Teen Movie Review: The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It

R.L. Stine has written a lot of good books. This movie, The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It, is a movie he helped to create. It was made to look like a horror movie, but it also has some fun parts included in it. When I had the chance to review the movie, I was excited. I like scary movies. When I watched it, I found out that it was exactly as I expected it to be. It had horror. It had excitement. It had comedic moments, all rolled into one excellent movie.

The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It is about a girl named Cassie (Emily Osment). She’s a girl who doesn’t get scared of anything. She dresses like a goth. The kids in her new school think she is weird. Cassie has a little brother, Max (Alex Winzenread). Her brother is a six year old scaredy cat. He is afraid of everything. He also likes getting in all of Cassie’s stuff. Cassie tells him to stay out of her room, but he doesn’t listen. So, she scares him just to get back at him.

In the beginning of the movie, Cassie hides in Max’s closet to scare him. Her parents tell her it’s a rough time for Max, being in a new house and at a new school. It’s hard for Cassie, too, but her parents don’t seem to care. One day, she goes to a store called the Halloween Store. She finds it on the way to the library. In this store, she finds a book called ‘The Evil Thing’. A strange man played by Tobin Bell (the scary guy from the Saw movies), sells Cassie the book.

When he does, she gets a key to open the book’s lock. When she opens it outside the shop, the world becomes filled with chaos. The wind blows leaves all over the place. She also notices a warning in the front of the book that says Do Not Read Aloud. When she shuts the book the world returns to normal and the wind stops. Cassie goes home and forgets about the book. She prepares to go to the Pumpkin Dance at her school. She has a plan to get back at the popular girl, Priscilla (Brittany Curran), who is the dance’s Pumpkin Queen.

It is a tradition at the school that the Pumpkin Queen breaks a piñata after she is crowned. Cassie decides to fill the piñata (shaped like a pumpkin) with live cockroaches. When Priscilla breaks the piñata, the cockroaches fall all over her. She ends up losing her balance and falling into the Pumpkin Cake. She knows Cassie did it, but she can’t prove it. She decides she wants to get even.

On Halloween, Cassie has to take Max out trick or treating. After that, her parents are going to a party. She has to babysit Max. After putting him in bed, Cassie tries to do her term paper. However, Max finds ‘The Evil Thing’ book on her desk and wants her to read it to him. She says it is too scary, but he’s determined to have her read it so he purposefully turns off the power switch to her computer, making her lose all her homework. To punish him, she decides to read the story aloud. Having ignored the warning and with Priscilla (who is blackmailing the guy, Sean (Cody Linley), that Cassie likes into helping her) out to get even with Cassie, the adventure in this movie has yet to begin.

The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It has multiple special features. There is a music video featuring Emily Osment. It is called, “Don’t Think About It”. There is a Scare-o-Meter quiz you can take to see what character in the movie you are the most like. I was the most like Sean. There is also a Making of The Haunting Hour Featurette and an interview with R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps book series, who helped to create and develop this movie.

The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It is a great movie. It is recommended for teenagers and older kids. It might be too scary for little kids who are seven and under. I think adults will love it, too. It is one of the best horror movies I’ve seen that is also more suited for a younger audience then the typical horror movie seems to be.

The DVD for The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It is set to be released September 4, 2007.

Rating:

Technorati Tags: The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don’t Think About It, R.L. Stine, DVD Review, Horror, Family, Emily Osment

Written by Robert OG Kid - Visit Website
---
The OG Kid is a 13 year old who loves cartoons, playing outdoors, and eating food at the Olive Garden (not necessarily in that order). He has the opportunity to review a plethora of newly and/or yet to be released DVDs, toys, television show episodes, and movies. With the eyes and heart of a child, he can share his thoughts on everything, from a kid's perspective.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!