The Haunting of Hill House

:

Season 1
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 12, 2018
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 411 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 333 out of 411
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 411
  3. Negative: 45 out of 411
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User Reviews

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  1. DBM2018
    Oct 26, 2018
    1
    Gave it three episodes, which was generous and a waste of time because this show sucks. Boring melodrama, unoriginal haunted house plot, played out tropes. Bad writing. Worse acting. Netflix original programming continues to disappoint. Peons love this show. I'll stick to top shelf drama series, why waste time on mediocre tripe?
  2. Tomsty
    Nov 3, 2018
    3
    The finale is some of the worst TV I've watched which is disappointing since episodes 6-8 were quite entertaining.
  3. LVogt
    Nov 2, 2018
    3
    What starts off as a promising but not-too-scary ghost story devolves into absurd sentimental nonsense. Excellent performances all around but it should have been half as long and twice as scary.
  4. guinea_pig_girl
    Dec 2, 2018
    3
    Disappointing! I wanted to like it, but there's not enough content and interest for 10 episodes. Reasonable quality acting performances, though I think Henry Thomas and Carla Gugino are NOT believable as a do-it-yourself house flipping couple capable of running a circular saw. Plus no chemistry. Also mismatched are Robert Longstreet and Annabeth Gish as the Dudleys. Most compellingDisappointing! I wanted to like it, but there's not enough content and interest for 10 episodes. Reasonable quality acting performances, though I think Henry Thomas and Carla Gugino are NOT believable as a do-it-yourself house flipping couple capable of running a circular saw. Plus no chemistry. Also mismatched are Robert Longstreet and Annabeth Gish as the Dudleys. Most compelling stand-out performance was Elizabeth Reaser as Shirley. Shirley, with Anthony Ruivivar as husband Kevin, are the closest thing to relatable characters, which is notable since they're in the funeral industry. Other characters seem to suffer from trying to appear complex, but somehow end up less dimensional for their effort (example: child psychologist Theo). I understand from other reviews that this Netflix series does not match the Shirley Jackson novel (I haven't read it so don't know otherwise). I feel that this interpretation was intended to be an exploration of supernatural elements and their impact on human psychology and, in particular, family dynamics...and this does shine through for the most part. The first episodes showcase the children of the family, featuring each child's experience living in Hill House contrasted with present day adult issues. The idea being that "ghosts" of the past continue to haunt their adult relationships. The perfect highlight of family dysfunction is the unrelenting funeral home scene in E6 (Two Storms). Beyond that, the structure of the series falls apart and it's a scrambled mess, with more time spent on mold remediation, clock repair, and furniture refinishing, rather than meaningful character development and careful layering of relevant elements. The main action in E8 (Witness Marks) basically consists of 2 different sets of people driving to Hill House in different vehicles. You'll have to wait until E9 to find out what happens when the vehicles finally arrive. Sure, there's some interesting conversation taking place, but often it's too much. There are agonizing and excessively long monologs (examples: Dudley's 8 minute speech in E7-Eulogy and the longer than necessary conversations between Hugh and a law enforcement official). The importance of Hill House itself and it's spirit-world "residents" seems like an afterthought despite the series title. I think in the final episodes, the audience was *supposed* to start feeling empathy toward the departed souls rather than fear? Hard to tell, since this element was overshadowed by slowly dragging the family narrative to it's unsatisfying endpoint. It certainly feels like a missed opportunity not to give the spirit world equal billing to the living characters, since that interplay could have made the series more balanced, not to mention putting more meat on the bone. As is turns out, the discovery of a body on the premises only got about 1 minute of screen time and follow-up, so viewers were left wondering what exactly happened there? whose body was that? does that have anything to do with the haunting? A body might ordinarily be pivotal in a tale about a haunted house, but here it ends up being a total throw-away non-event. The final episodes suffer from similarly underdeveloped loose ends, unanswered questions, and irrelevant fillers. Also missing is more about the Dudleys connection to Hill House, a glaring omission since the couple is key to the story wrap-up (they are prominently featured in the last episode.) Other disappointments are the visual imagery of the Hill House exterior and interior. It's beyond a cliche - it might well have been inspired by a Scooby-Doo cartoon. The house is also improbable in scale: how could a contractor/carpenter with a family of 5 possibly afford this? I can easily suspend belief about ghosts, but not real estate. In fact, the most authentically spooky place in the entire series is the funeral home (and it's basement), simply because it's somewhat familiar and ordinary. Even the night-time city streets where a few scenes take place are threatening enough. No special effects needed. It is possible to build a spooky atmosphere with plot and tension alone (see Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"). Overall, the successful scenes in the series had more to do with the ordinary torment we experience and endure as we navigate our human realm ... inner demons and interpersonal struggles are scary enough. No doubt, the series creators saw the dramatic potential in embedding a family in crisis among unfamiliar otherworldly circumstances. However, without better pacing and more meaningful connections between the human characters and the supernatural realm, the whole enterprise end ups being far less compelling than it could have been.… Expand
  5. kuehnau
    Oct 16, 2018
    1
    Completely ignores the original material and re-writes the story into something that wholly ignores any paranormal aspects and focuses on psychological horror instead.

