The Haunting Hour

I love this movie. And I have absolutely no idea why!

So basically The Haunting Hour was a TV movie released 10 years ago (yeah that doesn't make me feel a bit old) based on R.L. Stein's work, the same guy who wrote Goosebumps in the 90s that premiered on Cartoon Network. So of course I saw it and I greatly enjoy this movie, but the reason why I cannot say. The movie follows a young girl named Cassie played by Emily Osment who after moving to a new town discovers an odd Halloween store where she purchases a book by the title of "The Evil Thing", she reads it out loud against a fair warning to her little brother awakening the beast, thus causing her to destroy the creature and save her brother. It's not a brilliant plot but I think it's more of the inner workings of the movie as to why I like it. The movie has that TV movie feel, but it works. Maybe because it follows the same vein as Goosebumps, and I really loved Goosebumps back in the day so nostalgia has a part to play in this, but that's not all. From the opening credits you know you're in for a basic but spooky time, and all things Halloween are addressed even it's origins, so it has that exquisite fall feeling to it. Emily Osment is awesome as Cassie, I really enjoyed her performance cause you can tell she's commited to the movie and she is just a likable character. I always digged the goth look, which I blame fully on The Hex Girls when I was like, four years old. But not only do we get her, we get Tobin Bell. Now you might be asking, who the heck is Tobin Bell? Well....does the quote, "I want to play a game." ring a bell? (Ba dum tss!) Yes, that's right it's Jigsaw from the Saw movies. Hwhat?? They got, the jigsaw killer in this movie? How? Why? I don't know. But it is friggin' brilliant. Love that guy! Anywho, you know what I noticed in this movie? The horror movie easter eggs and references are incredible, and you really have to pay attention to get them. They range from a total obvious Halloween reference in the credits to a almost obscure Stephen King reference unless you really look at the big picture of that scene, you even see Universal horror movies playing on TV's like Island Of Lost Souls or The Mummy's Tomb, it's great fun to see how many you catch. And lastly I love how the evil thing itself is a full animatronic, like this was 2007 and they did a full animatronic beast, so major huge props to the movie for that. Now the movie is far from perfect, some of the acting is stilted, Cassie's brother Max is....ugh, insufferable, and my God they go full Mean Girls with one character, and I haven't even WATCHED Mean Girls and I know that is full stereotype! But just the charm and simplicity of this movie makes it prime material for a family movie night in October. I can't explain it, the movie just entertains me and I love it to death. Why? I couldn't tell you but I highly insist you check this movie out, just to prove I haven't gone senile at the age of 22 and it's actually a really good movie. It's so good I bought it for crying out loud!

Well, that does it for today. But we saved the best for last, a film so incredible it deserves to be seen by all. The one, the only, Paranorman.