Every Haunting Hour Ever #11: Fear Never Knocks

Season: 1
Episode: 11
Original Airdate: February 26, 2011
Director: Peter Deluise 

     Ladies and gentlemen! Strap yourselves in because today you're in for a big ass kicking treat with this episode! Why? Well let's look at the story. 

     Fears become real when the grandchildren of a decorated psychiatrist named George (Matthew Walker) play around with an ancient recorder in their grandfather's office. It turns out the recorder (called the Box of Fears) was brought to their grandfather by Fear itself (Christopher Heyerdahl) thirty-five years earlier. Now, with Grandpa George retiring, Fear returns, wanting back the box so that he can unleash upon the world all the dark fears stored inside.

     The first reason why this episode is so great is because of the atmosphere. Just like in Ghostly Stare, there is a heavy emphasis on atmosphere. Given that this is an episode about fear, it helps enhance the scares even more than in previous episodes. For example, There are a lot of quiet moments or moments where faint music is playing and when the scares do show up, it catches the audience off guard and the episode becomes extremely tense. 

     Another reason why this episode is so great is the message. Basically, the moral of this episode is that while fear can be seen as undesirable, it can sometimes be a good thing. I gotta be honest, I don't recall too many kids shows with an episode that has a similar message. Why this is I'm not too sure because it's an interesting and  valuable lesson for kids and even some adults to learn. 

     But by far the best part of this episode HAS to go to the villain. Oh my god is this guy phenomenal! He's basically like Freddy Kruger mixed with Jim Carrey in the sense that there's a lot of energy and emotion put into this character. I mean every second this guy is on screen, he seems like he's having a lot of fun and gets lost in the role! Because of this, he's one of those characters that the audience can't take their eyes off of. In other words, he basically steals the show! 

     Though, even with all these awesome elements being presented I still had one issue with the episode. Like I said, the moral of the episode is that fear can be a good thing sometimes. However, towards the end of the episode, the granddaughter gets rid of fear by turning into FDR and says that she fears only fear itself. By getting rid of fear, she not only eliminates the bad fears, but the good fears that keep people safe as well. If they wanted to convey the message a bit better, I think they should've shown the world plunging into absolute chaos with people running into the streets and getting run over, people hurting each other, and many other things. Though I guess you could only fit so much content into a 30 minute episode. Also, I checked. There is no sequel episode so this is all we get. 

     Overall, Fear Never Knocks is one of my favorite episodes of the series. In this episode, it seems like the people working on it really put in their best efforts and after watching a lackluster episode like Alien Candy, I can see why. While it's not perfect, it has plenty of likeable elements to warrant at least several viewings. 

     Overall Grade: A

Every Haunting Hour Ever #10: Alien Candy

Season: 1
Episode: 10 
Original Airdate: February 19, 2011
Director: Neill Fearnley

     Judging by the title of today's episode, the premise is going to involve you guessed it Betty White! Wait... This episode has NO Betty White!? Well then, I guess I just wasted everyone's time. 

     Walt (Grayson Russell) and his best friend Tim are sixth graders who are obsessed with aliens. When two strange eighth graders named Bonnie (Jessica McLeod) and Greg (Matthew Knight) ask Walt to join their secret alien club, he eagerly accepts. However, it turns out that Bonnie and Greg are real aliens that only wanted Walt to join so they could eat him.

     One of the things that makes this episode good are the characters. While they aren't too complex, they still manage to be likable and make the audience want to see them come out okay by the end of the episode. 

     Unfortunately, that's where the good stuff ends. 

     The biggest issue I have with this episode is that there are just one too many plot holes for me to fully get into the story. For example, when the aliens drug Walt, they start to eat him only for them to realize that they're allergic to people with red hair. Wait a minute! So you're telling me that NONE of the aliens noticed the colour of Walt's hair? Even though they have met up with him a couple of times in broad daylight and neither one of them had visual impairments! Another example would be when Bonnie tells Walt not to speak up about the club or she'll fry him. Then the aliens approach Tim to join the club so they can have some quote on quote "Indian food". Earlier in the episode however, the aliens said he wasn't good enough for their club. So which is it? Do the aliens like Tim or not? C'mon writers! This isn't a Choose Your Own Adventure book! Pick one or the other! 