    What's the point of even adding the Hill House name to this series if it doesn't resemble the story itself in any capacity? Huge let down. Here's a tip NetFlix, if you are going to introduce a series based on an    Completely ignores the original material and re-writes the story into something that wholly ignores any paranormal aspects and focuses on psychological horror instead.

    What's the point of even adding the Hill House name to this series if it doesn't resemble the story itself in any capacity? Huge let down.

    Here's a tip NetFlix, if you are going to introduce a series based on an already established franchise, we want it to be familiar, not completely different.    … Expand
  6. garmonbozia
    Oct 16, 2018
    3
    "The haunting of hill house" is a boring combination of corny family melodrama (a.k.a "This is us") and mediocre horror movie about a haunted house (like many films about haunted houses before this series - nothing unique here). Every episode dragged a bit, or a lot. There was a repetitiveness to all the story lines. Yes, they somehow meet their ends but it still felt a bit vage and random"The haunting of hill house" is a boring combination of corny family melodrama (a.k.a "This is us") and mediocre horror movie about a haunted house (like many films about haunted houses before this series - nothing unique here). Every episode dragged a bit, or a lot. There was a repetitiveness to all the story lines. Yes, they somehow meet their ends but it still felt a bit vage and random and what's more disappointing - predictable. From the get go I knew what had happened with the mum in the family. It was just too obvious. The significance of a red door room turned out to be - insignificant. The attempt to be "awesome filmakers" with the one take scenes with the whole family the night before the funeral - was laughable. Yes, they got it in one take - but the whole thing looked and felt unnatural - staged and overly dramatic - like a theater play - in a bad sense. Most of the actors didn't know what to do when they weren't delivering any lines. They just stood there unnaturally and didn't know what to do with their hands. The kids were cute (especially Nell, Luke and the girl with gloves), the adults were mostly annoying. The house looked great. The scene with little Luke under the bed watching floating giant with a walking stick was amazing. But for the most of the time I felt bored watching those sad people on the screen talking about the same stuff all the time and relive the same plot points. Like many Netflix shows (also documentaries) - this felt too long. There wasn't a satisfying story there. Not a story that should last 10 hours of television. If this was a four-episode series - maybe it would've worked.… Expand
  7. katezoe
    Oct 15, 2018
    1
    Great movie, thinly spread over 10 episodes. Just awful, boring and a waste of time. Terrible acting all around.
  8. steveyme
    Oct 14, 2018
    1
    Badly scripted, predictable. Really awful cheap sets. Can't understand the good feedback on this.
  9. SeussMyTub
    Oct 21, 2018
    2
    Piss poor horror TV show based on the classic story by Shirley Jackson. It seems the producers completely missed the point of the book, which was really not about a haunted house, but rather a creepy story about twisted people. What made Jackson's book so scary was because it hinted at the horror, it never fully showed it.

