HUB Network’s Emmy Award Winning program R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour returns on October 4 with back to back episodes that feature two of TV’s most powerful teen actors.
The Haunting Hour is based on the book series from beloved children’s author R.L. Stine, so while this series may be too scary for young TV watchers, it offers the right creep-factor for braver kids and tweens. My 5 year-old has gleefully watched episodes of the series by peeking through his fingers, but my sensitive 7 year-old gets goosebumps even hearing the mention of R.L. Stine.
Perhaps parents should watch this spooky series with their kids to gauge their fear level, and for those up for the spookiness, the series is big-kid fun that arrives just in time for fall festivities.
The season premiere of R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour is an episode titled, “I’m not Martin,” starring teen actor Sean Giambrone. In the spooky episode, a young boy stays overnight in the hospital before he his tonsils are removed, but becomes convinced that the doctors in the creepy hospital actually want to amputate his foot. Sean’s character in “I’m not Martin” is quite a departure from his usually sunny TV demeanor as Adam on the ABC sitcom, The Goldbergs. “Adam’s not scared too much, unless it’s with his mom,” he said. Giambrone found his role as a terrified patient fun, but not without its challenges. He revealed, “I was considered a screamer when I was younger, so I thought it would be pretty easy to scream on camera. But when she started shooting, I couldn’t scream very well. But in one of the takes, I just broke through this screaming wall and I let out a great one! It was one of my better screams I’ve done in a while, so I was pretty proud.”
On The Goldbergs, Sean is used to his costumes being ridiculous fashions from the 1980’s, “There are some outfits coming up this season that when I tried them on, I couldn’t help but laugh.” he said. But when he saw that his script for The Haunting Hour called for him to wear a hospital gown, the teen got nervous, “I was worried that I was going to have to show my tush; that’s not my best angle! laughed Giambrone. “I was so happy when I saw that the gown had pants!”
October 4’s season premiere continues with a second original episode, “Grandpa’s Glasses,” staring Mason Cook, as Bo, a curious kid who goes with his mom to the abandoned house of his deceased grandfather. “While Bo explores the abandoned house for treasures and cool stuff,” says Cook, “he also finds his grandfather’s old glasses. And when he puts them on, he starts seeing things, if you know what I mean.” The glasses allow Bo to see what others can’t, and he quickly realizes that he’s not alone in the house. A sinister spirit lurks there too.
Despite the episode’s creepy subject matter (I’ll admit, it gets pretty intense), and the shoot’s spooky location (“We shot in an old house that was attached to an old cathedral and it was really, really creepy!” he revealed) Cook’s favorite part his episode was shooting a dramatic stunt. “I had to film a scene where I got sucked back down this loooong hall that was over 30 feet long,” he said. “I was on a dolly train going down the hall with the camera following me and it was really, really fun.”
In addition to R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, fans of Mason Cook can find him playing Sean Bean’s son on TNT suspense-filled drama, Legends. When I interviewed Bean in June, he described his young co-star as, “wise beyond his years.” Since his episode of The Haunting Hour airs in October, and anything spooky in October gets me thinking about Halloween, I asked Mason about Halloween and he shared a totally creepy tale…
Back in 2012, Mason filmed a Halloween special and pilot for NBC called Mockingbird Lane, where he played Eddie Munster. The special was filmed on Universal Studio’s Stage 28, which is also known as “The Haunted Stage,” and was used to film the 1925 silent horror classic, The Phantom of the Opera. The sound stage still has the film’s famous balcony set. “One day I had some friends come and visit and we looked around the place, and they took a picture of the balcony,” He said. “When we looked at the picture a few hours later, we realized there was a figure standing in the balcony! It was really creepy and it still freaks me out. There was the shape of the body and there were dark circles where the eyes should be.”
Yikes! Talk about a spooky visit! Mason may be one of the last people to have a haunted encounter on Stage 28, Universal Studios recently announced that they are going to demolish the soundstage and relocate the Paris Opera House set elsewhere for preservation.
R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour > Hub Network > Saturdays at 4pmET/ 1pmPT, beginning Oct 4.
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