     Overall, Alien Candy is definitely not my cup of tea. Granted it's not the worst episode of the series but it's not really an episode I can recommend if you get distracted by plot holes. Had the script been given a couple more rewrites, this may have been a stronger episode. However, as is, it feels quite underwhelming. 

      Overall Grade: C-

Every Haunting Hour Ever #9: Game Over

Season: 1
Episode: 9
Original Airdate: February 12, 2011
Director: Terry Ingram 

     Really guys? That's the best title you could come up with for a video game related episode? Well let's just hope the rest of the episode isn't as generic.

     Kelly "Kell-razer" (Calum Worthy) and his friend Gooch (AJ Lutsky) receive a mysteriously new game called Zee Town that they got from a stranger named the Game Master (voiced by David Sobolov). However, it turns out this game sucks its players into a live-action game world in which said players can actually die. As they team up with their newfound allies Sean and Mika, they must all fight their way out as that is the only way to survive.

     One of the things that makes this episode enjoyable is that they take the whole "People get sucked into a video game" concept and have a lot of fun with it. For example, when Kelly, Gooch, and their Asian friends are fighting the zombies, they use a wide variety of weapons in all sorts of ways to defeat them. Because of this, the fight scenes with the zombies and the quartet become very intense and entertaining to watch. Like in a really good beat 'em up game, It also feels satisfying whenever one if the quartet members hits a zombie. 

     Another thing that makes this episode enjoyable is that it actually SHOWS the good things that video games have to offer. These things include working together as a team to defeat the zombies and the Game Master, strategic planning, and socialization. In all honesty, I find this kind of refreshing because when it comes to a video game related episode in a kid's horror anthology show, such as The Tale of The Pinball Wizard from Are You Afraid of The Dark?, it usually shows the bad side of video games. 

     Though with all of that said, I did find one issue with the episode. For me, I found the ending where Kelly becomes trapped in the game as the new Game Master to be a little too predictable. Don't get me wrong! It's not a terrible ending but it seemed like this episode wanted to do a fresh take on the whole "Person gets sucked into a video game" concept. When you have an ending like this in an episode that's trying to do a fresh take on something, it feels really out of place and a bit lazy. 

     Overall, Game Over is a mostly refreshing take on a familiar concept done right. It's one of those "Don't judge a book by its cover" episodes. Sure the title isn't the most original, but the rest of the episode definitely does a lot to separate itself from other video game related horror stories. If you like The Haunting Hour and/or video games, this is definitely the ideal episode for you to watch! 

     Overall Grade: B+

Every Haunting Hour Ever #8: The Walls

Season: 1 
Episode: 8 
Original Airdate: February 5, 2011
Director: Michael Scott 

     You know, I gotta be honest with you guys. I never really found the Goosebumps TV Series to be that scary. Maybe it's because I've seen scarier content before I watched Goosebumps or maybe I was just a brave kid but either way, this show never managed to terrify me. This episode on the other hand... Um... Let's just look at the story first.

     Jeffery (Bobby Coleman) realizes that not everyone moves out before someone else moves in. There is something in the walls of the new house into which he and his parents move. 

     One of the things that makes this episode so damn good is that it's one of the few episodes that terrified me to the point where I had nightmares over it. Don't get me wrong, most of the episodes in this series have great scares but I can usually handle them okay. This one however is different because when I'm alone regardless of the time of day, I feel like there's someone in my house that shouldn't be there and this episode does a great job capturing this fear. I think this comes from the way the monster in the walls is built up through the hints that are given about it, the music, and the tense atmosphere all working together at the same time. 

     Another thing that makes this episode so damn good is the twist ending. You see, it turns out that Jeffery's parents knew all along that there was a creature in the walls. They say that the ugly old creature called a klemit causes good fortune and has a strong sweet tooth (and the old man who previously lived in the house died while dating a 29-year-old woman). I'm not going to lie, this is probably one of the best twist endings I've seen in a long while. I think it works because while there are hints along the way (i.e the parents buying expensive stuff, a neighbour telling Jeff about how the previous resident had to "Feed the walls", etc) are kept vague and somewhat subtle. 

