Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor (1990–2000) Online

This is another honorable mention, it's a very bizarre entry in the show I'll admit but a good one. I won't say too much about this one as it's one of those ones that is all about slow reveal.

The brother Billy played by sci-fi alumni Arron Ashmore from "Warehouse 13" and "Killjoys", this episode was his acting debut, all I can say is good start; and sister Karin are pretty decent there some decent back and forth. The Billy is obviously an athletically active person on the competitive side as he love to win a little too much. Karin is obviously non-athletic, that or maybe just hasn't trained Street Hockey as we see she can't do a slap shot. But I can sort of sympathize with the sister because not every person is meant for sports or can be good in any to every sport. She's a person that is looking for what she is good at in life, and she finds it in one hell of a way.

They go up to a floor that was once vacant (though it's a known fact in some buildings there is no floor labeled 13 for superstitious reasons) and we see is a new toy factory. I really like the set design for it, almost looks like another section in Willy Wonka's factory as it is all color and fun looking. However, it's also very strange from what the staff wears or certain shapes and designs in the back ground which give it a surreal feel, seeing those things you know that nothing is what it seems.

Really like the games they play, one is obviously a Simon like game when they have to match the tunes and if they match the tune correctly that person wins. And another is one using telekinesis which is when things get interesting and strange because I don't know any kind of game like that ever existing. We see in these games Karin is good at which are obviously brain games, so that's the good news.

Bad news is of course it's revealed the factory is really a UFO and she's about to be abducted by aliens. I really like the designs of the aliens whom are unique as they are gray, and blank faced which really gives me the creeps; reminds me of the blank faced man from an episode of "Sapphire and Steel" that episode gave me chills and that's a different story.

I'll admit one suspenseful creepy moment was when we see Karin is in almost a MacGyver/James Bond death trap situation as she is locked up in some sort of elevator car and up top there are these is a whole slew of these blanked faced aliens that are just waving her to come up. I remember thinking aw man, how the hell is going to get out of this one.

But of course, we see Karin gets to use her scanner powers and I'll admit becomes a real pro at it, it's just fun as we see her utilize those powers. Make me wonder why the hell this show didn't do more psychic suspense thriller stories, heck we can use more of those in both the suspense thriller and horror genre.

The ending is a real rug puller which I honestly didn't see a mile away but trust me you will fall off the floor for it.

Rating: 3 and a half stars

Wherein faceless alien peoples will microwave your brain! I love how most of the time with these episodes they managed to squeeze in a decent amount of plot into the short timespan without it feeling rushed, at least to me. You get the bizarre toy factory that takes over the top floor of the s***ty tenement building that's run by alien strangers in disguise, the frigging telekinetic power games, they do kind of shoot themselves in the foot there by teaching her to use the Force! (why not wait until she was safely aboard the ship before doing that?) Then there's the twist ending which is probably one of my favourites, as it's a pretty great one. I find it similar to the ending of "The Tale of the Dream Girl", in that it's about somebody discovering something shocking about themselves that they never imagined. And that's a bit of a scary idea, that you don't even really know yourself. It's a strange kind of a sad ending. Poor girl, she really did have it all completely wrong! The aliens were never villains at all and she was one of them, they only wanted to take her home... What was next in store for her on planet earth, government experiment for life or circus freakshow exhibit? I always find that there's at least one thing to like in any given episode of this show, there's still a lot of fun to be had to this day. I like the hideous cheap pastel nightmare aesthetic of the "Toy Chest"(real subtle guys!) toy factory, it reminds me of the spaceship of the Killer Klowns! And when the aliens/robots are revealed the design is basic to say the least, but it's neat enough. They're like the Putty Patrol! Good lord the uh, "replacement elevator operator" is so freaking odd! Such an actor! He actually does give a decent performance, I like how he's vaguely sinister but also manages to convey the grave urgency that the girl go with the aliens even if he can't tell her why or force her to go. That's one of the things I love about this show, the memorable eccentric weirdos! Speaking of which, I like the scenes where the freaky guy with the dopey look on his face is talking to the girl through her TV. That's always creepy to me, if my TV asked me if I thought it was talking to me in the middle of the night I'd probably wet my pants! It's all ridiculously goofy, but there remains such an awesome rich charm there that I'll love forever. Goodbye people I don't know! X