Television The Haunting of Hill House on NETFLIX

[johnny]

I didn’t see a thread about it on the first page so

 

im 8 episodes in and this is fantastic. Loving every episode so far. Story has been great, characters great, the tension/scares have been great (especially considering most “scary” shows have shitty scares compared to a good scary movie). Direction has been on fucking point. 

[Joe]

Just finished it with my wife last night. We really liked it.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I've been looking forward to this. Read the novel last year and loved it. I'll be starting it this week.

[Emblazon]

We have an episode and a half left. Absolutely love it. There was a moment in episode 8 that had @Triage literally flinch back and scream at the top of her lungs. It was glorious. 

 

And the direction and camera work in episode 6 was nothing short of spectacular. This is one of my two favorite shows this year (the other being Cobra Kai). 

[Triage]

8 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

We have an episode and a half left. Absolutely love it. There was a moment in episode 8 that had @Triage literally flinch back and scream at the top of her lungs. It was glorious. 

 

And the direction and camera work in episode 6 was nothing short of spectacular. This is one of my two favorite shows this year (the other being Cobra Kai). 

You're enjoying it too much  takes a lot to scare me like that I don't ever remember reacting like that before. It was just sudden and unexpected  

[johnny]

Anybody who has seen that episode knows exactly what you’re talking about. I don’t usually jump but that shit got me lol 

[Wild]

Man, it's going to be a bit before I get to this, but online buzz is on point for it.

[ALIEN-gunner]

I watched the whole thing and overall it's pretty great. There's a lot of jump scares but they are done well and there's a lot of really creepy stuff too. The story is a bit derivative and sometimes too drawn but it doesn't matter. Episode 8 nearly gave me a heart attack making me curse the TV. 

[Emblazon]

Just finished. Best thing I've seen this year. Holy fuck was the entire thingy brilliant from start to finish. My eyes were definitely a little wet for the final half hour. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

How many of you have actually read the book?

[Emblazon]

6 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

How many of you have actually read the book?

Nope. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Just now, Emblazon said:

Nope. 

Gushes about a show based on the greatest horror novel of all time, hasn't read the novel.

 

Tsk tsk.

[Emblazon]

9 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Gushes about a show based on the greatest horror novel of all time, hasn't read the novel.

 

Tsk tsk.

Meh. Horror novels just aren't scary (to me). Besides, the 1999 film The Haunting (which was meh) seems to be more based on the novel than this show. Don't expect much similarity to the book, aside from some names. 

[Emblazon]

And time for my nitpicks:

 

Spoiler

The clockworker seemed to come out of nowhere and was shown multiple times without serving a purpose other than to convince Steve it was all real. They could have used so many other instances to prove that to him. 

 

And inside Shirley's office, when the forever house is destroyed and a grotesque Shirley crawls out from behind her desk while her dad and Theo are in the room--they never went back to that or explained that. They hinted to it with Shirley as it related to her affair, but that was revealed to Shirley directly, not to her dad or Theo. It felt like there was supposed to be more to that but it was cut. Theo started to bring it up on the drive to Hill House, but was shut down by Shirley. 

 

[Mercury33]

Ugh is it like all jump scares? 

[Bloodporne]

10 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

How many of you have actually read the book?

I love Shirley Jackson and the book in question is one of my favorites of all time. That opening paragraph is fucking amazing.

 

That being said, this show is a tasteful spin-off kind of like what Bates Motel was to Psycho. I thoroughly, thoroughly liked it having finished it on Sunday. To be honest, it really affected me. 

 

Anyone expecting some pure popcorn Horror will probably be sorely disappointed. At its core, it's more of an epic tragedy about a family's seemingly never-ending personal nightmare. It's dialogue-heavy, takes its time and relies more on pervasive mounting dread and a feeling of doom rather than what most modern shock-a-minute style Horror deals in. It's certainly not a perfect show but any inconsistency or fault really didn't matter to me ultimately, the big picture here was shockingly good as far as I'm concerned. 

 

It's more Gothic Horror in the classic sense I would even say as many of the original Gothic Horror stories tended to revolve around families plunged into darkness in some capacity. The quality of the dialogue in this is really commendable and a lot of times made the show for me.

[Bloodporne]

51 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

Meh. Horror novels just aren't scary (to me). Besides, the 1999 film The Haunting (which was meh) seems to be more based on the novel than this show. Don't expect much similarity to the book, aside from some names. 

