R.L. Stine: The Haunting Hour: Volume 2

Inspired by a couple of short story collections (THE HAUNTING HOUR and NIGHTMARE HOUR) by R.L.Stine, THE HAUNTING HOUR: THE SERIES is similar to Stine's mid-1990's series, GOOSEBUMPS. However, THE HAUNTING HOUR is much darker in tone and content and the production values are a couple notches above those of GOOSEBUMPS. Volume 2 contains five episodes from the series. Each episode is about 22 minutes in length, including the show intro and the credits. The episodes are: “The Red Dress” – Jamie (Linda Tomassone) is a summer snack worker at a posh country club. She has a crush on boy name Zack (Ryan McDonell) who is a member of the organization. One day she comes across a store that she has never seen before called “The Raven’s Chest.” The store is owned by a blind woman named Abigail Raven (Emmanuella Vaughier). While there, Jamie sees a beautiful red dress that is way too expensive for her and Abigail promises her that “everyone must pay.” Later Jamie borrows the dress and soon discovers that the price is more than she could ever have imagined. “Ghostly Stare” – Lauren (Emma Grabinsky) and her brother Mark (Jason Spevack) sneak into a cemetery that is the process of being moved. The spirits in the graveyard are restless and want new bodies now that they’ve been awakened. “The Walls” – When Jeffrey’s (Bobby Coleman) dad gets a new job, they move to a new town and into a new house. Jeffrey misses his old home, but after a talk with his dad attempts to have a better attitude about everything. However, at night Jeffrey hears noises in the floor under his bed. He also hears noises in the walls, but his parents don’t believe him, but Jeffrey is sure there’s something else living in their house and he’s determined to find out what. “Game Over” – Kelly (Calum Worthy) s a major gamer and after beating a particularly difficult game receives a mysterious message that leads him to acquiring a very special video game. However, Kelly isn’t supposed to let anyone else play the game with him, but he lets his good friend Gooch (AJ Lutsky) play with him right after he gets the game. The game turns out to be a type of “The Most Dangerous Game” and Kelly and Gooch are soon fighting for their lives in a real-life zombie infested video game. “Alien Candy” – Walt (Grayson Russell) and his best friend Tim (Bal Nagra) are really smart sixth graders who get picked on all of the time. They are also obsessed with extraterrestrial life. When two eighth graders approach Walt and inform him they want to recruit him for their special club, Walt feels like his life is changing for the better. However, things aren’t exactly what they seem to be and Walt ends up fighting not only for his life, but for Tim’s, too. It's quite easy to watch R.L. STINE'S THE HAUNTING HOUR: THE SERIES, VOL. 2. The acting is actually quite good for a half-hour tv show aimed at younger teenagers. The production values are much better than GOOSEBUMPS; the cheap rubber masks that were often used in GOOSEBUMPS are gone and replaced by much more realistic and life-like make-up. However, this is still a lower budget tv show, so the shows do tend to skimp a little on extras and fancy sets. I enjoyed each of the episodes of this collection, but I was disappointed by "Ghostly Stare.” This story really does end in a horrifying matter but unlike the other episodes on the disc, there is no moral to be told and good doesn't conquer evil. The only extras on the DVD are some original promos and a “Behind the Screams” of a few of the episodes.

I've always liked R.L. Stine and this is a great children's series, not to scary for the little ones.

My daughter loved this show growing up. She's a little older now, but she still has a craving to revisit these stories. This is well done, family-friendly horror that has held up over the years. It's a tad more scary than Goosebumps for those timid kids. We used to have every episode saved on the DVR when it aired new years ago, but we moved in 2016 and had to turn in our older equipment and haven't seen these since until recently acquiring on DVD through Amazon. Nice to own most of the series on DVD for generations that follow.

A fan!!! Will purchase more

I find the stories to be thoroughly entertaining...like apple jacks. I'm 42 and don't even have any kids to blame my guilty pleasure on.

I have been a huge fan of R.L Stine's work since I was a little kid. I remember going to the library book fair every year at school & the only books I would buy were the Goosebumps books. I still have them & I still read them from time to time. I also used to love the old Goosebumps show & I have a few of them on dvd. When I came across "The Haunting Hour" I just had to buy it! I never watched the show before because I don't have cable/satellite, but I knew it would be a good show & it was/is! I really hope they continue making more of these episodes. I enjoy watching them, I have always loved scary/spooky shows like this.

I bought all of the dvds because my daughter loves spooky shows. This is a good series but the DVD numbers do not equate with the seasons. In other words dvd #1 does not mean season #1. Some episodes are not included in the DVD sets, such as Lily D Part II.

Great movie! Totally kept my kids entertained and a bit scared. They kept wanting to watch more and more episodes.

Wie bei der ersten Staffel auch: Schade, dass es diese Serie nicht in deutsch gibt - oder wenigstens auf europäischen Discs. Der amerikanische Ländercode macht das Ganze schon etwas kompliziert. Das ändert aber nichts daran, dass die Serie klasse grusel für Jung und durchaus auch für Alt bietet.

Excellent. Loved every episode, and so will you. Extremely well done. RL Stein is a genius. Wish more of this series was made available.

I enjoyed the episodes as a kid and had to rewatch as an adult! Enjoyed it.