The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix) TV Show • Page 10

Finished this a couple days ago and have been ruminating on it since.

I thought this show was pretty fucking fantastic. It's difficult to end a horror story satisfying everyone-- I personally didn't think this was cheesy and that things were left ambiguous enough to encourage viewer speculation. The performances were incredible. The writing was fantastic (with a few exceptions of awkward-sounding dialogue). And the general ominous tone made for a thoroughly unsettling watch.

 

this was my take, but I do think it was rushed how quickly the Dudleys just accepted it.

also I have no idea what people are talking about with the window thing

 

me neither. Even looking at the article pointing them all out, they were mostly really subtle and I struggled to see a lot of them in the screencaps

 

Well, yeah, I understand this but I don’t think the characters really would. At least, not just like that. Not to mention the fact that in the present day she was still trying to kill Luke. I understand she wanted to end his pain or whatever but that doesn’t change the fact

Me neither what the hell is that

 

The idea of the window in the red room is that each time it showed the kids and their version of the red room growing up, that window was the only constant in the background, which is a subtle hint that everyone missed until the reveal at the end.

The showrunner said that the original idea was that in the finale where all the adults are together with the cake celebrating what's his face's sobriety or whatever, that that window would be in the background essentially saying that they never got out of the red room and end on a super down note.

It would have been much better than what they decided to do.

 

Damn, yeah, I would have liked that a lot more

 

Yep, it would have been way more consistent with the tone of the whole show. And would have made the dad's suicide meaningless, which is a plus.

 

I almost wish I didn’t know that cause it’s perfect haha

 

Lol, I know! Sorry to burst that bubble because I felt the same way after finishing this.

After some thought, I still really enjoyed the whole ride and do recommend it, but man, they totally dropped the ball on the finale.

 

I didn't see Timothy Hutton staying as a happy ending, even if we saw them hugging in the room. It was a total sacrifice because otherwise she wouldn't stop until they were all dead and there with her. Instead of getting to take part in the healing of his family in the real world, he gave that up to make sure they got to experience it. I definitely need to rewatch this ASAP, but I still view it as much more of a "earn your happy ending/bittersweet ending" than something that goes against the tone or goal of the show.

 

i didn't even realize there was a window in there. haha

 

But also, like, why? There was no indication that just having the dad was enough. If that were the case he probably would have been willing to sacrifice himself a long time ago. The house wanted them all...up until like the last 20 minutes for some reason

 

Put me down as someone who greatly prefers the ending we got as opposed to that “they were all still in the red room” ending.

 

I think it adds another level to the house, the way the ending is currently. It's like something so evil and malicious can provide the humblest and beautiful wishes.

 

For the record, I do like that the ending avoided what a lot of horror stories do and just get fucking crazy and bombastic at the end. Just wish it was a little more ominous

 

I almost always prefer super downer endings in movies and shows.

 

Same. And it really is just a preference thing but damn, for horror it’s always nice to end on somewhat of a downer imo

 

I didn't notice it either until I started reading up on the show haha

 

To be fair, I have no idea what they could have done, so I don't have a suggestion for a better ending.

 

Wat. We were literally just saying that it ending with them unknowingly being in the red room would have been better

 

I'm only a fan of a downer ending if it's really justified, and I'm usually not a huge fan of going COMPLETELY bleak when the major themes are grief/depression/family issues/mental illness. Hereditary is one that pulled off that totally doomed vibe well, but I much prefer when the horror of that kind is in the journey and specific moments instead of just a kill 'em all.

 

Oh, I meant other than that idea, if he still decided to not do that and do something else, I don't know what else he could have done. My bad, that was confusing.

 

Gimme a break, buds, I've got a killer headache right now, haha

 

The "one item was always red in the room" clue is still there that was mentioned the other day, and I think that works well for everyone. You can take it as a hint of a darker ending or just take it as an interesting bit of closure.

 

I dunno. The ending we got is not entirely positive. They still lost Nell and Hugh. Not to mention the flashback sequence, especially Abigail’s death, is extremely upsetting.

Shirley confesses her infidelity but its only implied their marriage goes on. Theo, Luke, and Steve seem to get their shit together in their own way, but who knows how long that all lasts. The show’s constant theme is not everything is as it appears.

It definitely is a happier ending than some other horrors. I too appreciate a good ending devoid of hope (Hereditary was a great example), but I’m still content with what we got. The show as a whole was very captivating— and definitely now one of my favorite netflix originals.