A bit of a tradition my friends and I have maintained since our lowly days of middle school is to gather on Halloween weekend every year and binge an unholy amount of terrible horror movies late into the night. It’s an all-nighter filled with making fun of ridiculous effects, misconstrued plotlines and laugh-out-loud acting.
This year we tried something new. We accidentally discovered something good. It was truly terrifying and one of the biggest shocks of my life. What we stumbled upon in the late hours of the weekend was not even a movie, it was in fact The Haunting of Hill House, a Netflix original putting a modern reimagining on the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name.
On a whim we decided to start watching this show. From the opening scene, I was entranced with this nerve-wracking show. The Haunting of Hill House tries to steer away from cliches often plaguing the horror industry. It doesn’t need strong, one-trait characters. It doesn’t need to have constant jumpscares, though it’ll throw in a few well-deserved ones. It doesn’t need to tell you everything upfront, and then just make the rest of the series an in-your-face gore fest.
On the contrary, the show takes its time, crafting intricate plot threads, complex and deep characters and an atmosphere that is equally intriguing as it is terrifying. Taking a note from Stephen King’s It, the show includes two separate timelines: the actual haunting of the family and the aftermath years down the line when the kids have grown into adults. Not only does this show craft a very unique plot, it utilizes time to its advantage.
By crafting two different timelines, this horror series injects itself with elements of mystery and realistic, raw family drama. It keeps you on the edge of your seat for something more than suspense. Answers are kept hidden, or are only partially revealed so it feels like there is something to be gained by continuing to watch. It’s a show that begs for your attention, and quite frankly, is needed to keep up with what’s going on.
The actors portray their roles well, both young and old, and within the first couple episodes I cared deeply for them, and wanted to know what happened, but most importantly why. How did they get to where they are now? What happened in that house?
Another applause to the show for doing something largely unseen in the horror industry: showing the aftermath of what happens to a family after a ghostly encounter. In most horror films or television shows, we are presented with a premise, some kind of unnatural presence, and a host of characters that are completely clueless and easily either killed off or terrified to an extent they might as well be dead. And by the end of it, a nice, usually unbelievable conclusion is presented, or the monsters win.
In this show, we not only get all of that done in a smart and intricate way, we also get the aftermath of the family years down the line. We see what the trauma can do, how the experiences can be manipulated and used for personal gain, how it can really tear a family apart and skew their life trajectories into complicated directions. Simply put, it's a horror show that not only scares the living daylights out of you, but makes you think deeply and really feel certain emotions largely only portrayed through primetime dramas.
The Haunting of Hill House is smart. Something I largely recommend doing for those that have already watched the show, or even those who haven’t finished, is looking up online videos or articles showcasing scenes within the series where they put hidden ghosts in scenes, enveloped in the background. They’re not called attention to like some are, but they’re there and that makes the atmosphere one hundred percent more unsettling. Plus, it shows the extreme lengths and care put into this project by the creators and team behind it.
So while there’s always a place for stupid, hilarious scary movies — highly recommend Zombeavers or Rubber, both are quite the rides — I urge you all to take a more serious approach whenever you feel up to it, and check out The Haunting of Hill House. It really is a revolutionary, and masterfully crafted addition to all the terrifying films and shows you can watch in the world of horror.
Jackson Horvat is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Jackson by tweeting him at @horvatjackson.
