Nightbooks Movie Review

Meghan McGraw, Staff Writer

The magic and mystery-filled 2021 Netflix film Nightbooks, directed by David Yarovesky, and a movie version of J. A White’s Nightbooks, published July 24, of 2018, is a TV-PG-rated movie with some language, violence, and scary elements, but also a thrilling tale.

Nightbooks is a story in which a young boy named Alex (Winslow Fegley) who writes scary stories as a hobby abducted by a witch called Natasha (Krysten Ritter), while under her custody Alex meets another child who she kidnapped, a young girl named Yasmine (Lidya Jewett), together the two children devise a plan to escape the witch and get home to their families by following the clues left behind by a girl they believe escaped before them.

I found Nightbooks to be an enjoyable film thanks to its fantasy appeal and Suspense/Drama theme. The film was attentive to detail and it was rather easy to follow the story as it wasn’t all that complicated. The scripting and word choices made sense and followed the story all the way through. My only complaint is that the concept of luring children into the witch’s home with a plate of food made little sense, as most parents teach their children not to go into strange places alone, and not to trust strangers.

In shorter words, Nightbooks is a suspenseful and enjoyable experience, whether you read the book or watch the movie, I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, mystery, or suspense themes, and advise those who scare very easily not to watch Night Books even though it’s only rated PG.

Thank you. Have a nice day.