I think Mike Flanagan is quite competent in most of what he does, but nothing of his ever blew me away. This show is no different as he certainly is aware of today's tropes and crafts an unusually slow paced horror story more focused on the psychological impact of the haunting than scares, but after so many scene transitions between the story's timelines it gets quite tedious. It is really the later half of the series that tainted my enjoyment with more focus on melodramatic elements, monologues and a conclusion that had me feeling like I just wasted quite a lot of time...
Light Spoilers on top, with heavier spoilers to follow. This review was written specifically for the first season (and if any other seasons are made, it's a crapshoot as to whether or not I'll ever watch them, given the disappointment of the first).
Horror and thrillers are often about tension and suspense, and The Haunting of Hill House is no different. The first six episodes (honestly, more like, episode 3-6) are great build up for a payoff that never comes. The Bent-Neck Lady is a great moment of ramping up the tension, but it's not powerful enough to carry the plot on its own.
The next three episodes (7-9) mostly meander about, trying to make us care about the family, and constantly posturing that the House is a place of true terror. A terror that, upon reaching the finale... simply never comes. Like Olivia, the series falls on its face, hard.
Heavier, but tagged, spoilers ahead.
The series advertises itself as a tense horror, but doesn't seem to want to be come the finale. Lots of plot threads never really pay off (like the utterly pointless floating man), and the ones that do absolutely should have been built up better (Abigail being real felt pretty cheap, and could have been hinted at much better).
If the series wanted to mind fuck the audience, but not go the full horror route, they should have maintained Steven's skepticism. Keep Hugh out of the obvious haunting stuff, make one of the kids (probably Shirley) not see what the others see. Make the Dudleys elusive, maybe superstitious, but not clearly wrapped up in the hauntings. Maintain the question of whether Olivia (and by extension, Theo) was 'sensitive' and the House itself is haunted; or if Olivia had been schizophrenic and passed it on to her kids.
Alternatively, given the time hopping nature of the Bent-Neck Lady reveal, having the House bending reality around the Crains would have been an interesting mind fuck as well. What if, as the adult Crains beat on the door of the Red Room to attempt to get to Luke, we flash back to the children, jumping at the sound of the pounding door in the past? The banging that Theo and Shirley heard as children, actually the sound of their future selves stumbling against the walls in terror. The past and future are tangled together in the Hill House.
Or maybe, Hill House deals with Postpartum Depression, or a similar phenomena The House echoes Poppy Hill's madness, as she, in life, 'woke' her child into death to 'protect' it in a fit of insanity before killing herself. Now her ghost infects the relationships between mother and child. We see bits of it in Mrs. Dudley, and then, eventually, Poppy attempts to infect Olivia and the twins.
Any of these could have been precursors to a shorter version of the sappy, happy ending we got, and still payed off all the tension built up from before. Hell, even a very typical fright fest of ghosts tormenting in the Crains in the final episode would have been predictable, and ultimately too easy, but still more satisfying.
What we got instead, was a great build up to a flat ending, ultimately deflating what came before. I am the kind of person who usually says that an ending doesn't ruin the journey. A bad ending can be overwritten in your mind with something better, or ignored, as long as the journey is still great, but with a story built on suspense, the payoff becomes the backbone of the entire thing. What could have been a solid 8 or maybe a 9, with a good ending, is relegated to a 6, held up only by the fact that there were great moments of potential before it led to something flat.
Fantastic series, for once we are given a show that doesn't hold our hand and lead us through the story. I don't know why people need shows that explain every moment, this is gripping stuff throwing up more questions than answers.
Hell, if Stephen King loves it you know there is some great interpretation of the original story.
Update on my previous comment:
I was a bit disappointed by the last episode, it felt as if they were stuck between finishing the story or making room for a new season. Even more disappointing was the obligatory ... 'and the moral of the story is ...' where I felt we were being told to love one another and be happy bunnies. We know that's what we should do, but I don't want to be forced fed this in a horror series that I was enjoying so much. We watch this stuff for our own psychological torture not moral advice!
