The Haunting of Hill House redefines horror

IT IS ARGUABLY the most pigeonholed genre in entertainment. Horror movies and TV shows often receive short shrift from critics and, outside the die-hard fan base (who also happen to be the most loyal going), can be dismissed or overlooked simply because audiences cannot be persuaded to spend time and money being subjected to jumps and chills. While it is difficult to deny in numerous cases this indifference is justified - both Hollywood and Bollywood seem determined to churn out the same 'quiet, quiet, crash' cheap thrill time and again - something different is happening at Netflix. Dropping on the platform on Friday, October 12, The Haunting of Hill House is like no other fright-fest we have experienced. The terrifying scares throughout the10-part series are obviously noteworthy and will have you, at times, viewing proceedings through your fingers (trust us), but the element we feel could be a game-changer for the industry is the fact it is foremost a gripping family drama built on intricate writing, direction and solid performances. Away from the screaming apparitions and possessed characters, which as star Michiel Huisman put it, "will satisfy those simply looking for a scare", the split timelines and use of flashback to highlight each of the seven Crain family members' journeys is inspired and will have you as engrossed in their development as you have been with the Orange Is The New Black inmates or the Stranger Things kids.
A reimagining of Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel of the same name, the title is about all the works share. In this television incarnation it's initially the late 1980s and we happen across five siblings - Steven, Shirley, Theodora, and twins Luke and Nell Crain whose parents, Hugh and Olivia, have bought Hill House with the view to renovating it over a summer and selling it on for a quick profit. Moving into the stereotypically creepy building complete with husband and wife caretakers who "never stay after dark" it soon becomes apparent the house has a less than desirable history resulting in a series of traumatic paranormal events enveloping the family and possessing Olivia. Fast forward thirty years and the group is not doing so well. Steven (Michiel Huisman) is a successful author of a series of ghost stories based on his and his brother and sisters' childhood memories - for which the family shuns him. Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser) is a mortician and takes on the burden of constantly bailing out the others. Theodora (Kate Siegel) has become a psychologist living in Shirley's guesthouse. She is able to capitalise on a special gift, inherited from her mother, where placing her hands on objects or people will emit an intense energy, which has the benefit of revealing secrets, but is also overwhelming. Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) has become a drug addict, always in and out of rehab and Nell (Victoria Pedretti) is under psychiatric supervision after losing her husband. The present day plot sees the five reunited by the suicide of the youngest, Nell, which forces them to finally confront the ghosts of their own pasts. Each character has their own dedicated episode in the first half of the season, jumping back and forth in the timeline and overlapping with other's stories in a set-up akin to Crash (2004). Like the Oscar-winning movie, it is compelling.
"My fear was: is it going to work? Can you make a show that is both horror and family drama? I hope everyone feels like they get their share," Huisman recently told City Times at a series press launch in London. The Game Of Thrones actor, who plays the family's arch skeptic - distancing himself from the events and describing his subsequent novels as pure fiction - said Steven being a spirit-world nonbeliever made it easier to relate.
"Holding on to, 'no, it's all in your head. All the ghosts that we see and the haunted houses we visit aren't real.' That's something Steven and I have in common. In the show, of course, once you start to watch a little further something shifts.
"Another thing I really loved about playing him is that he's at the top of his game, he's super successful and his family hate him for it. I thought that made for a great character."
What was clear from the meet and watching the cast interact after being apart for over half a year was the actual familial bond, which must have been forged during the nine months of shooting.
"None of us are Atlanta local, which is where we shot, and we were thrown into this family." said Siegel. "We had all these mixed personalities and it created a very intense intimacy. The Crain siblings don't really want to be around each other because they remind each other of this terrible thing that happened. This intimacy and love we feel between all of us, once we got into the series, it started to eat at us because I can look at Victoria (Nell) and love her, but at the same time be so mad at her because of what her character has done. Then going to dinner with her after is confusing. The close proximity helped create chemistry that was believable. As someone who has siblings it felt real."
Perhaps the most recognisable face amongst the group belongs to that of Henry Thomas who plays the father, Hugh, in the '80s timeline; in real life the decade where Thomas was making his acting debut as the young protagonist Elliott in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. As a visual gag, Thomas said, director Mike Flanagan placed a small item of E.T. merchandise in one of the opening sequences. Being set thirty years in the past meant the five siblings are, in those scenes, played by younger actors and Thomas sees a marked difference between their work ethic and his time as a child star.
"They were all very professional...almost too professional! I was a little intimidated. They are just much more responsible than I was. I wouldn't always know my lines verbatim. I still don't always know my lines. But these kids came to set prepared."
For Jackson-Cohen the draw of the project coincided with the buzz now surrounding it: its Horror 2.0 feel.
"With this, instead of following a horror formula where a family moves into a house, awful things happen, they move out; he's (Flanagan) focused on what would actually happen to those kids. It's fascinating - taking horror and shifting it, showing you can create a family drama within this genre."
This sentiment was echoed by Siegel: "Haunting benefits from Netflix's approach because you get the character development of a series, but you get the horror aspect of a movie. By the end you're terrified because you know these people, not just because of the ghosts."
david@khaleejtimes.com