The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix style)

[impy]

Ozma and I watched the first five episodes of The Haunting of Hill House (the new Netflix show) yesterday. Cass warned me about an issue in episode 2 and in return I cheerfully told her that the PJs in one of the scenes were AG (Maryellen's and I'll go screen cap them when I'm done with the series) in return. She finished the show and still doesn't know whether she liked it or not, and I'm halfway through and I'm cautiously giving it a thumbs up. I don't know what the last five episodes hold, though I'm told that ep 9 will wreck me and the ending is... a thing. I'm trying to avoid most spoilers though.


This isn't gory, so far. I prefer my horror to be of the not torture!porn variety which means my horror options for the last ten years or so have been seriously limited. If you dig creeping dread and a slow burn but want it more obviously meant to be horror than, say, Sharp Things, this version of Hill House might be your jam.

There are ghosts littered throughout the background (there are already tons of articles about this) and it looks spooky in a pretty way. See gif above.

Thus far, each episode has centered on one of the five Crain children and we seem to go in order of oldest to youngest. I say seem because I'm not 100% sure which twin is older, but Nell's episode is #5 and it is, so far, probably my favorite. It made me smile and laugh and hope for 2 seconds before remembering what I was watching and then I cried and my heart broke and it had a legit jump scare and even though I knew, knew, KNEW the twist, it was still a punch in the gut.


The show has done a great job of balancing storylines and weaving them together as we see different situations from different character's POV. I'm a sucker for a good backstory and this is basically 90% backstory as we jump through time from the present to the past. It's interesting that they keep saying these kids grew up in Hill House but it's looking pretty obvious that they didn't really get a chance to spend that much time there. Of course I've misjudged some of their time slides before, so who knows.

I haven't found it super scary so much as it's spooky. Cass, whose pregnancy has given her vivid nightmares, hasn't said anything about that being an issue, so if you're a fraidy cat, you might make it through at least the first five episodes. I think there's only been one actual jump scare, so either the others telegraphed it from a mile away or they don't exist. That said, this is only based on the first half of the show.

Finally, my favorite thing about this show is that the casting is, for the most part, on point. The grown up versions of the Crain girls look like one another and their mother and sometimes it's really jarring in an intentional, the show meant for it to happen way and sometimes you just think, "daaaaaaaaang. For once a family that looks like family."

Thus far the women have been a bit more compelling than the men but I mean... it's hard to compare to Theo and Nell, and I have a soft spot for Shirley. Kid!Luke is adorable and you just want to scoop him up and keep him safe.

I'd watch another episode but today's my short day. Maybe tomorrow.