Hill House is the story of a family divided by grief, tragedy and hauntings. This modern reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s classic follows siblings Steven, Nell, Theodora and Luke as they are torn apart by the psychological horrors of the eerie home they once called their own.
Impactful monologues and slow building scares set the mood for this gripping psychological drama. The non-linear structure of the show allows for narrative complexity by seamlessly blending timelines together.
1. It’s a Classic
The Haunting of Hill House is a classic ghost story about a family who moves into a haunted mansion and experiences horrors that affect them throughout the rest of their lives. It has been adapted into multiple films, television shows, and other works of fiction, and is widely considered to be one of the best ghost stories ever written. While many modern horror shows and movies focus on special effects and jump scares, this Netflix series is different in that it focuses on the characters’ personal struggles and how they cope with their trauma.
The show has been praised for its complex character development and nuanced performances by critics, and it is especially notable for its exploration of mental illness. It reveals the characters’ innermost fears and vulnerabilities, making them more relatable to audiences. In addition, the show addresses the psychological terror that comes from a variety of sources. It shows how the ghosts of Hill House can take on different forms, such as drug addiction and suicide.
Unlike other horror films, which often rely on cut-outs to build suspense, this series builds tension with the use of long silences and slow movements. This technique allows the audience to process what they are seeing on a more subconscious level, which increases the impact of each scene. The show also uses flashbacks and other techniques to create an immersive experience for its viewers.
Mike Flanagan, who directed the series, is a veteran of horror films and television. He has made his name on slow-burning indie horror, and his recent bigger budget projects have been more straightforward in their approach to psychological thrillers. However, Hill House is a departure from his previous work in that it embraces serial storytelling to explore the long-term effects of childhood trauma.
2. It’s a Modern Reimagining
While many of the supernatural elements are left intact, Flanagan and his team create a story that feels entirely modern, says the experts from Hill House Design. This is most evident by the way the show explores grief and its long-term ramifications on families.
For starters, the show depicts the Crain children as adults who are struggling to cope with their parents’ deaths. When tragedy brings them together, it’s not the rosy reunion of a family that is strong because they are all together; rather, they are a group of loners who are barely on speaking terms and are dealing with addiction, depression, lies, betrayal, and the possibility that they could all succumb to the same mental collapse their mother endured.
Flanagan has shown a knack for this type of character-driven drama in his previous work. His slow-burning indie horror films like Oculus and his more recent bigger projects like Gerald’s Game demonstrate his ability to explore difficult family dynamics and the impact of trauma on our lives. But in Hill House, Flanagan takes his exploration to the next level. The series uses serial storytelling and a non-linear narrative to slow down the story and dig deep into the psychological effects of grief.
The way the story switches between the past and present of the characters is particularly effective. By seamlessly bouncing between the two, the story allows the audience to see how their choices in the past have affected the current state of their present lives.
For example, the way in which the show depicts Shirley’s fixation on her past is an accurate portrayal of someone who has suffered through a long period of grief and anger. This anger is often channeled into things that are seemingly unrelated, like her obsession with Hill House.
3. It’s a Family Drama
There is something about families that makes them splinter and grow apart. And the fact that Hill House, both in its physical and metaphorical forms, is able to bring out this dysfunction at every turn is what makes it so terrifying. Every ghost that haunts the children of the Crain family is a reminder of their past, a symptom of how they’ve been pushed away by each other and by the house itself.
Shirley, the eldest daughter, is often the most terrified of them all. Her childhood flashbacks of taking in a box of diseased kittens that died, as well as her mother Olivia attempting to embalm herself so she could look younger are a clear symbol of her fear and the ways in which her family has been torn apart by mental illness. Shirley now runs her own mortuary alongside her husband, while the middle child Luke struggles with heroin addiction and Theodora is a therapist that can see the secrets tucked inside people.
But what makes these characters so relatable is their desire to be loved, even when that isn’t possible. The series uses the dual timeline format to expose their deep traumatic experiences at Hill House and show how those experiences have affected them throughout the rest of their lives.
Despite being a horror series, Flanagan’s adaptation doesn’t fall into the trap of preachy progressive feminist platitudes and instead approaches mental health as an integral part of the story. He counters every moment of supernatural terror with the reality that real-life monsters like depression, addiction, and ideation are just as terrifying as anything haunting the house. This is what makes Hill House truly stand out from the rest of its ilk.
4. It’s a Horror Story
The Crains move into Hill House in 1992 with the intention of sprucing up and flipping it for a profit, but they’re soon tormented by what’s truly unimaginable. Banging noises and echoes, doors that open and close on their own, and written messages appearing on the walls are just the beginning. Then, when Nell begins seeing the apparition of the Bent-Neck Lady while having sleep paralysis, it becomes clear that this is more than just a summer home gone spooky.
Thankfully, Flanagan knows how to build suspense and scares with the kind of meticulously-considered staging and editing that gives the show its own unique brand of horror. He delights in lingering on the faces of his characters, letting their expressions tell the story, and using subtle editing transitions to reveal how their past experiences are still impacting their lives today. He also plays with time, flashing back and forth between the family as children and adults to illustrate how deeply Hill House has shaped them.
While the show doesn’t always succeed at establishing a distinction between supernatural horror and psychological trauma (the repetition of the Bent-Neck Lady quickly makes her less scary than a spooky makeup tutorial on YouTube), its most important aspect is that it shows how much the experience of a haunted house can shape a person. It’s not just a story about ghosts; it’s a story about how grief and trauma maim the living, a theme that is reverberated throughout all of the episodes in different ways. It’s a masterful example of horror done well, and one that is sure to leave viewers on the edge of their seat.
5. It’s a Representational Story
While Flanagan’s previous work has been a bit too heavy-handed in sentiment, Hill House showcases his most polished and deliberate storytelling techniques. It’s a gripping psychological drama with supernatural overtones that blurs the lines between the real and the imagined.
The Crain family— patriarch Hugh (Henry Thomas), matriarch Olivia (Carla Gugino), and their children Steven (Paxton Singleton), Shirley (Lulu Wilson), Nell, and Luke (Violet McGraw and Julian Hilliard)— move into the eponymous mansion with the intentions of flipping it and using the proceeds for their “forever house.” But the home doesn’t want them to leave. It wants to control them.
From the moment they enter, it’s clear that their lives are already ruined. Their traumatic experiences— both childhood and adulthood—are forever tied to Hill House. It’s hard to tell by the end whether any of them would be sane had they not encountered it.
Despite the horrors of Hill House, the show isn’t without a few moments of lightness. Most notably, Eleanor’s connection to the house is heightened by her attraction to Theodora. Theodora is a free spirit with bold looks and a bohemian lifestyle, and Eleanor envies her confidence and independence. The two women bond over their shared experience at Hill House, and the implication is that they might have had an intimate relationship before Eleanor’s mental collapse.
The show also displays a bit of its progressive feminist platitudes in regards to racial and gender representation. The writers’ room chose to pull certain aspects of the original book, including Eleanor’s romantic interest with Theodora and the character’s potential for homosexuality, to the forefront. However, their decision not to display a fuller range of diversity could be seen as a missed opportunity for inclusion.