TV/DVD Review: Locally filmed 'Haunting Hour' delivers frightful Stine-style fun

By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Squarely aimed at the "High School Musical" crowd, "R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It" is a solid piece of tween entertainment that's sure to appeal to children who obsessively watch Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows. To see this new made-for-DVD movie, they'll have to buy it (in stores or online today) or tune to Cartoon Network, which premieres "The Haunting Hour" at 7 p.m. Friday.

Filmed last fall in Western Pennsylvania and rated PG for "scary content and thematic elements," "The Haunting Hour" is suspenseful and may give younger children -- under, say, age 10 -- nightmares, but it's not bloody. It's more ... gooey.

The story kicks off when 13-year-old Goth girl Cassie (Emily Osment, Haley Joel's little sister who plays Lilly on "Hannah Montana") tries to make friends with blond, somewhat dim dude Sean (Cody Linley, "Hannah Montana"). But Priscilla (Brittany Elizabeth Curran, "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," "Drake & Josh"), leader of the junior high's Mean Girls, plans to take Sean to the Halloween dance, so she does everything she can to make Cassie feel unwelcome.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07247/814381-42.stm