AYAOTD:The Tale of the Dollmaker

Okay, only in Canada would anyone ever think to make a show that would legitimately scare kids' pants off. Are You Afraid of the Dark? ran in the 90's and continued into 2000, on Nickelodeon who co-produced it. It's a horror/fantasy show for kids. Who came up with that brilliant idea?

I must have been seven or eight when I first saw this episode, and it scarred me for life. I had dreams about being trapped in a dollhouse for years. Apparently I'm not alone, since it was a fascinating episode for others as well. So now I'm going to review "The Tale of the Dollmaker."

The episode begins with the The Midnight Society's weekly meeting, where a group of "teenagers" (they look more like 10-year-olds to me) meet to tell scary stories. One of the group members has a reputation for creepy stories, and having her doll with her, she begins one. We are then shown the story.

Melissa goes to visit her aunt and uncle, Peter and Sally, every summer because she's made friends with the girl next door Susan. Unfortunately, this past winter, Susan disappeared and her parents moved out of the house. When Melissa sneaks next door because she thinks she sees someone at the window, her aunt finds her in the attic and cautions her against returning to the house. That night, Melissa hears her aunt and uncle arguing about how much her aunt should tell Melissa, and Melissa overhears what Susan's mother told aunt Sally about Susan's disappearance- "it was the house that got her!"

Melissa, unperturbed, makes a second visit to the attic, where she finds a secret door and sees a strange-looking Susan wandering aimlessly; just as Melissa is about to step into Susan's world, however, her uncle grabs her and reveals to her that, had she set foot through the door, she would have actually fallen out of the attic window and to her death.

Melissa makes a third trip, tying a ball of twine to the door so that as she wanders the house, she won't get lost. She realizes that she is now in the dollhouse, and the door disappears and she is trapped. Susan can't do squat since her body is falling apart:



Eventually, with the help of Susan's cryptic hints, Melissa figures out an ingenuous way for them to safely escape the attic's clutches and return to the real world. Peter burns the dollhouse, and everyone is happy. We are left with the Midnight Society packing up like good little children to go home for bed, with lingering doubts as to what the attic's door leads to now that the dollhouse is gone.

I'm not going to bother naming the actors since the acting is campy at best-Melissa is particularly grating, and is immediately portrayed as a spoiled brat in an attempt at humor; she makes rude, snarky comments to her loving aunt and uncle right off the bat because everyone thinks super-snotty kids are hilarious right? FAIL.

Watching it now, it's obviously not that scary-but for little kids? Taking the idea of something familiar and fun, like a dollhouse, and turning it into a trap and a hellhole where your best friend's body is falling apart and you have a near-death/suicidal experience where a haunted house tries to lead you to jumping out a window-

...



You can watch the episode on youtube; it's all campy fun now, but perhaps for nostalgia's sake you'd enjoy it.

Also watch for the five-million shots of swings, ranging from tire swings to white swings to swing-like loveseats. Hitchcock anyone?

Mwahahaha have a wonderfully creepy day.

-elln