AT THE MOVIES

by Isy Jordan

The Haunting of Hill House
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti, and more.

Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

Yes, I know the show actually came out in 2018. But if you're like me, you didn't have a lot of time before the pandemic to catch up on all the new shows. This one I was a little hesitant about because I love the book of the same name by Shirley Jackson it's based on. There have been a couple of movies made based on it. What were they going to do with a ten-episode series now?

Wonderful things. Wonderful, thrilling, terrifying things.

Our story focuses on the Crain family. Five siblings who all have their share of problems. Steven, the oldest, is a successful horror novelist whose first big hit was a story about the family's experience at the haunted Hill House when they were children. His siblings mostly take issue with how things were depicted. There's Shirley who runs a funeral home, needs perfection, and resents a lot of things. Theo is the middle child and wears gloves because if she touches the skin of another, she can see their past. She's a psychologist who struggles with intimacy. Finally, there are the twins, Luke and Nell, who are worse off than their siblings. Luke is a drug addict in rehab and Nell is recently widowed and struggling with the ghosts of her past. Namely the ghosts of Hill House.

You soon learn that their father is still alive but they don't really have relationships with him now. Their mother died in Hill House when they were children and they feel he's withheld the truth from them all of these years.

And that's where the story starts.

The Haunting of Hill House is a powerhouse of a series that's scary, frustrating, heartbreaking, and filled with mystery at every turn. I loved the ride. The mystery of what happened at the infamous house is fascinating and the jump scares and little Easter eggs scattered throughout are excellent. The interpersonal relationships between the siblings, for me, made the series and were alone worth the price of admission.

The show is on Netflix and there are ten episodes rating TV-MA for super scary images, violence, ghosts, suicide, and more. Older kids? Use your best judgment. The acting is excellent and the series was well-crafted. It's so good you'll want to go to the next episode to the next. You've been warned.

Isy