Cry Baby Lane

Lore & Background

The film follows Andrew and his older brother Carl, who enjoy ghost stories from local undertaker Mr. Bennett. Bennett tells them of conjoined twins, one good and one evil, who died and were buried separately. After a séance in a cemetery, a weed is cut near the grave, causing strange events. Bennett later confesses the bodies were mixed up, and the good twin cries for help while the evil twin possesses townspeople. Andrew must cut a root around the good twin's skeleton to restore peace.

Reader's Guide

Cry Baby Lane was originally envisioned as a $10 million theatrical release but was made as a TV movie with an $800,000 budget. After its initial broadcast, it was not re-aired or released to home media, leading to a cult following and belief it was banned due to angry parent letters. A Nickelodeon representative stated it was merely forgotten. In August 2011, a Reddit user recovered a VHS copy from the original broadcast, making it available online. The ensuing reaction prompted TeenNick to re-air the film on October 31, 2011, and several times thereafter. Director Peter Lauer expressed surprise at the attention, unaware of any banning. The film remains notable as a rediscovered lost film and a rare Nickelodeon horror entry.

Did You Know?

• The film was never aired outside the United States nor dubbed into other languages.
• It was shot in Kingston, New Jersey, in a little over twenty days, with an extra day in Ohio.
• Nickelodeon insisted on Frank Langella for the role of the caretaker, hoping for extra publicity.
• A copy was discovered on Reddit in August 2011, leading to its first re-airing on TeenNick on October 31, 2011.

Production & Creative Vision

Cry Baby Lane was initially envisioned as a $10 million theatrical release, but Nickelodeon ultimately scaled it back to a made-for-television production with a budget of just $800,000. The film was shot in the Village of Kingston, New Jersey, with a handful of additional scenes captured in Tontogany, Ohio, all completed in a little over twenty days of principal photography. It was produced by Albie Hecht and Jerry Kupfer, with Doug Able serving as editor and John Inwood as director of photography. Director Peter Lauer had originally hoped to cast Tom Waits in the role of the town caretaker, but Nickelodeon overruled that choice, insisting on Frank Langella in the hope that his name would generate additional publicity for the project. The supporting cast featured a mix of familiar Nickelodeon regulars and character actors, including Jim Gaffigan as Bob, Andie K. Taylor as Becky, and Rob Newton as the Evil Twin. The film premiered on October 28, 2000, as part of SNICK's Halloween special hosted by Melissa Joan Hart.

Plot & Story

The story centers on two brothers, Andrew and Carl, who are captivated by ghost tales told by their local undertaker, Mr. Bennett. One night, Bennett recounts the legend of a farmer whose wife delivered conjoined twins—one gentle, one malevolent. Ashamed, the farmer locked them away until a liver disease killed them both. He then had the bodies sawn in half, burying the good twin in a cemetery and the evil twin in a shallow grave at the end of a dirt road called Cry Baby Lane, where anyone caught out at night would hear the dead twin's cries. When Andrew and his friends hold a séance at the cemetery, a weed is cut near the grave and strange phenomena ripple through town. Bennett confesses he mixed up the bodies during the separation, meaning the good twin is buried in the field, crying for help rather than vengeance, while the evil twin possesses nearly everyone in town. Andrew must journey into the good twin's grave and cut a root wrapped around the skeleton to free the spirit. The evil twin tries to bury him alive, but Andrew succeeds, and the next morning the good twin's grave is covered in flowers.

Lost Film Status & Rediscovery

After its single broadcast on October 28, 2000, as part of SNICK's Halloween special hosted by Melissa Joan Hart, Cry Baby Lane vanished from television entirely. It never crossed the U.S. border for broadcast, was never dubbed into another language, and never saw a home media release. For more than a decade, it was widely regarded as a lost film, joining a small club that included the 2003 Nickelodeon movie The Electric Piper and the 2011 Cartoon Network entry Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood. Angry parents reportedly wrote letters to Nickelodeon about the film, and many fans believed it had been deliberately suppressed. A Nickelodeon representative later clarified that the film had simply been forgotten rather than banned. In August 2011, a Reddit user tracked down a VHS recording of the original broadcast and posted it online. The resulting online frenzy prompted TeenNick to re-air the film on October 31, 2011. Director Peter Lauer, interviewed in the aftermath, expressed surprise and flattery, admitting he had assumed the network simply didn't like the movie and had moved on with his life.

Legacy & Cultural Afterlife

Cry Baby Lane's obscurity became its greatest asset. The film's reputation as a supposedly banned or lost Nickelodeon production gave it a cult following that no marketing campaign could have manufactured. When TeenNick brought it back to air in 2011, it was promoted with the claim that it had been banned from television, a framing that fueled viewer curiosity even though Nickelodeon had only ever said the film was forgotten. The broadcast piggybacked on the momentum of the '90s Are All That programming block, and the film went on to rerun on March 31, 2015, October 31, 2015 (on the block's successor, the Splat), October 31, 2016, July 8, 2017, and October 20, 2017. Its status as a rediscovered film earned it a place on lists of lost and creepypasta-adjacent media, and it remains a touchstone for fans of early-2000s Nickelodeon horror. The film's journey from a forgotten $800,000 TV movie to a recurring Halloween tradition illustrates how internet culture can resurrect and reframe a piece of television history.