Netflix Series - The Haunting of Hill House

All the hype was hard to swallow.

 

Well I made it to the end and I probably wasted 6 hours of my life.

Episode 8 was just awful, who can shout the most, I would have stopped before this and only my love for my daughter convinced me to face.

Episode 9 this was rather good and served to emphasise that they really dropped the ball into mush territory along the way.

Episode 10, after 9 I was actually looking forward to this and what did we get mawkish family love tinkling pianos and a absence of dark dread and what the hell was that song and the voice over seemed to sanatise what is probably a very dark ending. .

There were scenes that had some real hair raising moment, the knock on the door and windows but as ever then it goes OTT a vibrating house .

Some of the ideas in there mean that I'll probably read the book but I've warned friends to avoid this.

 

I just finished it and really liked it. I can see why it has 92% on rottentomatoes and a Stephen King approval.

It's a ghost story, ghost-house story. If you know one you know them all, it's not easy to give them a new twist. The ghosts are usually people who died there, went insane in there, were murdered, that's as old as vampires drinking blood, I don't have a problem with that. The time bending nature of that one ghostly lady was a nice touch. Ghosts are timeless, why shouldn't they be able to foreshadow the future? I also loved the revelation about what the red room was.

There were also some details I noticed that seemed to be nods to horror classics, like when the thunderstorm blew out the windows of the hallway, there was a glimpse of a Big Wheel toy car like in The Shining. And the Rats in the Walls incident must have been a nod to the Lovecraft story of the same name.

 

My interest peaked fairly early. The problem I had with the show (other than the ending) was that none of the adult main characters were likeable in any way.
That opening 14 minutes or so of the funeral home scene was either horribly written or horribly acted. I almost quit the series right there.
That being said I’m glad I stuck it out. I thought the kids were all great. I’m glad that the Crain story is over if we do get a season two.

 

I found Luke and Theo likeable enough. The father was ok too, but he could have told them earlier. Btw. it was so obvious were Luke was going with the stolen Jeep and credit card. What a waste of time searching for him on the junkie avenue.

 

I also thought there were some very good scary ideas, but as is the case most of the time these days, they decided on an ending that they couldn't quite pull off as equal to the best parts of the series.

 

I don't normally react to jump scares, but that one in the car made me yell out "Motherf****r!" in surprise

--Geoff

 

Good series, with some great moments (the Nell episode was top notch) -- I did find that the final two episodes got a bit "verbose" with some long soliloquies.

 

Yeah I agree with most here. Good horror TV until the last couple episodes where it became a bit too melodrama for my taste with the genre. Hereditary did it better IMO.

 

It was plain awful. Whoever came up with the idea for this series should have their creative license revoked.

For those who aren't already familiar, I highly recommend the original book as well as the 1963 film adaptation "The Haunting" directed by Robert Wise.

"No one lives any nearer than town, and no one will come any nearer than that. In the night. In the dark."

 

Stephen King gives praise to this nonsense?! That shouldn't surprise me, because he also raved about "Lost".

Plot holes, tired tropes, and unresolvable paradoxes.

Just plain awful.

 

It wasn’t “plain awful” . Was it great? No, but “plain awful” is being too harsh.

 

My harshness is deliberate. I feel like the makers went too far with their artistic license.

 

Too far from what? The original novel? If that’s what you’re basing your criticism off, I think you’re off base. The tv series is inspired from the novel; nothing more than than that.

If you’re basing the Shirley Jackson novel against this then, yeah, it’s going to suck. By NO means did I find this series perfect or infallible, but to label it as “plain awful” is being too critical and, at worst, being a bit of a curmudgeon. Yes, there were many problems with the show (I thought it was only “ok”), but “plain awful”? Well, I guess we all have our opinions. I respect yours and hope you respect mine.

 

Loved this series. Sure it could have been trimmed a bit but thoroughly I enjoyed it.

Thought all the actors were really interesting and invested.

The somber tone worked well.

 

The first two seasons of "Lost" were very very good. Just because a show loses its way doesn't make the entire series crap.

 

I agree. It was flawed and could have been trimmed but that doesn't make the entire series crap. There are a great many great movies that are far from perfect. I'm not suggesting that this is a great series but it certainly isn't the crap others have made it out to be. Some nice performances, good episodes, interesting variation on the original themes of the book.

 

I feel like it does. There was, in essence, more bad than good. When I weigh all seperate parts as a whole, the entire package just doesn't look right to me.

When Stephen King wrote about "Lost" many years ago, in one of his occasional editorials titled "The Pop Of King" which were (are still?) featured in the magazine "Entertainment Weekly", he remarked that he loved the show, and hoped that it wouldn't drag on past two seasons. And the show did, drag on. That killed it for me, took away all the merits of those first two seasons.

 

Having never heard of this I watched the whole thing and finished yesterday. Pretty good stuff. I had no idea this was an actual book. Also didn't know it was a movie before. I liked this version, will have to go look for the original movie.

 

Just be advised that the novel and the original movie version are totally different stories from that miniseries! I think you'll enjoy it though. The 1963 movie version is the one to see.

 

That’s a classic.

 

I'm really enjoying this so far. Can I just ask a question? I've just finished episode 2 and I really don't know what the hell is going on?? Does that sound about right or am I being a bit thick?? LOL

 

By episode 2 it isn't really possible to know what's going on. You have to be at least halfway to understand it.

 

Up until the last two episodes a very enjoyable series. Then it plummets quickly and badly. Almost all the dread, mystery, scares and creep gets tossed out. Nothing but endless boring speeches and apologies.
"Everybody's got a hung -hung-hungry house". There's the wrap up. That's the mystery solved. That and hugs, smiles, lights shining from above. Terrible ending.

The makers decided to go with 180 with the ending like this trailer.

 

We just finished it - yes, late to the party.

I loved it - genuinely creepy good scares that didn't rely on gore and a decent overall premise.

That said:

Spoiler: Spoiler

I feel like the writers were halfway through episode 10 and subsequently fired, replaced with stock Disney writers.

To me the ending completely went against the malevolence the ghosts had displayed. What, now it's a wonderful happy place that you WANT to die in? Ignore that for it's entire history it's been scrambling peoples psyches to either kill tkemselves or their children.

Also,

Spoiler: Spoiler

They must have been watching a lot of Doctor Who - bootstrap paradoxes, perception filters, and when Nell gave her speech at the end about time not being linear, I thought for sure she would say "wibbly wobbly" and "timey wimey" to describe it.

Looking forward to season two. Hopefully hey keep the writers on for all 10 eposides.