| The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 , Episode 8 | |
| |
| Air date | October 10, 1992 |
| Written by | Chloe Brown |
| Directed by | Jacques Payette |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous The Tale of the Captured Souls |
Next The Tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice |
The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors is the Eighth episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Cast
Midnight Society Cast
- Raine Pare-Coull as Betty Ann
- Jason Alisharan as Frank
- Rachel Blanchard as Kristen
- Ross Hull as Gary
- Nathaniel Moreau as David
- Jodie Resther as Kiki
- Jacob Tierney as Eric
Story Cast
- Suzanna Shebib as Emma Toll
- Noah Godfrey as Dayday Toll
- Harriet Dove as Mrs. Toll
- Johni Keyworth as Mr. Mitchell
- Mark Camacho as Delivery Man
- Carl Alacchi as Mr. Braun
- Françoise Robertson as Mrs. Braun
- Johnny Morina as Lex
Intro
The meeting of the midnight society has begun and that night it's a full moon. Kristen asks why do people always tells scary stories at night time? because she feels that if they really are scary they should be just as scary during the daytime. Gary says no way and claims that scary stories can only be scary at night time because according to David they're scarier at night because you can't see anything at night. Betty Ann takes her turn at the story teller's seat and Eric complains because apparently some of her stories in the past have been gross and boring. Frank defends Betty Ann by telling Eric that he is gross and boring. Betty Ann states the reason for the story she is about to tell is that people can always be scared during the day, but it's nothing compared to the terror that begins at nightfall. She submits the approval to everyone in the midnight society to everyone but Eric and calls her story. "The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors" then begins.
Story
Betty Ann tells the story, it begins one night a teenager named Dayday Toll is watching a scary black and white horror movie. Suddenly his slight older teenage sister Emma Toll sneaks up on him from behind scares him by saying BOO!. Dayday is so startled he tosses all his popcorn in the air and moves away in fright.
Emma then lectures Dayday about being a couch potato and watching too much T.V. and tries to persuade Dayday to have a little more with his life and try to get outside more. Suddenly after looking at the window she notices new neighbors Two parents and a young boy moving in even though it's late at night.
Dayday points out the strangeness of them wearing all black and Emma thinks they might either be artist's or diplomat's and Dayday jokingly says maybe they just dressed in the dark. Suddenly the three people all turn their heads and glare at them at the same time. This creeps them both out in a fright and Dayday plans to ignore these new neighbors.
Then a few days later in the afternoon Emma and Dayday go across the street to seeing a Delivery man pushing in a huge 6ft or 7ft crate back and complains how heavy it is and that there is a second one he still has to move in as well. The delivery man asked them if the new who the new houses owners are. They told him no and they just came over to say hi to them.
Emma asked who they are and The delivery man reads the paper work tells them their last name is Braun Mr. and Mrs. and apparently they're from Ukraine and they brought refrigerators all the way there from their home country and apparently the Brauns weren't home so the mover as instructed on his paper work just left them in the drive way.
Suddenly Emma notices the garage is opened and their car is in there and that they're home and she is puzzled why they wouldn't answer their door if they were still home. Then on their way home Emma's imagination gets a little out of control first she suspects that the Brauns might be KGB agents who took off when the Soviet Union crumbles or poor gypsies looking for a new life and a new home.
Then as they come up to the front door they see their mother in a rush running off late for work and very quickly tell her to have a good day. Their mother moves so fast she accidentally knocks down the elderly local mail man Mr. Mitchell who is apparently feeling sluggishly and under the weather and has a strange bandage on his neck. Apparently he has already met the new neighbors The Brauns came over to his house to visit him and coincidentally after they did it was the same night he started feeling sick.
According to Betty Ann after this Emma began to keep a careful eye on the Brauns she watched them every chance she could. Soon Emma realized how strange the Brauns really seemed to be. They never spoke to any of the other neighbors and they only came out at late at night time. Also their young little son Lex none of the other kid's in the neighborhood ever heard of him and he didn't even attend school.
One evening as Emma was taking out the garbage she was startled when Lex appeared out of nowhere and asked her if he could come in and play. She told him that it was too late, and he then said okay maybe some other time and left. Also Mr. Mitchell was not the only person with a bandage on his neck and suffering from the sickness many other people in the neighborhood had the low energy sluggish sickness too and also had bandages on their necks too it was like a little outbreak was going around starting just after the Brauns moved into the neighborhood.
Then one night Emma had a convincing Nightmare that made everything finally make since. The nightmare was that late at night her bedroom window burst open and a vampire lowered into about to bite her neck and the vampire was none other than Mr. Braun. Suddenly it was morning time and she woke up from this nightmare in a screaming terror.
The next morning Emma wakes up Dayday from a deep long sleep and tries to convince him she is telling the truth about the Brauns being vampires because: they wear only black clothing, the color of evil and darkness, they are never seen during the daytime, everyone in the neighborhood began getting that sickness outbreak after they moved in and they come from a part of Romania that is near Transylvania.
