Customer Reviews

RL Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (Full Screen Edition)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to be a huge fan of R.L. Stine, but as I got older, I realized that his books were pretty stupid. When I heard about The Haunting Hour, I decided to give it a shot since it had a great cast. My expectations were low, but the movie proved to make for an exciting two hours. Emily Osment is a great actress and was able to play a very different character from her role on Hannah Montana. The rest of the cast were pretty good too, with the exception of the little brother and parents who I felt were a bit annoying. The plot isn't that different from a typical Goosebumps books, but the great characters, amazing soundtrack and snappy writing make it special.

Either R.L. Stine is really improving as a writer, or he wasn't involved in the movie that much. The only problem I really had was the last few minutes, which felt like a typical, stupid ending you'd find in Goosebumps. All that aside, this is a very interesting movie that even managed to creep me out a bit. Give us a Volume 2!

My kids and I were channel surfing this past Halloween week and came upon this movie. When my daughter, who is a huge Hannah Montana fan, saw Emily Osment was in the film she demanded we watch. My 14 year old son was not thrilled with the idea, but 15 minutes into the movie we were hooked- including myself! It spoke to an 11 year old a 14 year old and an adult. It's a great family flick- perfect for Halloween! I highly recommend this movie.

This movie was great for my kids over Halloween weekend. They normally don't like scary movies, especially my youngest, but they were both thoroughly entertained and spooked. My youngest daughter asked me to buy the film 'so we could watch it every year'. I am glad to do so.

I bought this movie for my niece this Christmas. She loves scary movies. We all watched it together as a family on the 26th and a new boxing day tradition was born! My niece felt so special that the whole family enjoyed her movie. I remember loving RL Stine when I was about her age and wishing that my parents read the books too. It was so gratifying to watch my mother and sister munching out of a big Christmas tin of flavored popcorn and being so absorbed in this thrilling film!

This movie is a must for tweens who are at the perfect age to enjoy the suspense and fun. We had a party with all the neighborhood tween kids. They LOVED it! Emily Osment did a great job along with a few new names here. This is not an adult or young adult movie so I don't get any bad reviews here. It wasn't my thing but I'm a "Mom!" If your kids love Goosebumps, they will totally LOVE The Haunting Hour....Don't Think About It!" I loved watching my kids ENJOY this.

This movie is so much fun -- entertaining and scary. The cast is phenomenal! It's thrilling to watch and fun for the whole family. I watched it with my cousins who are all different ages, and this was the only movie that we could all agree on watching... and everyone loved it! I highly recommend it.

I used to love the RL Stine books when I was younger, and this movie brought me back to those fun days of loving to get scared as a kid! A ton of fun! I definitely recommend it for the whole family.

I loved this movie. I got it for one of my younger brothers for Christmas, he's an avid R.L. Stine reader, and we watched it on Saturday as a family, along with our other two brothers (they're all teenagers) and everyone loved it. Emily Osment is as talented as her brother Haley Joel and she definitely has a long career ahead of her. I saw some of the other reviews on here and don't understand what's up with all the negative reaction, this is a GREAT movie and it's one that you can enjoy with your whole family! Like I said, my brother is a huge fan of R.L. Stine, so we've watched a lot of the R.L. Stine movies and this is one of the best. FIVE STARS!

I bought this item to show at our yearly "Horrorfest" for the grandkids and their friends. The movie was well-made with good productions values (not so true with some of the other R. L. Stine movies). The kids liked it and it has some pretty good scares in it. The only problem I had... and I admit it's minor when compared to the rest of the movie... are the breaks in the story to have the lead character walking down the street being introspective with the musical accompaniment; you know... a music video insert. They only last about a half a minute, but they're annoying. Thankfully, most directors are finally getting away from these little time-wasters.

Other than that, I recommend this movie for the intended age group. It's not "SAW" (although Saw fans will get a little kick of recognition when they watch it), but for its intended audience, it dishes out some good fright.

