Since it is now fall and Halloween time, Netflix decided to release a new show, based off of a Shirley Jackson book, called “The Haunting of Hill House.”
This show is about a family whose parents flip houses for a living. The kids began having nightmares and seeing ghosts but the father continues to reassure them that it is all in their heads. It goes back and forth between their childhood and adulthood so the viewers can see what happens to them when they are older. This lets the viewers watch how as adults, the family still tries to push away the thoughts of the hauntings.
I love scary movies, especially around this time of year. I have watched a ton, Sinister being the most scary. I read online about how terrifying “The Haunting of Hill House” is. According to Fresh Radio, the show was so horrific some people were having anxiety attacks and losing sleep over it. I thought I would give it a shot for a good scare.
I will start by saying I did find the show scary. There were certain parts that had me jump and certain ghosts I would see in the dark. The issue was that it was not a consistent scare. I was not on the edge of my seat the entire time, anxious as to when the next scary scene was coming. Instead, it would have a ghost pop up on screen, and then that was the one scary part to the episode. I continued to watch in hopes it would get scarier.
Sam Hamalak is a freshman Political Science major who gets scared easier than me.
“The anticipation for the spook got to me good,” Hamalak said.
There were a few plot twists I was not expecting throughout the show but the scariest episode was the final one. I felt it was such a long build-up that there were only a few parts in it that had me anxious. The few parts outweighed the rest of the episodes, though. Towards the end of the final episode, the story became sentimental, which I think should not have happened. I was hoping for a different ending but it was unexpected.
The story-line itself was confusing. I was unable to determine what visions were real and what were not. I think that was partially the point but it made it difficult to follow.
“I did think it was a little confusing the way it was laid out but it was an interesting approach,” Hamalak said.
I was hoping by the end everything would come together and I would be able to understand it all. I noticed in the ending that the idea was to not understand Hill House completely.
I would not recommend “The Haunting of Hill House” to anyone. Although there were some nerve-racking scenes, I did not find the show as a whole scary or good. I am surprised with the reviews it received. Maybe it was because I expected more, or I have a higher tolerance when it comes to horror, but I saw it as a waste of time.