This show is the closest one to the definition of a horror masterpiece.
So much more than just a horror series about a haunted house. The story of this show goes very deep and especially the story of Nell is one to pay close attention to.
The kids are so well cast because not only are they really great young actors but they also look so much like their grown up versions.
You get sucked into the story fast and what I love is that when you finished you'll have gone full circle. Mysterious family drama, must watch even if your not a fan of the ghost genre like myself, this is just such an interesting story with great characters portrayed by excellent actors.
I watched the whole season this weekend. I liked it and thought the story line was interesting. What I didn’t like was the annoying relationship between the family members. Other than that, it was good
Ghosts are no match for terrible parenting
I watched 4 episodes, but this is not for me, flashback,flashback, flashback, boring. Stopt watching.
MAJOR SPOILERS!!!
So this is tough. There were some absolutely INCREDIBLE episodes! Two Storms and Bent-Neck Lady stand out... This had the potential to be a 9 or 10. In fact, I initially rated the show a 9 just after finishing it. Then I thought about it for a few days. Thought about how it all ended and what it all implied for the series as a whole. And I got angry... It felt like a betrayal. Such a huge tonal shift...
So the house "digests" these kids and their parents through their fears. It makes them see or do horribly crazy shit till they either kill themselves or others in the house. Dark as hell, yeah? But apparently this isn't actually a bad thing as "those who walk there, walk together". They turned the house with all it's vile evilness... into a somewhat "misunderstood" place where if you die there you can live forever with your loved ones who have also died there (yay!). What the hell...
A couple other weird things that bugged... Not necessarily in a bad way, but things I still think about...
So for Nell to be haunted by her future-self, the house must exist outside of time somehow (confetti monologue?). We don't just have ghosts from the past haunting the present, but ghosts of the future haunting the "present" as well. There seems to be a bit of a time paradox at play here... Chicken born before the egg type of thing.
And why did the Tall Man (who'd always been looked down upon) haunt Luke? Because Luke's future self would always be looked down upon because of his addiction? Maybe the house could take the form of those that died within, use whatever form best suited its purpose at the time. That would make sense with the whole "that wasn't mom" thing. Poppy was just plain evil so the mom's mania at least made a little sense...
And with this foresight the house seemed to have, why'd it target Luke when it should have seen that it wouldn't get him? Was he just a "bigger snack" of sorts (bigger than his older siblings, who were never really targeted the way Luke and Nell were)? Was it because Luke was Nell's twin (the Twin Thing)?
Regardless, it was just the house feeding off fears I guess... Using these ghosts from the past and future to breed more and more fear until folks died. Beautifully dark up till a relatively bright and cheery end. I still enjoyed the hell out of the series, but really wish that ending was different.
I have never experienced a horror based show that look so surreal, that it can make me chop my nails off. 10/10
If you're the type of person who's into soap operas soaked in family drama with the occasional creepy ghost, you may get a kick out of this. If you are after a modern classic of the horror genre, you're better off doing like me and keep looking elsewhere. Also, if you're the former, get ready for the rush of the first season finale, that one's a keeper!
In the end, I felt like I was watching Supernatural for grown ups, minus the bromance (which is the part that makes Supernatural so much fun).
everything AHS would love to be. there is a lot of words to describe this show. one of them is masterpiece .
