The 1963 adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Haunting of Hill House, which was shortened to The Haunting, is one of my all-time favorite horror films. It’s beautifully directed by Robert Wise, and the performances, especially Julie Harris, are a total knockout. I urge everyone who hasn’t seen it yet to check it out.
So, when I heard that Mike Flanagan will be writing and directing a Netflix miniseries, adapting the novel, I was really excited. With films like Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Hush, and Gerald’s Game, it’s clear that Flanagan is the real deal when it comes to horror that can has some mainstream sensibilities while providing genuine depth and compelling characters, so The Haunting of Hill House seems like it would be right up his alley.
I should mention upfront, I’m only coming at this being a fan of the original film, and not having read the book, but hey, that’s why this is a Some Thoughts On post, and not an full on review.
Even though I haven’t read the book, the details that I am aware of are more than enough for me to realize that this is very much an in-name-only adaptation. Some names, certain plot elements are still present, but a lot of it is heavily changed and recontextualized. I’m a bit surprised that this hasn’t caused much of a stir. Oddly enough, the things I was most reminded of watching the 10 episode series are The Shining and It, two of Stephen King’s most popular novels and movie adaptations.
I won’t get into too much detail here because the way the series gradually reveals more and more information is really something special, and that’s best experienced knowing as little as possible going in. The basic idea is that the series cuts between 1992, when the Crain family move into an old mansion called Hill House, and everyone begins experiencing strange things, eventually leading to the death of the mother, Olivia (Carla Gugino), to the lives of the remaining family members in present day, who are brought together by the death of one of the kids. We have the father, Hugh (Henry Thomas/older version is played by Timothy Hutton), the kids, Steven (Paxton Singleton/Michiel Huisman), Shirley (Lulu Wilson/Elizabeth Reaser), Theo (Mckenna Grace/Kate Siegel), Luke (Julian Hilliard/Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and Nell (Violet McGraw/Victoria Pedretti).
Since the series makes no bones about doing its own thing, and not sticking to the source material, what struck me how much of Flanagan’s previous films have informed his storytelling here. The jumping between different points in time or different perspectives is right out of Oculus, and to a lesser extent, Gerald’s Game, and they both also deal with characters reconciling with past trauma. All of the themes he’s explored before come in here, and instead of feeling like a retread, it really feels like he’s breathing new life into these ideas.
The drama between the siblings take up most of the series, and it works very strongly. Everyone is well fleshed out, their dynamic is compelling, and despite much of it being relatively grounded character work, it works hand-in-hand with the more overtly horror stuff. There are moments where you’re moved by the drama, and there are moments where you find yourself completely terrified.
There’s a tendency for a lot of Netflix shows to overstay their welcome, peak early, and never really recover, but that isn’t the case here. All ten episodes have a good flow to them, for every question it answers in each episode, it makes you ask two more, and it does a wonderful job at building layers upon layers episode to episode, and cranking up the tension. It also sticks the landing with the final episode, and I appreciated that it didn’t pull anything cheap, it was all about honing in on the characters and their journeys.
There’s a number of deep dives into The House on Haunting Hill that are worth reading out there, all I really want to say is believe the hype. It’s brilliantly crafted, astoundingly performed, and it’s genuinely moving. It’s one of the best things I’ve seen on Netflix, and it may just be Mike Flanagan’s masterpiece, since it feels like the culmination of everything he’s done up until this point. If you haven’t checked out the show or any of his other works, I urge you to do so. Meanwhile, I’m getting excited to see what he does with Doctor Sleep.