by jellydonut25 » Tue Oct 30, 2018 9:53 am
The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix - This is a pretty great show. It wasn't always what I wanted from some October viewing...it's more of a kindred spirit with Crimson Peak, in that at times it's hard to even REALLY classify it as a horror thing. For the first half, it's not so much horror as it is a show about family trauma. Hell, the first four episodes do almost nothing but flesh out the main characters. There are a few issues I had with it too where some of the later moments kind of rob some earlier moments of their horror. Without spoiling too much, in an early episode, something happens that seems super duper scary and ominous, and then in a later episode, they reveal it was just one of the other characters doing something innocuous. It does things like that a couple times.
BUT there are some truly special episodes in there. Episode 6 in particular is one of my favorite episodes of television ever, up there with the "Why We Fight" episode of Band of Brothers, or "Ozymandias" from Breaking Bad. In terms of technical achievement, it's probably a bit better than both. Also all that early character work pays off. You're invested in the story and interested in the happenings. I'm not sure how it would hold up on repeat viewings, but I think it further solidifies Mike Flanagan as a great talent in this industry and delivers a very very good horror show. 4/5.