Nightbooks

Nightbooks – Horror story obsessed Alex finds himself kidnapped by a witch after running away from his arguing parents. Realising he must remain useful to his captor, he reads her stories that he has written himself. Meeting fellow captive, Yasmin, who has been there for a long time, the pair begin an uneasy friendship but will either of them work out a way to escape the witch before their usefulness runs out?

Nightbooks (2021) – Director: David Yarovesky

By IMP Awards / 2021 Movie Poster Gallery / Nightbooks Poster, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68515368

Rating: PG

Running Length: 103 mins

Starring: Winslow Fegley, Lidya Jewett, Krysten Ritter

Genre: Horror

REVIEW: ‘NIGHTBOOKS’

Based on the book by J. A White, ‘Nightbooks’ tells the story of Alex (Winslow Fegley) whose love of horror gives him an advantage when he is kidnapped by evil witch, Natacha (Kristen Ritter). Natacha demands her captives be useful (on pain of death), and so he reads her his own stories to keep her entertained.

Alex’s sunny disposition contrasts well against Natacha’s other captive, the more cynical and tough Yazmin (Lidya Jewett). Through her unspecified longer incarceration, Yazmin has seen a few tragedies and horrors that she is keen to avoid happening to her. Jewett plays this character very well, portraying a young girl who has been forced to grow old beyond her years but who begins to find herself again when Alex proves to be someone she can rely on.

It is nice to see Kristen Ritter in a much more charismatic role than usual. Those who are more used to seeing her in roles such as Breaking Bad or Jessica Jones will be surprised to see a villain who is comfortable chewing the scenery. Although the two young stars carry the film well, something is definitely lacking whenever Ritter isn’t on screen. Having such a small cast helps to explore the motivations of each character and gives us plenty of time to explore the many sumptuous locations within Natacha’s magically expanding, and travelling, apartment.

The horror aspect of ‘Nightbooks’ is…. intense! We generally feel that most PG’s are safe for kids to watch with little supervision after the age of 7 but ‘Nightbooks’ leans far heavier into the realms of more adult horror than most younger kids will be used to. The first 15 minutes in particular push the boundaries of what you would expect of a younger rated movie. Sam Raimi is a producer on the movie so it is no wonder that this movie has more of an Evil Dead vibe than something more child-friendly (don’t expect ‘Goosebumps’)! For children who may struggle with a stronger horror element, we would recommend parents perhaps watch these first few scenes to ensure they aren’t too much as, while things do slow down for a breather eventually, tonally the rest of the movie continues in a similar vein.

‘Nightbooks’ is a wonderfully realised horror movie that will keep the whole family on the edge of their seats and, with a witch that can fly off her broom handle at the merest provocation, the two kids fighting for survival will have everyone cheering them on

CONTENT: IS ‘NIGHTBOOKS’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Alex runs away at the start of the movie and takes a lift in his apartment building. The doors open on an empty, spooky corridor. He steps out and the doors close behind him; he can hear whispers and mutterings as he walks slowly along the corridor and a TV can be heard saying ‘…blood sucking Brady Bunch…’. He sees the TV in an apartment which is playing The Lost Boys but the room is empty – no-one is watching. There is a split second shot of Alex’s eyes which are unnaturally bight -indicating something otherworldly is happening to him. He enters another empty room which has several scary masks on the walls; he eats a piece of pie which seems to have been left for him but then instantly collapses.

When Alex wakes up, he is trapped in a room. He attempts to escape by climbing through a window only to find himself right back in the same room again. He hears a scary laugh and woman’s voice is heard whispering his name. A dark figure wearing a frightening mask then approaches him, the figure removes the mask to reveal a woman who tells him of other kids she held captive who became useless to her and are now just clothes in a closet

A ball seemingly moves by itself, however it is actually a cat who can become invisible. It attacks Alex who throws it off but it then disappears and suddenly attacks him again from above.

Alex comes across another scary, dark figure but this character is not as dangerous as they initially appear to be.

The witch often appears to be quite friendly but soon shows her more threatening side. There is a sudden crash zoom revealing her eyes to be white that could be very scary for kids.

Alex tell a story about ghost children, this is accompanied by spooky imagery that could be frightening for younger kids. Although Alex ends the story on a positive note, the witch forces him to change the story to an unhappy ending. She rages, “No happy endings!!”

Alex and new friend, Yazmin, are attacked by insect/spider-like creatures which have razor sharp legs and human skull-like faces. They are very fast, terrifying, and are a genuine threat to the two kids – one pierces its leg through Yazmin’s goggles, narrowly missing her eyes. Lenore, Natacha’s cat, gets caught in the creature’s web and mewls pitifully as the creature approaches her.

Alex and Yazmin are pulled in the air through the apartment by Natacha. This takes several seconds and both cry out in terror. When they are confronted by her, she yells at them and uses magic to force their eyes open.

There are several close up shots of tiny dolls in a cabinet. It becomes clear that these are actually the previously kidnapped children who outlived their usefulness.

An evil unicorn with angry glowing eyes chase Alex and Yazmin through a forest and they also come across scary dolls in the trees.

There is a story of a witch who used to eat children. One of her captive’s jobs was to ‘clean the oven’. Nothing is stated explicitly in the dialogue and kids are unlikely to understand this but parents may realise that this means that the child was forced to scrape out the bones and ashes of their friends.

A witch ‘wakes up’ and smashes her hand through her coffin. Her body jerks in a creepy, unnatural way as she moves. Her previously broken bones can be heard cracking as they fix themselves. The final act of the movie is very strong in terms of fear factor and, as we don’t wish to give away any spoilers, we will not go into further detail other than to say there is no light relief here and parents may wish to supervise here in case it becomes too much for their kids.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘NIGHTBOOKS’ FOR KIDS?

Edge-of-your-seat is rarely found in a movie aimed at kids but ‘Nightbooks’ has done it very well. As much of the movie is pure horror with little light relief or action-based moments, we strongly recommend caution for younger kids. We feel most kids aged 10 and over will enjoy this film.

Violence: 2/5 (the threat of violence is ever present and violence has been done to characters before. However, we see little on screen)
Emotional Distress: 2/5 (Alex has some tragedy in his past)
Fear Factor: 5/5 (constant, with the first 15 minutes being particularly relentless)
Sexual Content: 0/5
Bad Language: 1/5 (some mild blasphemy)
Dialogue: 3/5 (lots of threatening language, spooky stories and horror-based dialogue)
Other Notes: Deals with themes of witches, abduction, a subtext of child abuse, determination, resignation and friendship.

Words by Laura Record