It's just a great piece of literature honestly. I don't know how much of a reader you are in general but it, and many other great Horror novels, doesn't deal in simple scariness as defined by Hollywood films and so on. The house and story are more of a backdrop for a tragedy about mental illness, loneliness and psychological horror more so than it outright attempting to go boo and make you jump.

 

That and well, Jackson's prose is a thing of beauty. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

5 hours ago, Emblazon said:

Meh. Horror novels just aren't scary (to me). Besides, the 1999 film The Haunting (which was meh) seems to be more based on the novel than this show. Don't expect much similarity to the book, aside from some names. 

It's not about cheap scares. And I easily gathered the show wasn't a direct adaptation of the book from reading a very basic premise. 

 

It's still a fantastic book and anyone who likes to read and has a passing interest in the genre shouldn't ignore it.

 

4 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

It's just a great piece of literature honestly. I don't know how much of a reader you are in general but it, and many other great Horror novels, doesn't deal in simple scariness as defined by Hollywood films and so on. The house and story are more of a backdrop for a tragedy about mental illness, loneliness and psychological horror more so than it outright attempting to go boo and make you jump.

 

That and well, Jackson's prose is a thing of beauty. 

Agreed.

[Joe]

On 10/15/2018 at 12:50 PM, Emblazon said:

We have an episode and a half left. Absolutely love it. There was a moment in episode 8 that had @Triage literally flinch back and scream at the top of her lungs. It was glorious. 

 

And the direction and camera work in episode 6 was nothing short of spectacular. This is one of my two favorite shows this year (the other being Cobra Kai). 

 

My wife screamed then I screamed then she screamed even louder because I had screamed. It was fucking great.

[SimpleG]

5 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

It's more Gothic Horror in the classic sense I would even say as many of the original Gothic Horror stories tended to revolve around families plunged into darkness in some capacity. The quality of the dialogue in this is really commendable and a lot of times made the show for me.

Well you fucking sold me on it.

[Bloodporne]

24 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Well you fucking sold me on it.

Definitely give it more than one episode. It's very character and dialogue heavy. This and its general pace and core themes made me write that Gothic Horror line. Superficially, it's quite modern of course despite the house itself being indeed featured rather heavily as well, but its core themes of a haunted family, constantly looming doom and so on are total Gothic Horror in lieu of what I would call Hollywood Horror.

 

The dread and pervasive feeling of tragedy feel tangible exactly because you spend so much time with each member of the family instead of even a single player in its story being relegated to a prop for jump scares. A very welcome chance of pace that I didn't expect at all to be honest. 

 

That being said, I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did. It's not perfect and has some lulls and so on but I felt the great and heartfelt really outweighed any negatives. 

[Emblazon]

1 hour ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

It's not about cheap scares.

Where do I insinuate that "scary" is in any way related to cheap/jump scares? Go watch my favorite horror film, Session 9, then get back to me on that.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

2 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

Where do I insinuate that "scary" is in any way related to cheap/jump scares? Go watch my favorite horror film, Session 9, then get back to me on that.

Instead of focusing on one sentence you didn't like, just read the book.

 

Also, I can't stand David Caruso, so I probably couldn't get through that movie.

[Emblazon]

17 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

Definitely give it more than one episode. It's very character and dialogue heavy. This and its general pace and core themes made me write that Gothic Horror line. Superficially, it's quite modern of course despite the house itself being indeed featured rather heavily as well, but its core themes of a haunted family, constantly looming doom and so on are total Gothic Horror in lieu of what I would call Hollywood Horror.

 

The dread and pervasive feeling of tragedy feel tangible exactly because you spend so much time with each member of the family instead of even a single player in its story being relegated to a prop for jump scares. A very welcome chance of pace that I didn't expect at all to be honest. 

 

That being said, I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did. It's not perfect and has some lulls and so on but I felt the great and heartfelt really outweighed any negatives. 

 

Spoiler

You could even go so far as to say the house itself isn't evil. It grants those who die within its confines immortality. The mom feared for her children, and the house interpreted that as the best way to protect them was keeping them there forever. And while the house did end up tricking Nell in the end, it did everything it could to show her what her end would be with the Bent-Neck Lady, then it showed her everything she was missing and could have again back at the house--there was nothing sinister about Nell's send-off, and it was one of the most touching, and gut-wrenching scenes in the entire show.

 

[Emblazon]

5 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Instead of focusing on one sentence you didn't like, just read the book.

 

Also, I can't stand David Caruso, so I probably couldn't get through that movie.

