This is how I felt, but I did feel there was a bit of a narrative & tone quality drop over the last few episodes beyond the finale.
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The Haunting of Hill House - TV's first great horror series - Friday, Oct 12 on Netflix
- Thread starter RatskyWatsky
- Start date
Finally finished the whole thing. The first half and the second half are so different in narrative and tone. Idk, I enjoyed most of it, but it kind of fell apart in the second half for me. It ended up going too American Horror story for my liking at the end there.
It definitely seems to pick up once they make it clear this is a ghost story, so the narrative is set. Just keep watching as the show goes by, in particular when they are at the house in the past, and when it's dark, and there is some distance with the camera you'll see them creeping in the background like in doorways and such.
The trick for the most part is to look for them when they are in the house. Most of the ones I've seen have been in the flashbacks.
Problem is don't focus too much as they're a nice tidbit to catch them, but it doesn't mean you should be only looking for them and missing what's going on in the foreground
Finished it, came in expecting a horror show but got a drama one instead. Wasn't really expecting that but I loved it nonetheless, cried a few times too
I'm looking through the scenes, in particular the past scenes at the house and so far these are the ones I've seen. No story spoilers:
Ep1
34:56 woman on the left behind stairway, other ghosts on the right.
Ep 2
04:14 Looks like a man standing outside looking through the window. At first I wasn't sure but, he's gone when the camera looks outside at about 05:45 so something was there.
04:16 Woman in black far right of the screen
Ep3
9:52 Face in the glass of the open door as theo walks by. Maybe a woman.
18:25 Right side in the hallway looks like a blond woman in the dark room, barely noticeable.
38:18 Looks like the same blonde woman on the rightside by the table and chandelier.
39:41 Bald man in the hallway.
39:46 Creepy blonde woman again very back of the scene
Ep4
8:37 Creepy blonde woman again on the right in the back of hall.
14:34 Shadowy figure, looks like a lady, on the rightside as Luke runs down the stairs
Ep5
23:09 Shadowy figure leftside, looks like a man behind nelle.
Ep 8
08:24 face of a woman in the reflection of the glass.
Ep 9
01:14 tall pale man standing in the background right side. Again at 01:22
8:11 face of the woman in the glass on the left side behind the mom and again at 8:29.
35:54 Man standing in the doorway rightside. Again at 36:13.
39:34 Looks like a lady barely noticeable in the room as the girl passes by.
34:56 woman on the left behind stairway, other ghosts on the right.
Ep 2
04:14 Looks like a man standing outside looking through the window. At first I wasn't sure but, he's gone when the camera looks outside at about 05:45 so something was there.
04:16 Woman in black far right of the screen
Ep3
9:52 Face in the glass of the open door as theo walks by. Maybe a woman.
18:25 Right side in the hallway looks like a blond woman in the dark room, barely noticeable.
38:18 Looks like the same blonde woman on the rightside by the table and chandelier.
39:41 Bald man in the hallway.
39:46 Creepy blonde woman again very back of the scene
Ep4
8:37 Creepy blonde woman again on the right in the back of hall.
14:34 Shadowy figure, looks like a lady, on the rightside as Luke runs down the stairs
Ep5
23:09 Shadowy figure leftside, looks like a man behind nelle.
Ep 8
08:24 face of a woman in the reflection of the glass.
Ep 9
01:14 tall pale man standing in the background right side. Again at 01:22
8:11 face of the woman in the glass on the left side behind the mom and again at 8:29.
35:54 Man standing in the doorway rightside. Again at 36:13.
39:34 Looks like a lady barely noticeable in the room as the girl passes by.
Edit: Found another in episode 3, face in the glass in the door at 9:52
Also in episode 9 at 8:29 face of the woman in the glass on the left side behind the mom.
Also fixed the time of the first one in episode 1, it was 34:56, not 4:56. Typo.
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What? No.
Pulled me out of every scene when they switched. Hutton is barely older than Thomas.
Was Henry Thomas wearing fake blue contact lenses, or are those really his eyes? They looked really fake to me and it was a little distracting.
I just finished episode 5 and it is really amazing, I love the episode setup, kinda disappointed with the horror element, I thought it would be scarier. There's some beautiful camera work and cinematography. The dialogue can be off at times but otherwise solid.
For some reason I loved the shot when young Theo found and opened the basement and there was a pale face in the ladder.
