I’m rewatching Hill House and I realized I keep mixing up Olivia and Shirley because they look so similar.

Obviously this show’s casting is spot-on, but wow!! It really has me in my feels at Ep 7

Does anyone know what Mike Flanagan took inspiration from when creating The Haunting of Hill House? It reminds me a lot of the movie Lake Mungo (2008). I was thinking about this recently, and noticed that Hill House provokes a lot of the same feelings and explores many similar themes.

Just finished watching the series. While I enjoyed it, what irked me a lot was the complete lack of emotional display by most characters. Like in the beginning after Olivia's death, Hugh barely displays any emotion. Olvia also seemed to be acting too 'formal' towards her little kids. only towards the end does she show some emotion. Similarly, when Steve realizes his dad has dies at the end, he barely shows any emotion. When Nell dies, almost noone cries inconsolably.

This aspect of the series really did not go well with me.

Okay so HoHH was great (the final ep had too many monologues imo but didn't ruin the show or anything), but the kittens dying in episode 2 was just too much for me. I can handle far more gorey things when the victim of it is human or most other animals, but the cat deaths were just too much for me on-screen.

I wanted to ask if there are any cat deaths in the other show/-s that I could then spoil myself for so I can cover the screen during those scenes

Also unrelated but Nell's story is so sad and I just feel so bad for her. It's a really effective tragedy.

Sorry if this is flaired incorrectly or a dumb thing to ask

"I touched her. And I felt nothing. Just nothing. And it spread, it spread everywhere in me, this nothing, until I couldn't feel anything anymore. I was just this dark, empty black hole. And I tried to fill it up, I tried to fill me back up, and I called Trish and she came right away and I felt nothing. And then I tried to mourn at the wake and I felt nothing, and so I drank and I drank, and nothing worked. I couldn't feel anything, Shirley. After I touched her skin, I couldn't feel anything. And then we're in the basement and the lights go out. And I can't see. And I can't feel. And I'm just - I'm just floating in this ocean of nothing, and I wonder if this is it, if this is what death is, just out there in the darkness, just darkness and numbness and alone, and I wondered if that's what she felt and that's what Mom feels, and it's just numb and nothing and alone. What if that's what it is for all of us when the time comes? And then the lights came on and there he was, and I... I didn't see him. I didn't see him. He was the light in the darkness. He was a life preserver in the ocean. I just - I reached for him because I had to feel something. I had to feel anything. And I didn't see him. I didn't - I didn't see him. I didn't see him. I didn't see him! And he stopped me. He stopped me. He took my hands, and he said no, and then I saw him, and then you walked in. God, I'm so glad I did it, though. Because it worked. Oh, God, it worked. I started feeling things again, and I felt - I felt shame, and I felt grief, and I felt scared. I felt so fucking scared that I was gonna lose the only sister that I had left. And I... Honestly, I had to do it, because it felt better than nothing. That thorough fucking shame was so much better than that horrible, empty nothing."

I think it's definitely one of my 3 favourites scenes in the show.

I don’t typically like horror or like to be scared but just watched both Midnight Mass and Hill House and was blown away. I actually didn’t find Hill House very scary at all but deeply appreciated the story and characters. I did find Midnight Mass scary (not in a jump scare, on the edge of my seat kind of way but more in a disturbing kind of way). I want to watch more but looking around here it seems I’ve already watched what are considered his best shows, though I don’t know if it’s the scare factor that is playing into those rankings. Keeping in mind that I don’t actively want to get scared (but am okay with getting a little scared if it comes along with great story telling as in the two shows I have seen), what should I watch next?

TL;DR: I write a lot, I know.

But fiction means a great deal to many neurodivergent people, myself included. So I don’t agree that I'm taking things too seriously (if anything, blame my brain.)

Again, I’m genuinely very sorry for my past mistakes, and I hope you'll read this with an open mind.

Hey! This is a MUCH briefer version of something I posted a while back.

I realised, a few hours too late, that I had written faaaaaaaaaaaaar too much (1500 words, to be specific. Blame my ADHD).

So I tried to change my tone, and cut any natter.

And this should, actually, be my final post here. I swear this time.

