Nightbooks (2021) User Reviews

You've seen this before, but not like this.

[katefrichardson · 7/10 · 16 September 2021]

This movie was actually pretty fun. Perfect to release before Halloween and decent enough for the whole family to watch. All of the actors knew their assignment and carried the movie well, and I found myself entertained and not getting bored at all. I consider it a fresh twist on a classic fairy tale.

Give it a shot!

Happy to see Krysten Ritter on-screen again too! She's great!!

Oh, and... hats off to CHVRCHES for the "Lost Boys" song remake at the end. WOW!!

Scary books

[MB-reviewer185 · 5/10 · 5 October 2021]

I really didn't know what to think about this when I started to watch this, but I found some good things in this. Its also based off the book that I might check out.

I like the plot, the acting and the visuals of the stories they show also the Nightbook stories were interesting.

The rest is clearly a scary movie that kids can watch and probably can be scared by the visuals and the monsters shown through out.

But I will give credit to the creepy and disturbing scenes and imagery they got away with on the monsters and the witch, even the 3rd act was disturbing.

In the end its a creepy kids movie that kids can tolerate, but also it has creepy imagery and disturbing scenes that they can enjoy.

Good to watch with the kids

[The_Geek_Spot · 6/10 · 16 September 2021]

A good horror movie to watch with the kids. It wasn't too scary nor too lame even for older children to sit down on and appreciate. For an adult alone, well that's the a whole different scenario as I was kinda bored in some parts, waiting for some real action to begin.

But the story and actors were altogether fun to watch. There was a uniqueness in the plot that will leave your kids in awe and would probably stay focused on the tv and not the snacks alone.

Kristen Ritter doesn't seem to have aged, suitable for her being a witch in this movie.

7/10 Surprisingly good. Good acting and good storyline.

[Hellooo1234321 · 15 September 2021]

Right amount of scary scenes, lots of fantasy and magic and good acting and a good storyline. What else do you need? 7/10 good Netflix movie. Please ignore bad review for this movie on IMDB, I watched this movie because of the good trailer and wanted to see for myself if it's good or bad. I can assure you that this movie does not disappoint.

WASN'T FOR ME.

[andrewchristianjr · 7/10 · 26 October 2021]

The plot was way too naive and flat for older children or adults and set up too scary for smaller children, so I'm not sure which audience this flick was made for, it surely wasn't for me.

Entertaining family horror movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 16 September 2021]

As I sat down to watch the 2021 Netflix movie "Nightbooks", I must admit that I wasn't really expecting much from writers Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, given this being a family horror movie. But still, I opted to watch "Nightbooks" as I hadn't already seen it.

Turns out that writers Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis actually managed to churn out a script that was actually surprisingly entertaining. And yeah, "Nightbooks" is a family horror movie, but a very enjoyable one actually. So I am more than happy that I opted to give director David Yarovesky's 2021 movie "Nightbooks" a chance.

The storyline told in "Nightbooks" was interesting and actually rather captivating as well. The story starts out quite nicely and keeps a great pace all throughout the course of the movie. The narrative is rather well-written and provides excellent entertainment.

The acting performances in "Nightbooks" were good. It was actually loads of fun to see Krysten Ritter playing a villanous role as she did here, and she really carried the movie quite well. It should also be said that Winslow Fegley (playing Alex) and Lidya Jewett (playing Yasmis) really were well-casted for the movie and they put on good performance opposite of someone like Krysten Ritter. So the movie definitely had a great cast ensemble.

Visually then "Nightbooks" was interesting and had good effects. I was genuinely entertained and impressed with what I saw on the screen. And for a family horror movie, then "Nightbooks" did quite well for itself.

If you have the opportunity to sit down and watch "Nightbooks", you should do so, because this family horror movie has something to offer everyone in the family. So believe me when I say that "Nightbooks" is quite well-worth watching.

My rating of "Nightbooks" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Not recommended for adults

[JurijFedorov · 5/10 · 17 September 2021]

It's super mediocre. I wanted to watch a modern children's movie, but they are all off and mediocre. Just like old children's movies really. At least now you get way better effects and a bit better acting. But largely it's not good movies. Maybe kids will like it? I can't say. It's a very basic story, the acting is acceptable to good. And the script is very mediocre at best. Often the characters just stand around and do nothing instead of trying to get themselves out of danger which is extremely lazy screenwriting and feels frustrating. A lot of smart decisions could have been made here, but weren't.

