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Perfect Spooky Season show right here, for those that look forward to this season every year.

Its about a family who were chased out of their fixer/upper mansion by all sorts of strange happenings and hauntings. It flashes back and forth from the haunting to their present day lives, and how their family is broken up by what happened more than a quarter century ago. Now it seems that the house is bringing whats left of their family back together, for good or ill. The first 5 episodes run concurrently, with a particular sibling the focus of the episode and their particular experience in the Hill House and later life.

I was worried that with this style of storytelling it would get confusing or bloated, but its so well written that everything falls into place, such as throwaway comments and small things from previous episodes coming back up in later episodes and not feeling out of place. It also helps that each of the characters are unique, as some of the 5 siblings took it worse than others, but all of them have their own sort of baggage. The father figure hasn’t appeared much, but he’s coming next episode from the looks of it.

There have only been a few ghosts shown so far(I’m on episode 5 of 10 at the moment), but they’ve been pretty awesome. You’ve got the token spooky silent ghost kid, The Bent-neck Lady, whose shocking origin was just revealed in episode 5 and the guy with the hat(not sure his name yet), who was absolutely bonkers when he was introduced.

Its a great show!

Edit: Well, I finished it just now. Probably my favorite show of 2018. It moved at a great pace, the story was all sorts of layered, and like all good ghost stories, it wasn’t mainly about “the ghost” but the human condition. Such a great ending too.

Edit2: Director said there are ghosts hidden in plain sight in every episode, only saw 2... Gotta rewatch!

I thought this was pretty good. So hard to find a good horror story that doesn’t a) become populated with people so stupid/unlivable I want them to die, b) devolves into some inane demon possession plot where random people know random bits of information that boggle the mind, and c) resolves itself in an overly stupid manner.

Is there going to be a season 2? I love how they left the show open ended and kept the mystery of the house right up to the end. I’d watch more. We need a show like American Horror Story that doesn’t bog itself down in stupid plot line.

 LordofHats wrote:

Is there going to be a season 2? I love how they left the show open ended and kept the mystery of the house right up to the end. I’d watch more. We need a show like American Horror Story that doesn’t bog itself down in stupid plot line.

I googled "Haunting of Hill House Season 2" like within minutes of my processing the ending and dealing with the feels. No word from the director or Netflix on that front. I think I'm ok with this being a one-off tbh, at least for this group of characters.

A prequel or something would work, I suppose.

I’ve watched the first episode, and will be back for more!

I was thinking an anthology series. Same actors in different roles with a new story each season but focused on Hill House and it’s going one instead of whatever bizarre idea AHS is running with this year.

I’d be fine without another season but this was quality stuff. I’d rather see more of it than none of it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’ve watched the first episode, and will be back for more!

Watch for ghosts in every scene*! Some are more subtle than most.

*Not literally, but they pop up a whole lot every episode.

I'm liking it so far - it honestly seems more like a drama than a horror show, but in a good way. The story and characters and intersecting storylines are all quite good.

 LordofHats wrote:
I’d be fine without another season but this was quality stuff. I’d rather see more of it than none of it.

Don't get me wrong, I want more. But the less that they follow anything close to AHS's blueprint, the better in my opinion. That show is hot garbage and has been for a long while. Can't believe that its been going for 8 seasons.

I like AHS format, I just hate their plot lines. They pick the weirdest topics for their seasons and always go out of their way to make it more weird than scary.

American Cringe Story is a more accurate title imo.

Ahh, it's just glorious campy horror. Hotel for me remains the high point. Liz Taylor and The Countess being the standouts.

Quite enjoyed it. Just the right mix of paranoia and actual scares.

I watched a few episodes last nigth, and I quite liked them. Particulary I liked how they play it more as a drama than horror as someone above already mentioned. And they also di not overdo the whole ghost thing

Concur that its a drama sprinkled with some horror / thriller rather than an outright horror as stated above.
However, thought the two episodes centered around the funeral went way off course. Broke waaaay down into a bad TV family drama =/
Struggling through the end which is a pity because ep 1-4 were solid.

PS theodora really sticks in my craw.

 Ratius wrote:

PS theodora really sticks in my craw.

Yeah, looking back she was my only problem with the show. I get that its a story about a haunted house that feeds on souls, so some suspension of disbelief is required. But her whole "touch" thing was too much for me and it just felt unnecessary.

I watched about twenty minutes of episode 1. Turned it off after the 'germaphobe' bit.

She might as well have turned to camera and winked at us.

Next.

Damn a friend also recommended this to me so it’s up next in my list. I have to be honest I am generally impressed with Netflix shows, as I recently recommended Ozark.

I just finished the series and I really not sure how I feel. was mediocre at best

 nels1031 wrote:

 Ratius wrote:

PS theodora really sticks in my craw.

Yeah, looking back she was my only problem with the show. I get that its a story about a haunted house that feeds on souls, so some suspension of disbelief is required. But her whole "touch" thing was too much for me and it just felt unnecessary.

Baffled by this.

Psychometry is a recognised thing, irrespective of any actual validity, psychics picking up on things when touching people is a widely used and recognised trope (it's the whole premise of The Dead Zone) and that the family are all "sensitive" in some way is essentially the only reason for the events to pan out as they do.

I broadly enjoyed it. It suffers a little for the ambition of the structure not necessarily always being matched by the execution, and the curse of all horror/paranormal type properties where the pay off seldom matches the build up, and the better the build up is managed the more jarring that becomes.

