Watched the first few episodes. My unqualified SwiftDog opinion is "meh".
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE -- Netflix
- Thread starter Dana Jean
- Start date
-
This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.
Hey Swifty, how is it going? May I ask up until which episode you've viewed? Reason being is that the first three are a bit odd, but the pieces didn't come together for me until Ep 4. Please stick with it. Even if you don't enjoy it, I'd still like to hear your opinion.
I watched up through episode three. Then I had to do some traveling for work. Didn't hold my interest enough to seek out the remaining episodes even though my hotel TV had Netflix.. I will watch the rest eventually.
Took me a while to find the time to get through the series, but I loved it -- very creepy and moody. I was especially impressed by Kate Siegel as Theo and Timothy Hutton, but the entire cast was terrific. Mike Flanagan is really good at getting strong performances from kids.
I just started watching and finished Ep 2 this morning. I am enjoying it so far and look forward to where it's going. I love Carla Gugino! She was the wife in Netflix's Gerald's Game and did an amazing job!
Finished it. In the end it felt too long to me, the last few episodes are very slow and not too great a pay off for what had come before. I had hoped it would become scary especially towards the finale, but it's the opposite: it becomes more and more mellow. And there is not a great climax. Emotionally it's all very well done and extremely well acted, but as a scary series it fails. There are usually one or two jump scares in an episode, but never a feeling of dread as a whole. The house always keeps feeling like a set, there is nothing dark or brooding about it really - a common problem with tv series where a large house is involved - they can make sets of small interiors of houses always feel completely realistic, but not large manors somehow. The problem is also of course that it's too separate - you never see a direct shot going in or out of the house, which could help make the set believable. But then you dont always see those kind of shots with small house interiors and still they look always good.
I just finished it.
I guess this is one example where we all have our different opinions. Scary? This series was scary as $@#* to me! I am much more frightened by the horror of drug use, betrayal, isolation that the children endured than any monster or jump scare can provide. Poisoning a child while you are stuck in a dream. Nope! The final thought that time is not a straight line but "each of our moments falls down all around us like confetti"? Terrifying!! Nell as the "bent-neck lady" that she was always afraid of? Horror at it most gripping to me. I read the article that Steffen posted. There is a follow up link that suggests that the director didn't intend it that way and we should take it at face value. I'm not sure. I cringed at the cake and wondered. But I hoped. I guess there is always hope.
Loved the series. Scary because I became emotionally connected to the characters and became concerned for their fates thanks to wonderful writing and super directing of Mike Flanagan. Hate to jump the gun but this one has the earmarks of a classic.
Can't wait to see what Mr. Flanagan does with Dr. Sleep!
Can't wait to see what Mr. Flanagan does with Dr. Sleep!
I need to find the time and watch this entire series again. It is that good.
DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE SERIES.
Luke and Nell are my favorite characters. I like the song, too. ("Ghost of You")
Luke and Nell are my favorite characters. I like the song, too. ("Ghost of You")
Indeed. Their stories are so tragic. This show convinced me that Mike Flanagan is the right pick for Doctor Sleep.
Same. I was on the fence about his adaptation of Gerald's Game but this show was a homerun. (BTW, what a genius use of song lyrics matched with great editing..."I drown it out like I always do, dancing through this house with the ghost of you...".)
I just started watching this a couple of days ago and have only seen episodes 1-3. I love it so far. There is one production issue that I find kind of odd. Why doesn't Henry Thomas play the older version of himself? Of course, Timothy Hutton is great in his role but it seemed odd that they used two different actors for that role when it's pretty easy to make a guy in his 40s look like a guy in his 60s.
I haven't read the posts above because I haven't finished the show so hopefully I'm not duplicating a previous comment.
I haven't read the posts above because I haven't finished the show so hopefully I'm not duplicating a previous comment.
I don't remember anyone else having brought that up, but a very good point. Not sure.
Glad you are enjoying the series. I look forward to your posts as you continue the ride!
I saw an interview with Henry Thomas regarding this show and of course, the interviewer asked a couple of ET questions (like every interview Henry Thomas has ever given) and then asked him how often the ET questions come up. He said, "It's like I've been on a 36 year press tour for ET."
I finished the series last night (and I loved it) and I think I have an answer to my Henry Thomas / Timothy Hutton question. In the final episode, the older Hugh and the younger Hugh are in scenes together and I think having two different actors makes those scenes work better.
A similar thing was done in the movie Love and Mercy (the bio-pic about Brian Wilson). Paul Dano played the younger adult version of Brian and John Cusak played the older adult version of Brian. Having the two actors playing the same character worked great in this instance because the younger and older Brian were very different personalities and there was a lot of going back and forth between time periods and it really helped keeping the time periods straight as you were watching the movie. Awesome movie BTW.
Good observations on that and I agree.