I got a lot of feedback, after I posted my review of THE HAUNTING OF BLY HOUSE, which encouraged me to watch this series, its predecessor. I was cautious because the reviews I had read that loved HILL HOUSE, didn’t like BLY MANOR, and vice versa. I also knew that HILL was more horror (which is not my genre) where what I appreciated about BLY was that it was more of a love story and not just a ghost story. My caution was borne out. I found HILL had little going for it beside the shocks of ghostly apparitions. The characters did not captivate me although the acting was not at fault. It was heavy on narrative. In some episodes there was too much dialogue without dynamic (long scenes where two people talked in a car, for an example) which slowed the story telling to a crawl to the point that I found myself bored. I’m pretty sure if I had watched HILL first, I might have not bothered to see the second in this series, which would have been a loss since BLY has become a favourite of mine. I give this series a 6 (fair) out of 10. [Ghost Story]
Season 2 is not horror. They used the word "haunting" in the title as a clickbait. It should more appropriately be called The Dark of Bly Manor or Darkness of Bly Manor or something to that. Dislike this show and it's waste of time watching it. :thumbsdown:
Why is this constantly changing from ending to returning series and vice-versa? Season 2 is not even out yet
Story is interesting, but can easily be condensed into fewer episodes with a cohesive storyline. Watching hour plus episodes that drag out is a chore. Instead of 10 episodes this can easily have been maybe 5 with less ambiguous parts only to be explained in later episodes.
This one is a gem...Superb character building,cinematography and story-telling...Mike Flanagan is in my radar now...hopefully he will do some amazing work...
Horror Family Drama,really weird genre...series will show you bond between family in touch with some paranormal events...it will make viewers unsettle but some how make peace with it in the end...one thing is for sure,i've never seen anything like this before...it was a long but good night...
This one is a gem...Superb character building,cinematography and story-telling...Mike Flanagan is in my radar now...hopefully he will do some amazing work...
Horror Family Drama,really weird genre...series will show you bond between family in touch with some paranormal events...it will make viewers unsettle but some how make peace with it in the end ...one thing is for sure,i've never seen anything like this before...it was a long but good night...
I loved this show because it had great build-up and kept that general tension with minimum jumpscares. It gives off a Hereditary atmosphere and it was brilliant.
The plot and the characters, however, felt a bit far-stretched, e.g. every character had an occupation that resulted from the house, and in the finale every character had a dream with unnaturally long dialogues. The finale was not as good as expected, but the story wrapped up nicely. There's still material for further seasons.
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality." This show pushes everyone's limits on what constitutes reality. If you don't look closely, you might assume that you're walking into a classic horror story. Haunted houses, ghosts, and other traditional horror / thriller elements are abundant. However, that's just the surface. The Haunting of Hill house is a brilliant exploration of depression, suicide, drug use and some of the other real horrors in life. It looks at these things through the lens of a family and the house that holds all of their most terrifying fears. Get lost in a world that is both beautiful and tragic. The show keeps you guessing on what's going on, in a good way. The ending is both satisfying and surprising. "Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more." I think we'll be saying the same about this show.
10/10
Simply amazing. I can’t think of any kind of actual horror show that’s any better. A few have said masterpiece and I wholeheartedly agree with them. I enjoyed the first few episodes but some didn’t, stick with it if you don’t it’s amazing as a whole.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”
I love this show. I'm not a big fan of any horror movies or show, I'm easily scared by anything and I hate to fear in movies, but this one is really something else. The whole atmosphere is perfect, the characters, the haunted house, the story is so deep and interesting and much more than just stupid jumpscares or ghosts. Little by little, each episode goes through past memories and present of the characters according to their view, until slowly you start to see the whole picture. I personally like flashbacks in stories and I liked the pace, it was quite slow maybe but high suspense, and it's good that you don't understand everything right away, or you believe you already know, while you just know a part of it. It's scary sometimes, especially the first half I'd say, but then you get to know how the house "works" and it gets more psychologically scary the more it goes on, with brilliant dialogues and shocking revealing, and the ending was just mindblowing, even though thinking about it now, there were all the signs already since episode 1, we just couldn't know about it. The characters are perfect, I really felt involved and connected with each one of them. Definitely recommend it :)
I wanted, so badly, for this to be deeply haunting to leave me irrationally analysing my nightmares but alas, it was pretty mediocre. It's still well written; a story of a family breaking apart due to lack of closure, secrets and childhood traumas left unaddressed (honestly, the real horror). I loved the reunion ( when Nell died ) just cause of how much I believed in this family. The switch between present and past timelines was well executed. The suspense was present but if I hadn't plan to watch this all in one seating, I could've easily forgotten to finish it.
this show was kind of confusing sometimes, but I enjoyed it.
