TheBlueHairedLawyer Cassie is a thirteen year old goth girl attending her new school where a preppy and rich snot named Priscilla goes out of her way to make Cassie's first days a misery. Meanwhile at home, Cassie has to try and convince her parents to accept her Gothic lifestyle, and also enjoys scaring the head off her little brother, Max.One day while going to the local library, clad in the stereotypical goth black cloak and carrying an armload of horror novels, Cassie comes across a secluded Halloween store and her curiosity gets the better of her. She meets a creepy old salesman who sells her a book called 'The Evil Thing', and she also gets her revenge on Priscilla at the school dance by filling Priscilla's pinata full of cockroaches. Everybody begins calling Priscilla the Cockroach Queen, so Priscilla dares Cassie's crush, Sean, to read her diary.While babysitting Max on Halloween night, Max accidentally deletes Cassie's homework (kids, write by hand, you'll save more time), and to scare him she reads him 'The Evil Thing'. Sean apologizes for Priscilla's jerky behavior but it isn't long before the Evil Thing monster comes to life... can Cassie and Sean rescue Max, Priscilla and the local pizza dude from becoming food for a monster's newborn babies? For kids this certainly isn't a bad movie. It's a horror movie but no one dies aside from the monster, there is very little, if any, gore and it isn't very scary. Of course, this probably varies by the audience. The soundtrack is excellent and the acting was okay, and it has the name of the kids' horror author R. L. Stine attached to it, the creator (or at least inspiration) for Goosebumps, the Nightmare Room, Fear Street, and recently a Haunting Hour TV series.The pros? Original plot, great and catchy (yet sadly unreleased) soundtrack, no swearing or sex jokes, creative characters.The cons? Well...Alright, there's the matter of Cassie herself, her character is highly unrealistic. Not only did they hire a well-known actress/singer to play her role, but they try to pass her off as a thirteen-year-old. Cassie, Sean and Priscilla all look to be high schoolers, not to mention the school itself has a high school appearance. You can't tell me that these characters are thirteen, they don't look the part. The scenes at the school are like something out of a Lifetime anti-bullying film, and Cassie is too stereotypical, as if all goths do is act depressed, hate their parents, throw on a pair of headphones to listen to alternative rock, borrow horror novels and constantly think of death and creepy things. And if you think I don't know what I'm talking about, I only graduated high school a year ago so I definitely know what real kids act like, it most certainly isn't this. The acting was okay but they hired well-known actors/actresses, giving the film an unrealistic feel. Priscilla's snob personality was way too overdone, as was Cassie's goth personality, to the point where both characters seemed incredibly fake.That being said, The Haunting Hour isn't a bad kids' film, although I liked R. L. Stine's two-part TV movie Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House (1997) much better. If this movie was ever remade, I think they should tone down the Wednesday Addams act from the role of Cassie. Either way, check it out, it's not too bad and for kids who like horror but you're afraid Stephen King or George Romero might be too much for them to handle, this is a great compromise.

Pumpkin_Man I know I'm 3 days late, but this was a really good children's Halloween movie. It can be for adults like me who is still a kid at heart. Emily Osment was very hot as the Gothic chick, Cassie. Cassie's younger brother, Max is annoying and is afraid of everything. Cassie is new in school, and made fun of for looking and acting different than the preps, except for Sean, who likes her for being weird. After an embarrassing episode in the school's cafeteria, she runs into The Stranger, who sells her a book called The Evil Thing. On Halloween night, the Evil Thing comes alive and attacks anyone who gets in its way. It's up to Cassie, and Sean to save everyone and stop the Evil Thing. I highly recommend THE HAUNTING HOUR: DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!!!

laydash I simply love this movie! It's a fun flick that I enjoy watching anytime of the year. I especially like the fact that it was shot here in the Pittsburgh area. The boy who plays Ralph in the movie should have had a bigger part. He should have gone to fight the evil thing with the rest of them. Anyway, you should see him now!!! He's 16 and he has grow into quite a hottie!!! He is performing now with a group called the UNDALRDS. He performs under the name Z1Nation, and one of his hits is called Black Superman. To find out more about him, you search for him on google or youtube. His videos can be found on laydash's channel.

hawk-58 I happened to catch this movie on the Cartoon Channel - a first for me -when it first came out. I remember buying the R.L. Stine books for my daughter when she was a teenager, but had never read any myself. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Okay, I had never seen Emily Osment, either (although I knew she was Haley Joel's sister, for which I should be awarded some points, I think), but I thought she was excellent, as was all the cast.Guess what: when Halloween came around this year, I found myself looking for this movie again! It is silly, fun, and definitely has its scary moments. It is entertaining for kids, older kids and adults, and I recommend it highly for just about any age group (the icky monster stuff may be too much for really small kids), and as a family watch-it-together movie. I rate it 8/10 and have just bought a copy on Amazon just in case the Cartoon Network has moved on to other things in October 2009.