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shadowkat1. Decided to try just one episode of The Haunting of Hill House - the new adaptation on Netflix - thinking, eh, I'll just see what all the buzz is about, then I'll jump over to Daredevil S3. Seven episodes later, I'm taking a break to cleanse the palate before bedtime with The Great British Baking Show.
Yes, it is THAT good. Compelling and unnerving. Possibly the scariest thing I've seen in a long time. Think Shirley Jackson's Hill House meets well Stephen King by way of Edgar Allen Poe. It's told in a sort of flashback style -- over twenty years later, the Crain family is still struggling to deal with the trauma of living in Hill House. The series picks a different point of view for each episode. We start with Steven Crain, who has written a pseudo memoir of living in a haunted house, even though he never saw any of the ghosts in the house and doesn't believe in any of it. Or so he says. Then in the next episode, we shift to his sister Shirly or Cherly, who runs a funeral home. And next Theodora, who is a child psychologist. Luke, a recovering heroine addict, Nell, who struggles with sleep paralysis (the twins). Hugh Crain, their father who restores old houses and flips them. His wife, Olivia, an architect, who aids him in flipping them and dreams of designing and building their own forever house.
Each episode takes place now, in the present, and flashes back to the individual Craine's experiences in the house. It also flashes back to the intervening years showing what happened in the years in between.
The series starts with the suicide of the youngest, Nell. And each episode shows how each family member reacts to it, and why it came about and the house's role in this event. It also has at it's center, the secret of what happened to the mother...and how that event more than any other, ripped the family apart.
It's a non-linear style of storytelling that heightens the tension and pulls the viewer deeply into the character's perspective. The shifting perspectives show how the individual characters deal with the trauma they experiences, their hopes and dreams, and nightmares.
The Haunting of Hill House has always worked best as a psychological horror tale. Seeing things that may or may not be there -- just off the corner of the eye. In the shadows. Then you see it, but only in flashes, or just the character's reaction. And hiding behind fingers or fast-forwarding doesn't quite work. It shows normal things, but in a weird twisted fashion.
I've seen three adaptations of the novel to date, before actually reading the book (which is very good and highly recommended). Of the adaptations -- the creepiest was an adaptation done on PBS back in the early 80s or late 70s, that I saw as a child, that was in color, and was very close to the Robert Wise classic 1963 film, with Julie Harris and Russ Tamblyn. But I can't find it anywhere.
My brother saw it with me -- and years later when we watched the black and white Robert Wise version,
my brother turned to me and said - "that was a movie??" I looked at him and said, "yes, why?" "I've been having this recurring nightmare for years about a woman running down a spiral staircase and out of a gothic house, terrified...and it's that scene, except in color -"
"There's a PBS movie that was in color which I was watching with you when we were kids. Mom and Dad were having a party at the time."
"I never knew where it came from. Can we rewind?"
"Yeah." And we did.
The original is about a paranormal psychiatrist who employs a group of people to stay in a haunted house for one weekend. Among the volunteers/employees is a resentful young woman who was stuck taking care of her invalid mother for years. The novel much like the first two adaptations that I'd seen is more a psychological horror tale, with zero special effects. You don't really see much outside of walls breathing and shadows. But the characters feel the ghosts and it is frightening, because the mind creates the terror all on its own. We fill in the blanks.
The Netflix adaptation sort of does the same things, suggesting things, while our own minds fill in the gaps. And it's compelling because we want to see what is behind the suggestions. It's a mystery or a puzzle, what is haunting Hill House, why is it haunted, why is the family traumatized. It also asks some interesting questions about mental illness, suicide, coping with grief, and trauma. Also, how people who are sensitive to things handle things differently.
The series is at it's best, much like the films, when it suggests and shows little or plays on the characters wants, desires, and grief. Once I started, I found it really hard to turn away from it.
But...it is unnerving. Scary isn't quite the right word, a better one is haunting and creepy. It likes to play with your head. The best horror films and the scariest are the ones that play with your head. Or play with what you think is and is not true.
2. Television reviews...
* To date, 9-1-1 by Tim Minear, Brad Falchuck and Ryan Murphy, starring Peter Krause, Angela Basset, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi and Jennifer Love Hewitt is the best of the Fire Fighter/Emergency Response dramas. If you have to pick one -- go with this one. It's not to hard to jump into. And it's the most realistic of the bunch.
Station 19 is a bit like Grey's Anatomy, it's more of a relationship drama than a action drama or medical/fire fighter procedural. I wouldn't call it a soap opera, since it doesn't slide over the top. But it's not very realistic in regards to the fire-fighting and cop procedural bits. I only believe two or three of the characters are fire-fighters, the women I don't believe at all. Fire-fighters have to lift 400 pounds, they are big and muscular. And they do not talk about sex or who is sleeping with whom. Also tend to be rather conservative and tough talking. (I know several in my workplace.)
