''The Nightmare Room'' is an American

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

horror series that aired on

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The WB ...

. The series was based on the short-lived children's book series that went by the same title created by ''

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually i ...

'' author,

R. L. Stine Robert Lawrence Stine (; born October 8, 1943), sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor. Stine has been referred to as the "St ...

. ''The Nightmare Room'' originally aired from August 31, 2001, to March 16, 2002, 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 ended with the words "the nightmare room", then a door with ''The Nightmare Room'' logo appeared, closing. In many instances, the series resembled the television series ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'' with teens taking the role as the main characters, many of whom portrayed the characters were popular child actors at the time, including

Amanda Bynes Amanda Laura Bynes (born April 3, 1986) is an American actress, known for her work in television and film throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Bynes began her career as a child actress, working on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series ''All That'' ...

Frankie Muniz Francisco Muniz IV (; born December 5, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned him an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Award n ...

Justin Berfield Justin Tyler Berfield (born February 25, 1986) is an American former actor, writer, and producer. He is known for his portrayal of Malcolm's dimwitted older brother, Reese, on the family sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle''. He also played Ross ...

Drake Bell Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as an actor in the early 1990s at the age of five with his first televised appearance on ''Hom ...

Brenda Song Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Born in California, Song began her career at the age of six, working as a child model. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the sitcom '' Thunder Alley'' (1995), and ...

Lindsey Felton Lindsay Marie Felton (born December 4, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Caitlin Seeger in ''Caitlin's Way'' and Anna Morgan in '' Anna's Dream''. Life and career Felton was born in Seattle, Washington. She had ...

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf (; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and ...

Kaley Cuoco Kaley Christine Cuoco ( ; born November 30, 1985) is an American actress. After a series of supporting film and television roles in the late 1990s, she landed her breakthrough role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom ''8 Simple Rules'' (2002 ...

Dylan and Cole Sprouse Dylan Thomas Sprouse and Cole Mitchell Sprouse (born August 4, 1992) are American actors. They are twins and are sometimes referred to as the Sprouse brothers or Sprouse Bros. Their first major theatrical film role was in the 1999 comedy '' B ...

. In addition,

David Naughton David Walsh Naughton (born February 13, 1951) is an American actor and singer known for his starring roles in the horror film '' An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) and the Disney comedy '' Midnight Madness'' (1980), as well as for a long-run ...

Robert Englund Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Class ...

(famously known as

Freddy Krueger Freddy Krueger () is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. He was created by Wes Craven and made his debut in Craven's ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (1984) as the malevolent spirit ...

from the ''

Nightmare on Elm Street ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp ...

'' films),

Betsy Randle Betsy May Randle (born June 24, 1950) is an American actress known for her role as Amy Matthews on ''Boy Meets World'' which lasted seven seasons. Biography Born in Chicago, Randle grew up in the suburb of Glenview. She is a graduate of New Tr ...

Tippi Hedren Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of ''Life'' and '' Glamour'' magazines, among others, Hed ...

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...

, and

Angus Scrimm Angus Scrimm (born Lawrence Rory Guy; August 19, 1926 – January 9, 2016) was an American actor, author, and journalist, known for his portrayal of the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film '' Phantasm'' and its sequels. Early life Scrimm was born ...

also worked on some episodes. ''The Nightmare Room'' is

's only live-action show. The show was produced by Parachute Entertainment,

Tollin/Robbins Productions Tollin Productions (or simply known as TP and formerly known as Marquee/Tollin/Robbins (or simply known as MTR or M/T/R)) was an American movie and television production company operated by Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins in 1994. Joe Davola was a ...

, and

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

Book titles and summaries

#Don't Forget Me: Danielle Warner and her brother Peter move into a house where the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

is haunted by the

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

s of children who have been forgotten by their friends and families. They lure living children in by making their friends and families forget about them. #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. #My Name is Evil: A carnival fortune teller 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. #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. #Dear Diary, I'm Dead: Alex Smith discovers a

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

in his room that predicts the future, including his death. #They Call Me Creature: Laura must find out why the animals she cares for are attacking her and what her father is doing in the backyard shed. #The Howler: Self-proclaimed electronics geek Spencer Turner buys a machine called "The Howler" that lets humans communicate with the dead... and summons a ghost family who want to kill his friends and family. #Shadow Girl: A bored girl named Selena discovers that she is really a superheroine named Shadow Girl, and, like all superheroes, has an arch-enemy who wants her dead. #Camp Nowhere: At summer camp, Russell rows over Forbidden Falls — and finds himself in a summer camp haunted by the ghost of an evil Native American spirit. #Full Moon Halloween: It's a frightful Halloween night as a teacher gets four of his students and tries to discover that one of them may be a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

. #Scare School: Sam is haunted by an imp at his new school who preys on new students. #Visitors:

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

enthusiast Ben Shipley discovers that

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

are covertly invading Earth.

''The Nightmare Room'' Thrillogy

*Fear Games: Twelve kids 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 Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

. *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.

Opening narration

At the beginning of each episode,

gives an opening monologue of sorts — in a manner very similar to

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

's iconic opening narration for ''

'' — that acts somewhat like a theme song for the series. Despite the claim of being R. L. Stine, the narration was provided by

James Avery James La Rue Avery (November 27, 1945 – December 31, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Shredder in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Judge Michael Conover on ''L. ...

of ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart t ...

'' fame. Avery also did the closing narration for each episode.

Episodes

Releases

On August 20, 2002, 8 episodes were released on 2

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

volumes. 5 episodes remain unreleased.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nightmare Room, The 2000s American children's television series 2000s American horror television series 2001 American television series debuts 2002 American television series endings 2000s American anthology television series American children's fantasy television series English-language television shows Horror anthologies Kids' WB original shows R. L. Stine American television shows based on children's books Television shows based on American novels Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series about bullying Television series about revenge Television series about teenagers Alien invasions in television Kidnapping in television Television about werewolves