Nightbooks

Nightbooks (2021) is a Netflix horror-fantasy for families that you can watch online on iFILM, directed by David Yarovesky and starring Winslow Fegley, Lidya Jewett and Kisten Ritter. Alex writes scary stories in secret notebooks and is embarrassed by the habit — until a witch traps him in her apartment inside a New York City building and makes the stories his only currency for survival.

One new tale per night. Stop, and she disposes of him. Alex meets Yasmin, another child held captive, and the two start looking for a way out while keeping the witch supplied with fresh nightmares. The apartment itself is the main set piece: hallways that rearrange, plants that bite, a magical garden that follows its own logic.

Based on J.A. White's novel, the film earns its tension honestly. Ritter plays the witch without theatrical scenery-chewing — she is calm, methodical and genuinely unsettling, which works better than a shrieking caricature would. This is the kind of kids' horror that respects its audience enough not to defang everything. Stream Nightbooks (2021) online on iFILM.