[Child laughing]
[Thunder rumbles]
Home free.
Safe!
Home free!
Safe.
Home free!
[Laughter]
- Oh, man, not again. - Sorry, pal.
You lose. You're it.
But I was just it three times.
[Scoffs] Too bad.
I'll be it.
Why don't we just tell the story?
Why are we playing this dumb kids' game, anyway?
- Who's going tonight? - I am.
And it's not a dumb kids' game.
I wanted us to play hide-and-seek
to get in the mood for my story.
How's a game gonna get us in the mood for a scary tale?
Because hide-and-seek is not like any other game.
You start off in a group,
but when you're out there in the dark,
you're all alone.
You got to hide and be real quiet,
'cause you never know
when somebody might jump out and catch you.
[Wolf howls in distance]
My story is about a game of hide-and-seek
but with a twist.
When you play the game in my story,
you never know when you'll get caught.
And you never know who or what might catch you.
Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society,
I call this story...
Jack and Kenny Harris just moved into the neighborhood
and hadn't made many friends yet.
It's never easy being the new kids on the block.
You'll do almost anything to fit in.
But Jack and Kenny are about to find out that
that's not always such a good idea.
[Bike gears whirring]
[Playful music]
[Water hissing]
Ugh!
Sucker shot!
- You're dead! - [Laughing]
- Jack! - Say "uncle"!
- Jack, look! - Say it!
Jack!
What's up?
- What do you want? - Jack.
I want to say hello.
Hey, I'm Kenny. This is my brother, Jack.
I saw you guys moving in last week.
- Where are you from? - East side.
East side? [Scoffs]
Nice neighborhood.
- Toughest in the city. - Yeah, that's why we moved.
So you guys like it here?
I don't know; it's kind of a loser neighborhood.
It is not. We like it a lot better here.
You guys made any friends yet?
Well, if you want, you see those guys over there?
Yeah.
We get together every once in a while
For a game of hide-and-seek.
We're playing tonight, if you guys want to come.
- Uh, I don't think so. - Why not?
Well, it's just a stupid kids game.
That's okay.
You guys are probably too afraid to play where we do, anyway.
Where do you play?
End of anchor street, behind the big gates.
Why do you say we'd be too afraid to play there?
[Chuckles] Let's just say...
It gets pretty dark in there at night.
Yeah, well, we're not chicken, are we, Kenny?
[Scoffs] No.
Meet us there at sunset,
unless you're afraid.
What does he mean "unless you're afraid"?
I don't know. It's a kids' game, right?
What's so scary about hide-and-seek?
- You're kidding, right? - Come on, let's go.
We're going in there?
You're the one who wanted to make friends, remember?
Let's go!
[Foreboding music]
[Grunts]
Ooh.
[Straining]
Jack?
Jack!
- Hey! - [Gasps]
This way.
Where are they?
Boo!
Oh, man, you should've seen your faces.
You're a comic genius. Where is everybody?
Out in the graveyard. We didn't think you'd show.
Now we're gonna have to start over.
Olly, olly, oxen free!
How you doing?
Hi.
That's Ron Jacobson, Scott Walden,
Laura Ires, Mary-Alice Weirden, and Cissy Vernon.
Cissy?
Just call me Vernon.
What are they doing here?
I invited them.
We got enough people in the group.
We don't need any more.
Sure we do. The more, the better.
Hope you don't scare easy.
What's there to be scared about?
It's just a graveyard. Everyone's dead here.
- Well, kinda. - What are you talking about?
You didn't tell them the legend of Old Man Corcoran?
The legend of who?
Old Man Corcoran. He was a groundskeeper here.
He used to dig the graves by hand.
No machinery.
He thought he owned the place.
So he'd walk around at night all by himself,
just to make sure no one was trespassing.
If he wasn't here, he'd be out in the woods by his cabin,
just playing his harmonica.
That's not much of a legend.
[laughing] Oh, it gets better.
They say he was crazy.
They say he caught this kid stealing something
from his shack,
so he took an ax
and cut his hand off!
Wham!
One day, he was digging a grave
when all of a sudden,
the sides caved in on him.
He was buried alive.
Gross.
Some say he still walks the graveyard at night,
looking for trespassers.
And if it's real quiet,
you might even hear him playing his harmonica
off in the distance.
You call that scary?
Shoot, my grandma's scarier than that.
Yeah, you should try living in our old neighborhood.
Now, that's scary.
Yeah, I'd like to see how long you'd last in there, Vermin.
- That's Vernon. - Whatever.
Old Man Corcoran's out there.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Are we gonna play or stand around talking?
We're gonna play, all of us.
The tree's home base.
Hide anywhere you want.
Anything outside the fence is out-of-bounds.
Last one in is it.
Ron, you're up.
Ready? Go!
One, two, three...
[Malevolent music]
This is lame. We should just go home.
No, if we go now, we'll never make any friends.
"Remember friends as you pass by.
"As you are now, so once was I.
Remember in life that you must die."
Yuck.
Oh, man, Kenny, come here!
They must be burying somebody soon.
Aieee! Jack, stop it!
[Laughs] Don't be such a baby.
This would be a great hiding place.
Till it caved in.
[Harmonica playing in distance]
- Shh, shh. - What is that?
[Harmonica playing]
Hey, it's coming from in there.
Do you think it's Old Man Corcoran?
Nah, it's probably one of them trying to scare us.
Let's go find them.
[Crickets chirping]
[Harmonica playing]
Look! Old Man Corcoran's shack.
[Door creaks open]
[Door slams shut]
Get down!
[Harmonica playing]
[Footsteps approaching]
When they get close, we jump out and scare them.
[Chuckles]
[Ax chopping]
You think they brought an ax all the way out here
just to play a joke on us?
That's what I would do.