     Overall, this was a rather enjoyable and terrifying episode that is sadly one of the more obscure episodes of the series, like Nightmare Inn for example. Why this is I'm not exactly sure but nevertheless it definitely deserves at least several viewings. 

     Overall Grade: A+

Every Haunting Hour Ever #7: Ghostly Stare

Season: 1
Episode: 7
Original Airdate: January 29, 2011
Director: Neill Fearnley

     If you've ever to a graveyard regardless of the time of day, you'd probably get two types of feelings from a place like this. The first feeling might be an eerie one, as if someone were following you around and wanted to cause harm. The other might be a sad feeling like your heart has become a lead weight as it sinks at the thought that hundreds or thousands of perished souls are buried there. So with that said, let's take a gander at this episode's story! 

     Lauren (Emma Grabinsky) and Mark (Jason Spevack) learn that when cemeteries are disturbed, not everything stays buried. A ghost replaces Mark when he falls into a grave. Lauren sets off to get her brother back. In a twist ending, Lauren is replaced by a ghost named Alice Clairborne and the real Lauren becomes dead.

     The first thing that I like about this episode is the atmosphere. Yeah I know I said that episodes of The Haunting Hour have a lot of atmosphere but this episode takes that one step further. There's a lot of quiet moments with no dialogue and moments where music just plays. I think there's this emphasis on atmosphere in this episode because when you get down to it, the plot is rather basic so it's not like they had a lot to go off of in the first place. Which leads me to my next point. 

     Another thing that I like about this episode is that this episode pulls off simple scares rather well. I think this has to do with the fact that scares like this don't really require that much set up to get right. It's basically scares that you would hear in a typical campfire story. They're not very complex but they're still effective within the context of the story. 

     There is one issue I had with this episode and that was with Lauren's brother. Don't get me wrong, he's not a terrible actor but he seems way too old for the role. The character he plays is written as if he was 7 or 8 years old while the actor himself looks to be around 12 or 13. While it might not seem like that big of an issue to some, I honestly found this kind of distracting. 

     On the whole, Ghostly Stare is a basic but enjoyable ghost story that really takes advantage of its setting and has fun with its premise. If your into ghost stories like this, you'll enjoy this episode OK. 

     Overall Grade: A-

Every Haunting Hour Ever #6: The Red Dress

Season: 1
Episode: 6
Original Airdate: January 15, 2011
Director: J. B Sugar

     Nice is good mean is bad! Don't be mean 'cus mean is bad! Nice is better than mean! Wait. This isn't the Malcolm in The Middle episode where Lois punishes the boys mercilessly because she thinks they burned her red dress? OK then. I guess I'll just go right to the story.

     Jamie (Linda Tomassone) is a lowly country club worker who will do anything to look like a glamorous rich girl. When she stops by a local thrift shop called "The Raven's Chest," she accidentally steals a beautiful red dress -- and soon learns the hard way that nothing in life is free.

    One of the things that I enjoyed about the episode was the tense atmosphere. Since this episode focused on someone stealing something, it does its best to capture the feeling of "getting something for nothing". Basically, this feeling is like an adrenaline rush. Your heart starts to beat rapidly, you become very nervous, and you want to get out of there as fast as possible. Once a blind woman that stalks the main character for taking the dress is added into the mix, it becomes a very intense episode to watch. 

     Another thing I enjoyed about the episode was that it does a great job at adding meat to what is essentially a bare bones plot. For one thing, the main character has another motivation for keeping the dress outside of wanting to impress a boy. For example, throughout the episode, it's heavily implied that Jamie is a poor girl that has patches on all of her clothes and has to work her summer away. With this dress, she can feel like a rich person and be happy, even if was for a short period of time. I also think that making this type of plot into a horror story actually works to the episode's advantage. I've seen this sort of plot many times as a comedy story but very rarely have I seen it done as a horror story and because of this, it kind of gives the episode a sense of uniqueness. 

