The Haunting of Hill House Full Review

Having now finished The Haunting of Hill House - Director Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic novel of the same name, I can fully recommend it. The series is compelling, creepy, scary, with some excellent character moments. It builds fully on Jackson's masterpiece, at the same time commenting on/paying homage to both Robert Wise's original film version and Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, without going overboard or being too overt about it. There's a few subtle touches here and there, which you may not notice if you haven't watched either -- such as "the red room", twins, psychic abilities or sensitive, Russ Tamblyn who appeared in the original Wise film as a psychologist, the locked room at the top of a spiral stair case that isn't what you think. (Nice twist on that one by the way.)

< a HREF="https://io9.gizmodo.com/netflixs-the-haunting-of-hill-house-is-a-deeply-disturb-1829601290">Here's a rather good review of it -- which I agree with.

( my review )

Will state it played with my head quite a bit towards the end, and kept me awake last night. So I don't recommend watching it late at night in your house alone. Just saying. I'm tempted to go into more detail for a spoilery review, but I don't want to keep these images in my head. OTOH, it plays with unreliable narrator a lot, and there are various bits here and there that aren't what they seem. The series really plays some interesting head games with the viewer. It's a bit like watching a chinese puzzle box or walking through a maze.

Overall rating? A-

In other news? Artremis by Andy Weir -- isn't worth it. I'm bored. Eighty-Four percent of the way through, everyone is about to die, and I don't really care. And the heroine is irritating me. Thankfully, I only spent $1.99 on it as a Kindle Daily Deal.

(no subject)

1. Half-watching latest Doctor Who episode, and VERY bored. I'm surfing the net during it. Lots of sci-fi babble, very little suspense. Don't care about anyone. There is a funny little creature devouring the ship though. And no spiders, so better than last week's in that I can actually watch it.
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2. ( personal )

3. Now, half-watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- which errs on the side of excess. Subtlety isn't exactly in these writer's repertoire. It's broad social satire (emphasis on BROAD) by way of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler...and possibly Austin Powers, Lorne Michaels and Saturday Night Live. With musical numbers. (I'm watching for the musical numbers. Note - there needs to be a lot more musical numbers, one or two per hour is simply NOT enough.)

Have just about given up on Murphy Brown -- it's not funny. Too political for it's own good. Needs to take a few pages from The Connors and the other sitcoms...which is water down the political satirical humor a bit. We don't live in the age of Duba, we live in the age of Doofus...and well in regards to the Doofus, the political satire is not only writing itself and it's sort of scary.

I also miss the old Murphy Brown and the crazy secretaries.

Sigh. You know there's a problem with sitcoms, when you laughed hardest at Ant-Man and the Wasp.

The Good Place -- still the best of the sitcoms, possibly because it's not even trying to be a sitcom half the time it's more interested in exploring the thorny field of ethical philosophy. This week it tackled the whole...putting others before oneself bit and family drama rather well. Instead of beating up on relatives that made them miserable, they took a page from Jason's book and made peace with them.