Much like Bly Manor, a great ensemble and heartfelt, passionate themes make for a great watch even through some minor quibbles. Nellie, Luke, Theo, Olivia, all their showcase episodes are great, with their performances as a center point. Each episode fills in just a bit more of the puzzle, keeping you hooked, and when it all clicks together it’s some magical stuff. The revelations of what happened to Nell and Olivia both pay off huge. And the horror is a great backdrop and vehicle for the exploration of trauma, love, and family.
There’s a few things holding it back, though. It may be personal bias against his real life actions, but even when I tried to set that aside, Timothy Hutton was such a downgrade from Henry Thomas. He sounds and moves like a SNL impression, and he’s so lethargic and tired in a way the show wasn’t aiming for. And while I felt like T’Nia Miller got a little shortchanged in the resolution of her arc, she at least got some meaty material that offset her tragic death and the character development for her love interest. Here, Arthur exists solely for Nell, and dies to fuel her plot. The rest of the family does not think or mention him outside of his connection to her.
And then Shirley. She’s not half as sympathetic as they seem to be going for, and Kevin- who again exists only for her plot- gets cheated on and when she confesses she doesn’t really apologize so much as make it all about her and beg him to love her through it. Trish is fun when she’s around and gets a sweet ending, but she doesn’t have an arc of her own either. Bly Manor was a step forward, and I hope Flanagan’s other series continue that progression, but characters of color seem a weak spot of his if they’re not played by Rahul Kohli.
But overall, it’s still a great watch. It really gets you in the hearts and minds of this family and makes you sit with their pain, their heartache, and their grief. Some powerful performances elevate monologues that would be purple prose without the delivery to sell it. The horror is understated but simmering, more enveloping than explosive, and it’s very immersive. It’s a palpable atmosphere, and means a stay at Hill House is well worth having.
I don't think there are any words to say how much I loved this show. So there you go : I loved it. It's dark and moody and twisted and I just love it a lot. Now, this is definitely more psychological than straight up horror so don't go into this hoping for bloodshed and jump scares at every turn but if you love slow burns, family drama, you're going to love this.
This show did horror in a good way. The whole creepy vibe throughout made me very tense in a good way. Also had some good jumpscares and a lot of family trauma. Really good watch.
Based on a novel, The Haunting of Hill House is a supernatural horror series from Netflix. The story follows the Crain family who went through a traumatic experience in their youth in which their mother was killed while renovating an old mansion known as Hill House, and 26-years later another death in the family brings the Crains together again and forces them to face the ghosts from their past. Featuring Timothy Hutton, Carla Gugino, Elizabeth Reaser, and Kate Siegal, the show has a pretty solid cast and delivers some good performances. The writing however, is a little weak as most of the episodes focus on a specific character; and some characters are better developed and more interesting than others, resulting in some unevenness from episodes to episode. Yet they do an impressive job at building up the mystery and suspense of Hill House. Also, the look and style the series sets up a creepy and atmospheric tone that’s really effective. Captivating and full of intrigue, The Haunting of Hill House is a fresh a creative adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s work.
10/10
All Gold
Masterpiece with
Outstanding Performances
and a Phenomenal
super interesting tale
to tell.
Such an
Extraordinary show
With quality off the charts
Writing through and through.
Verdict: Frickin Awesome
A lot of these characters remind me of Skyrim Guards that say "Must have been the wind" after you have violently murdered an entire village right in front of their eyes.
The house is so interesting and there was so much potential here. I found it to be really wasted on this insufferable adult family that takes up way to much space.