     However, the one issue that plagues this episode is that it still manages to use some cliches that come with a "Girl wants to impress boy for special event" plot. For example, there is a girl named Stella that Jamie competes against for the boy's affection who of course is given little to no personality outside of "Snobby rich girl". Though, as much as some of these cliches piss me off, Stella is barely in the episode as she appears in only one or two scenes that barely go over a couple of minutes. 

     Overall, The Red Dress is a rather decent episode to watch. To be honest, when I first saw the plot summary to this episode, I thought it was going to get my blood boiling. However, it did manage to surprise me and surpassed the expectations I had for it. Unlike another episode that I'll be reviewing soon, it actually feels like there's some real effort at putting a new spin on an old plot. 

     Overall Grade: B+

Every Haunting Hour Ever #5: Nightmare Inn

Season: 1

Episode: 5
Original Airdate: January 8, 2011
Director: Neill Fearnley

     

     Well it can't be an R.L Stine based series without some werewolves so... Here's a story about werewolves.

     

     Jillian (Madeline Carroll) is forced to face her fears in a creepy inn where the staff is keeping a secret. At night, the staff of the inn are revealed to be werewolves who wish to devour her. She is saved by another werewolf who might just be her father.

     

     One of the things that makes this episode good is the werewolf fight. Towards the end of the episode, the two people who Jillian interacted with at the inn turn out to be werewolves who both wanted to eat Jillian. They get into a fight that's pretty intense and suspenseful. Even though some of the shots of the fight are a bit dark, the audience can still see what's going on. The other things that make this fight fun to watch is that the werewolf costumes are well done for a TV budget and the fact that the sound effects make it sound like it's really hurting the people involved.

     

     Another thing that makes this episode good is how they relied a lot on tension rather than story to make the scares work. Though not perfected, it's still a great effort as the scary scenes for the most part are effective, especially the nightmare scenes. Staying at an eerie place, even if it's just for a couple of nights, can make just about anyone feel anxious. That's basically the best way to describe how the heavy reliance of tension kind of works to this episode's advantage. Though this sort of technique would be improved in later episodes, it's a great starting point for the series.

     

     The other thing that makes this episode good is the balance of scares and heartfelt moments. The moments I'm talking about are the parts where Jillian sees this werewolf who brings back her necklace that may or may not be her dad and the parts where Jillian's mother is trying to help her daughter cope with her father's death. While the episode does have its scary moments, it still takes time to establish the difficulty of the situation much like in A Creature Was Stirring. When the episode does go from a scary scene to a heartfelt scene, I think it makes the heartfelt scene all the more effective and emotional.

      

     Some might take issue with the fact that they don't really explain whether or not the werewolf who gave back Jillian's necklace was her father but honestly, I think that adds a bit of mystery to the episode and allows the audience to draw their own conclusions.

     

     Overall, Nightmare Inn isn't that bad of an episode yet it seems to be one of the forgotten Haunting Hours. With that said, should this episode get more attention? Yeah. I mean it's got some great content in it just like all the other episodes I've reviewed thus far so... Why not? If you're also curious to see how The Haunting Hour started out in making tension based episodes, this is definitely worth your time.

     

     Overall Grade: A

Every Haunting Hour Ever #4: The Dead Body

Season: 1
Episode: 4
Original Airdate: December 25, 2010 
Director: James Head

     From what I understand, this is one of those episodes that gets a lot of praise from fans, with some even declaring it a masterpiece. Though that does raise a couple of questions. One of which would be "Is this episode really that good?". Before I get into my thoughts, let's check out the story. 

     Will Johnston (Brendan Meyer) strikes a deal with Jake Skinner (Matt Angel), the new kid, to take care of some bullies. Will soon learns Jake is a ghost that died in a fire because of some bullies. They go back in time to the day Jake was going to die. Will saves Jake, only to realize that he'd been tricked. When Will perishes in the fire that had killed Jake, Jake begins the rest of his life again while Will takes Jake's place and becomes the ghost.

