The Haunting of the Hill House is a series produced by Netflix and released in 2018. This series written by Mike Flanagan promises us chills of pleasure and dread.
The Haunting of the Hill House describes the horror story of an American family. Mr. and Mrs. Crain decide to settle in an old house with their 5 children. They live such traumatic events that it will follow them years later. We follow the children's journey during the time they lived in Hill House and into the present where now adults they try to survive their demons and other ghosts.
Indeed, children Crain, Steve, Shirley, Theodora, Nell and Luke all lived at Hill House when they were younger with their parents. They have all been confronted with more or less traumatic ghosts.
Each episode focuses on a particular character. Characters and stories make us discover and love the characters. Thanks to the writing of the screenplay we discover them differently over the ages.
The actors are very convincing. Identification is done very quickly. The casting is also well done since we immediately see the resemblance between the actors, and especially between the girls. Their similarities are such that it is sometimes difficult to differentiate the characters during the first episodes.
The young actors play with great accuracy. There is not a time when they are not credible. The viewer really lets himself be carried away by their stories and we find ourselves shivering at the same time as them when their respective ghost arrives.
The sets and the staging really highlight the subject and the story that the author is telling. We feel the research in the staging. This haunted house is like a character in itself. It is adorned with mysteries and dark colors to make us shiver with pleasure. It's a horror series but suspense takes precedence over blood and easy terror. The Haunting of the Hill House avoids overly predictable jump scares but instead spreads clues about ghosts and the reason for the family's departure from Hill House. Music faithfully accompanies emotions as a good horror movie could.
In addition, the editing allows viewers not to be too lost in temporality. Indeed, indications on the screen make it possible to locate the action.
As the episodes progress, some mysteries become clear. The more you get to know the characters, the more you understand their behaviors. It is discovered that some ghosts are related to children in particular. We also know the identity of the lady with the twisted neck and the reason for Nell's death in the last episode. However, many questions persist about all the other ghosts.
All the children were impacted by Hill House. It feels like as they grew up, they tried to soothe their emotions. Indeed, Steve has written books about Hill House and becomes something of a ghost hunter. Shirley runs a funeral home and prepares the dead for their final goodbyes to their families. Theodora became a psychologist specializing in children. It helps them overcome hardships. As for the two youngest, they tried to heal from these traumas either by drugs or by modern medicine. In any case, this house still seems to haunt them even if they are very far from it.
Little is known about the history of the father, especially in the present. We just know that he has a bad relationship with his children but we don't know exactly what happened.
Mysteries still surround the passage of the Crains in Hill House. We can't wait to discover the explanations behind the children's traumas!