My main issue with this movie is the editing. They use multiple cameras and we constantly jump from person to person in dialogues. We get a lot of crooked shots from all angles and you have about a shot per second I think. The camera jumps from place to place even in calm scenes and you get dizzy and confused everywhere. The acting is also over the top. As I said the characters often just stand around in fear and look at the danger so you have a ton of scenes where the kids just scream or act sad which is where the movie really fails. Both the kids are good enough actors in calm scenes, but when the little boy needs to show any emotional range he is horrible. I'm not panning him. Rather the director should have guided the actors much better and made sure they could act out roles that fit their skills. Instead a good enough actor is forced to act out scenes he is just not skilled enough to do and the director clearly guides him into terrible decisions that make for bad scenes.

For adults this is a skip. It's not bad or boring. It just feels pointless and tame. The main story issue is how rushed the background story is. We are just put into the magical apartment while getting zero background info. So you can't even properly root for anyone as nothing here is introduced emotionally. Rather everything is introduced via dialogue. So if you want to know what they care for or what families they are from it's in the dialogue only. For a children's movie this is an especially horrible decision. It's also just lazy and bad writing for such a big production. The emotional pull in this movie is minimal at best because everything emotional is dialogue only.

But having said all that, just because it's not a good movie doesn't mean kids won't like it. Kids like plenty of terrible movies with bad plots. They may like this one if they like PG rated horror movies. It's also a bit better than the typical children's movie. That's not saying a lot, but there are some very great sets here that I did enjoy. Especially the library.

Better than i expected

[evebilly · 6/10 · 15 September 2021]

This movie have a lot of scary moment. Although it look like for family sitting and watching together. It's so scary to think if that situation happened to me. So it's okay to waste your time.

This is NOT a family/kids movie!

[ronhman-26135 · 1/10 · 7 November 2021]

This is a horror film with kids in it! We watched with our 8 year old daughter and she had nightmares! Definitely not a family movie night type.... Would absolutely not recommend for family with kids under 12.

Good Job.

[yusufpiskin · 7/10 · 15 September 2021]

An intimate story with Winslon Fegley, the younger brother of Oakley Fegley. (which I love him so much.)

First of all, the first target audience of the movie is young people between the ages of 07-16, but this does not prevent you from watching and having fun.

Netflix does a much better job on these "Young Adult", "Teen age" projects than Amazon Prime Studios.

It was nice to watch Krysten Rider, we missed it.

Definitely watch the movie with a good sound system, because DOLBY ATMOS channels are running through the movie.

Although David Yarovesky was a bit surprised after his debut in Brightburn, the film successfully serves its target audience.

Unbearable. Very poor watch.

[eldreddsouza · 4/10 · 19 September 2021]

Was hoping to like it but yeah, that didn't happen. The art design is good of those fluorescent scenes but that's about it. The whole movie takes place in that one house except for some parts later on in the film. It makes you feel claustrophobic and is thusly boring as well. The plot is somewhat interesting but the stories aren't. I was expecting some good spooky stories with well imagined visuals but all I got was some childish animation with a red background. As I said before the stories are also quite lame. This movie has all the bad things. It is mediocre in every aspect. The screenplay is the worst part. It fails to keep you hooked as it's too simple not quite interesting.

Skip it. It's a waste of time. Also I'm sure your kids won't find it interesting. Watch Coraline instead which is a very beautiful- animated movie having a similar plot as this and is much much better.

Scarier than a PG

[Nikkiangel002 · 8/10 · 18 September 2021]

Me and my 6 and 9 year old have looked forward to this becoming available. So when movie night started tonight we were excited snacks ready, I LOVE a horror. So does my 9 year old. Rated pg I thought maybe my 6 year old would... within 20 minutes it was too much and she left!

Very enjoyable, but I'm glad she wasn't there especially for the last 30 minutes very scary ! I think caution should be taken. Saying that, my 9 year old loved it! I actually did too.

Finally a decent scary movie that's not full of over the top gore or violence!

truly magical

[stehartley · 7/10 · 15 September 2021]

This is a great movie from start to finish. Just love kristen ritter as a witch. 100% recommend for all the family.

