The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix) TV Show • Page 9

Really just how happy everything was and how perfectly everything was working out was making me question the nature of everything I was seeing. It just all seemed too neat and clean and easy.

There were so many subtle things throughout the show, like the sheer number of hidden/background ghosts. I maybe saw around 10% of them, if that. I was recently looking at a gallery showing a bunch of the ghosts that were basically hidden in plain sight. Two from the basement when young Hugh is working on the walls stood out in particular to me, as I can't believe I missed them when I was watching the show. They're not even hidden, they're just chilling in the frame with the actors, only just out of where you normally look for action/importance in the frame in scenes like that.

And then stuff like the black mold that is sort of touched on but left very unexplored.

 

I'm definitely a fan of this theory.

The Haunting of Hill House May Have Had an Ominous Twist

 

I wonder if that’s the specific thing they mentioned that was hiding in the ending. Can’t remember the exact quote but I know they put something in the final show that would make you question everything.

I’m definitely a fan of leaving that kind of thing open. If you’re like me and just want them all to have a happy ending you can accept what we were shown, and if you want more horror and a downer ending you can focus on that and believe we weren’t shown the whole truth.

 

Flannagan specifically said he took the red room window out of that shot to avoid going that route.

 

Which is lame.

 

Fuck

 

Started this last night. Just finished episode 5. I can’t say I love it just yet, but I’m very much enjoying it and it’s doing a good job of keeping me from doing my homework. Also, as someone who suffers from sleep paralysis fairly regularly, they do a good job of capturing what that’s like. I’ve seen some fucked up shit!

 

Watching episode 6 and it’s only like a 5 second exchange but the mom walks into the room to look for Nell and walks out like 3 seconds later and the statue is facing a different direction. Love subtle stuff like that.

 

Yesss my ex noticed that! We were hyper aware of the statues after that haha

 

After you finish the show you should definitely read the articles pointing this stuff out. It’s so good.

 

There have definitely been things I’ve thought I’ve noticed but was too lazy to rewind and check and see if I was right. This was glaring though so I had to make sure. I absolutely love things like this, it’s very The Shining-esque. Subtlety like this is so much more unsettling than in your face shit. I look forward to seeing all the Easter eggs I’ve missed

 

There were a handful of faces or people that I screamed were there so we could pause it, others I missed completely.

 

Episode 6 was the first episode I can say I loved through and through. Very solid.

 

Noticing those statues changing without seeing it in a guide or something was pretty satisfying.

 

While this definitely leans more on the horror elements, from a thematic standpoint I’m feeling some similarities between this and Personal Shopper in terms of portraying grief and how we cope/process it.

At this point I’m not sure what is supposed to be taken literally (if anything) and what is happening due to more logical explanations like mental illness or sleep paralysis, for example. I appreciate that level of ambiguity and that the show acknowledges that things such as trauma are powerful and can cause our minds to do some crazy shit. After reading some posts in here saying the show takes a big drop, I’m worried that it’s gonna do what most horror stories do in the 3rd act and get reeeal real stupid, but I guess I’ll see for myself.

 

Very curious what you think once you’re done.

 

Hey, I’m one of nine!

 

Will do. I don’t want to go off on a tangent, but after season 3 of Twin Peaks, I dunno, every TV show disappoints to some degree

 

I can’t wait to finish this so I can watch Red Letter Media’s review

 

God, I have so much fun noticing all the creepy shit in the background and I really like that the show doesn’t acknowledge it. Watching episode 7 and Hugh just uncovered the body of Mr. Hill and in the background you can see what looks like a woman covered in white peering around the corner. It’s like playing a game of iSpy haha

 

You know when I watch horror stuff I am always on the lookout for looming things in the background cause I wanna brace myself for any scares and I still didn't notice any of the background ghosts lmao.

 

Just finished episode 10. I didn’t hate it, but it was a lot more cheery than it probably deserved to be. Similar to my issues with the ending of Maniac, I much prefer a story (especially one like this) that ends with a hint of ambiguity and despair. Seeing something get wrapped up so perfectly is nice, I guess, but betrays everything that came before it. They could have honestly had basically the same ending but just changed the tone with which it happened and I think I would have been more satisfied (think the dad becoming more a prisoner of the house than a willing resident).

Overall, I thought it was a solid show though and I look forward to going online and seeing all the background stuff I might have missed. I’m not sure how similar this is to the book it is based on, but so much of this feels eerily similar to The Shining. The house is “alive” and wants to keep them there, one parent goes crazy and tries to kill the family, rooms that don’t make sense, ghosts of the past etc. Not saying that is a good or a bad thing, but there are clear similarities.

 

Also, I thought it a little strange how Olivia was sort of just...forgiven? Let’s not forget she tried to kill her kids and succeeded in killing another family’s child.

 

I don't think she was "forgiven" per say, but more it's understood that it was the house that killed the girl and almost her own kids, not actually Olivia.

Thinking about this more and I think it would've been better to have the original planned ending with the red room window being shown in all the final room scenes.

 

That first paragraph is almost word for word how I feel about this show and Maniac, although I much prefer Maniac overall.