There are some jump scares. In episode 8 or 9 (don't know wich anymore) there was one that made me actually scream and throw away my phone wich I was watching it on. My heart raced so much it hurt.
The big one is in episode 8
You mean the car one right? I screamed too and had to pause for 5 mins to calm down!
finished it last night.
liked the first two thirds. In the last third the show falls apart and I wasn't a fan of how they made the mystery "work" in the end.
Was also disappointed by the the aggressive use of color grading and occasionally crappy acting.
The family drama is the best part of this show. I'm a sucker for stories about dysfunctional families and there's a never ending stream of that stuff in this show.
Overall I liked it more than most netflix shows.
liked the first two thirds. In the last third the show falls apart and I wasn't a fan of how they made the mystery "work" in the end.
Was also disappointed by the the aggressive use of color grading and occasionally crappy acting.
The family drama is the best part of this show. I'm a sucker for stories about dysfunctional families and there's a never ending stream of that stuff in this show.
Overall I liked it more than most netflix shows.
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Yes that one, it should've been so obvious but I was way too caught up in what was happening.
I assume it would be about a different family that lived in the house. I dont see what else they can do with the same family.
Just binged this. What a great ride that was. Quite emotional too.
I loved the sneaky shots that showed ghosts in the background. Had to pause and rewind a few times to see if I wasn't losing it haha!
Also completely off topic but the actor who plays Steve, would make a great Nathan Drake, if Nathan Fillion was never able to do an Uncharted Film that is!
I loved the sneaky shots that showed ghosts in the background. Had to pause and rewind a few times to see if I wasn't losing it haha!
Also completely off topic but the actor who plays Steve, would make a great Nathan Drake, if Nathan Fillion was never able to do an Uncharted Film that is!
Really? I have to agree with the other posters. The transition between Thomas and Hutton Is seamless to me. Even the acting.
Half way through ep8, Steve is becoming more and more unbearable. I like younger Steve, but jeez adult Steve is annoying.
Okay help.
On to the third....it's going to focus on the other sister right?
I'm only two episodes in.
I need help with making sure who's supposed to be who in which time period.
Nell - the youngest.
Luke - glasses, but grows up to be the addict.
Theo - ?
Shirley - ?
Steve - the eldest boy, has the whole first episode devoted to him.
It's the two middle sisters I'm having trouble establishing, in both periods. One is married and one is the cool aunt, I get that.
I need help with making sure who's supposed to be who in which time period.
Nell - the youngest.
Luke - glasses, but grows up to be the addict.
Theo - ?
Shirley - ?
Steve - the eldest boy, has the whole first episode devoted to him.
It's the two middle sisters I'm having trouble establishing, in both periods. One is married and one is the cool aunt, I get that.
On to the third....it's going to focus on the other sister right?
Third episode is about Theo, the middle daughter/cool aunt. She's the lesbian with the gloves who lives in Shirley's guesthouse.
Shirley is the eldest daughter, a married mortician.
Shirley is the eldest daughter, a married mortician.
I have a question about Theo (in general) and a question about the opening of the last episode (series spoilers for that question) I am going to spoiler both so only click if you have watched the whole series:
I lied, its the same question. Is Theo's dance studio shown outside of the opening of episode 10? I truly did not remember that room showing up before that bit.
I only remember two jump scares. It's not really scary, more of a mystery drama.
I went into this knowing absolutely zero about it, didn't even know this was coming out/being made, anything. I'm a huge fan of the book and Shirley Jackson in general so I decided to start watching around Saturday noon because I've been laid up with a nasty cold since Friday night.
I finished it last night in a very very rare fit of actually binge watching anything and while I thought it had its issues and the ending fizzled out a bit, this is some of the best Horror I've seen in years and most certainly my favorite show of its genre in who-knows how long.
Horror works best for me when it's of the personal, tragic kind and my god does this show cut right to the bone, especially the further it goes along. Maybe it was a cumulative effect because I usually don't watch something of this length in such a short span of time but the existential dread and sorrow were so thick I thought I'd be able to cut it with a knife here. I felt so sad for every member and really enjoyed just how much time was spent on each one of them.
One final comment:
The most brutal aspect was the dialogue for me actually. I mean, some of those conversations, word choices and monologues are so heavy, it made me wonder several times what shit the writer(s) were working through.