The scenes with the children in the house were great.
this is a fantastic horror TV show, maybe my favorite show of all the time
the best series I've seen ... and I've watched it 3 times since the beginning
Despite only one season showing on Trakt, there is really two seasons of "The Haunting". Neither season is particularly scary, but it does copy from AHS in the idea of taking similar casts and putting them in different situations. People will undoubtedly prefer one or the other (I prefer Hill House for its aesthetic). Both are good content, so check them out if you need some horror anthology content!
Average Season Review: 7.5/10
Recommendation: Watch if You Need Content (For American Horror Story Fans)
Chilling series that keeps you on edge with plenty of jump scares. Highly recommended
Loved it! This series really got me into Mike Flanagan. I really hope he makes more seasons of this show.
The first 4 episodes are quite meh but oh my god, they were so worth it because the 4 episodes after that were AMAZING. However, the last 2 episodes did not live up to them, especially with all those poems. Other than that, Victoria carried this show with her AMAAAAZING performance.
3 Thoughts After Completing ‘The Haunting of Hill House’:
Reviewing this a bit late, since I was expecting it to continue in an anthology form… something I had initially been unhappy about discovering. I really wanted this particular tale to continue. I thought it was superbly done, but it left me feeling like we were being somewhat shorted. Like we were left with so much still to tell.
A slew of spooky moments, and those famously hidden ghosts, make for great Halloween viewing. And one scene in particular… those who’ve seen it know what I’m talking about… made me jump in a way no other show has.
Such a phenomenal cast, all around. It was great to see Henry Thomas in the spotlight again. Carla Gugino is always a delight. Kate Siegel was a standout to me. And Oliver Jackson-Cohen is a dream.
Though it is creepy and occasionally disturbing. You can get through it if you’re used to the kind of jump scares from the Conjuring movies. The cast is excellent too.
Great acting, good horror. Sadly, it felt like it completely fell apart in the final episode. The relationship resolutions felt like fluffy words without any actual content, and the resolution of the mysteries didn't really add any depth to the show. I thought this show was going to be at least an 8 but the end felt rather hollow.
I found this to be lacking in horror and more of a thriller and it was slow at times.
This show is based on Shirley Jackson's gothic novel and in the hands of a creator who knows horror and psychological drama. I don't enjoy most horror content. But this show is focused on how the haunting in of a young family of seven has affected the character's lives and their relationships with each other. The actresses who play the mother and Theo put in particularly strong performances in an excellent ensemble cast. The show is well-shot and scored, meaning I was hypnotized rather than bored when things slowed down. I'd highly recommend and would watch again one day.
Horror is easy. But good quality horror is very hard. And this passes the challenge easily.
The base is classic. Family moves into a huge house, and it's haunted, they flee one night.
Production is high level, image is good, music is good, acting is good. But not out of the ordinary. So what makes it special ?
1⃣, the format. The storytelling is very well constructed. We follow two stories, what happens in the present, decades later, and flashbacks of what happened in the past in the house and leading to that night. And both stories are good.
What's usually an issue with this kind of storytelling, with both time period in parallel, is that to keep suspense characters tend to behave like if they were discovering what happened in the past at the same time as the viewer, as if they didn't experienced it at the time, making their actions totally irrational knowing what they are supposed to know.
Thankfully they don't fall in that trap here.
Second interesting thing is the format is that most episodes are centered around a character or a concept. First five are for each of the siblings, culminating with the one that died. Episode 6 follows parallels nights where they are all together in the past and present. And we also get father and mother centric episodes.
Each time we're focused on their story, what they experienced in the past, what they're doing now, how they deal with Nell's death in the present, and their relationship with the others.
This also allows to see the same scenes through different eyes, usually first through the one that did not see anything weird, then the one that did see the ghost or whatever.
2⃣, and that's the really strong point of the show, the characters, and specially their relationship with each others are extremely well built. Very often a character's personality determines more or less how everybody else interact with them, but here the relationships between the siblings are complex and very different from one to another.
They also have some traits that are surprisingly used only to define their own story. For instance Theo can feel/experience objects and peoples' past by touching them. it feels like it should be a pretty big deal, and yet it's only defining her relationships to people, it has absolutely zero plot influence.
