The Vancouver-shot R.L. Stines The Haunting Hour doesnt pull many punches in delivering horror geared towards tweens. For a prime example, look no further than its premiere episode, which opens in a dingy workshop where a muttering woman assembles an eerily lifelike doll. In short order, one of her sentient creations is scheming to replace the little girl who adores her. Its not hard to imagine such images causing kids some restless nights.
They can be very creepy, laughs Michael Balfry, whos served as cinematographer for every episode of the shows three-season run. I have a 14-year-old daughter who will say, This is really weird, Dad. But I do think that kids really love to be scared. They love the thrill.
In turn, working on the anthology series offers Balfry thrills of his own thrills. With different storylines, casts, and locations every episode, hes able to experiment with a variety of visual approaches. Sometimes theyre fun and quirky. Sometimes theyre bizarre. Sometimes theyre just downright scary and weird, he recounts. We try to give every week a different flavour... The directors come in and we basically make a short film.
In addition to recognition for his creative contributions (he was recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy and Leo Award), Balfrys extended run on The Haunting Hour has afforded him some enviable job security in a tumultuous field. And while hes aware that Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»has been losing television and film productions to Toronto, he doesnt buy into the notion that the local industry is living out its own horror story.
Having been in the business for quite a while, you realize that everything is cyclical... Its going to get busy again, asserts the 15-year veteran. And to his way of thinking, boosting B.C. tax credits to match Ontarios isnt the way to lure productions back. When asked about the cutthroat rebating practice, he laments, It has kind of become a race to the bottom: Who will charge the least amount of money to produce a product?
Ultimately, Balfry believes that two key factors will turn the tide back in Vancouvers favour: spectacular crews and our close proximity to Los Angeles. With an air of confidence that suggests he isnt losing much sleep over the matter, he concludes, Has it changed? Yeah. But itll come back. Thats my feeling.
R.L. Stines The Haunting Hour airs Sundays on Teletoon.
