“No living organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
— Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
The Book:
Four people stay at an old mansion hoping to gather scientific evidence of the supernatural.
I found the first half unbearably slow. We spend a lot of time getting to know Eleanor, one of the people invited to stay at the house and I was beginning to think that I just wasn’t going to like this book. But then I found the second half so compelling that I finished it in one sitting. As I got further into the book, the dialogue and the complex relationships between the characters drew me in. Then it got genuinely terrifying. Now I want to reread it someday and pay more attention to the first half.
I have mixed feelings about the writing style. I thought that some sentences and paragraphs went on too long. On the other hand, sometimes the writing was a sheer joy to read. While it took its sweet time to get going, in the end it was a fascinating read.
After finishing I found myself still thinking about it days later. I decided to watch the 1963 movie adaptation The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise. I liked it a lot. It’s well-done and follows the book pretty closely. Next, I watched the 2018 series, The Haunting of Hill House directed by Mike Flanagan. Wow.
The Series:
The ten-episode series is not so much an adaptation of the book as a new story that’s strongly inspired by the book. A couple moves into Hill House with their five children and plan to spend the summer renovating it. Unlike the book we get to the spooky stuff pretty quickly. The series jumps back and forth between two timelines, the events at the house and events years later when the children are grown up.
The series takes lines, scenes, names, and a couple of characters from the book, and tells a new story about family, grief, and trauma. It’s all very well done and while you don’t need to have read the book to enjoy it, if you have read the book, there are details that will add a lot to your enjoyment.
I liked how each episode built upon the next. I liked how scenes were often revisited from a different perspective which gave the viewer new information. The jump scares were well done (one in particular actually made me jump out of my chair!) but the best scares came when slowly realizing that there was a ghost in the background of a scene.
I liked the mix of family drama and spooky stuff. It was similar to what Shirley Jackson did in her book but with a larger cast. Once again, the relationships between characters drew me in. The cast, both the child actors and the adults were amazing.
Three episodes really stood out. First, episode five. The way the previous episodes led to this episode and the reveal at the end blew me away.
Next, episode six. It’s a great story but it’s also amazingly directed. About ten minutes in I noticed something. The camera hadn’t cut away. It eventually does but the entire episode is done in five long shots, moving effortlessly between a funeral home in the present and the house in the past. The story and the direction work so well together. It was the perfect next step after the events of the previous episode.
Finally, episode ten, “Silence Lay Steadily.” Everything comes together and the final revelations are heartbreaking. But the story still finds a way to end in an uplifting way. I had some mixed feelings about how things played out but then came the final lines. And because of one word, having read the book will make those closing lines all the more meaningful.
Absolutely brilliant storytelling and direction. This and Midnight Mass (2021) have made me a big Mike Flanagan fan.
Now I’m even more motivated to re-read Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. And when I’m finished, I’ll be re-watching the Mike Flanagan series. I believe both are worth revisiting.
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