The Nightmare Room

Premise

The Nightmare Room is based on fears that children have, such as ghosts and monsters, which normally ended with comments by the narrator whose final words always were "the nightmare room", then a door with the The Nightmare Room logo would appear, closing. In many instances, the series resembled the television series The Twilight Zone with teens taking the role as the main characters, many of whom portrayed the characters were popular actors, including Amanda Bynes, Frankie Muniz, Tania Raymonde, Justin Berfield, Drake Bell, Brenda Song, Shia LaBeouf, A.J. Trauth and Dylan and Cole Sprouse. In addition, Robert Englund (famously known as Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street films) played as various roles. Actress Kaley Cuoco (later known for her roles in the shows 8 Simple Rules and The Big Bang Theory) also had a part in one of the episodes.

The Nightmare Room is Kids' WB's only live-action show and aired on the short-lived Kids' WB variant of Toonami, making it the only live-action show to air on the strand. The show was produced by Parachute Entertainment, Tollin/Robbins Productions, and Warner Bros. Television.

Book titles and summaries

1. Don't Forget Me: Danielle Warner and her brother, Peter, move into a house where the basement is haunted by the ghosts of children who have been forgotten by their friends and families — and lure living children in by making their friends and families forget about them.
2. Locker 13: Superstitious Luke Green gets assigned Locker #13 on his first day of school and tries to quell the bad luck that goes along with it by finding a good-luck charm. But the good-luck charm has a twisted secret of its own.
3. My Name is Evil: A carnival fortuneteller accuses Maggie of being evil. Maggie brushes it off as a joke — until accidents occur in school and all signs point to Maggie as a suspect.
4. Liar, Liar: Years of lying suddenly catch up with Ross when he finds himself in a parallel world where an evil twin tells him that he will die in two days.
5. Dear Diary, I'm Dead: Alex Smith discovers a diary in his room that predicts the future, including his death.
6. They Call Me Creature: Laura must find out why the animals she cares for are attacking her and what her father is doing in the backyard shed.
7. The Howler: Self-proclaimed electronics geek Spencer Turner buys a machine called "The Howler" that lets humans communicate with the dead...and summons a ghost family who want to kill his friends and family.
8. Shadow Girl: A bored girl named Selena discovers that she is really a superheroine named Shadow Girl, and, like all superheroes, has an arch-enemy who wants her dead.
9. Camp Nowhere: At summer camp, Russell rows over Forbidden Falls — and finds himself in a summer camp haunted by the ghost of an evil Indian spirit.
10. Full Moon Halloween: It's a frightful Halloween night as a teacher gets four of his students and try to discover that one of them may be a werewolf.
11. Scare School: Sam is haunted by an imp at his new school who preys on new students.
12. Visitors: UFO enthusiast Ben Shipley discovers that aliens are covertly invading Earth.

The Nightmare Room Thrillogy

Opening narration

At the beginning of each episode, R. L. Stine gives an opening monologue of sorts — in a manner very similar to Rod Serling's iconic opening narration for The Twilight Zone — that acts somewhat like a theme song for the series.

When the lights fade and the moon rises, anything can happen. The world becomes a carnival of shocks and chills. A whirling merry-go-round that never stops, spinning faster and faster, taking you on a frightening ride. I'm R. L. Stine, don't fall asleep... or you might find yourself in The Nightmare Room.

Despite the claim of being R. L. Stine, the narration was provided by James Avery of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame. Avery also did the closing narration for each episode.

Releases

On August 20, 2002, 8 episodes were released on 2 DVD volumes. 5 episodes remain unreleased.