Netflix horror series ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ is a chilling drama

Netflix

• Netflix’s new horror series, “The Haunting of Hill House,” is
  also a surprisingly emotional family drama, and one of Netflix’s
  best original shows.
• Director Mike Flanagan (“Gerald’s Game”) creates a creepy
  mood throughout the series that leaves the viewer in suspense.
• The show’s true horror beyond ghosts, though, comes from our
  real-life human fears.
• The show’s revelations are surprising and satisfying, and
  will leave viewers talking.

Some of the best horror films are also engaging family dramas. A
recent example is this year’s “Hereditary,” which director Ari
Aster has described as “a family
tragedy that curdles into a nightmare.”

Netflix’s new original TV series, “The Haunting of Hill
House,” could also be described that way. It takes the concept
and expands it over the course of 10 serialized television
episodes. Not only is the show a chilling horror series, but it’s
also an emotional story of a family being torn apart, often by
the supernatural forces at work against them, but also by their
own faults.

It’s also one of Netflix’s best original series.

“The Haunting of Hill House” is loosely based on the 1959
novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson. It follows the Crain
family between their present lives and the past, when they lived
in the haunted Hill house for a summer. The parents, Olivia
(played by Carla Gugino) and Hugh (played by Henry Thomas in the
past, and Timothy Hutton in the present) move them and their five
kids to the house to flip it, but mysterious forces beyond their
control upend their plan. 

Years later, the Crains are still haunted by their past,
even though they don’t want to admit it, and spread out between
the east and west coasts. The oldest, Steven (Michiel Huisman),
is a horror author. His sister, Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser), who
is a funeral director, condemns Steven for using their family
trauma to sell books, and urges their siblings not to take his
royalty checks. Theo (Kate Siegel, who is the standout performer)
is living in Shirley’s guest house and is a child psychiatrist
with a mysterious gift that requires her to wear gloves at all
times. The youngest, twins Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Nell
(Victoria Pedretti), have a mental connection with one another,
but Luke is a drug addict and Nell is still fixated on her time
in the house thanks to a recent tragedy.

Netflix

The show flashes between the present and past, and most
episodes focus on a particular family member. But it always feels
integral to the story, and never like a gimmick. By the end,
every plot thread is addressed in a satisfying, and shocking,
conclusion.

As a horror series, the show raises the bar for any future
shows in the genre. There’s your typical jump scares, but the
true horror in the show plays out in more subtle, chilling ways
thanks to director Mike Flanagan, who has made a name for himself
as a horror director in recent years with “Oculus,” “Hush,”
“Before I Wake,” “Ouija: Origin of Evil,” and “Gerald’s Game.”
He’s also attached to direct the “Shining” sequel, “Doctor
Sleep.”

Flanagan sets an eerie mood throughout the show in which
the viewer is kept in suspense. But it’s not just ghosts that
make the show scary. Like any good piece of horror, “The Haunting
of Hill House” exploits our most common human fears: death of a
loved one, addiction, betrayal, etc. And it does so in
surprisingly emotional ways.

It’s tough to go into too much detail about the show without
diving into spoilers. Some of the best parts involve revelations
I didn’t see coming. That’s why, though, that this is going to be
a massive hit that people will be talking about, and not just
because it makes for a perfect Halloween binge.

“The Haunting of Hill House” is available on Netflix starting
Friday.

Watch the trailer below: