''R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series'' is an original anthology horror-fantasy television series which is based on the 2007 movie '' R.L Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It'' and the anthologies '' The Haunting Hour'' and '' Nightmare Hour'' by

R.L. Stine Robert Lawrence Stine (; born October 8, 1943), sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor. Stine has been referred to as the "St ...

,Clark, Noelene (December 19, 2010)
"‘The Haunting Hour’: R. L. Stine promises ‘shivers but not nightmares’ with new show"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Retrieved on December 19, 2010. that originally aired on The Hub Network from October 29, 2010 to October 11, 2014. The only story taken from ''The Haunting Hour'' anthology was ''My Imaginary Friend'', and the only story unused from ''The Nightmare Hour'' was ''Make Me a Witch''. The fourth season's seven remaining episodes ran on

Discovery Family Discovery Family is an American cable television channel co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Hasbro Entertainment. The channel was originally launched by Discovery Communications on October 7, 1996 as Discovery Kids, a spin-off of Discover ...

from October 18, 2014 to November 29, 2014. The series was produced by Front Street Pictures, The Hatchery, Incendo Films, and

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

. On July 9, 2012, it was announced that ''R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour'' was one of four original series from The Hub that won the

CINE Golden Eagle Award Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer ...

for high quality production and storytelling. The series received critical acclaim throughout its run and is considered to be the best children's horror anthology show as well as one of the best horror anthologies in general with praise given to the acting (from both the child and adult actors), production value, dark tone, direction, storytelling, gothic atmosphere and style, scares and effects. On December 8, 2014, it was confirmed by Stine via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that Discovery Family cancelled the show after its run of four seasons.

Production

Prior to the broadcast of the series, series creator R. L. Stine reported via Twitter saying ''The Haunting Hour: The Series'' was similar to his previous series ''

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually i ...

''. The series was filmed in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Premise

Like ''

'', every episode features a different cast in a scary situation that would involve

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

s, and

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

s. However, the storylines are much darker than its aforementioned predecessor and some episodes serve as very dark morality tales. Unlike the ''Goosebumps'' series, the threat of death is not implied, being both clear and permanent. In addition, death in the show is not limited to antagonists and minor characters with some stories even ending with the main protagonist(s) being killed. However, there are some episodes that have happy endings similar to most of the episodes of ''

Are You Afraid of the Dark? ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' is a horror anthology television series. The original series aired on Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1996; the pilot episode aired respectively on YTV and Nickelodeon in 1990 and 1991. It led to two revival series, w ...

'' which had this formula.

Episodes

Home media

Accolades

Made Of Matches

"Made Of Matches" is a song performed, written and produced by American actress, singer and songwriter

Debby Ryan Deborah Ann Ryan (born May 13, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She started acting professionally onstage at the age of seven, and was later discovered during Disney Channel's nationwide search for new talent. Ryan's work for Disney Ch ...

. It was released as a digital download on March 29, 2011, as a promotional single in the United States by The Hatchery label. The song is featured in the episode "Wrong Number" that Ryan also appears in. It was not included on any studio album or

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Composition

midtempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

song, "Made of Matches" exhibits elements of

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

and pop. Built on a

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

, multi-tracked harmonies, the song's instrumentation includes slow-bouncing

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

and

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s. In an interview with ''Cambio'', Ryan commented about writing a song for the first time "It's very much my heart. 'Made of Matches' was kind of the first time I've really expressed myself through Music personally". On April 6, 2011, Ryan commented on Twitter that "Writing has always been a release for me, and lately I've fallen in love with the music production. Knitting together my stories and feelings."

Music video

The official music video for the song premiered on The Hub on February 4, 2011. The video was directed by Neill Fearnley with scenes from the episode "Wrong Number."

Books

In 2001 Stine released ''The Haunting Hour: Chills in the Dead of Night'', a collection of 10 short stories featuring illustrations by various artists. A reviewer for the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...

'' wrote favorably of the collection and stated that it would be best for children over the age of eight. ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

'' was also favorable. This, along with the 2007 film and the 1999 horror collection '' Nightmare Hour'', helped form the basis of the television series. Of ''The Haunting Hour'', only "My Imaginary Friend" was adapted into an episode.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haunting Hour The Series 2010s American children's television series 2010s American drama television series 2010 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings 2010s Canadian children's television series 2010s Canadian drama television series 2010 Canadian television series debuts 2014 Canadian television series endings Angels in television 2010s American anthology television series American children's fantasy television series American television shows featuring puppetry Canadian children's horror television series American children's horror television series 2010s American horror television series 2010s Canadian anthology television series Canadian children's fantasy television series Canadian supernatural television series Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Dark fantasy television series Demons in television English-language television shows Television about fairies and sprites Television series about ghosts Television about magic R. L. Stine Robots in television Television series by Endemol Vampires in television Television about werewolves Witchcraft in television Zombies in television Discovery Family original programming Television shows filmed in Vancouver