3⃣ The horror part is well dosed. No gore or abuse of jump scares, more chilling atmosphere and creepy things. Mostly not the kind that makes you close your eyes or scream, but the kind that gives an unexplained uncomfortable shiver for no apparent reason.
And when there is a jump scare, it's an incredibly good one (Nell appearing in the car). Perfectly used, not artificially driven by camera or music, it is what jump scare were supposed to be before they got turned into this overused tool for cheap horror.
4⃣ There are some very good ideas.
- The secret room of each character. It's not entirely original, but it's fun and very discreetly integrated in the story.
- Obviously the Nell is the bent neck lady sequence. This episode ending was incredibly good.
- The random ghosts. There are very often ghosts in the background that can go unnoticed if you're focusing on the main characters.
5⃣ The mix between supernatural and the character's delusion. A classic theme in horror is to know whether what's happening is really supernatural or if "it's only in their head", due to trauma, medications, "it's just a dream" or whatever. And here, well, it depends. There are some supernatural stuff and ghosts, for sure. But some of them are also only the character's own delusions.
The giant floating hat guy that seems to follow Luke. At first you'd think it keeps chasing him, even outside of the house. But it does nothing, and after a while you realize there is no reason for it to be outside the house, it doesn't really look or behave the same. It's all in his head.
The father constantly speaking to Olivia. Well, there clearly is a ghost. We see it later. But this one is entirely in his head.
With all this, it is a very high quality production that is rarely used on horror flicks.
It's not without defects though.
Mostly the ending sucked. Contrary to the rest, it feels sloppy. Like they couldn't quite decide on what the meaning of the event was and how things connected. They could have focused on one part, the mother's story, driven crazy by a ghost who played on her fears. That would have been enough. The thing with the house feeding on them and the red room don't quite fit with the rest.
Same with the bent neck lady. It was really cool, but how does it fit with the rest of the ghosts we've seen ? It really has no relation with the rest, which cheapens the very good idea.
What about Nell and Hugh staying happily with Olivia in the house ? Dying didn't cure her, she's still totally insane and still wanted to kill her children.
The Shirley story added in the last episode was totally out of place too.
Some things are left completely unaddressed. We know they were raised by their aunt, but why ? It doesn't look like the father went to prison (or it's also totally unaddressed), so why didn't he raised the kids ? Did Janet sue him for custody ? In that case how could she win and why would the kids not consider it her fault ?
There seem to be many ghosts, and yet we don't see anything about them. They don't interact. We don't know where they come from. That is a huge untapped potential. And again, if they had just focused on the mother why not, but if the house is feeding on its dead, why are they still here, aren't they working for the house to add more ghosts like Poppy, or if they are free why don't some of them stop her ?
The only one we see a bit more is the giant floating hat guy. He obviously doesn't look human, why is it never addressed. And in the end he's never interacting with anybody (what happened after he found Luke under the bed ?), so even if he looks very cool and creepy, what was the point ? And how does he fit in the story and the house mechanics ?
It's a little sad that despite the very high quality of the show, the construction of the horror part seem hastily jumbled together, just as an after thought.
But anyway, finishing a show is very hard, there are very few that really succeed, and until there, it's really of of the best horror show ever, well above even the best American Horror Story seasons.
Before this aired, almost everyone billed it as a scary/horror story. I thought it wasn't. Felt more like a psychological-repercussions story.
Not really horror. It is a bit overly dramatic, and has some cheap jumpscares. If you like soap operas, it's a good one. It's quite emotional. I probably would've liked it better if it didn't market itself as horror.
Tension builds up from the start, but doesn't keep pace until the end of the show. It can be said that episode 7 is the apogee of the horror, then it only gets worse... It's a pity.
