People who love horror movies and thrillers are often looking for one thing more than any other: to feel something–whether it’s scared, excited, or simply grossed out. And it’s rare that a movie–or even more rarely, a TV series–can make a viewer feel as many things, as deeply and persistently, as Mike Flanagan’s re-imaging of The Haunting of Hill House.
The story began as a novel by Shirley Jackson back in 1959. It was adapted to film in 1963 and again in 1999–both versions fairly faithful to the original work. Flanagan’s Netflix series, however, is very different–a re-interpretation of the themes of Jackson’s novel, using ghosts and haunting as powerful symbols of memory and loss that weaves a whole new story. But for all its deviation from Jackson’s original plot, is a beautifully made, beautifully acted, disturbing and very moving work.
Don’t look for any plot or character similarities to the original novel or the two movies. This is a whole new story, about an apparently (at first) happy family moving into a decaying mansion called Hill House, determined to undertake a major renovation and re-selling–a “flip” on a major scale. But the ghosts they find inhabiting the hallways and the very walls of Hill House now seep into the new residents as well, young and old, challenging and changing them all and leading to the death of one parents. The rest of the family escapes–barely–but the fear and pain and suffering from their ordeal lingers for years, affecting the children as they become adults themselves, until they are finally forced, ready or not, to return to Hill House and confront what happened to them there, and what they have become since.
The production design is nothing short of stunning. Much of the story takes place in the house itself, but it’s far more than just a collection of shadows and Gothic cliches. It is a real, fascinating, frustrating place–as much a character in the series as the human actors. And those actors are equally amazing. The parents, played by Henry Thomas as a young man and Timothy Hutton as a dissipated, hopeless older man and by the literally luminous Carla Gugino throughout, do a tremendously effective job with very difficult characters. The adult versions of the children, Elizabeth Reaser, Michiel Huisman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Kate Siegel, as well as the tragic Victoria Pedretti are all absolutely perfect. Never over the top, never unconvincing, and emotionally wrenching.
For all its dramatic weight, there are plenty of creepy images and jump-scares around every corner in Hill House. Flanagan understands horror as well as anyone working in the genre today (look at anything he’s made until now, from Ouija: Origin of Evil to Oculus to Gerald’s Game). But, as he’s shown us in each of those–and especially in his underrated Before I Wake–he understands the human heart just as well as he understands fear and loathing, and nowhere is that more evident than in the characters he offers up in Hill House: the father tortured by the death of his wife, the children who have to deal with her death and their father’s betrayal and withdrawal, as well as their own memories and abilities, derived from their time in the house as well. You understand these men and women; you sympathize with them. And as they are threatened, and in some cases die, it takes on a reality that we rarely experience in the horror genre. This isn’t just blood ‘n guts and shock chords. These are real people trying to survive extraordinary circumstances. Sometimes they succeed; sometimes they fail. But it is a fascinating trip for ten hour-long episodes that will stay with you long after.
It’s taken a while, but the DVD version of The Haunting of Hill House is finally available, just as a second season, featuring an entirely new and (apparently) unconnected story, a re-interpretation of Henry James’ Turn of the Screw, is being filmed. And before we see Season 2, we’ll get to see Flanagan’s next piece: his version of Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining, Dr. Sleep, due in theaters in early November.
Working your way through ten hours of programming is a major commitment, it’s true, but no recent mini-series, especially in the horror and suspense genre, is more worth the investment or offers a greater return than The Haunting of Hill House. — B.M.
