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