He's hardly in it. And I had written a bunch more, but chose to delete it as I didn't want to turn the thread into a book vs movie thread.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

2 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

He's hardly in it. And I had written a bunch more, but chose to delete it as I didn't want to turn the thread into a book vs movie thread.

No need to do that, just read the book. 

 

I look forward to starting the show, but I'm still debating on waiting til I finish Castle Rock at least. Too much entertainment for me right now, even though I have no kids and I'm off 4 days a week.

[Bloodporne]

9 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

Where do I insinuate that "scary" is in any way related to cheap/jump scares? Go watch my favorite horror film, Session 9, then get back to me on that.

 

I like Session 9 a lot as well. Very overlooked little film. I kind of think Caruso sucks as well but I was able to overlook him here, it's quality stuff. 

 

1 minute ago, Emblazon said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You could even go so far as to say the house itself isn't evil. It grants those who die within its confines immortality. The mom feared for her children, and the house interpreted that as the best way to protect them was keeping them there forever. And while the house did end up tricking Nell in the end, it did everything it could to show her what her end would be with the Bent-Neck Lady, then it showed her everything she was missing and could have again back at the house--there was nothing sinister about Nell's send-off, and it was one of the most touching, and gut-wrenching scenes in the entire show.

 

Very much agreed and I actually really liked that ending. I've seen it brought up as a negative here and there in online conversation, but I thought it made total sense with the overall tone and family aspect. The idea of something being simply 'indifferent' to a human viewpoint always chills me a bit. 

[Bloodporne]

There definitely is not even a potential book vs. movie debate here in regards to Hill House though. The book is a classic and chilling to the bone, period. This show simply takes the main 'character', the house, and builds a completely new world, characters, story and everything on it. It treats the original material like a folk tale to be expanded upon and ran with much like Bates Motel did with Psycho. 

 

PS: That actress that plays Nell is fucking great. 

[Joe]

Might have just been me, but I thought the actor that played Steven was absolutely terrible. He was an important character too, so that was mildly disappointing.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

4 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

There definitely is not even a potential book vs. movie debate here in regards to Hill House though. The book is a classic and chilling to the bone, period. This show simply takes the main 'character', the house, and builds a completely new world, characters, story and everything on it. It treats the original material like a folk tale to be expanded upon and ran with much like Bates Motel did with Psycho. 

 

PS: That actress that plays Nell is fucking great. 

All I'm saying is if you read at all and you like the show, you should read the book, too. 

[Bloodporne]

2 minutes ago, Jose said:

Might have just been me, but I thought the actor that played Steven was absolutely terrible. He was an important character too, so that was mildly disappointing.

 

I can see that but I also think his put-on, distant air happened to work really well for the character which was emotionally closed-off and trying hard to go for that stilted WASP-y life. His wife was similarly stiff.

 

1 minute ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

All I'm saying is if you read at all and you like the show, you should read the book, too. 

Well...I do have to agree 100% on that. Especially if you like Session 9.

 

I mean, I personally think that line "Whatever walked there, walked alone." alone is worth it. I've read the book about three times total since it's such a quick read and that line already chills me to the bone immediately. 

[Emblazon]

4 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

All I'm saying is if you read at all and you like the show, you should read the book, too. 

And no where did I say I would not read the book. But I also said that the two aren't integrally related. Not unlike the recent MEG movie, where the only thing that the book and movie have in common is a giant shark, and some character names. Literally everything was changed, down to character backstories and the fucking color of the shark. 

[Bloodporne]

Richard Matheson's Hell House is a great, albeit much more potboiler-ish, haunted house novel as well. Nowhere near the quality of Hill House but I still love it as there really aren't that many good haunted house stories out there despite it being such a seeming cliche. 

[Moa]

I feel like I must be missing something. I'm two episodes in, and while I am enjoying the show it feels a little directionless. I don't really get what the show is building towards and while there is plenty of tension in the scenes, there isn't much in the narrative. I also feel like the adult actors are almost universally mediocre. They play their parts fine but do little to be more than their trauma.

 

Either way, the scares are there and the price is right.

[Emblazon]

9 minutes ago, Moa said:

I feel like I must be missing something. I'm two episodes in, and while I am enjoying the show it feels a little directionless. I don't really get what the show is building towards and while there is plenty of tension in the scenes, there isn't much in the narrative. I also feel like the adult actors are almost universally mediocre. They play their parts fine but do little to be more than their trauma.

 

Either way, the scares are there and the price is right.

Everything has a reason. Ok, everything but some SUPER minor stuff has a reason. It all comes around.