Horrible development. This series was a new experience for me, but that turned out to be a fateful thing, unfortunately. The tutor is quite disconnected, at no point do I feel that she is there truly, nor in the end she has redeemed herself; Hannah had been another character thrown in the trash who did not develop anything and did not even give the proper explanations about the "jumps in memories", feature very poorly used, please! I had no idea that the basis of the series was the novel, when it fell a part I saw that all the subtexts did not serve anything, disappointing. And the end? It was bad.
i dont like this kind of creepy shows. i saw lesbian romance of season 2 aka bly manor. i thought i might like all of s2 . but i dropped at ep4 . they focus on creepy. better watch les story on youtube
Except for some super annoying jump scares and volume peaks, the show is overall good.
Netflix forcing gay characters in a TV show is a :poop: movie
Just finished the first season. At first I didn't like it but after 2-3 episodes I was hooked! Very good story, good actors, but not scary at all (to me). I love the fact that if you pay attention that you can see things/ghosts in the background when they don't see them. The finale was a bit boring imo. But can't wait to start Bly Manor!
A good show more than a horror tv series with so much emotion but too much talking too.I think season 2 it's not going to be that good but i hope i am wrong.
I was expecting much more of this show but i'm really dissappointed
another waste of time show with stupid ghosts and nonsense horror scenes
lack of logic.only kids get scared by these mediocre series
More of a psychological thriller than a horror show, this failed to live up to the expectations I had going into it.
This show is about flashback....like a lot. And the scary parts do not make sense. Gave it up on e4
I think this show is waste of time.It tells nothing and boring.
Why "finished"? They are making the second season, aren't they?
A great TV show spoiled by a frustrating ending.
Great piece of work! Don't expect a horror with scare moments all over. The story is pretty slow, but didn't affect my desire to continue watching. It has a great plot twist at the end, which makes it a better watch.
A shame about that last episode, and the tendency to cram endless monologues after monologues during the second half (no matter how well acted many of these are), because this feels a hair away from a horror series high water mark. Even that finale, kind of awful from a plot standpoint, manages to get by emotionally a bit with superb direction and performances. This really feels like all of Flanagan's skill and pet theme -- past trauma framing present horror -- done maximally and often magnificently, especially in its best stretch (4 through 6, the twin episodes and the long-take one). I actually have a few gripes with the sixth episode's conception, such as how the long takes magnify some performance tics that go past natural awkwardness into outright tedium (sorry, Timothy Hutton), but overall it's an ambitious endeavor that bleeds the past and the present so well emotionally. And of course the fifth is a heartbreaker, and the fourth may personally contain Flanagan's most frightening creation for me, that floating old man with his crane knocking on the floor as he goes.
Flanagan's most impressive technical achievement may be the casting and direction of five Crain kids though. Not only are their performances so good in of themselves (frankly, how he manages to direct them in episode six's long takes so naturally -- which must already be hell even without factoring in the actors being this young -- is kind of astonishing), but they also do resemble their adult counterparts (well, except maybe Luke), with all their tics and personalities uncannily syncing up so well; I'm thinking especially of how McKenna Grace's corner-mouth smile evokes the defensive deadpan apathy of adult Theo perfectly. What five remarkable finds.
Not as scary as I thought it would be, but definitely wowed me with its plot and every twisted turn it took. This was really more of a family drama at its very core. The everyday tale of people connected by blood, broken by a shared past, haunted by their own personal conflicts, and yet can and will still choose to hold on to each other no matter what - freakishly haunted mansion be damned.
Give this show a try even if you're not into horror. Brilliantly made and filled with Emmy worthy performances, it really goes into depth of themes like addiction, dealing with trauma and family relationships. It's actually beautiful and refreshing.
This is such a great show, but also a very show, you need to be really patient to go through 4-5 episodes then everything intertwines together and getting really exciting. Don't give up on the first episodes
Shout by YannickBlockedParent2018-10-15T17:07:53Z
I first thought it was another simple horror tv show. It’s deeper than that. The storyline is great and it’s very suspenseful. Although it might have some annoying lengths sometimes.