Behind-the-scenes of the ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark’ reboot

Submitted for approval of the Midnight Society: Our story begins in a darkened Vancouver warehouse. Fog pours in, illuminated by eerie blue shafts of light escaping from the basement below. A ring master’s stage lies at the end of the vast expanse, embroiled in flames. A girl runs past, dressed all in white, terror in her eyes.

This is what it’s like behind the scenes of the Are You Afraid of the Dark reboot.

For those who grew up on the original ’90s run of Are You Afraid of the Dark, some of those stories remain still seared into our brains decades later: Skeletons jumping out of pools, getting trapped in a mirror, losing your ability to speak in a haunted library, a grinning monster that distorts your face forever.

Or just the sound of wind chimes in the opening credits, as the light from a flickering match goes out. 

From what we saw on our set visit for the upcoming limited series premiering Oct. 11 on Nickelodeon, the reboot continues the original’s beloved legacy with fresh horrors that new and older generations won’t be forgetting any time soon.

“I wanted to capture exactly how terrifying it felt to watch it as a kid,” said showrunner BenDavid Grabinski who was a huge fan himself growing up. “When you look back, it’s the isolated moments, those images that are the most long-lasting.”

Some of it is enough to make you ask, wait, is this still a kids show? But the reality is, in 2019, the threshold is higher, with access to hardcore adult horror just a button click away for anyone. 

Some of it is enough to make you ask, wait, is this still a kids show?

“The general rule was not to put in anything that’d keep a kid up for weeks,” said Grabinski, before adding mischievously, “But maybe it takes a little longer to sleep the first night.”

Despite raising the bar to meet modern standards though, Are You Afraid of the Dark still serves as that “gateway drug” into the genre, giving kids a taste for more mature horror down the line.

It’s exactly what happened for nearly every adult crew and cast member on set, who all grew up to go into the business of making horror. 

Both the reboot and original were shot in Canada. So much of the Canadian crew feels like it’s a literal return to the neck of the woods that spooked them as kids — like a scene we saw shot at a schoolyard with real kids playing in the background, right across from a cemetery.

It not all nostalgic reverence, though. The reboot doesn’t retread the original’s stories or characters. 

“When you think of Are You Afraid of the Dark, what comes to mind is the Midnight Society, kids around a campfire telling stories. But after that, the beauty of the show is it’s a blank slate,” Grabinski said.

There’s no explicit connection to the original group of kids, though Grabinski likes the idea of many Midnight Societies having existed forever all across the country, each operating independently.

The reboot’s three-episode arc follows one in the small town of Argento, Oregon (horror aficionados will find many other easter egg references like that). When Rachel, a shy new girl played by Lyliana Wray, arrives at Herbert West Middle School, a member of the secret society sees her drawing nightmarish doodles and invites her to audition. 

The reboot is, “much darker, much more dangerous.”

Rachel tells the story of the Carnival of Doom. The next day, it comes to town, seemingly sprung into reality from her imagination, bringing with it a barrage of other metaphysical horrors.

But, Grabinski insisted, this isn’t a straightforward stories-come-to-life situation like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or Goosebumps. A bigger twist is afoot. “Then the mystery becomes, well, then how is it happening? How is this real? Needless to say, you’ll find out.”

At the center of the nightmarish carnival is Mr. Tophat, a villain described by Grabinski as “an evil Master of Ceremonies with a great costume and a little bit evil Willy Wonka.”

The reboot is, “much darker, much more dangerous. It’s right out of any great horror movie,” agreed  Rafael Casal, the talented multi-hyphenate writer-director-actor from Blindspotting and Hamilton that’s now bringing Mr. Tophat to life.

As we talked on the warehouse set of a nightmare sequence, he excitedly ran his hands along the elaborate sequins of his flashy costume, remembering how the original show shook him to his core.

“You needed to stay up late for Nick at Night, the house would be dark, and that opening title sequence with the music,” he grabbed his chest as if reliving it right then. “It reminded you of the collective horror from every past episode.”

What made Are You Afraid of the Dark so effective wasn’t jump scares, Casal said. It was bringing a Twilight Zone-like psychological horror to the everyday fears kids deal with at school and throughout this frighteningly transitional time in their lives.

Having identified with the horror as a kid, he’s now itching to play the opposition, an embodiment of the fears the kids face — and ultimately conquer. 

Both he and Grabinski joked they’d know they did their jobs right if, for the rest of his life, Casal walks down the street inspiring looks of gleeful terror from young people. He’s still thinking of which line he’ll whisper back at them to creep them out.

“It reminded you of the collective horror from every past episode.”

What makes a great villain, Casal said, is “someone who’s wildly unpredictable. You can’t understand the origin of their behavior, why they are the way they are. And add a third layer of creepiness: being nice.”

Mr. Tophat, who seems to share a twisted longstanding mental connection with Rachel, is as charismatic as he is unsettling. “It makes you ask, what happens when this niceness goes away? What’s beneath it?” said Casal. “And the longer he’s nice to you, the less you trust it.”

It almost sounds like a metaphor for trying to figure out the often baffling rules and mysteries of the adult world as a kid. At that age, adults can seem alarmingly unpredictable, nice one minute, then punishing the next — and you don’t even know what you did to cause that shift. 

Aside from a perfectly cast and magnetic villain, the developing friendships in the Midnight Society members are as central to the new show as the horror.

Grabinski even required his young cast to watch classics like The Goonies and Monster Squad together, hoping to foster a similarly natural camaraderie on set that’d translate to the screen. Judging from how the five young actors were practically glued at the hip even during breaks, it seems to have worked. 

“A big part of every project, especially with kids, is getting to know each other and building your chemistry before,” said Jeremy Ray Taylor, who plays the nerdy germaphobe Graham. He knows this from experience, having been part of the losers club from It. “The movie nights bring us closer together, so you start learning how to make it a normal conversation in front of the camera too instead of just acting.”

Making the kids feel real and relatable seemed essential to modernizing Are You Afraid of the Dark for 2019. Grabinski asked himself what kind of wonderfully weird teens would actually sneak off to tell scary stories around a campfire at midnight? So naturally, they all had to be horror-lovers themselves, like the sassy amateur zombie movie director Akiko (played by Miya Cech).

“I think kids want to see more realistic acting in shows today,” said Sam Ashe Arnold, who’s the group’s jock, Gavin. “We’re updating it by going for something more grounded than the original.”

“What always stays the same no matter what is fear of the unknown.”

Aside from cast bonding, they also did rehearsals where ad-libbing and improvisation was encouraged. They wanted the kids to sound like kids, rather than like adults writing kids.

“What goes on in the series is basically what we’re like in real life,” said Tamara Smart, who plays the popular cheerleader named Louise. “In some scenes they’ll be like, ‘Say whatever you want, make it weird, make it awkward.'”

Despite some updates for a 2019 audience, the limited series closely follows the original’s mood and atmosphere. There was initially talk of doing a movie instead (still a possibility down the line). 

But the network TV episodic format just felt right. Not only because it leaves you with cliffhangers each week, but like the ’90s version, you can cut to commercial after a particularly tantalizing reveal, ramping up the anticipation and tension

“What always stays the same no matter what is fear of the unknown,” said Grabinski. “What’s around the corner? What’s behind this mystery? Trying to solve it alongside the kids is as engaging as it is scary.”