I love this show. The only week link has been Timothy Hutton, who seems to play his character as if he has had a head injury. It always has a creepy mood, some genuine scares and chilling headscratchers.
Like The ghost Nell sees as a child is actually herself in the future
Anybody else watching?
I tried searching but it errored every time. Its like the house doesn’t me too see. :eek:
I have 2 episodes left, clicked on your spoiler box anyway. Luckily wasn’t spoiled.
The show was very highly recommended, has a stellar IMDB rating (8.9 now, but I think it was 9.1 when I first looked it up). I’m enjoying it well enough, but I’d give it like a 7.5. The part in the OP’s spoiler box is definitely a “whoa” moment.
A spinoff that focused on Theo could be really good. She’s by far the most interesting of the children.
Very good piece of work. It does a good job weaving a semi-traditional ghost story with issues that really do haunt us, including mental illness, substance abuse, and financial dependence. It also features one of the most slow-brewing, punch-in-the-gut plot twists I have ever seen.
My only reservation is that it effectively borrows its ending from season one of American Horror Story. This doesn’t ruin it for me, but it evokes a certain “not this again”.
I liked it too. The spoiler in the OP was a nice creepy twist.
The spoiler in the OP broke the husband’s brain. He was absolutely blown away by that 2-minute piece of television, and it elevated the series from “yeah, this is pretty OK” to “OMG WE’RE STAYING UP ALL NIGHT TO WATCH THE REST OF THIS.” I really enjoyed it as well.
I watched the entire series. I thought the first episode was a bit slow, but it really picked up after that. Overall, I liked it.
I thought Timothy Hutton’s acting was fine.
I had read the book, so I was expecting something more along the lines of a modern take on the book’s plot. Instead, about the only thing the book and the show had in common were the setting (the haunted house) and the names of the caretakers. I guess Theo being a lesbian was a call-back to the book as well. I would say that the show is more inspired by the setting of the book than being actually based on the book.
It’s a good book though (IMHO), if you haven’t read it.
One thing I really liked:
Episode 6 is a series of exceptionally long camera takes. It gives the episode a unique feel, and must have been very difficult to pull off from a technical perspective. Very well done.
I also liked:
The bent-neck lady twist, referenced in the OP.
One thing I didn’t like:
The ending. It was too happy. It wasn’t a completely happy ending, of course, as you find out that Abigail was real and the Dudleys just lost their daughter. But in the end Mrs. Dudley goes to die in the house so she can live happily ever after with her daughter. The house is supposed to be an evil monster that devours people, and all of the ghosts (at least the ones we care about like Hugh and Olivia and their daughter Nell) live happily ever after inside the monster house. Even Luke survives after injecting rat poison into his arm. All of the happy endings didn’t fit with the tone of the rest of the show.
It was also very out of place when compared to the original book ending. (BOOK SPOILER - STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK) The book ends with Eleanor, the main character, crashing her car into a tree. Definitely not a happy ending. The book also left it ambiguous as to whether the hauntings were real or if Eleanor was perhaps mentally disturbed and it was all in her mind. The show would have been much better if it had ended on a similar ambiguity, given how mental illness and whether or not their experiences were real or hallucinations was a major plot point throughout all of the episodes.
I really enjoyed it for the most part. Especially the style (no spoilers), but the tracking shots, particularly in the funeral home, were very well done. It reminded me a bit of The Shining, when Danny is riding his tricycle.
The actresses playing the adult daughters were well cast for their resemblance to each other, but at first I was confused, because they looked so much alike. It took me a couple of episodes to tell one character from another.
I was disappointed in the final episode though–I felt like I missed some of the explanations of who a few of the ghosts were. But overall, I liked it; very creepy and suspenseful without being gory. Somewhere between a B+ and a solid A.
I still have to finish the final 2 episodes, been pretty busy lately! But regarding the creepy twist everyone’s talking about:
When do you think the dad knew who it was? When he sees bent-neck lady at the funeral home, he knows it’s Nell and frankly doesn’t seem all that surprised. Did he figure it out sometime before Nell died? Or maybe after she died, but before he saw her ghost?
Or is that explained in the final 2 episodes?
I’m not a fan of horror generally, but agreed to watch it with my wife who is a horror buff. Despite my general inclination I really enjoyed it. A very well made piece of television that for me transcended it’s genre. I think one thing I liked about it and what IMO let’s other horror down, is that the show didn’t rely entirely on jump scares to generate the ‘horror’, it was creepy with building tensions.
OK, finished it last night.
And all I can say What the everlovingFUCK??
Are you kidding me? The house that tricked people into murder and suicide is suddenly a nice place to spend the afterlife???
I feel cheated.
I agree that the end does not fit with the rest of the show. I really enjoyed all of it until the very end though.
My early thoughts were that you can’t reboot Shirley Jackson. I mentioned that in a Tweet, and Peter Straub, hisowndamnself, responded that the show is great if you don’t expect more than superficial connections to the novel.
So I watched it. Decided after a few minutes that it was just going to be another Paranormal Activity episode writ large, and I almost gave up on it.
Halfway in, I was hooked. Now we’re on our second viewing (with the brightness and contrast cranked up), trying to spot hidden ghosts.
I’ve begun recommending the movie Lake Mungo to anyone who likes Hill House.
I’m ok with it. I think that once you show that there is a definite afterlife, anything is possible.
I mean you’re going to spend a lot more time dead than alive, so the alive part isn’t necessarily that big a deal. Especially if time doesn’t flow like a river (reminds me a bit of Vonnegut’s work).
Finished it. I understand why a lot of folks apparently don’t like the ending (saw this a lot in IMDB reviews too) but I think it’s ok.
Seems like there was really just the one ghost lady who liked to stir up trouble. The others are harmless, minding their own business.
I felt it was overrated. It was decent, but it wasn’t groundbreaking. I didn’t feel it was any better than any horror miniseries.
The ending reminded me of rose red, as others have said.
Thank you for this! It’s one of my favorite books, but almost no one else I know who has seen the show, has also read the book. I just needed to be able to adjust my expectations before watching.
Extremely competent production and direction. The story is a bit meh. Sort of This Is Us with jump scares. I don’t find it remotely scary or suspenseful. It better damn well win an Emmy for those insane tracking shots in Episode 6 though. Those were incredible.
Watching with wife, a bit late. We’ve watched about 4 of them.
Keeping in mind we’ve only seen 4 episodes, my thoughts have been:
This house needs to put up or shut up. Too much teasing us leading to “jump scare” time. One thing I loved about Hereditary(also about family grief/trauma) is that there isn’t a single jump scare in it. It was just…horrifying.
I am the king of having a hard time keeping track of who is who when they jump between past and present. I need an app that will just label everyone with names for awhile. I pretty much get it now, but I need a guide sometimes.
Yeah, it’s pretty good, but not that great. I will reserve judgment until I see all of them.
The ending ruined it for me. Simple as that. I would recommend stopping with about 10 minutes left in the last episode.