Krysten Ritter Is a Witch with a Thirst for Scary Stories

Watch Krysten Ritter wield her witchy ways to get two children who she trapped in her apartment to tell her scary stories every night or else, in the new trailer for Nightbooks. It’s scary enough for the whole family. “I’m going to need a story every night. Or it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.”

The official synopsis reads, “Alex (Winslow Fegley) is a creative boy with a strong passion for writing scary stories. But when he’s labeled weird and rejected for what he likes, he swears he’ll never write again. That’s when an evil witch (Krysten Ritter), captures him in her magical apartment in New York City and demands that he tell her a new tale every night if he wants to stay alive. Trapped inside with Lenore, the witch’s spiteful cat watching his every move, Alex meets Yasmin (Lidya Jewett), another young prisoner who has learned how to survive the witch’s wicked whims. With Yasmin’s help, Alex must learn to embrace what makes him unique – his love for scary stories – and rewrite his own destiny to break them free.”

Coraline and Monster House fans will be delighted by the whimsical yet frightening Nightbooks, It looks like Krysten Ritter’s part was written for her. She’s a perfectly charming and terrifying witchy villain. Winslow Fegley will follow up his Halloween time movie with the Christmas time movie, 8 Bit Christmas. It sounds great. In 1980s Chicago, a ten-year-old sets out on a quest to get the Christmas gift of his generation – the latest and greatest video game system. It stars Steve Zahn, June Diane Raphael, and Neil Patrick Harris. It sounds like a twist on the Christmas classic A Christmas Story.

Nightbooks is based on the book by J. A. White and adapted for the screen by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. The cast includes Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter as The Witch, Winslow Fegley as Alex, Khiyla Aynne as Jenny, Lidya Jewett as Yasmin, Luxton Handspiker as Todd, Miley Haik as Mia, Liam Couvion as Newsie, Jess Brown as Mom, and Eden Gjoka as Cody.

It’s directed by David Yarovesky who is no stranger to horror. His last film Brightburn answers the question to what if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? And his first feature movie Hive concerns a young man suffering from amnesia who must dig deep into the far reaches of his mind to remember who he is and save the love of his life before a virus that has infected him takes over.

Nightbooks is produced by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe 2) Romel Adam (The Unholy, The Grudge) Mason Novick (500 Days of Summer, Juno) and Michelle Knudsen (Bad Words, Queen & Slim). Get into the Halloween mood, and check out the spooky family-friendly feature on Netflix September 15.

Topics: Nightbooks, Netflix