Review: Dawn and the Haunted House (BSC TV Series Episode 2)

The second episode of the BSC TV series may have Dawn's name in the title, but it focuses almost as much on Claudia. As the episode opens, a few members of the BSC are out and about on their bicycles, putting up flyers to advertise their business. After one flyer is nailed to a post, Dawn points out Mrs Slade's house to the others. Dawn believes that she is a witch, but the other girls aren't convinced ... or are they. Later they return to BSC headquarters where they meet up with Claudia, whose behaviour is a little well, odd. What the other girls don't know (or what Claudia won't tell them,) is that she's having trouble with her schoolwork and her parents are going to make her quit the BSC unless her grades pick up.

Meanwhile, the BSC gains some new clients who, as it turns out just happen to live next door to Mrs Slade. The new sitting charges are quick to tell Dawn and Stacey some scary stories about Mrs Slade. That, and a strange encounter at a hardware store is enough to convince all of the BSC (well, everyone except Claudia, who is more interested in her schoolwork,) that Mrs Slade truly is a witch. From there things get out of hand, especially when Stacey and Mary Anne are babysitting for the new clients and they see Claudia at Mrs Slade's house. Has Claudia been kidnapped? Is Mrs Slade really a witch? Look forward to an ending that is as funny, cringeworthy and a little bit schmultzy.

This was the only episode of the BSC TV Series that I owned on VHS and, consequently, I viewed this one multiple times during the early 90s. Watching it again was a bigger nostalgia trip than some of the other episodes. Parts of it really made me cringe though, and not just because of the 90s fashions. Mrs Slade's appearance at the hardware store is quite over-the-top. Frankly, I'm not surprised that the girls thought she might have been a witch.

An entertaining nostalgia trip, though not always for the right reasons.  

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