"Are You Afraid of the Dark?"
The Tale of the Midnight Ride (1994)

Director:

D.J. MacHale

TV Series:

"Are You Afraid of the Dark?" (1991)

Original Air Date:

8 January 1994 (Season 3, Episode 1)

Genre:

Family | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Ian Matthews arrives in the legendary town of Sleepy Hollow where he meets a new girlfriend, the tough guy and the notorious Headless horseman |

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Halloween | Football Squad | New Student | Headless Horseman

Cast

Tighe Swanson	...	Ian Matthews
Rachel Wilson	...	Katie
François Gauthier	...	Headless Horseman
Arthur Holden	...	Ichabod Crane
Patrick Gardner	...	Brad
Jason Alisharan	...	Frank
Ross Hull	...	Gary
Raine Pare-Coull	...	Betty Ann
Jodie Resther	...	Kiki
Daniel DeSanto	...	Tucker

A Headless Dark Horseman

The Bread and Butter of Are You Afraid of the Dark was it's original ideas and creative takes on everyday situations we're all familiar with. However the Midnight Ride was certainly not among the better examples of this. I'll admit it's the least of my four favourite episodes but it has enough strong points.

Sure, we've seen the hole headless horseman thing enough times before and admittedly this was a rather lazy and a frankly unfresh take on it yet the episode still managed to persevere and go on to leave it's mark as one of the better episodes. This is clearly because of the familiar ground of the issues with the characters and some rare particularly strong acting efforts. The characterisation carries the episode through.

Yes the budding romance set up etc is also nothing new, never the less, it's timeless themes that never grow too old. It's sweetly handled even if I've seen the show produce three better versions and watchable enough.

The geeky new guy lead character, Ian especially stands out with one of the most sheer enthusiastic performances in the show's history. His various facial expressions are a pure riot to behold and he easily creates one of the most memorable characters they ever produced. A true champion of geek empowerment and natural rival to 'Night Shift's' eerily similar great uber goofball creation, I affectionately refer to as 'Corny Colin.' I really liked his character's almost foolhardy near boundless courage. Despite his disadvantages, he was willing to endure things that others would avoid. Despite his nerves, he didn't seem to let things get to him, he took chances with a dorky devil may care attitude to it all and stayed true to himself, thus he beat the odds. I enjoyed how his mouth was both his greatest ally and his worst foe. On the one hand, it gets him into constant trouble, it allows him to try too hard and on the other it pushes him to keeping trying and risk for more.

This episode is basically a would be contender for worst episode with least imaginative premise turned one of the best hidden gems thanks to a saving grace combination of an endearing well paced familiar basic plot-line, well drawn characterisation and stand out admirable acting effort.