Creeped Out | Middle Grade Horror Done Right

"The Curious.

 They say he collects strange tales and if you ever hear his whistle you know something creepy is about to unfold.

 No One knows  where he's from or where's he's going to 

But people say he appears in the back of photos and it goes back decades..." 

- "Marti" S1E1

Creeped Out is a horror anthology series created by Bede Blake and Robert Butler and produced by CBBC productions and DHX Media and is available on Netflix and CBBC (if your from the United Kingdom). It stars the acting talent of Victoria Diamond (Narrator), William Romain and Jaiden Cannatelli (The Curious), Kyle Breitkopf(Ace), and Katie Douglas (Indigo) among many others. For a full list of cast and crew.

Anthology Television has a long history. The Twilight Zone(1959) and The Outer Limits(1963) gave their viewers a surreal and strange look into the realms of Science Fiction and Horror. Cinematic moments that stayed with us years later. Famous Auteurs have also tried their hand at this format providing their own vision on stand alone stories such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents(1955) and Spielburg's Amazing Stories(1985), (which Blake and Butler consider a inspiration). The '90s however is when anthology was brought to a younger audience. It should not be a surprise that middle grade has its fair share of horror and the '90s was one of the eras in which it bloomed for the youngest generations. The third novel of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark came out in 1991, Horror Classics such as Scream (1996), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Candyman (1992), and Silence of the Lambs (1991) premiered in the decade and two children's horror anthology shows Are You Afraid of the Dark?(1990) and R.L.Stine's Goosebumps (1995) appeared on the small screens.  Creeped Out follows in the footsteps of its progenitors by provided creepy and surreal stories wrapped up in a unique urban legend.

As mentioned in the quote above The Curious is a collector of strange stories and meta wise is our Virgil who directs us to each tale of horror and woe. Faustian Deals, Humming Zombies, Extrademensional Beings, Possessive A.Is. All of these disparate elements make there ways into the first seasons episodes. One thing I generally enjoyed was the complexity of the plot and lore of each story. The episodes run the gamut from the fantastic (such as The Call and Cat Food), the supernatural (Slapstick, Traveller), and Science Fiction (Spaceman, Marti), and Horror (Bravery Badge, Kindlesticks) but no matter which vein of speculative fiction Creeped Out focus on they manage to perform with depth and substance. The show can be at times surprisingly wholesome as the characters find acceptance or rekindle relationships but at other times the characters flaws come back to haunt them. While some episodes present as fable the shows tone never turns to over moralizing. Overall I feel that Creeped Out manages to present an accessible horror experience for the younger crowd.

While I have used the term middle grade (which implies ages 8 to 12) the show has a variety of ages for the protaganists from both teens and pre-teens*. I enjoy this variety as it provided a good level of contrast to the stories told while also allowing the show to maintain relatable as the targeted audience grows up and begins to enjoy more mature themes. I was able to relate to a lot of the protagonist in this series as there conflicts tended to reflect the universal issues that we have all experience in our childhoods. At the same time the characters where all unique fleshed-out individuals that despite their understandable issues had interests, personalities, and lives separate from the audience. The show managed to have a decent amount of racial diversity through like many shows marketed towards children is sparse (as in non-existant) in the realm of LGBTQIA representation.

While there have been several directors for the series the primary one for the first season were Bruce McDonald and Steve Hughes. Both are competent directors and the episodes  are well shot but at the same time the show doesn't push the envelope in cinematics. The musical direction does have some interesting pieces such as the music clips in "Bravery Badge" or the soloist piece in "Trolled" but most of the scoring was done by Joe Kraemer with simple no fuss orchestrations that provided a subtle color to the scenes. Creeped out's production is Clear-cut and Accessible but may lack the stylistic frills that some have come to expect in their horror series.

Creeped Out is an Excellent Horror Anthologie reminiscent of the '90s horror anthologies of old. With clean cinematics, excellent storytelling, and relatable characters, Bede and Blake create a vibrant, and interesting world of the fantastical and supernatural geared towards a younger audience. While its category may alienate an older audience, Creeped Out is an excellence addition to anyone's MG horror collection.

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*That being said while the show contains children from the YA range the themes and topics of the show fall most firmly in MG. YA deals often with the social impacts of teenagedom such as dating, self identity, and independence. While CO does deal with some of these issues they are presented in a way that is more relatable from a middle school age than a high school one. For a good comparison of the difference between MG and YA horror consider R.L. Stein's Fear Street and Goose Bumps Series.
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