    This version has too many flashbacks that muddles the story,    Piss poor horror TV show based on the classic story by Shirley Jackson. It seems the producers completely missed the point of the book, which was really not about a haunted house, but rather a creepy story about twisted people. What made Jackson's book so scary was because it hinted at the horror, it never fully showed it.

    This version has too many flashbacks that muddles the story, plus all the characters are unsympathetic. Slow and even boring at times- plus the frequent encounters with the ghosts are repetitive.

    The book is a million times better- if you want a good horror story, read it instead of watching it.    … Expand
  10. PierreMartinow
    Oct 23, 2018
    3
    When start watching this tv series, you immediately realize it's a well-done tv production, the camera movements, the story-telling, the acting. Almost Hollywood grade. However, the proclaimed horror tv series turns out to be a multi-family drama with no spook at all or at least, the spook you'll see is nothing of what you expect when starting to watch a horror tv series. The tv showWhen start watching this tv series, you immediately realize it's a well-done tv production, the camera movements, the story-telling, the acting. Almost Hollywood grade. However, the proclaimed horror tv series turns out to be a multi-family drama with no spook at all or at least, the spook you'll see is nothing of what you expect when starting to watch a horror tv series. The tv show builds up tension until the end and you expect a bigger outcome than there is. For me, who is not a fan of drama tv series, a big disappointment.… Expand
  11. lru
    Oct 16, 2018
    1
    Just so, so bad. Worse than Stranger Things, which is saying something. Who buys a house with a room they mysteriously can't enter and is just like, "Well, I guess we'll never know what's in that room!" Until it's convenient for the plot, of course. I don't know. The story is weak, the acting and dialogue are laughable most of the time and all the "spooky" bits are cheap jump scares. ThereJust so, so bad. Worse than Stranger Things, which is saying something. Who buys a house with a room they mysteriously can't enter and is just like, "Well, I guess we'll never know what's in that room!" Until it's convenient for the plot, of course. I don't know. The story is weak, the acting and dialogue are laughable most of the time and all the "spooky" bits are cheap jump scares. There are just soooo many better options than this. Don't believe the hype.… Expand
  12. ozymandias79
    Oct 15, 2018
    3
    Lite on scares and kinda boring for a horror TV series. The time jumping was hard to follow and even who the younger characters were, mainly because I didn't care about any of them. It was long and drawn out, and would have benefited from fewer episodes and a tighter plot.
  13. QuentinBay57mc
    Oct 16, 2018
    2
    An intriguing scary premise turns into a mush of sentimental pretentiousness in the style of This Is Us by the end. The finale is possibly one of the biggest letdowns to a show I've ever waded through and a massive waste of time.
  14. Jdotstone
    Oct 22, 2018
    3
    A writer should take into account that the dialogue should actually move the plot forward as well as keep the audience interested. In this case the mark was missed on both accounts. It seems like there was a conscience effort to give each character their own monologue at least once to make it "fair" for every actor involved, and then some, instead of focusing on the sort of writingA writer should take into account that the dialogue should actually move the plot forward as well as keep the audience interested. In this case the mark was missed on both accounts. It seems like there was a conscience effort to give each character their own monologue at least once to make it "fair" for every actor involved, and then some, instead of focusing on the sort of writing that's actually worthwhile in regards to a good intriguing story. I can just see Mike Flanagan or whoever wrote the majority of this sitting at their computer with a nice sly smile writing and writing and writing this dialogue thinking man am I a satisfying elegant writer or what.....while little does he/she know that the audience soon realizes they can start doing housework, chores, etc. etc. while watching this show without fear of really missing anything important that moves the overall story along. There may be a tiny handful of writers on this planet that can keep the audience paying close attention and while still wanting more with this amount of stand alone wordiness with little else but in this case...No Dice.… Expand