* The Rookie -- it's better than expected. Fillon is charming in the lead, yet, it is really more of an ensemble piece than Castle. Each Rookie is followed, and we're in various perspectives.
And we really don't see that much of Fillion in the first episode. I was surprised to see it focused more on everyone else -- with some compelling performances by supporting cast. I think Nathan Fillon is the tag to pull people in.
I don't know if I'll stick with it though, since it's a bit like Station 19 in that it's not all that realistic and feels more like a relationship drama, and power play, than cop procedural. The cop bit feels more like a back-drop for everything else.
* A Million Little Things -- now that I've seen five episodes of this, I'd say it fails in it's attempts to reprise Thirty-Something or be a Forty-Something take on This is Us, as an ensemble.
The drama feels a bit overwrought, and the character overtly weepy. It's a drama about suicide and the whys and wherefores of it, but fails in that all the characters are ...well, upper middle class.
And their angst is either of existential origin or fear of losing the good life. Or not doing what they love. It's a good commentary on what's wrong with our society.
Example?
A high powered corporate attorney asks a Judge for the morning off while she's in court defending a case -- because she wants to see her six year old son perform as a tree in a school play that morning. (Forget for a moment that the school is putting the play on in the morning, on a Tuesday, and not at night, so 90% of the parents probably won't make it. If my kid was going to a school that did that -- the principal and teacher's in charge would get a mouthful and I'd file a complaint with the school board. School's and school teachers everywhere should be relieved that I did not become a parent.)
Katherine: As a working mother, I'm sure you understand.
Me: Unlikely, seriously?
Judge: My daughter had a 105 degree temperature this morning and I had to come to court.
ME: Thank you.
She whines about having to work more hours and become a high powered lawyer in order to afford a high priced home in the suburbs of Boston (I think it is Boston). Dad stays at home to take care of the kid and teaches guitare on the side. And I thinking, honey, grow up.
Her husband feeling neglected, because she's gone all the time -- falls in love with his best friend's wife and they have an affair.
Meanwhile, Gary, an high powered actuary and breast cancer survivor is orchestrating a hot air balloon ride, champagne picnic with Maggie so he can talk her into explaining what's going on. Turns out that she's decided not to pursue chemotherapy to treat her re-occurence of breast cancer.
And...well...it's hard to care all that much.
It's trying too hard. I think. And not quite hitting the target.
Yes, it is THAT good. Compelling and unnerving. Possibly the scariest thing I've seen in a long time. Think Shirley Jackson's Hill House meets well Stephen King by way of Edgar Allen Poe. It's told in a sort of flashback style -- over twenty years later, the Crain family is still struggling to deal with the trauma of living in Hill House. The series picks a different point of view for each episode. We start with Steven Crain, who has written a pseudo memoir of living in a haunted house, even though he never saw any of the ghosts in the house and doesn't believe in any of it. Or so he says. Then in the next episode, we shift to his sister Shirly or Cherly, who runs a funeral home. And next Theodora, who is a child psychologist. Luke, a recovering heroine addict, Nell, who struggles with sleep paralysis (the twins). Hugh Crain, their father who restores old houses and flips them. His wife, Olivia, an architect, who aids him in flipping them and dreams of designing and building their own forever house.
Each episode takes place now, in the present, and flashes back to the individual Craine's experiences in the house. It also flashes back to the intervening years showing what happened in the years in between.
The series starts with the suicide of the youngest, Nell. And each episode shows how each family member reacts to it, and why it came about and the house's role in this event. It also has at it's center, the secret of what happened to the mother...and how that event more than any other, ripped the family apart.
It's a non-linear style of storytelling that heightens the tension and pulls the viewer deeply into the character's perspective. The shifting perspectives show how the individual characters deal with the trauma they experiences, their hopes and dreams, and nightmares.
The Haunting of Hill House has always worked best as a psychological horror tale. Seeing things that may or may not be there -- just off the corner of the eye. In the shadows. Then you see it, but only in flashes, or just the character's reaction. And hiding behind fingers or fast-forwarding doesn't quite work. It shows normal things, but in a weird twisted fashion.
I've seen three adaptations of the novel to date, before actually reading the book (which is very good and highly recommended). Of the adaptations -- the creepiest was an adaptation done on PBS back in the early 80s or late 70s, that I saw as a child, that was in color, and was very close to the Robert Wise classic 1963 film, with Julie Harris and Russ Tamblyn. But I can't find it anywhere.
