Netflix Fantasy Mystery With Marvel Star Is Perfect Gateway Horror

Part of what makes Nightbooks so great is that it has such a delightfully simple concept. This film focuses on a young boy whose parents worry about him because of his occupation (or perhaps obsession) with writing scary stories. These authorial skills come in handy, though, when he meets a powerful witch who makes an offer he can’t refuse: he must read her a new story every single night or be destroyed by her wrath.

The cast of Nightbooks is, like our young protagonist, both tiny and memorable. Winslow Fegley plays the young boy trying to survive this “write or die” ordeal, and Lidya Jewett plays a young girl who has been imprisoned by the witch and is happy to have some company. The biggest star, of course, is Krysten Ritter, who plays wonderfully against type as a wicked witch whose hunger for children is only matched by her hunger for a good story.

Nightbooks is based on a 2018 children’s book of the same name written by J. A. White. As mentioned earlier, the film adaptation is a perfect gateway horror movie…there is plenty of whimsy and little violence or blood, meaning that this PG-rated film won’t outright terrify most kids. But the stakes are very real, and watching these young protagonists fight (and write) for their lives is a great warmup for any children destined to grow up and watch one final girl after another try to escape their slasher serial killers.

For the most part, Nightbooks impressed critics, and it currently has an 88 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Those critics generally noted that while some aspects of the simple story may seem a bit shopworn for genre veterans, the movie generally finds a perfect balance between being fun and being scary. That’s part of what makes it such an engaging gateway horror film, though the movie can (and should) be enjoyed by scary movie buffs of all ages.

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As for this parent and scary movie buff, I’m giving Nightbooks strong recommendations as the perfect introduction to the genre. As other critics have pointed out, you probably won’t be that surprised by some of the plot, and if you like fairy tales as much as our protagonist, you’ll probably send the end coming from a mile away. But the movie has two charming leads that instantly win you over, and Marvel star Ritter’s performance is so infectiously fun that you can’t help but smile whenever she’s onscreen.

You might not be a scary witch in Jessica Jones’ body, but chances are that you, too, enjoy a good story before you go to sleep. If that’s the case, then it’s time to stream Nightbooks on Netflix. If you end up dreaming about a super goth-y Ritter trying to turn you into her slave, well…what can I say except you’re welcome?