The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

Watchseries; With its wintry color schemes, outstanding performances (exemplifying casting that has kept both acting ability and actor-likeness in mind), and niftily nonlinear storytelling, The Haunting of Hill House adapts Shirley Jackson's gothic classic into the finest horror show of its era. Then again, as a multitude of critics have argued, the word to use might not be "horror" - the word is "terror".

This is a series where the fears and connections among the characters are truly, wholeheartedly the focus; having finished it, I still can't be sure if the paranormal images we see are wholly real, or the result of in-universe coping mechanisms (some defy time and space in such a way that I doubt they're simple dreams). But with a show like this, the threat to our heroes (if that's even a good term for these damaged lifeforms) is real no matter what. At any second, the final straw could land.

The show may not be for the faint of heart, nor the faint of attention. You won't be getting your jump scares and shrieking It clowns to hold your hand every few minutes in this one. This is decidedly more thoughtful and, once we've delved deep into the characters and their states of mind, more genuinely horrifying than what modern horror fans might think of as horror.

Our main protagonists are the Crain family, last known owners of the ominous Hill House manor: father Hugh (Henry Thomas as an adult, Timothy Hutton as an elder), mother Olivia (an angelic Carla Gugino), and the five kiddies; author and ghost-debunker Steven (Michiel Huisman and Paxton Singleton), mortician Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser; Lulu Wilson), drug-addict Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen; Julian Hilliard), hedonist and psychic Theodora (Kate Siegel; McKenna Grace), and Nellie (Victoria Pedretti; Violet McGraw), possibly the most haunted of them all. These actors all do stupendously well, child actors included, during even the most lengthy and meticulously coordinated takes.

In terms of convincing older-self casting, this show might rival Netflix's Dark (which cast dozens of crucial characters with a maximum of three performers each) - this one is especially careful to make sure the younger and older selves share similar body language and demeanor. And this is to say nothing of how the characters are written.

Every episode, we alternate between the characters as children and them as grownups, with some additional flashbacks being had in the "future" story, recalling happier times for the characters' adult selves. Early on, the future plotline of each episode is typically leading up to a particular death within the Crain family, while the past plotline is leading up to the final night spent in Hill House - each episode follows a different character up to the two moments; both storylines are then reset for the succeeding episode with a new focal character. This is just the beginning of how the show plays with time.

This choice may seem artsy at first glance, but it's anything but. It allows for some masterful tension-building and cleverly delivered revelations, with a few bits of recontextualization as we get to know more about these people. The aforementioned long takes also do wonders for the suspense and ambiance, heightened by the skillful use of sound, lighting, depth of field, and color.

Alas, even with a horror show this well-made (its creator Mike Flanagan has an interesting track record with Gerald's Game, Ouija: Origin of Evil, and Doctor Sleep), some clich

With its wintry color schemes, outstanding performances (exemplifying casting that has kept both acting ability and actor-likeness in mind), and niftily nonlinear storytelling, The Haunting of Hill House adapts Shirley Jackson's gothic classic into the finest horror show of its era. Then again, as a multitude of critics have argued, the word to use might not be "horror" - the word is "terror".

This is a series where the fears and connections among the characters are truly, wholeheartedly the focus; having finished it, I still can't be sure if the paranormal images we see are wholly real, or the result of in-universe coping mechanisms (some defy time and space in such a way that I doubt they're simple dreams). But with a show like this, the threat to our heroes (if that's even a good term for these damaged lifeforms) is real no matter what. At any second, the final straw could land.

The show may not be for the faint of heart, nor the faint of attention. You won't be getting your jump scares and shrieking It clowns to hold your hand every few minutes in this one. This is decidedly more thoughtful and, once we've delved deep into the characters and their states of mind, more genuinely horrifying than what modern horror fans might think of as horror.

Our main protagonists are the Crain family, last known owners of the ominous Hill House manor: father Hugh (Henry Thomas as an adult, Timothy Hutton as an elder), mother Olivia (an angelic Carla Gugino), and the five kiddies; author and ghost-debunker Steven (Michiel Huisman and Paxton Singleton), mortician Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser; Lulu Wilson), drug-addict Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen; Julian Hilliard), hedonist and psychic Theodora (Kate Siegel; McKenna Grace), and Nellie (Victoria Pedretti; Violet McGraw), possibly the most haunted of them all. These actors all do stupendously well, child actors included, during even the most lengthy and meticulously coordinated takes.