My brother saw it with me -- and years later when we watched the black and white Robert Wise version,
my brother turned to me and said - "that was a movie??" I looked at him and said, "yes, why?" "I've been having this recurring nightmare for years about a woman running down a spiral staircase and out of a gothic house, terrified...and it's that scene, except in color -"
"There's a PBS movie that was in color which I was watching with you when we were kids. Mom and Dad were having a party at the time."
"I never knew where it came from. Can we rewind?"
"Yeah." And we did.
The original is about a paranormal psychiatrist who employs a group of people to stay in a haunted house for one weekend. Among the volunteers/employees is a resentful young woman who was stuck taking care of her invalid mother for years. The novel much like the first two adaptations that I'd seen is more a psychological horror tale, with zero special effects. You don't really see much outside of walls breathing and shadows. But the characters feel the ghosts and it is frightening, because the mind creates the terror all on its own. We fill in the blanks.
The Netflix adaptation sort of does the same things, suggesting things, while our own minds fill in the gaps. And it's compelling because we want to see what is behind the suggestions. It's a mystery or a puzzle, what is haunting Hill House, why is it haunted, why is the family traumatized. It also asks some interesting questions about mental illness, suicide, coping with grief, and trauma. Also, how people who are sensitive to things handle things differently.
The series is at it's best, much like the films, when it suggests and shows little or plays on the characters wants, desires, and grief. Once I started, I found it really hard to turn away from it.
But...it is unnerving. Scary isn't quite the right word, a better one is haunting and creepy. It likes to play with your head. The best horror films and the scariest are the ones that play with your head. Or play with what you think is and is not true.
2. Television reviews...
* To date, 9-1-1 by Tim Minear, Brad Falchuck and Ryan Murphy, starring Peter Krause, Angela Basset, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi and Jennifer Love Hewitt is the best of the Fire Fighter/Emergency Response dramas. If you have to pick one -- go with this one. It's not to hard to jump into. And it's the most realistic of the bunch.
Station 19 is a bit like Grey's Anatomy, it's more of a relationship drama than a action drama or medical/fire fighter procedural. I wouldn't call it a soap opera, since it doesn't slide over the top. But it's not very realistic in regards to the fire-fighting and cop procedural bits. I only believe two or three of the characters are fire-fighters, the women I don't believe at all. Fire-fighters have to lift 400 pounds, they are big and muscular. And they do not talk about sex or who is sleeping with whom. Also tend to be rather conservative and tough talking. (I know several in my workplace.)
* The Rookie -- it's better than expected. Fillon is charming in the lead, yet, it is really more of an ensemble piece than Castle. Each Rookie is followed, and we're in various perspectives.
And we really don't see that much of Fillion in the first episode. I was surprised to see it focused more on everyone else -- with some compelling performances by supporting cast. I think Nathan Fillon is the tag to pull people in.
I don't know if I'll stick with it though, since it's a bit like Station 19 in that it's not all that realistic and feels more like a relationship drama, and power play, than cop procedural. The cop bit feels more like a back-drop for everything else.
* A Million Little Things -- now that I've seen five episodes of this, I'd say it fails in it's attempts to reprise Thirty-Something or be a Forty-Something take on This is Us, as an ensemble.
The drama feels a bit overwrought, and the character overtly weepy. It's a drama about suicide and the whys and wherefores of it, but fails in that all the characters are ...well, upper middle class.
And their angst is either of existential origin or fear of losing the good life. Or not doing what they love. It's a good commentary on what's wrong with our society.
Example?
A high powered corporate attorney asks a Judge for the morning off while she's in court defending a case -- because she wants to see her six year old son perform as a tree in a school play that morning. (Forget for a moment that the school is putting the play on in the morning, on a Tuesday, and not at night, so 90% of the parents probably won't make it. If my kid was going to a school that did that -- the principal and teacher's in charge would get a mouthful and I'd file a complaint with the school board. School's and school teachers everywhere should be relieved that I did not become a parent.)
Katherine: As a working mother, I'm sure you understand.
Me: Unlikely, seriously?
Judge: My daughter had a 105 degree temperature this morning and I had to come to court.
ME: Thank you.
She whines about having to work more hours and become a high powered lawyer in order to afford a high priced home in the suburbs of Boston (I think it is Boston). Dad stays at home to take care of the kid and teaches guitare on the side. And I thinking, honey, grow up.
Her husband feeling neglected, because she's gone all the time -- falls in love with his best friend's wife and they have an affair.
Meanwhile, Gary, an high powered actuary and breast cancer survivor is orchestrating a hot air balloon ride, champagne picnic with Maggie so he can talk her into explaining what's going on. Turns out that she's decided not to pursue chemotherapy to treat her re-occurence of breast cancer.
And...well...it's hard to care all that much.
It's trying too hard. I think. And not quite hitting the target.