[Grunts]
What if it's really Old Man Corcoran?
[Scoffs] You've seen too many movies.
[Door creaking]
[Door slams shut]
No one's there.
Look. What's that?
It's a harmonica.
- Let's get out of here. - Yeah.
Olly, olly, oxen free! [Both yell]
[Yelps]
[Both screaming]
[Frantic music]
Come on, Kenny. He's right behind you.
He's right behind us! He's a dead guy!
[Groans]
[Fabric ripping]
Jack!
It's caught onto my pants.
[Straining]
[Both yelling]
What?
This is all your fault.
If you hadn't ripped your stupid pants,
Mom wouldn't have made us sweep the garage.
Oh, yeah?
Well, you're the one who wanted to go there in the first place.
- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.
I wish mom never went back to school.
Then we wouldn't have moved,
and we'd still be with our old friends.
Mom went through a lot to get us out of that old neighborhood.
Don't ever wish we were back there in front of her.
Hey, you guys are pretty good.
Why don't you come do my room next?
[Laughter]
Hey, so you guys playing tonight?
Tonight? Again?
Well, you didn't get to finish the game last night.
Uh... I don't think we're up to it.
- Why not? - We just aren't.
I told you they were chicken.
We're not!
Vern just told you that story to scare you.
She doesn't want anyone else joining the group.
I thought you said you weren't afraid of ghosts?
I said I'd believe it when I see it, and I saw it.
You didn't see anything.
They told you a story,
and your mind filled in the rest.
No, we saw Old Man Corcoran.
[Laughing] Sure, you did.
[Clucks mockingly]
That's enough. We'll be there tonight.
Great. See you there.
Jack, I don't want to make friends that bad.
This isn't about making friends anymore, Kenny.
We got to prove we can handle it here.
We're gonna play their game.
- Man, let's play already. - Yeah, they're not coming.
They'll be here.
What's the big deal
about letting them in the group, anyway?
I'm tired of the same people all the time.
We haven't had any new players since...
Since I joined?
And you said after me, there wasn't gonna be any more.
Guess he was wrong.
You guys got more guts than I thought.
Aren't you afraid Old Man Corcoran's gonna get you?
Shut up about that stupid story!
There's no such thing as Old Man Corcoran.
Now let's play.
- You're both it. - How do you figure that?
You left the game early last night,
and since you wimps are so scared,
you can be it together.
Yeah, why don't you babies hold hands?
[Laughter]
[Owl hooting]
Both: One, two, three, four--
You think it's gonna be like this all the time?
- five, six, seven,
eight, nine--
I just want to make some friends.
- ten. Let's go.
[suspenseful music]
[Wind blowing]
This is stupid. We're never gonna get anybody.
[Harmonica playing]
Listen. Hear that?
- No. - It's Old Man Corcoran.
- Come on! - [Sighs] Man.
[Sighs heavily]
[Harmonica playing]
Hey, why don't we get the others
and all go in together?
No; by the time we get back, he'll be gone.
Old Man Corcoran's out there, and we're gonna prove it.
How?
We're gonna steal his harmonica.
[ax chopping]
[ax chopping continues]
[Bizarre string music]
[Whispers] There it is!
[Tense music]
[Rustling]
[Grunts]
- Let's get out of here. - Not yet.
[Dramatic music crescendo]
Thwack!
[Playing harmonica]
[Door creaking]
[Door slams shut]
- That was close. - Yeah, he almost saw us.
No, I mean we were so close to getting the harmonica.
Now we're gonna have to go get it.
We don't need the harmonica.
Let's just get the others out here to see him.
[Sighs]
- Where are you going? - To get the others.
Get back here!
Chicken.
I'll get it myself.
[Sighs]
If I die, it's his fault.
[Suspenseful music]
[Wolf howling in distance]
Hello?
[Foreboding music]
Hey!
Oh, great.
[Door creaking]
Hey! [Sighs]
[Distorted music playing]
[Both scream]
What are you doing here? I got scared.
But look what I found.
Now we've got proof. Now they have to believe us.
Yeah, give me the flashlight.
I'm not holding the flashlight.
Well, I'm not holding the flashlight.
Jack?
Give me my harmonica.
[Both screaming]
[Grunting]
Come on!
[Both screaming]
Thud!
- You okay? - Yeah.
Get out of here. I was here first.
Vern, shut up and listen. We saw Old Man Corcoran again.
He's up there, and he's after us.
I stole his harmonica.
- I don't want you here! - Did you hear what I just said?
- Get out of here! - Make me!
Aw, come on, let's go, Jack.
I don't like being in here, anyway.
Hurry up.
We're leaving.
Go find your own grave.
Sorry. Didn't see your name on it.
Well, look a little closer next time.
Hi, guys. [Both gasp]
Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.
Man, you got to get out of here.
Jack stole Old Man Corcoran's harmonica, and he's been--
Guys, the Old Man Corcoran stories are getting old.
We're playing a game here.
Come on, get in. It's a great hiding place.
Man, will you forget about the stupid game?
Don't you want to play? They can never find you in here.
Come on.
[Gasps]
What are you doing here?
We... we were playing hide-and-seek.
In a graveyard?
Just the two of you?
No, with our friends.
Cissy Vernon, Ron Jacobson, Marshal McClain.
That ain't very funny.
All those kids are dead and buried.
I dug the graves myself.
[Creepy organ music]
What's wrong with you two?
You look like you seen a ghost.
[Dramatic music]
The end.
So does anyone want to play the dumb kids' game again?
Not it.
- Not it. - Not it!
- Not it. - Not--
You're it.
[Sighs] [Laughter]
Ha! Goof! [Laughs]
[Sighs]
One, two,
Three, four, five,
Six, seven, eight...
Captioned by Grant Brown