     One thing that makes this episode good are the characters. For the most part, almost all of the characters seem a bit cliche but they still manage to be likeable in their own ways. For example, Jake can be a bit of a jerk towards Will sometimes but when the episode gives his back story, it's rather tragic and he becomes a character that the audience can sympathize with. Will, while being a bit shy and awkward, is still a nice guy who wants to get back at Travis and Chang who constantly pick on him but isn't interested in physical violence in order get what he wants. 

     Another thing that makes this episode good is the chemistry between Will and Anna. For one thing, it's actually quite believable as Anna kind of acts as a foil to Will in a sense that she actually tries to stand up to the bullies that are picking on Will when the class is on a field trip in the woods. The chemistry also seems very natural and not once throughout the entire episode did I say to myself "Man! This is so forced!" Like I do with a lot of teenage romance stories. 

     The other thing that makes this episode good is that because it has a lot of character development, the scares it sets up are quite effective. For example, towards the end of the episode, Will is transported back to 1961, the year that Jake died and he witnesses some bullies throwing firecrackers at Jake, who is locked in some sort of cage. When the bullies throw their last firecracker, the gym ends up catching on fire and Will goes to save Jake. When Will frees Jake from the cage, Will is stuck in there as a bunch of smoke and flames prevent him from seeing the exit. A big flaming cabinet eventually falls on him and it immediately cuts to a black screen. When I saw this happen, I ended up jumping back and shouting "Woah!". It's quite shocking because it plays with people's expectations of the main character getting out OK. The twist ending helps play with this expectation as well because the audience thinks he survived but when Anna goes through Will, the audience finds out that he has died. 

     Despite all of the good things I said about this episode, there is one glaring issue I had with it. That would be none other than Travis and Chang. These are by far the weakest characters in the episode because they seem rather one dimensional. Granted, Travis does get his comeuppance but there are still other issues with these characters that contribute to their one dimensionalness. For one thing, it is said that Travis and Chang pick on Will because they like to "Scare little wusses like him". Yet in the episode, Will is the only student who gets picked on by these two. If that's the case, then how come Will so special that Travis and Chang apparently have no time to pick on other kids? Because he's the main character? 

     Overall, The Dead Body is a memorable episode that has a lot to like about it. I can see why some people love this episode and consider it to be on of their favorites. Would I call this a masterpiece? Not necessarily as it does have 1 or 2 glaring issues that may turn some people off from watching it. Regardless, I still enjoyed watching this episode and felt it was worth my time. 

     Overall Grade: A- 

Every Haunting Hour Ever #3: A Creature Was Stirring

Season: 1
Episode: 3
Original Airdate: December 25, 2010
Director: Ken Friss

     Ok! I'm just going to cut right to the chase. This episode is about a little boy's parents getting divorced. Damn Haunting Hour! You didn't even wait 5 episodes in to give us an episode with a subject as serious as divorce! Well that's one of the things that makes The Haunting Hour so great. When it wants to show a heavy handed subject like divorce, it's not afraid to do so. In fact, you'll see a couple of episodes with some heavy handed content for a kids show later on. But with that said, what else is there to the story besides divorce? Well, let's take a look. 

     All Timmy (Thomas Robinson) wants for Christmas is for his soon-to-be-divorced parents to stop bickering and a Krampus-like gremlin may be the solution to the family's strife. In the end, it turned out that the Krampus was helping Santa Claus to grant Timmy's wish of getting his parents back together.

     One of the things that makes this episode work is the main character. In this episode, the protagonist is a little kid around 7 or 8 I think and it's not too often you see a little kid as the main character in an R.L Stine related show. Usually the protagonist is either a 12 year old or a teenager and little kids tend to be side characters or not used at all. In fact, I think this maybe the only Haunting Hour episode in which a little kid is the star. The other thing that makes the main character good is that he isn't too annoying or generic. Yeah he has some typical kid traits like making up stories about monsters and being excited for Christmas, but he's also quite brave and optimistic. Not only are his parents considering a divorce and fighting with each other but he also has to deal with surviving a monster attack. Even with all of this going on, he never sheds a tear or tries to run for his life. Instead, he works with his family to survive the monster while at the same time doing his best to keep them together. 