  15. my1rio
    Oct 17, 2018
    0
    Very boring. Had to fast forward thru most of the monologue. Probably won't finish it. So silly.
  16. OliverGable
    Oct 23, 2018
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This show was excruciatingly monotonous and painful to watch. It jumps back and forth between past and present like a ping pong game, way too much. Every scene includes a scare which gets very old after the first hundred or so. There is no build up of suspense just boring monotony. There are ghosts haunting themselves. How does that make any sense at all? Worst of all is that just like most Netflix shows, the real story is Netflix trying to normalize their agenda of homosexual relationships and building a lame show around that primary theme.… Expand
  17. OlivierPiel
    Oct 15, 2018
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It seems the rules of horror have been lost on this young generation of writers, directors and viewers: "Scary things" should not be directly shown but hinted at. It's the doubt, unknown, the "maybe it's true" that creates the horror!
    The show was humming along nicely until the final twist of ep 1, the little sister was dead and turned into a ghost. Netflix resorts to showing how the girl slowly turns into a dark evil spirit thanks to very expensive special effects. Expensive effects but lazy thinking!
    And like that the show became boring unless you are under 13 physically or mentally speaking.
    This is the curse of this very overrated Stranger Things show with that ridiculous monster.    … Expand
  18. hnolan
    Oct 22, 2018
    1
    6 hours too long, tries too hard to be deep when it's not deep whatsoever. Conclusion is painfully evident from the very first episode, even moreso in the second episode where they literally spell it out for you. Billed as a horror show, they should have removed all horror elements and just made it about a family struggling with mental illness. Terrible writing, shot in the same way as6 hours too long, tries too hard to be deep when it's not deep whatsoever. Conclusion is painfully evident from the very first episode, even moreso in the second episode where they literally spell it out for you. Billed as a horror show, they should have removed all horror elements and just made it about a family struggling with mental illness. Terrible writing, shot in the same way as every other Netflix original (good but nothing unique or interesting about it, incredibly bland). Drags on far too long.… Expand
  19. cterryr2
    Nov 2, 2018
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I admit, never read the book and didn't know the story going in. My issue is with the story it's self. It may have played well when written in another time. Today is falls flat at the end. I was into the show until the last 2 episodes. There is NO way this should have a happy ending! That totally ruined it. I mean, the last two episodes played like an entirely different movie. Very frustrating! Your all going to die then happy go lucky family reunion? No. Stupid. Lame. Please God, no more shows that end in some nice heavenly place (Lost, The Leftovers and more). Drastic plot and character changes suck.… Expand
  20. JavaSquirt
    Jan 3, 2019
    1
    нетфликс, вы должны понять - негры должны работать на плантациях, а не сниматься в сериалах.
  21. Nella112
    Sep 21, 2021
    1
    One word: BORING.

Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Best TV Season of 2018
6
#6 Most Discussed TV Season of 2018
3
#3 Most Shared TV Season of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    Oct 31, 2018
    70
    The showrunner, Mike Flanagan, builds a dreadful atmosphere, which is crucial, because the creeping pace of his ten episodes would be intolerable if not for its ambient suspense. The show may work best as a binge watch, one where you don’t pay steady attention but instead let it haunt your own house.
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  2. The Atlantic
    Reviewed by: Sophie Gilbert
    Oct 24, 2018
    60
    The series abandons Jackson’s distinctly female gothic for a more generic examination of grief and trauma. Over 10 episodes, it’s stylish, moving, and sinister, riddled with ghosts both literal and metaphorical. But it’s hard not to feel like something has been lost in translation.
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  3. Yahoo TV
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Oct 16, 2018
    60
    Well-acted and ponderously paced, The Haunting of Hill House would have benefited from less straining for the artistic and more of a desire to jolt its viewers.
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