The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It

R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It is a 2007 American children's horror film based on the children's book of the same name by R. L. Stine. The film was directed by Alex Zamm, written by Dan Angel and Billy Brown, and stars Emily Osment, Cody Linley, Brittany Curran, and Tobin Bell. It was released direct-to-DVD. The plot follows a goth girl named Cassie (Emily Osment) moving into a new town and fascinated by the occult. At a mysterious Halloween store, the store owner (Tobin Bell) insists on selling her an old book. Stuck with her brother Max (Alex Winzenread) on Halloween night, she reads the book to him, despite the book's warnings not to read it out aloud or think about its monster. The monster comes to life and captures Max. Cassie, with help from her friend, must save Max and defeat the monster before their parents return from a Halloween party.
The film was a joint production with Universal Studios Home Entertainment Family Productions, The Hatchery, and Steeltown Entertainment. The film was released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on September 4, 2007, and aired on Cartoon Network on September 7, 2007. The film received mostly positive reviews from media critics upon release.
== Plot ==
Cassie Keller (Emily Osment) is a goth girl who just moved with her family to a new neighborhood and school. She loves to play scary pranks on the popular kids at school and her younger brother Max. Priscilla Wright (Brittany Curran), a bully, is elected Halloween Queen for the school's annual Halloween fair. Cassie retaliates against Priscilla's rude comments against her by putting live cockroaches in the Halloween piñata, which Priscilla is due to break; she is showered with the insects after she breaks it, and is mocked by the student body.
Cassie finds a mysterious Halloween store in an alley. The owner (Tobin Bell) insists on selling her an old book titled The Evil Thing, which contains a warning not to read it aloud or think about "The Evil Thing," a two-headed monster: one head sucks its victim's blood while the other head eats flesh. That night, Cassie reluctantly takes Max trick or treating, when they get to a house that's giving away wax lips which he wants, he becomes scared but wants to go. Getting fed up with Max stalling Cassie decides to leave but gets in trouble with their parents for abandoning her brother so their Dad goes with Max. While working on an assignment, Max comes to her room and sees the book she bought and wants her to read it, but remembering her parents warning she refuses, and tries to read something else but Max refuses. So she ignores the warning and reads the book to Max as revenge for him unplugging her computer.
Cassie's parents leave for a Halloween party and The Evil Thing is brought to life by Max's thoughts. It captures him, Priscilla and a Papa John's Pizza deliveryman. It is up to Cassie and Sean (Cody Linley), a popular boy she likes, to save them. Cassie goes to the store owner for help and discovers that he travels around the world each Halloween, searching for a person who loves to scare people, and tricks them into releasing The Evil Thing by reading the book in order to teach them a lesson. He leaves them with the riddle, "Two heads are better than one; that's the way to get the bloody job done" before his shop disappears. Sean and Cassie deduce that if they get blood from a roast that Cassie's mother made and throw it onto The Evil Thing, one head will attack the other. In doing so, it will devour itself. Meanwhile, The Evil Thing's babies hatch and try to eat the victims. The pair try to lure the monster away but fail. They accidentally drop the blood near Max, who must now conquer his fears. Encouraged by Cassie, Max tosses the blood onto The Evil Thing, causing its heads to attack each other. The monster eats itself, exploding in a shower of yellow blood, killing itself and its offspring.
Max, Sean and Cassie save Priscilla and pizza deliveryman, Sean dumps Priscilla for Cassie. At the house, Cassie and Sean then burn the book and set aside their thoughts about The Evil Thing. However, when Cassie's parents come home, they find the book in the fireplace. The father mockingly reads it out loud, reviving The Evil Thing once again. The film concludes with Cassie realizing that The Evil Thing has been brought back to life.
Category:2007 films
Category:2007 direct-to-video films
Category:Universal Pictures direct-to-video films