The Haunting Hour: The Series
Children's horror anthology television series
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R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series is a children's horror anthology television series based on the 2007 movie R.L Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It and the anthologies The Haunting Hour: Chills in the Dead of Night and Nightmare Hour by R.L. Stine,[1] which originally aired on The Hub Network (now Discovery Family) 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 from October 18, 2014, to November 29, 2014. The series was produced by Front Street Pictures, The Hatchery, Incendo Films, and Endemol.
Paul Michael Thomas
United States
| The Haunting Hour: The Series | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genre | Horror Science fiction Supernatural Dark fantasy Comedy-Drama |
| Theme music composer | John Sereda Paul Michael Thomas |
| Countries of origin | Canada United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 76 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Dan Angel Kim Arnott Billy Brown Harvey Kahn |
| Production locations | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Cinematography | Micheael Balfry |
| Production companies | The Hatchery Incendo Films Front Street Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | Hub Network (2010–2014) Discovery Family (2014) |
| Release | October 29, 2010 – November 29, 2014 |
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 for high quality production and storytelling.[2]
On December 8, 2014, it was confirmed by Stine via Twitter that Discovery Family cancelled the show after its run of four seasons.[3]
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. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In Canada, the show aired on Teletoon from 2011–2014 when the show was moved to YTV, which aired reruns until 2017.
Premise
Like Goosebumps, every episode features a different cast in a scary situation that would involve ghosts, aliens, witches, zombies, and monsters. 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. There are some episodes that have twist endings. However, there are some episodes that have happy endings similar to most of the episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark? which had this formula.
Episodes
Home media
| Name | Release date | Episodes | Region | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume One | September 4, 2012 | 5 | 1 |
|
| Volume Two | September 4, 2012 | 5 | 1 |
|
| Volume Three | February 5, 2013 | 5 | 1 |
|
| Volume Four | February 5, 2013 | 5 | 1 |
|
| Volume Five | September 3, 2013 | 5 | 1 |
|
| Volume Six | September 3, 2013 | 5 | 1 |
|
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actor 14-17 | Ricardo Hoyos | Nominated | [4] |
| Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actor 11-13 | Baljodh Nagra | Won | |||
| Dakota Goyo | Nominated | ||||
| Jason Spevack | Nominated | ||||
| Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress 11-13 | Ava Rebecca Hughes | Nominated | |||
| Jessica Mcleod | Nominated | ||||
| 2013 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actor 14-21 | Donnie MacNeil | Nominated | [5] |
| Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress Ten and Under | Alissa Skobye | Nominated | |||
| 2013 | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Costume Design/Styling | Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh and Natalie Simon | Won | [6][7] |
| Outstanding Hairstyling | Trudy Parisien and Cara Doell | Won | |||
| Outstanding Children's Series | Dan Angel, Billy Brown, Harvey Kahn, Kim Arnott, Jane Stine, Joan Waricha, Charles Lyall and Dawn Knight | Won | |||
| 2014 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress 17-21 | Laine MacNeil | Nominated | [8] |
| Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress 11-13 | Rowan Rycroft | Nominated | |||
| Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress 10 and Under | Jena Skodje | Won | |||
| 2014 | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Children's Series | Dan Angel, Kim Arnott, Billy Brown, Harvey Kahn, Dawn Knight, Jane Stine, Joan Waricha, Charles Lyall and Oliver De Caigny | Won | [9][10] |
| 2015 | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Children's Series | Dan Angel, Kim Arnott, Billy Brown, Harvey Kahn, Dawn Knight, Mandy Spencer-Phillips, Ted Biaselli, Allen Lewis, Margaret Loesch, Juliet Smith, Jane Stine, Joan Waricha, and Marnie Young | Won | [11][12] |
| Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design | Teresa Weston, Michael Corrado and Josh Plaw | Won | |||
| Outstanding Performer in a Children's or Pre-School Children's Series | Margot Kidder as Mrs. Worthington (for "Mrs. Worthington") | Won | |||
Music
American actress Debby Ryan recorded the song "Made Of Matches" to the episode "Wrong Number", that Ryan appears as a singer.[13][14] The song was written and produced Ryan.[15][16] A music video was premiered on The Hub on February 4, 2011, directed by Neill Fearnley with scenes from the episode.[17]
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.[18] A reviewer for the Tampa Bay Times wrote favorably of the collection and stated that it would be best for children over the age of eight. Booklist 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.[citation needed]
