| R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It | |
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DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Alex Zamm |
| Produced by | Dan Angel Billy Brown Margaret Loesch |
| Written by | Dan Angel Billy Brown |
| Starring | Emily Osment Cody Linley Brittany Curran Tobin Bell |
| Music by | Chris Hajian |
| Cinematography | Jacques Haitkin |
| Editing by | John Gilbert Todd C. Ramsay |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios Home Entertainment Cartoon Network |
| Release date(s) | September 4, 2007 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It is a 2007 horror fantasy family film based on the children's book of the same name by R. L. Stine. The film was released on DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment on September 4, 2007, and was the first family direct-to-video film to be released on DVD in separate widescreen and pan and scan formats.[1]
The film was directed by Alex Zamm, written by Dan Angel and Billy Brown, and stars Emily Osment, Cody Linley, Brittany Curran, and Tobin Bell.
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Cassie (Emily Osment) is a thirteen-year-old goth girl who just moved to a new neighborhood and new school. She loves playing tricks on the popular kids at school and her younger brother Max (Alex Winzenread).
On the way to the library, Cassie finds a mysterious Halloween store down an alley and goes inside. The store owner (Tobin Bell) sells her a book called The Evil Thing, which contains a warning on the front page: "DO NOT READ ALOUD". That night, Cassie ignores the warning in the book and reads it to Max to get back at him for turning off her computer in the middle of her writing a report. Priscilla (Brittany Curran), who stole The Evil Thing from Cassie's bag in school, films her jumping in fear, after using a CD player to play monster sounds outside in order to make the monster appear to have come to life.
Later that night, The Evil Thing is brought to life by Max's thoughts and captures him, Priscilla, and a Papa John's Pizza delivery man. It is up to Cassie and Sean (Cody Linley) to save them. At first, they try to defeat The Evil Thing on their own, but fail. Cassie then asks the owner of the shop, where she bought the book, for help. Cassie discovers that the store owner travels around the world each Halloween, searching for the person who loves to scare people the most. He leaves them with only a riddle for help before making his shop disappear. After he disappears, Sean makes remarks that solve the riddle. Together, they formulate that if they get blood from a roast that Cassie's mother made and throw it on The Evil Thing, it will be forced to suck up the blood. In doing so, it will devour itself. By using Sean's CD of monster sound effects, they are able to lure the monster to the CD player; however, when the monster nudges it, the music turns into hip hop, thus ruining their plan. While fumbling, Sean and Cassie accidentally drop the blood on Max, who must conquer his fears and save the day. When Cassie encourages him, Max tosses the blood onto The Evil Thing, causing its heads to begin attacking each other. The monster eats itself, eventually exploding in a shower of yellow blood, taking its offspring with it.
With The Evil Thing destroyed, Max, Sean, and Cassie save Priscilla. She angrily accuses Cassie of being a witch and Sean rejects Priscilla in favor of Cassie. After Priscilla leaves, they save the pizza delivery guy, who offers them free pizza in return for his release. They burn the book and rid themselves of The Evil Thing. Sean leaves shortly after they burn the book. Cassie and Max's parents then come home and find the book in the fireplace. The father mockingly reads it out loud, reviving The Evil Thing. The movie ends with Cassie realizing that The Evil Thing is back to life and that it is not over yet.
The movie was filmed in the borough of Carnegie, Pennsylvania as well as Cranberry Township in October and November 2006.[2]
The film's score was written by Chris Hajian. The film also included songs by pop rock and indie rock musicians.
While Doug Bentin calls the main character Cassie as "the main attraction" of the film;[3] William David Lee describes her as merely fitting into the standard role of an outsider.[4]
The use of pizza delivery in the film has been regarded by critics as "overly integrated product placement".[5] Heather Boerner criticized the film for its over the top use of Papa John's Pizza. She wrote, "Not only is the pizza delivery guy included in more than half of the DVD, but the logo is present and the kids are shown munching ecstatically on the pizza at the end of the movie. They even say that the pizza is great, and how the delivery guy was nice. It's enough to make a commercial-conscious parent gag."[6]
R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour TV series premiered on October 29, 2010 on the TV station The Hub. According to his Twitter, R.L. Stine says the show is similar to his previous TV series, Goosebumps, and will have a different story every episode.[7]
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