I’ve been quiet this week as the mini boy has been having trouble at school, the last day included taking out 3 teachers and 1 TA. This is the struggle with autism, you don’t know what is coming next.
However…digressing….I haven’t been watching many horror movies this week because I’ve been binge watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. It’s a series that I think you need to watch on its own merit and not compare with the book or previous movies. It needs to stand alone.
The premise of the series is a family moves into Hill House with the intention of flipping it, doing it up and selling it on so they can have the funds to buy their forever house. They have five children. There are the twins, Luke and Nell, who are adorable and completely open to the supernatural side to the house. The older siblings, Steve and Shirley, who really don’t experience much and think the twins are crazy. There is also Theo is the middle, she has her own psychic abilities but keeps it locked in. The story switches between the past and the present. We know something terrible happened to their beloved mother in house and that each them as adults are broken in their own way.
Each episode focuses of a different sibling and some of their backstory, until towards the end when it all starts to come together centering on the house. The stories told are as much about a family broken by tragedy and the effects of that on their lives as it is about ghosts and horror. The ghosts often represent their own personal fears and tragedies. It also addresses family relationships and secrets.
The first two episodes I was underwhelmed but I pushed on. I think I was struggling to figure out the characters as to me they looked like (the women that is) and switching between the past and the present was confusing to my ASD brain. However, by the third episode I was officially sucked in. Some episodes were better than others but the strong ones were fantastic. I started to care about most of the characters, Steve was a douche and Shirley was a grumpy bitch but the rest I wanted to see develop. I thought the Luke and Nell episodes were amazing and gut wrenching. Oh my God, Nell and the bent neck lady….arghhhhh! There are just enough plot twists to keep you wanting to watch the next episode.
Horror wise, there are plenty of ghosts within the house to keep horror fiends happy. There is the horrific bent necked lady, the floating man in the bowler hat, the zombie in the basement, the old lady, Poppy the crazy lady, the tall man, and many more.
The boy had to revise (so he tells me) so I watched on without him but I will be watching again to try and spot the hidden ghosts that are apparently spooky Easter eggs throughout.
It was a really strong series with just a few blips so I can’t give it 10/10 but definitely a solid 9/10. The point lost was on the melodramatic ending, which felt rushed considering the slow burn build up and there was so much more to the story that needs to be told. Second season please???
Once Upon The Wytching Hour 
Just finished this today, and it was fantastic!
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