In terms of convincing older-self casting, this show might rival Netflix's Dark (which cast dozens of crucial characters with a maximum of three performers each) - this one is especially careful to make sure the younger and older selves share similar body language and demeanor. And this is to say nothing of how the characters are written.

Every episode, we alternate between the characters as children and them as grownups, with some additional flashbacks being had in the "future" story, recalling happier times for the characters' adult selves. Early on, the future plotline of each episode is typically leading up to a particular death within the Crain family, while the past plotline is leading up to the final night spent in Hill House - each episode follows a different character up to the two moments; both storylines are then reset for the succeeding episode with a new focal character. This is just the beginning of how the show plays with time.

This choice may seem artsy at first glance, but it's anything but. It allows for some masterful tension-building and cleverly delivered revelations, with a few bits of recontextualization as we get to know more about these people. The aforementioned long takes also do wonders for the suspense and ambiance, heightened by the skillful use of sound, lighting, depth of field, and color.

Alas, even with a horror show this well-made (its creator Mike Flanagan has an interesting track record with Gerald's Game, Ouija: Origin of Evil, and Doctor Sleep), some clich

The Haunting of Hill House watchseries. So, Let me start by saying I would give this show an 8.5, however, I have bumped it to a 9 as I finished the show recently, and my impressions of the last two episodes may be negatively skewing it lower.

Let's begin with the premise of the show, to which I will be lovingly comparing it to the hit 2004 TV show "Lost" and an incredible tour de force recent film "Hereditary". We begin by being introduced to the show's main characters. A family of seven, five children and two parents. The show starts in 2018 and we are introduced to a grown up version of the family. We instantly make our snap judgements of the characters, usually negative in most cases. And then in the style of lost, we experience the story of each character (with one episode being allocated to one member) in a double flashback fashion. First we are told the story of the children whom lived at Hill House many years ago. And then we are told a more recent story of the character that leads them to present day.

I want to say that this version of story telling is not unique to "The Haunting of Hill House", however, it might be that it is the best implementation of it I have seen to date. Utterly gripping. I don't know if anyone reads the novel. I have had the opportunity to read years ago. I liked it. The show isn't exactly a novel. There are serious changes. Of course a good change. The show sells us this incredible multi-faceted mystery, that intertwines throughout the years, and where none of the family are on the same page. And it does a wonderful job of tying up all those narratives, all those moments that you just let go as a "glitch in the system" but then later it would call back to it and you would understand a mystery you didn't even know existed. With that, it is important to recognise the fantastic job the show did of revealing the "How" of the show. How everything tied together.

A fan of black and white horror movies I am well acquainted with Robert Wise's 1963 "The Haunting", which to this day stands out to me as a classic of the haunted house horror genre. Netflix's "The Haunting of Hill House" retains a lot of what makes that movie so great while also branching out on its own and introducing diverse and interesting characters. Also child players and adults really look like each other. Cast selection successful. While there is a definite difference of rating and the show opted to go into the realm of color tv I consider both to be entertaining and chilling in what makes classic horror effective. There's even familiar nods to the movie- the iconic spiral staircase, a scene where two people are scared out of there minds by the walls seemingly coming alive and starting to shake, etc. This series falls more in the suspense than in horror and evidently if you are one of those who thinks that horror means gallons of blood and deaths every 20 minutes, forget it.

The series focuses on the stories of different siblings in different episodes. And it shows the stunning points that individual stories touch. In fact, each time, we see that there are different points of events. We see the same event from other perspectives. Thus, the story of the family takes on a more intense dramatic structure, on the other hand it is becoming more and more complex thanks to the different details revealed. The funeral scene in episode 6 has a really good shooting technique. The camera enters the recording and the scene is shot in a single sequence. One o

Monologues for days. Just so, so many "poignant" monologues. So, so many self-reflective, melodramatic monologues. Long speeches aside, the production value is great. The child actors are fantastic. The story is intriguing, though it tends to only creep along. Quite good, but not perfect, as it's high rating suggests.

Really well written and acted, with a good story and characters. Thos is everything AHS should have been.

I DESPERATELY want a story about Hill House's past to see Poppy's entire story

The Haunting of Hill House is HANDS DOWN the best horror series I've ever seen. It's a meditation on death, grief and trauma. It is equal parts scary and engaging. The best character development I've seen in a long time and a huge leap forward for horror. We need more horror like this. It has disturbed me and moved me. It's portrayal of the supernatural as more of a human experience and less of a "poltergeist" type is revolutionary. It, to me, makes more sense to believe in ghosts than I ever thought was possible