madness (S2 Ep 2): I’m ignoring the song “reefer madness” in my head as I look at this title, uh, it’s a great episode that gives the flowers to the 1922 film Nosferatu. But I also want to recognize the character Mr. Vink and his recurrence throughout the series. He’s a good human villain as well, though I lowkey think he’s not human either. 
7. Zeebo the Clown from The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark (S1 Ep 2): This episode kind of overshadows the first episode of AYAOTD because is there a Mandela effect of thinking this is the first episode? I think the first episode is about a cab but no one talks about that. I think Zeebo and the overall episode is more impactful and memorable than a haunted cab. I think it was haunted. But we want a stalker clown ghost who still smokes cigars and uses balloons and may or may not be the Carney at the beginning?
8. The Creature of Darkness from The Tale of the Quicksilver (S3 Ep 11): This monster is just creepy looking, like it’s off putting to me. Maybe it’s the sunken eyes a la Boris Karloff in Frankenstein but I wouldn’t want to be summoning him out of my wall. Unfortunately, that is what happens in the show and he just looks… NO.
9. Fire Ghost from The Tale of the Fire Ghost (S4 Ep 10): Not much to say about the Fire Ghost or the episode overall, I do remember the gist of the episode but he looks too human compared to like the Creature of Darkness, The Corpse, etc. The makeup and special effects on the ghost stand out with smoke and charred skin, a very sinister grin plastered on his face because he wants exact revenge. 
10. Crimson Clown from The Tale of the Crimson Clown (S3 Ep 12): Horrible little brother does something bad aka stealing money from his older brother who wanted to buy their mother a present to then being tormented by a clown. I support this. Do not do this, people! He was such a brat that I wasn’t feeling too bad for him. However, the clown grows from a small doll to a larger than life clown, stalking the young brother but compared to other clown-like characters in the show so far, Crimson is 3rd place.
Oh you guys there were SO many honorable mentions leftover in my notes and I want to share them because it was super close for them to make the list. If I did a top 20, they would be in here for sure:
Badge (The Tale of Badge, S5 Ep13) , Marie (The Tale of The Vacant Lot, S5 Ep 10), Water Demons (The Tale of the Water Demons, S4 Ep5), The Kid Ghosts (The Tale of Old Man Corcoran, S2 Ep 13), The Virus (The Tale of the Renegade Virus, S4 Ep 3), The Scarecrow (The Tale of the Silent Servant, S4 Ep 7), Dr. Vink/The Gargoyle (The Tale of the Dangerous Soup, S3 Ep 13).
So guys for this spooky season, watch some episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?. It’s worth the nostalgia, the special effects and makeup, the Midnight Society, effective storytelling, all of these memorable moments are worth a re-watch.
Shots of Horror 
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