Definitely a one-of-a-kind show for me, beautifully done despite some of its flaws. It really affected me personally.
Yes, definitely, that scene is a flashback. I can't remember which episode though right now, sorry.
I finished it last night in a very very rare fit of actually binge watching anything and while I thought it had its issues and the ending fizzled out a bit, this is some of the best Horror I've seen in years and most certainly my favorite show of its genre in who-knows how long.
Horror works best for me when it's of the personal, tragic kind and my god does this show cut right to the bone, especially the further it goes along. Maybe it was a cumulative effect because I usually don't watch something of this length in such a short span of time but the existential dread and sorrow were so thick I thought I'd be able to cut it with a knife here. I felt so sad for every member and really enjoyed just how much time was spent on each one of them.
One final comment:
The most brutal aspect was the dialogue for me actually. I mean, some of those conversations, word choices and monologues are so heavy, it made me wonder several times what shit the writer(s) were working through.
Definitely a one-of-a-kind show for me, beautifully done despite some of its flaws. It really affected me personally.
Yes, definitely, that scene is a flashback. I can't remember which episode though right now, sorry.
I've been thinking about it a lot since I finished it. While I agree with most here that the last episode is one of the weaker ones as a whole, each individual 'sequence' was great. But I do want to stress how much I loved
I really think the actress who played that character did an amazing job.
Nell's nonlinear speech about how time influences us
I really think the actress who played that character did an amazing job.
I actually fully agree with the bolded above, I only thought everything after 'fizzled out' a bit but it didn't effect my view of the show as a whole really.
The individual 'sequences' as you called them were phenomenal for the most part I think. Some really heavy-hitting dialogue.
Was this classified as a limited series (similar to how Maniac was billed prior to launch)?
I really liked it. My wife loves family drama (i.e. this is us/parenthood) and I told her you would love the drama surrounding the family. Its just that little "scare/horror" thing... she doesn't do scary.
I really liked it. My wife loves family drama (i.e. this is us/parenthood) and I told her you would love the drama surrounding the family. Its just that little "scare/horror" thing... she doesn't do scary.
I liked it as a character drama, but all the horror elements were cliche as fuck and un-earned. The finale was a complete fumble imo.
6/10. Will recommend if you want shlock with moments of interesting drama.
6/10. Will recommend if you want shlock with moments of interesting drama.
I'm on Episode 4 and definitely enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's a serious step up from previous attempts at TV horror like American Horror Story or Channel Zero, but that isn't saying much at all. Still pretty middling as far as the horror genre goes, and I think it's honestly due to the TV medium. Too much family drama, not enough spooky means the show's edge is pretty dull compared to its peers in the genre. Plus the characters couldn't be less interesting to me. Seems to me like they could have really had something quite interesting if they took their directing/production value chops and chose to apply them to a less cliche story without characters we've basically seen countless times before.
With all that said I am still intrigued and excited to finish it up, though multiple people saying the quality dips in the back half isn't encouraging.
With all that said I am still intrigued and excited to finish it up, though multiple people saying the quality dips in the back half isn't encouraging.
Got to Episode 5. Continue to enjoy it a whole lot, but I'm not totally in love with it.
It's a solid family drama. Was hoping it would be more horror focused so I continue to be surprised by the...well, lack of horror. But it's a fun watch, for sure. Theo is my favorite character so far. The rest of them are....okay I guess. I don't feel myself drawn to anyone else if we're being totally honest.
It's a solid family drama. Was hoping it would be more horror focused so I continue to be surprised by the...well, lack of horror. But it's a fun watch, for sure. Theo is my favorite character so far. The rest of them are....okay I guess. I don't feel myself drawn to anyone else if we're being totally honest.
Great series so far, the ending of episode 5 was crazy. More drama than horror but that's fine.
I'm really liking it and have 3 episodes left but... why do people keep switching between calling Shirley Shirley/Cheryl/Sherry. I know I'm not crazy because my wife mentioned it too.
If you watched with subtitles, Shirley's nickname is Shirl, which is why they go back and forth so often.
Awesome. That will actually help my sanity. Thanks!
I'll add that I'm enjoying the show but haven't found it too scary while watching. I must've watched too many episodes though because I did feel spooked just walking around my house getting ready for bed and letting the dog out. It's really well written though and the sparing use of jump scares just makes the few they do use land extra hard.