     Another thing that makes this episode work is the impact that the parents divorce proposal has on the family. As a person who has been through this type of situation before as a little kid, I can safely say that they got it down pretty well. From the parent's constant bickering to everyone seeming more reclusive to the fear of not being a family anymore. Even when there's a monster running loose and destroying the house, it doesn't stop the episode from taking a moment to address the difficulty of the situation. 

     The main issue with this episode is that I didn't really find the scenes with the monster to be that scary. Don't get me wrong, I actually like the monster's design and the special effects for its powers (i.e flying, spitting acid out if its mouth, etc) are pretty good. However, I guess I wasn't scared by the scenes with the monster because I was really invested in the family bonding, which I think is the real focus of the episode. 

     Overall, this may not be one of the scariest episodes of the series, but it certainly has a lot of emotion and likability to it without coming off as too corny or cheesy. Is it one of my personal favorites? No. But nevertheless, it's still an enjoyable episode that deserves at least a couple of viewings. 

     Overall Grade: B+

Every Haunting Hour Ever #2: Really You (Part 2)

Season: 1
Episode: 2
Original Airdate: October 29, 2010
Director: Neill Fearnley 

     Last time on The Haunting Hour! Lilly gets a Really You doll, which is kind of like an American Girl doll but is somehow less creepy. The doll gets Lilly in trouble to the point where her mother likes the doll more than her daughter. Lilly's brother, being a witness to this whole situation, isn't going to have any of it and plans to put a stop to the madness. Will he succeed or will all hell break loose? Find out next time which is... Right now! 

     Brandon suspects the doll is trying to get rid of Lilly. Brandon and his friend, Josh, go to the "Really You" doll-maker and she explains that all of the dolls have souls. When the doll switches places with Lilly, Brandon notices that the discarded doll thrown in the trash has Lilly's birthmark on the back of its neck. When Lilly's mom expresses unconditional love for her real daughter, Lilly is restored to her human self and the doll, coincidentally, is hit by a garbage truck. The doll is later found on the street by two girls. It grabs one of the girls, causing them to run away in horror. 

     One of the things that makes this episode great is that it takes the unnerving and tense atmosphere from the last episode and 1Ups   it. You see, the doll wasn't very happy with being a doll and because of this, the doll maker asked the Really You company to trash it. Spoiler alert! They didn't. The doll switches place with Lilly and when Lilly becomes the doll, she gets thrown in the trash. When Brandon discovers what happened, it becomes a race to get everything back to normal before it's too late. Basically, it's like if Chuckie from Child's Play succeeded in his plan to transfer his soul into Andy's body. When this type of atmosphere is 1Up'd, the scare factor is also 1Up'd. There's a lot of moments of suspense while the characters are trying to get everything back the way it was. For example, as Lilly is running for her mom, she slowly starts turning into a doll and the music along with Bailee Madison's performance makes it a really tense and scary moment. 

     Another thing that makes this episode great is that there seems be more layers of complexity with the characters. In this episode, the audience is shown that Lilly is kind of a spoiled brat but she's likable enough for the audience to root for her and feel what she's feeling. This comes from the fact that she is quite a vulnerable person who's going through a bit of a tough situation. The mother is also a great and complex character because they could've easily made her the bad guy. However, they instead made her a no nonsense person who's being put under a lot of pressure by her kids, her work and the Really You doll. 

     If I did have one issue with the episode, it would be the ending. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a TERRIBLE ending per say but it just seems a bit corny. You see, when Lilly's mother comes to her senses and starts loving her real daughter, the doll gets hit by a truck. So yes folks, in this story, love saves the day! Yippee! Though to its credit, it is sort of a nice wrap up for the episode and it is pretty satisfying to see that truck run over the doll. 

     Overall, Really You (Part 2) was a satisfactorily conclusion to an awesome episode! I think this, along with part 1, is one of those episode that shows how great of a show The Haunting Hour can be. Join me in the next one where we have Christmas chaos... And divorce... Wait what?! 