R.L. Stine's "The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It", is a 2007 direct-to-video movie (which also aired on Cartoon Network as primetime Halloween programming) about a 13 year old goth girl named Cassie who is mad at the world for no visible reason other than having apparently zero friends at school. Of course, that could be due to the fact that she dresses like she might put a hex on you if you tick her off. She does get tormented by one student, the super popular, super beautiful Priscilla, but whether or not this is a daily problem or the result of Cassie's attempt to buddy up with the guy Priscilla wants to go out with is unknown. Anyway, after a bad lunchroom scene and even worse Halloween Dance revenge, things get heated between Priscilla and Cassie, and the object of their desires, sweet but not so bright school heartthrob Sean, is caught in the middle. Enter "The Evil Thing", a book Cassie buys at an odd curiosity shop that pops up out of nowhere just long enough to make the one sale. Within the locked pages of what reads like a children's book is something that amounts to a conjuring spell, summoning an evil creature when read aloud that begins hunting down people around Cassie one by one. Luckily, they are just stored away for the creatures soon to be hatched babies, but it's soon up to Cassie to rescue the captured victims on Halloween night if she wants them to live to see November!

I have to give props to R.L. Stine and the makers of this fun little direct to video movie. Sure, the characters are all stereotypical, and yeah, there's a shameless Papa John's plug (it is NOT as bad as everyone says, and it wouldn't have phased anyone if it was a made-up pizza brand used; why be scared of realism?), and the evil book itself reads so silly that, well, that you're reminded of how corny Goosebumps and similar shows often were. And, frankly, it's hard to like the heroine here, as she is kind of a little witch half the time for no good reason. Her brother IS super annoying though. But, regardless of my occasional desire to side with the "mean girl" in this one, largely because that actress is a hottie hot hottie (don't jump on my head, she IS 20 now, and she was in her later teens when she made this), and all that other stuff I mentioned before, this is a fun, enjoyable movie that has more bite to it than any of the other Stine stuff I've tried out. It's actually a scary movie for kids, which is nice and different, and it's entertaining for all ages if you are young at heart and LOVE Halloween. Personally, I don't think there are enough movies that feature the joyful traditions of Halloween, from trick or treating to parties and so on, so the more the merrier. I look forward to making this one at least an annual viewing and recommend you at least give it a try if you like Halloween-themed movies and specials or R.L. Stine. This is among the better ones in both categories.

The DVD is available in widescreen or fullscreen (don't get fullscreen, come on), so watch which one you pick up, and there are 4 bonus features that are pretty good mostly. Yeah, interesting thing to note: The back of the DVD lists 3 of the Bonus Features, then says, "And More!", but as is usually the case, there is only one more, ha. Anyway, those features are a Making Of featurette, an Emily Osment (who plays Cassie) music video (in which we see her how we're more used to seeing her, the total opposite of her character, ha), an entertaining bravery profile game called "Scare-O-Meter", and a pretty good little interview with R.L. Stine. The various bonus features include interviews with the main stars, of course, Emily Osment (Cassie), Cody Linley (Sean), and the lovely Brittany Elizabeth Curran (Priscilla). Saw's Tobin Bell also stars as the mysterious shopkeeper. Great family viewing for something scary but family friendly on Halloween. Also recommended for Halloween viewing, some family friendly, some not, are the following: "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", "Garfield's Halloween Adventure", the Scary Godmother specials, "Sleepy Hollow", "Ichabod and Mr. Toad", Hallmark's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", "Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman", "Spaced Invaders", "The Witches", "The Worst Witch", the Harry Potter series, "Mickey's House of Villains", the "Halloween" film series, "Trick `r Treat", and, if you can find them, "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't" (AKA The Night Dracula Saved the World), "Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumpkin That Couldn't Smile", "Halloween with the Addams Family", and "The Midnight Hour". Of course, there ARE others...