''Cry Baby Lane'' is a

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

that premiered on October 28, 2000. The film was never aired outside the United States nor dubbed into other languages. It was not rebroadcast until 2011 and has never received a home media release. Similar to the 2003 Nickelodeon film ''

The Electric Piper The Pied Piper of Hamelin has appeared many times in popular culture. Direct adaptations Many of the direct adaptations of the story are based on the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by English poet Robert Browning, first published in the 1842 col ...

'' and the 2011 Cartoon Network film ''

Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood ''Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood'' is a 2011 animated made-for-television comedy film based on the animated television series ''Johnny Bravo'' created by Van Partible. It premiered on Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand on November 4, ...

'', this was also considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

for over a decade since its original airing from 2000 during SNICK's Halloween special that was hosted by Melissa Joan Hart. Nickelodeon began receiving letters written by the parents of the children and the film was widely believed to be withheld from re-release because of controversies surrounding this film, but a Nickelodeon representative stated that the film had been merely forgotten. In 2011, a copy was discovered on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

and the ensuing reaction prompted

TeenNick TeenNick is an American pay-TV channel that is operated by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Aimed primarily at teens and tweens, its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from sister channel Nic ...

to re-air the film on October 31, 2011.

Plot

Andrew ( Jase Blankfort) and his older brother Carl (Trey Rogers) enjoy listening to ghost stories that the local undertaker, Mr. Bennett (

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...

), tells them. One night Bennett tells the tale of a local farmer whose wife gave birth to

conjoined twins Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''Uterus, in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher in ...

, one being good-natured while the other was clearly evil. The farmer, ashamed of them, kept the twins locked in their room. Eventually the twins got sick from a liver disease and died together, so the farmer sawed them in half and buried the good twin in a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

and the bad twin in a shallow grave near the house, at the end of an old dirt road called Cry Baby Lane, as whoever is caught out there at night will hear the cries of the deceased twin. Later, Andrew, Carl and a group of friends decide to hold a

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spea ...

in the cemetery where the good twin is supposedly buried, but during the séance, a weed is cut near the grave and a creepy phenomenon occurs around the town soon afterwards. When Andrew consults Mr. Bennett about it, he confesses that when the twins were separated, the bodies were mixed up, with the good one being buried in the field and the bad one being buried in the grave where the séance took place, and that he knows this because he was the undertaker who separated the bodies. Therefore, the good twin is crying for help - not vengeance, and the bad twin possesses nearly everyone in town, and it is up to Andrew to stop him. Bennett's assistant Gary informs him of a legend, which he himself believes is just superstition, that weeds near people's graves in fact contain their souls, which are then set free if the weed is cut. However, during the time Andrew and Carl journey into Cry Baby Lane, the evil twin intervenes and possesses Carl who then tries to attack his brother. The evil twin, speaking for Carl, tells Andrew he cannot stop his doing as the cries of the good twin become louder and more desperate. Andrew eventually escapes the evil twin's spell and journeys into the good twin's grave where he must cut a root that was wrapped the good twin's skeleton in order to regain peace. The evil twin showers dirt onto the grave, attempting to bury Andrew alive, but Andrew manages to cut the root and save the good twin. The evil twin disappears in a flash of light and everybody returns to normal. The next day, Andrew wakes up outside of the grave where he finds the good twin's grave with flowers, alluding that the twin is now at peace. Andrew then picks a flower from the grave and gives it to Kathy as they leave Cry Baby Lane.

Cast and crew

''Cry Baby Lane'' was filmed in

Kingston, New Jersey Kingston is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) along the border of South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County and Franklin Township in Somerset County, and also located relatively near Princeton in Mercer Count ...

, with a few scenes in

Tontogany, Ohio Tontogany is a village in Wood County, Ohio, United States. The population was 367 at the 2010 census. History Tontogany was platted in 1855, and named for Tontogany, a Native American chief. A post office called Tontogany has been in operation ...

. It was produced by Albie Hecht and Jerry Kupfer. The editor was Doug Able, and John Inwood served as the director of photography. The supporting cast included:Cry Baby Lane (2000)
The New York Times Movies * Jase Blankfort as Andrew * Trey Rogers as Carl * Larc Spies as Kenneth *

as Bennett * Anne Lange as Ann Weber * Marc John Jefferies as Hall * Allison Siko as Louise * Jessica Brooks Grant as Megan * Sheri Drach as Kathy * Gary Perez as Gary * Steve Mellor as Dick Weber * Bernadette Quigley as Mrs. Hunt * Carl Burrows as Evil Sheriff *

Jim Gaffigan James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...

as Bob * Rob Newton as Evil Twin * Andie K. Taylor as Becky

Production

The film was originally envisioned as a $10 million theatrical release for Nickelodeon, but it was instead ordered to be a made-for-television movie with a budget of $800,000. The film was shot in the Village of Kingston in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in a little over twenty days with an extra day of shooting in Ohio for shots of the town. The director originally wanted

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

for the role of the caretaker, but Nickelodeon insisted on

in hopes that it would garner extra publicity.

Availability

After its 2000 broadcast and parents wrote to the network, Nickelodeon never released the film or re-aired it for over a decade. ''Cry Baby Lane'' was thought to be a

and gained a large cult following due to its obscurity. A search began for the lost film, and in August 2011, the user Firesaladpeach from the website

recovered a VHS copy recorded from the film's original broadcast on the night of October 28, 2000 and made it available online. Director

Peter Lauer Peter Lauer is an American music video and television director. He directed the music videos "Run's House" for Run-DMC and edited " It Takes Two" for Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. Lauer made his television directorial debut in 1993 directing an ep ...

was interviewed soon after and said that he was surprised and flattered by the attention his film had gotten 11 years after its original release, being unaware of its supposed banning by Nickelodeon: "I just assumed they didn't show it again because they didn't like it! I did it, I thought it failed, and I moved on." A Nickelodeon representative later claimed that the film was never banned; it was just forgotten. The reaction from Reddit, as well as the success of

the '90s Are All That NickRewind (formerly The '90s Are All That, The Splat, and NickSplat) was an American late night Block programming, programming block that broadcast nightly over the channel space of TeenNick. The block showed reruns of mid-late 1980s, 1990s, ...

, prompted

to re-air ''Cry Baby Lane'' on the night of October 31, 2011. It reran again on March 31, 2015, as part of a week of specials on the '90s Are All That. It was promoted as being banned from television. On October 31, 2015, it was rerun on the block, now called the Splat. It also aired on the same block on October 31, 2016. It aired again on July 8, 2017 and October 20, 2017.

References

External links