     Overall grade (Parts 1 and 2): A

Every Haunting Hour Ever #1: Really You (Part 1)

Season: 1 
Episode: 1 
Original Airdate: October 29, 2010 
Director: Neill Fearnley 

     Now I know what some of you are thinking. "Where's your new movie review?!". Well, here's the thing. For every three movie reviews, I like to review something that just knocked my socks off. Since I have 5 movie reviews up at the moment, the next review would obviously include one of these movies. However, I haven't seen any movies like this recently so its a bit tough to do a movie review right now. 

    In the meantime, I would like to talk about something that I have a fondness for. That my friends would be none other than R.L Stine's: The Haunting Hour! What's this show about you may ask? Well it's basically a horror anthology show for kids, much like Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of The Dark? It's a show that originally aired on the Hub Network, along with Goosebumps, from 2010 to 2014. Most of the episodes in this show are based on one of R.L Stine's more obscure works called The Nightmare Hour, albeit quite loosely. If I were to briefly describe the quality of the show, I'd say that if you found Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of The Dark to be way too cheesy for your standards and want something more, The Haunting Hour is right up your alley! Not only is The Haunting Hour darker AND scarier than the other two shows I've mentioned but it also has a lot of atmosphere, good writing and characters, and the acting is vastly superior. Sadly, it doesn't get the attention it deserves as it doesn't seem to be brought up very often in conversations about kid's horror anthology shows. That's why I'm going to review every single Haunting Hour episode from the first season to the last! So with that said, let's quit stalling and check out the story of the very first episode! 

      Lilly (Bailee Madison) is given her very own life-sized "Really You" doll, Lilly D (performed by Jeny Cassady). Soon after, strange events begin to occur that Lilly's mother accuses Lilly of causing; Lilly maintains she is innocent, and that Lilly D is alive.  Soon, Lilly's mother starts to care more about Lilly D than Lilly, even letting it "sleep" in her bed. Lilly's brother, Brandon (Conner Price), becomes determined to prove Lilly D is alive, or isn't. 

     As you can tell by the plot, it's your typical evil doll story. But the execution is absolutely wonderful and considering that this is the very first episode of the show, that's saying a lot. 

    One of the reasons why this episode is so wonderful is the acting. Almost everyone in this episode, especially Bailee Madison as the main lead, brings a lot of effort and energy into their roles. The performances are also really entertaining to watch and they really do a good job sucking the audience into the situation at hand. When everyone starts to blame the main character for Lilly D's actions, the fear and anxiety that she's going through while in this situation seems rather genuine. It never feels like the actors are reading off a script and because of that, makes the characters and the situation that they're in seem all the more believable.

     Another thing that make this episode so wonderful is that they're able to work in some humor without detracting too much from the actual scare factor. You see, at some point in the episode, a comic relief character whose named Josh, is introduced. With a character in a show like this, he could've easily been cringeworthy. However, he doesn't seem to be that annoying or unlikable, as some comic relief characters tend to be. On top of that, he's actually given some really funny lines that did manage to get a chuckle or two out of me. Even when the episode is focusing on Josh, the atmosphere remains unnerving as it gets the audience to worry if Lilly D is either going to show herself or do something while the audience is paying attention to Josh. 

     The next thing that make this episode so wonderful is the cliffhanger. You see, it turns out that the first episode is a two parter, which is kind of odd because I don't think this sort of thing is done as a series starter too often unless it's a series with a continuing story arc. Nevertheless, it's quite good at leaving the audience wanting to find out what happens in the next episode while also wrapping up the first part. Part of what makes the cliffhanger really good is the build up, the atmosphere, and the music working all at once and then when the episode is about to end, slam into each other in an onslaught of adrenaline pumping chaos that make the audience yell "Holy Shit!" While jumping out of their seats. 

     Overall, Really You (Part 1) is a great start to a fantastic series. It's an episode that knows that it needs to try hard in order to get people coming back to the series and boy does it deliver! Let's just hope the next part is as good or even better than the first. 

Overall grade: A