She is convinced that the mover wasn't bringing in fridges into their house but instead vampire coffins were in the crates and she plans to carefully break into their house that night when there out to check their basement for coffins to make sure and she tells her brother that if she doesn't find them then she will let her brother her mock and tease her about it as much as he wants but if she does find coffins then they are in big trouble.
(During an intermission of the story we see the Midnight Society, are pouring themselves each a cup of a red drink it's not explained what the drink is but it's most likely fruit punch or red kool-aid).
That evening before Emma ventures out to do her investigation on the Brauns basement she staples several long cloves of garlic around the kitchen the smell is intense she told her brother she did it to because vampires hate garlic and she warns Dayday not to let them in and a vampire cannot enter one's home unless they're invited.
Emma sneaks into the Braun's basement through a basement window and inside it's dark and very cluttered with junk. Back at the Toll's home Dayday answers the door to seeing that the Braun family has decided to come over and to introduce and visit. Dayday at first almost nervously and absentmindedly invites them in. Then he doesn't he tells them his dad is not home and slams the door in their face.
Then Mrs. Toll realizes they're at the door and politely invites them in for tea and coffee and some cookies. The Brauns explains that since they've moved there Lex their young son hasn't been well. Also for a living they have been working at the hospital studying the emergency health care system as paramedics, Mrs. Braun says it's very fascinating work but sometimes a little "bloody" Dayday looks in shock and concern at the way she said bloody.
Back in the Braun's basement, Emma find and a table cloth a big white bunker refrigerator at first she think she was wrong all along and that Dayday is really gonna bug her about it. That is until she notices that the fridge is locked she attempts to crack the lock open and check what is inside.
The Brauns now prepare to leave and go back home for Lex to get some rest when Dayday realizes that Emma is not back yet. Then he tries to distract them by asking them to stay longer and to play some video games with Lex. But they say no because it's too late and give him a rain check. Also Mr. Braun makes it perfectly well known that they'll back again now that they have been "invited" after hearing this Dayday once again gives a nervous look of concern.
The Brauns get back home just as Emma finally cracks open the fridges combination lock. Also Dayday is now in the Brauns basement too, he snuck in to tell Emma that they were heading home. She directs him to look into the fridge with her and explains it was locked for some strange reason. After opening it they find many bottles of blood! They hear the footsteps from upstairs telling them they're back home so they escape from the basement and get back to they're home.
Then Emma tells Dayday that since they were now invited in they can come in when they want and they might very well be their next victims. So she prepares to hunt and slay them she arms herself with stakes, a baseball bat, and some home-made holy crosses on a necklace for them to wear. They sneak into the Brauns basement again and Emma tries to crack open the lock on the wall were supposedly their coffins might be but it turns out someone in the house is awake and is coming downstairs, it's Mr. Braun he was coming downstairs to get something. Emma and Dayday fearfully hide under a table and are luckily not scene.
When they leave the house they are surprisingly greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Braun. They are shocked to see them awake and up in the sunny daytime and Emma tries holding out her cross necklace to Mrs. Braun but she just laughs and introduces herself to Emma. Mr. Braun explains that their schedules have changed and they now work in the daytime and the reason they have blood in their house is to store extra units for the hospital. Mrs. Braun then asks since Lex still isn't feeling very good if he could come over and play video games with Dayday that night,Dayday agrees and invites him. Dayday, now annoyed and mad, scolds Emma for her mistaking them as vampires.
Little do they they know that in the Braun's basement Mr. and Mrs. Braun figured out they were in their basement but they're not worried claiming tonight is the night! then they walk over to the wall and open a door and asking their master to wake up, Mrs. Braun brings a bottle of blood and opens it smelling it. Their master turns out to be none other than their young son Lex who was possibly bitten a while ago and has cursed his parents as his servants, or they're daywalker vampires who are immune to the sunlight. They tell him that he has been invited over to the Tolls house tonight and soon he'll feel better and no one ever will believe that a little boy can be a vampire as they all begin to diabolically laugh.
Ending
Betty Ann concludes the story with saying: "With ghosts and ghouls, there are no rules. But a vampire's bite only comes at night". Even Eric looks impressed. Gary declares the meeting closed and all seven of them put out the campfire fire by pouring their cups of red juice onto it.
- Carl Alacchi who played Mr. Braun in this episode would later reappear in the series again in the episode "The Tale of the Full Moon" portraying the werewolf.
- Johni Keyworth, who played the Mail man Mr. Mitchell in this episode also later reappeared in the episode "The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor" as Gus.
- Mark Camacho, who played The Delivery Man. Later reappeared in the Season 2 episode "The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle" as Mr. Buckley.
- This marked this first time the campfire was put out with something other than water.
