The Haunting of Hill House crashed onto Netflix just in time for Halloween but does the world want yet another American supernatural horror television series? We are already dealing with American Horror Story a once wild innovative series that has become a domesticated plastic mess so is this show worthy of our time? The answer is yes. Created by Mike Flanagan and loosely based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel of the same name, The Haunting of Hill House looks not only upon supernatural hauntings but also of the psychological hauntings we all live with.
Before you begin watching you need to understand that The Haunting of Hill House is carefully constructed in a way that unravels the deeper you go into the house. I would recommend giving it three episodes before you give up on the show. This is not a spoon fed wrapped up in 45 minutes plot made clear type series. It is an investment of your time that does pay off in the end.
What you get are some of the usual haunted house tropes that befall the Crain family that you have seen a million times but across a past and a present timeline which details the psychological hauntings and scaring such tragic traumas can have on a human being. You see the after effects and how it impacts a family as they try to come to terms with events that unfold in the series.
As the show takes place on two timelines, the present day Crain’s and their younger selves when they moved into the house, it can often be difficult to get actors to match up and thus you are thrown out of following the movie. This is not the case at all in The Haunting of Hill House. One bit that did stump me was I spent six episodes trying to work out where I knew the younger version of (the Father) Hugh Crain from before realising it was Henry Thomas aka Elliott from E.T.
It is hard to write a review without giving too much away but I would honestly say this show is more a mystery show (in some ways like LOST) than a horror. Sure there are some scary freaky scenes but the real horrors lay in what those scenes represent. As the layers unravel each character deals with their own hauntings both in a physical and metaphorical way.
The level of detail in the show is crazy, if you go back and rewatch episodes you will be shocked at what you missed in the backgrounds! The acting is top-notch but if I had one complaint it might lay with the pacing. Like a lot of Netflix series it seems that they are stretched too long. Perhaps an 8 episode series might have made the excellent show even better and sharpened the fear spear that stabbed us through it.
Verdict: 9/10 – An excellent series that begins on familiar ground, and like the house in the show, takes us to all sorts of places we never expected to go and lets us experience and grow with the characters we meet. This is more than a horror show and is better for it. The story was told fully so please do not ruin this with a second series.
Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger was Toei Company's 37th entry in its long-running Super Sentai Series. It aired from February 17th 2013 to February 9th 2014 for 49 episodes. Long ago in the Read more
Zorro's Fighting Legion is a 1939 Republic Pictures film serial consisting of twelve chapters. It features Reed Hadley as Zorro. The plot revolves around his alter-ego Don Diego's fight against Read more
The CW has released a new extended trailer for The Flash, offering up some new footage from several upcoming episodes and teasing the unmasking of Zoom:
Zone Fighter was a tokusatsu science fiction/superhero television series produced by Toho Company Ltd. It aired from April 2nd 1973 to September 24th 1973, with a total of 26 episodes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdhcjsVLDQY The series follows Read more
It is the final episode of Season 1, and as expected following the somewhat calmness of last week's episode this week is about to go off the scale. Our crew Read more
Episode 5 of Zomboat! is the penultimate episode of Season 1 and it gave the audience a chance to catch their breath before the grand finale. Instead of the fast Read more
In Zomboat! Episode 4 we discover that even a shopping trip can be hazardous to your health in post-apocalyptic Birmingham. With the boat moored and apparently safe Amar (Ryan McKen) Read more
After our diversion last week our Zomboat crew begin travelling in the right direction and end up back where they first got on the boat. This also happens to be Read more
Zomboat! burst onto our screens last week and while we loved it we noted that it felt "a bit rushed with lots crammed in." As Episode 2 washed over us Read more
Debuting on ITV2 in the UK, Zomboat! is filmed in the 2.35:1 widescreen ratio of most zombie movies and answers the life long question of what would happen if you Read more
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, Zombie Tidal Wave aims to pick up where the Sharknado franchise left off. More serious in tone, the film plays more like the original Sharknado Read more
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist is returning for a second season and have released this teaser trailer for it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWUG-WTeCL0
In this joyous and celebratory drama, Zoey Clarke is a whip-smart computer coder forging her way in San Francisco. After an unusual event, she starts to hear the innermost wants Read more
In this joyous and celebratory drama, Zoey Clarke is a whip-smart computer coder forging her way in San Francisco. After an unusual event, she starts to hear the innermost wants Read more
In this joyous and celebratory drama, Zoey Clarke is a whip-smart computer coder forging her way in San Francisco. After an unusual event, she starts to hear the innermost wants Read more
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist returns on March 28th 2021 until then we have this trailer for Season 2 Episode 7... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNohGeMlsHk
So Season 3 of Zapped draws to a close, but what a season it has been. What was already an exciting and funny programme expanded its borders further to allow Read more
Zapped opens with a wood cutter meeting a gruesome end, presumably from the world traveller we saw previously. Anyway it is making the Hawthorn the Fairy (Ricky Grover) nervous so Read more
The soon to be award-winning third season of Zapped returns and life appears to be getting back to normal in Munty following the hectic adventures of the previous few weeks. Herman Read more
The awesome third season of Zapped returns with it's third episode - Popcorn- where Brian (James Buckley) has moved on from being the pub chef and has launched a business Read more
Brett Summers
Founded Cult Faction in 2014. Some would describe him as a teacher, writer, dream weaver, and visionary... some would not...
12 thoughts on “The Haunting of Hill House”