The Nightmare Room

The Nightmare Room is an American children's anthology horror series that aired on Kids' WB. The series was based on the short-lived book series The Nightmare Room children's books created by Goosebumps author, R.L. Stine. The Nightmare Room originally aired from August 31, 2001, to March 16, 2002, in the United States. It was rated TV-Y7 for fantasy violence (FV) and scenes deemed too scary or disturbing for younger viewers in the United States.

Premise

The Nightmare Room is based on fears that children have, such as ghosts and monsters, which normally ended with comments by the narrator whose final words always were "the nightmare room", then a door with the The Nightmare Room logo would appear, closing. In many instances, the series resembled the television series The Twilight Zone with teens taking the role as the main characters, many of whom portrayed the characters were popular actors, including Amanda Bynes, Frankie Muniz, Justin Berfield, Drake Bell, Brenda Song, Shia LaBeouf, A.J. Trauth and Dylan and Cole Sprouse. In addition, Robert Englund (famously known as Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare On Elm Street films") played as various roles.

The Nightmare Room is Kids' WB's only live-action show and aired on the short-lived Kids' WB variant of Toonami, making it the only live-action show to air on the strand. The show was produced by Parachute Entertainment, Tollin/Robbins Productions, and Warner Bros. Television.

Book titles and summaries

1. Don't Forget Me: Danielle Warner and her brother, Peter, move into a house where the basement is haunted by the ghosts of children who have been forgotten by their friends and families—and lure living children in by making their friends and families forget about them.
2. Locker 13: Superstitious Luke Green gets assigned Locker #13 on his first day of school and tries to quell the bad luck that goes along with it by finding a good-luck charm. But the good-luck charm has a twisted secret of its own.
3. My Name is Evil: A carnival fortuneteller accuses Maggie of being evil. Maggie brushes it off as a joke—until accidents occur in school and all signs point to Maggie as a suspect.
4. Liar, Liar: Years of lying suddenly catch up with Ross when he finds himself in a parallel world where an evil twin tells him that he will die in two days.
5. Dear Diary, I'm Dead: Alex Smith discovers a diary in his room that predicts the future, including his death.
6. They Call Me Creature: Laura must find out why the animals she cares for are turning on her — and discovers a horrible creature living in her father's shed.
7. The Howler: Self-proclaimed electronics geek Spencer Turner buys a machine called "The Howler" that lets humans communicate with the dead...and gets messages from three ghosts who want to possess Spencer and her friends.
8. Shadow Girl: A bored girl named Selena discovers that she's really a superheroine named Shadow Girl, and, like all superheros, has an arch-enemy who wants her dead.
9. Camp Nowhere: At summer camp, Russell rows over Forbidden Falls—and finds himself in a summer camp haunted by the ghost of an evil Indian spirit.
10. Full Moon Halloween: It's a frightful Halloween night as a group of 5 teens realize that one of them may be a werewolf.
11. Scare School: Sam is haunted by an imp at his new school who preys on new students.
12. Visitors: UFO enthusiast Ben Shipley discovers that aliens are covertly invading Earth.

The Nightmare Room Thrillogy

• Fear Games: Twelve kids (April, Kristen, Marlin, Anthony, Dolores, Jared, etc.) with special abilities have been selected to take part in a reality show called Life Games, set on an island haunted by a psychotic witch.
• What Scares You the Most?: April (one of the contestants) is stranded on the island and must fight her biggest fears in order to escape.
• No Survivors: After her escape in What Scares You the Most?, April must return to the haunted island in order to rid it of the witch's spirits.

Episodes

Opening narration

At the beginning of each episode, R. L. Stine gives an opening monologue of sorts — in a manner very similar to Rod Serling's iconic opening narration for The Twilight Zone — that acts somewhat like a theme song for the series.

When the lights fade and the moon rises, anything can happen. The world becomes a carnival of shocks and chills. A whirling merry-go-round that never stops, spinning faster and faster, taking you on a frightening ride. I'm R. L. Stine, don't fall asleep... or you might find yourself in The Nightmare Room.

—R. L. Stine

Award nominations

International broadcasters

External links

• The Nightmare Room at the Internet Movie Database
• The Nightmare Room at TV.com
• The Nightmare Room at epguides.com