Hansel and Gretel meets One Thousand and One Nights in Netflix’s newest spooky feature aimed at kids. After a haunted trap involving his favourite treats ensnares young Alex in a witch’s mystical apartment, he must write a scary story every night to stay alive. Based on the book by J.A. White, Nightbooks balances hair-raising scares with a healthy dose of humour and charm, providing life lessons along the way in a wonderfully crafted magical world.
Pre-teen Alex (Winslow Fegley) is a writer of scary stories, but his passion for the genre finds him ostracized from his peers. The opening of the movie finds a distraught Alex tearing down his many bedroom horror posters and gathering his night books—his collection of self-composed scary stories—to dispose of them in his apartment building’s basement furnace. On the way down, however, he is magically lured into an apartment offering his favourite treats: the 80s horror movie The Lost Boys, and a slice of pumpkin pie.
Ensnared by Natacha the witch (Krysten Ritter), Alex is in imminent danger until Natacha discovers he’s a storyteller. She shares his love of scary stories and offers to spare his life if he weaves her a new spooky tale every night. Alex plays along, determined to find a way out of her supernatural apartment. He enlists the help of Yasmin (Lidya Jewett), another imprisoned kid whose lengthy captivity has left her disillusioned with the idea of escape and wary of forging bonds. Yasmin quickly warms to Alex, however, and helps him navigate the fantastical wonders of the apartment, including a massive library straight out of every book lover’s wildest dreams, a sinister forest with a demon unicorn, and a night garden filled with suspicious neon plants and horrifying critters called shredders.
Although Ritter’s witch is positioned as the film’s main scary villain, she is far less frightening than some of the film’s other creatures and is often used to provide comedic relief. For example, she constantly interrupts Alex’s stories to correct his horror facts about vampires and ghosts, to Alex’s chagrin. That said, it’s her unpredictable, hot-and-cold behaviour that leaves us on edge while giving entertaining Cruella de Vil-meets-Hades from Disney’s Hercules vibes. However, in the face of the film’s other scary creatures, such as the shredders, there is no comparison. Those nimble critters with their skull-like faces on sharp spidery bodies are the stuff of nightmares.
The story is initially fairly simple and straightforward but picks up throughout the film with a mix of spooky fun, downright terrifying sequences, and exciting plot twists that send the film in new directions in the last half hour. A kids’ movie would also be remiss if it didn’t include some important life lessons; the film touches on classic themes about bullying, the importance of self-acceptance, and the meaning of friendship. While I wish we delved more into Yasmin’s character, Alex is a grounded, heartfelt protagonist, and viewers of all ages will relate to both kids.
One aspect of Nightbooks that really brings the story to vivid life is its masterful rendering of the film’s magical world. The colours, production design, make-up, and costumes provide a fantastical treat for the eyes that enriches the story. We are ensnared by the world as completely as the kids, from the towering library with its spiral staircases and tunnel comprised of books, and the night garden’s contrasts of total darkness and neon colours, to Natacha’s Victorian apartment with its beautiful wallpaper and antique fixtures offset by eclectic, spooky decor. Alex’s bedroom in Natacha’s apartment reminds us of Peter Pan and The Secret Garden. If not for the dangerous creatures and lack of exits, I’d be tempted to move into Natacha’s apartment myself.
Written for the screen by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, Nightbooks director David Yarovesky (Brightburn) and producer Sam Raimi (The Evild Dead) successfully turn their horror lens to family audiences. It’s a tricky endeavour finding just the right amount of scares to lightly frighten children but not traumatize them with vicious nightmares, and while some sequences will prove too scary for young kids, Nightbooks largely strikes the right balance. It’s a satisfyingly spooky story with heartwarming charm set in a magical world that will bewitch viewers.
Score: B+