Tolerable story, intolerable actors

[self-username · 3/10 · 15 October 2021]

The story's OK, but the characters are so intolerable they give you a headache.

The black girl in the movie is the epitome of annoyance. She's rude, stuck-up and ungrateful - and has the gall to say stuff like 'That's what friends do' when someone saves her from the witch.

The witch has no character and whenever she opens her mouth, annoys too.

It's impressive how they managed to create a movie where it seems like none of the three main characters have any significant role to play in the movie.

The stories within the movie are a snoozefest, not sure who would find those stories 'scary', much less a witch who should be privy to far more scary stories.

Cheesy

[btreakle · 6/10 · 17 September 2021]

Definitely a children's movie but not too young. 10 and older. Scary movies about Scary stories.

I don't know

[marzy-83675 · 6/10 · 19 September 2021]

I don't know what to think about the movie...

It ain't bad, but it ain't good either, overplaying actors, messy storytelling, but yet entertaining enough to watch it until the end.

Wanna live? Write scary stories....

[tmans713 · 5/10 · 1 November 2021]

A Netflix Original about an insatiable witch and a kid with a knack for storytelling. It's a harmless kids movie that sends a positive message about embracing your quirks and being yourself! The child actors are charming enough, but the cartoonish CGI and predictable plot hold it back.

For Kids

[jeshabellesabado · 6/10 · 29 December 2021]

Kids under 10 would probably enjoy this. The things the bothers me is mostly the child acting, it feels forced and just cringey but i guess since they're a child it can slide. The dialogue bothers me, it's so...bland. The stroy telling part could've been better instead of being....just story telling. Why does netflix keep churning out stuff like this.

Snooze Fest

[treakle_1978 · 1/10 · 28 September 2021]

Very cheesy and poorly acted movie. I fell asleep several times because it was so boring.i generally love kids/family movies but this one just wasn't for me. If you enjoyed that's fine but for me I'd tell ya to skip it.

Tim Treakle.

the kids are all write

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 15 February 2023]

David Yarovesky's "Nightbooks" was pretty much what I expected. What I liked most of all was Krysten Ritter's performance as the witch who traps the children and demands things from them; her look reminded me of Lady Gaga on season five of "American Horror Story". The movie isn't any sort of masterpiece, but the relation to children's stories is enough to keep one interested. I also liked the references to "The Lost Boys".

Basically, it's the sort of young adult dark fantasy that you can show the tykes to keep them entertained for an hour or two. I'll be eager to see if Yarovesky does anything more.

Tedious

[peterDM-30380 · 2/10 · 9 October 2021]

I watched because I'm a fan of Krysten Ritter, but the plot was so basic. It involved Ritter showing up and throwing a fit every couple minutes, so it just got old very fast. I'd like to see Krysten play something other than a malcontent. I know actors get pigeonholed into certain types of roles, but she deserves better.

Very great movie

[danielthereviewer · 10/10 · 15 September 2021]

I'm not sure how this has such a low score on here.

This is one of the better movies Netflix has put out this year.

It seems so called "adults" are rating this badly because it's a kid movie that came out aimed not at them. They're the ones that need to grow up

It's a great movie for any age. It has an intriguing plot, great acting from the kids, and Ritter (the witch.) It also has many twists and turns and is a great way into horror.

Well made but a disappointing adaptation

[m-71548 · 6/10 · 13 October 2022]

The book had great potential but the film lost what we enjoy most. But it still has some new fresh ideas to kerp it pretty entertaining.it is rated pg but it is just very gory violent and very intense.

As for the swearing there is a lot to complain even the children say oh my g-d a few times too many to count for a pg movie. Parents can watch with their older kids which is 12 and up or maybe older depends on the parent.

It also has some great moments thought like the part which is scary that is really scary my kid got a big shock while watching.

Some parts were lame but the film is okay nonetheless.

So this was baaaaaad

[engwaerin · 3/10 · 17 September 2021]

I felt the writer and director so terribly wanted to create a children's classic such as The Labyrinth or Neverending story, but my lord he faaaiiiiled.

A good story with twist, magic and chills

[yogeshevolution · 7/10 · 21 September 2021]

The story feels similiar to most of witch tales but it contains freshness and a good amount of magic and twists. A good watch for family. Horror fans may like it depends on what they are looking for. All in all a family friendly horror movie.