I liked that the 'happy' ending managed to at least offer something a little different than simply the survivors escaping while the bad thing was destroyed,

As some have mentioned it's better viewed as a chiller/ supernatural drama than out and out horror, and I think is most affecting when viewed through the lens of a metaphor about mental illness and the subsequent effects of trauma in childhood than simply taking the story at face value.

Not everything is going to be for everybody, but turning it off after 20 minutes really doesn't do it justice, or means you've got such an unfeasibly high bar you're never going to like anything.

Welllllll that was severely overrated. The performances were mostly indifferent. The writing was quite poor. There are so many “drum solo” type soliloquies throughout with (read in voice of John Lovitz) ACTINGGGG! And the lines are so much drivel, especially toward the end of the season when overall quality collapses.

High points: up through episode six, the pacing is almost masterful. I suspect this accpunts for at least 80% of why the series has been so well received. Episode four is well written and compellingly portrays addiction. In an homage to one of the best shows ever, episode five features a cameo of Russ Tamblyn as psychiatrist to a beloved yet ill-fated female character crucial to the plot. Episode five also features the only truly horrific moment of the series, a completely non-supernatural twist on the nightmare that is sleep paralysis. Episode six features some stylish faux long-take sequences that balance humor and horror.

I just finished it, and I agree with Mr. King that it was very good. I can see why some might not like it if they went in expecting a more straightforward horror story, with all the emptiness and disposability that implies. Instead it was the story of a family dealing with grief and trauma and death and mental illness, with the horror genre just being the delivery device.

The cast may not have been a murderer's row of Oscar winners, but the characters felt real to me with all their flaws and damage, and that was enough to carry the day IMO. Some of the writing toward the end may seem OTT to some. But I think it was also honest, and that it was still impactful as a result. It might help if you've been through a loss recently. Also if you're a parent.

I read that the director's original ending...

Straightforward horror stories imply emptiness and disposability?

Manchu wrote:Straightforward horror stories imply emptiness and disposability?

I think more that the genre is considered empty and disposable. That it's the junk food of cinema with nothing to say and frequently relies on cheap tricks to provoke reactions rather than anything more considered with actual depth and nuance. Which is perhaps a criticism that could be levelled at a lot of entertainment, but probably horror in particular.

Manchu wrote:Welllllll that was severely overrated.

Which is the crux of the matter. That doesn't even mean it's bad, it's just that the Netflix Hypetrain™ is now such a formidably efficient machine that if we're not careful we get convinced that every new thing they release is the best thing ever committed to celluloid.*

This was brought home when reading a "Best Horror Movies On Netflix" article yesterday to see if there was anything I'd not seen that appealed, only to discover that at least 50% of the article was about THOHH and it's excellence. It read like an advertorial, yet was on the website of a reputable daily newspaper. I'd not really noticed it before, but once it clicked I realised how powerful Netflix's marketing engine really is, even though conventional advertising isn't used very prominently.

*I know nobody uses celluloid anymore, but committed to hard drive didn't need have the same ring to it.

Yeah, there are *certainly* horror films with something to say. Probably 90% or more don't fit in that category though, especially on Netflix. I think that for many viewers, horror movies/shows are 'about' the scares and little more. It's why so many are such formula...they're like some kind of psych experiment just mashing the same buttons over and over to elicit the same responses.

It may very well be overrated. Honestly, I haven't read many reviews, and the buzz that I heard was more mixed. So for me, it was both smarter and better shot/designed than I anticipated. Expectations, I guess.

I defintiely wouldn’t say Hill House is bad. But I was expecting much more, not so much because of Netflix advertising bonanza but because of positive word of mouth from friends and acquaintances. Up through Ep.6, I think the show is very solid. From 7 - 10, however, it gets pretty dire.

That's what I meant about the Netflix Hypetrain™ though, it isn't necessarily direct advertising, it's a whole Emperor's New Clothes affair.

It starts with some rather hyperbolic reviews, convincing a percentage of people to watch it. Those people then may legitimately enjoy it, or in some cases convince themselves they've enjoyed it because it must be good because all the reviews said so. Then the word of mouth begins to gather steam, and ultimately if all goes to plan people start watching it because of FOMO or simply that they're the only one at work or wherever who hasn't.

Then there'll be people who don't usually watch that genre who are persuaded to because of the hype, who'll assume its good because they've got a limited frame of reference.

When all that's applied to a property that's fundamentally solid, if not stellar, like THOHH, you get this weird phenomena that Netflix especially seem to be great at.

I finished it last night. I thought it was just ok. Some creepy parts but i was able to guess the twist with the bent neck lady pretty early on. I think I was expecting a horror show, but it ended up being a depressing show about family drama, with a haunted house as a back story.

Well I just watch the first half of episode 1 and I have to say I am def interested. I just wasnt able to finish it last night. Not sure who the creepy lady chasing them around the house was, but I thought she was pretty awesome. Of course, had I been there, I would have turned some lights on.

This took me back to so weird paranormal activity that I was sort of exposed to when in college later today, and I am posting that in Off Topic as to not highjack this thread. So stay tuned.

EDIT: Done. https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/765981.page#10208498

I loved this show. I thought the single-take camera shots of the penultimate episode were brilliant (where the camera tracks between one set and the next, without a cut. So well done!). The tension was excellent, the plot compelling, the characters interesting. But I thought the last episode was a big letdown. Didn't ruin it for me, but it was a bummer.

pancakeonions, i feel the same way ... I meanIt was pretty confusing!

Idk though I agree with the both of you that was odd for what was going on with the rest of the show.