This is a hard movie to review, because the tone is really all over the place.
As the story goes, Cry Baby Lane was so scary that Nickelodeon only ever aired it once, after which it was locked away in a vault forever -- becoming something of an urban legend. Until, almost 11 years later, someone on Reddit discovered a copy of the movie, and with renewed buzz, Nickelodeon dusted it back off and began airing it again.
The truth of the matter is... yeah, actually, there are a few scenes in Cry Baby Lane that are probably way too dark and intense for a made-for-TV movie aired on a kids channel. Whether or not it's "scary" is up for debate, because there aren't really monsters or anything approaching horror or violence. It's a little bit more psychological than that, which is more silently haunting than it is terrifying. Honestly, I would not be surprised if it gave some kids lasting nightmares. It's kind of got that "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" vibe to it, where the whole world slowly turns against the helpless protagonist. Even for adults, that can be spooky, and Cry Baby Lane definitely uses this to push the envelope a bit. I'm watching this for the first time at 37 years old, and there are parts of it that are a little unsettling even to me.
According to the movie's history, Cry Baby Lane was originally written as a big-budget theatrical release, but after a series of box-office bombs, Nickelodeon got cold feet and downgraded it to a much cheaper TV movie. That might explain Cry Baby Lane's darker tones, but I think the creators also probably realized their movie was a little too intense for a channel that aired "Rugrats" and "Spongebob Squarepants." So, between scarier scenes, they try to lighten the mood with bizarre, kid-friendly humor. Fart jokes, Lord of the Rings references (years before Peter Jackson) and cracks about 2000's-era pop-culture (mostly, pro wrestling) are all over the place.
This is what dates Cry Baby Lane most, and really drags it down overall. The humor is corny at best, and obnoxious at worst -- especially the older brother, Carl, who constantly espouses an old fashioned ideal of masculinity by aggressively bullying his younger brother for "acting like a girl." It's not exactly progressive by modern standards, and usually comes off more as cringeworthy than anything. There's never a point or any consequences to Carl's actions, he just gets a free pass to treat his younger brother like scum. He's practically one of the movie's villains and never has to answer for that. It's not fun to watch.
There's a lot of potential in Cry Baby Lane, and some genuinely spooky ideas. It threatens to be a little too grown-up for its younger audience, but rather than commit to that idea, it tries to wrench itself back in an age-appropriate direction. In doing so, it turns into the sort of thing that struggles to find an audience -- it's likely too adult for some, too childish for others, and still more will be turned off by its outdated ideals. I don't want to say that it's bad, because if you come at it from a certain mindset and consider the era it was made in, I think you'll still get something out of it. But it's sort of hard to recommend, otherwise.