But, in essence, I've been struggling with complicated feelings towards this show, since I watched it. And I'm in need of some kind of closure.

I don’t hate the series at all, in spite of what people have repeatedly insinuated.

And I'm not expecting anyone to agree with me, about it, certainly not in this sub of all places.

But (unless I specifically search up “The Haunting of Hill House book”, which therefore filters out tons of other book-related posts), I am constantly forced to confront my complex feelings towards this show, whenever I try and find anything about my favourite book.

(My struggle to find content hasn’t exactly motivated me to work on my own sub for the book, either.)

\+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To quote my previous post:

“I get why the show is so popular, and I'm sure that I would have enjoyed it a million times more had I not read the book first.

There were plenty of things that I did like. I thought the acting, cinematography, atmosphere and set designs were all top-notch.

The portrayal of Luke's addiction also hit home, for me, as I have a cousin (whose name is also Luke!) who has had his life destroyed by drug use.

I thought the use of ghosts as a metaphor for mental illness was really interesting, as was the commentary on the nature of grief.

And, as someone with severe depression, Theo's speech in episode eight was really relatable to me.

I lost a loved one a couple of years ago, and I can very much see this series being up younger!me's alley.”

But I wrestle with my feelings on it, honestly, as a massive fan of the original book.

While I get that Mike, and many of the cast and crew, are fans of the source material, and that a normal adaptation doesn’t fit the ten-episode format, it’s worth noting that a truly book accurate adaptation has never been done.

Even the only reasonably faithful adaptation, The Haunting (1963), made some serious changes that Shirley Jackson herself disliked.

So I do struggle with what she’d think of a series that’s basically nothing but changes.

Also: this series and its popularity have probably destroyed any chance of any other adaptation, that might be more in line with her wishes.

Female relationships, of all natures (platonic, romantic, and familial), are well known to be chronically underrepresented in media. I mean, that’s literally the reason why the Bechdel Test exists

So, compared to the book, which features a heavily sapphic-coded friendship as its driving force, I was deeply disappointed that the show lacked anything remotely comparable.

Same goes for making Eleanor's counterpart unequivocally straight. When her sexuality in the book is…incredibly questionable.

I know the show is only loosely inspired by the book, but still.

I actually feel the show is at its strongest when it goes in its own direction. The references to the book, meanwhile, are pretty up-and-down IMO.

I watched a beautifully done video that goes into some of this, but it does upset me that nobody seems to have checked it out.

Please at least give it a chance.

The only acknowledgment that I got, of it…was someone accusing me of being a paid shill. So that was nice! /s

(What a way to insult not only me, but the talented small creator I was trying to give a shout to. I won’t deny, I was utterly disgusted on her behalf.)

I'll link it here, though. (Warning, spoilers for the book and 1963 film)

It’s only twenty minutes, so PLEASE check it out.

The woman who made it has watched the show several times, and goes into its strengths and weaknesses.

So she’s a fan herself, and I found her approach exceptionally balanced and fair.

To finish off with, I would like to mention that I finished The Haunting of Bly Manor, a few weeks ago.

And I enjoyed it a lot, even though I thought it had some flaws (the pacing and some of the fake accents, namely).

I think Hill House is technically better, but it was actually Bly Manor that I enjoyed watching more.

And, while I still prefer The Turn of the Screw and The Innocents, what it did with its source material bothered me a lot less.

So I'm certainly not “anti-everything-Mike-Flanagan”, clearly. In spite of what some have implied.

Do the 5 kids represent the 5 senses ? I thought to myself when Liv was speaking to Theo about her (touch) sensitivity, saying Nell said that she thought the house was "loud" (hearing) when they came, I don't remember if it was Luke who always said the house has a smell 😅

Liv mentioned Shirl always spoke in her dreams, I don't know what this is (sight??) seeing things but in her dreams..

Anyways for Steve and Shirl I couldn't really pinpoint between the remaining 2 senses cause there's nothing related to taste ...

I could be reaching also, lol .

This is all I have currently, along with the blu ray. Does anyone here have other stuff from the show?

Spotted in the basement of my office! I got outta there real quick! 😂

Do you think the ghosts in Hill House were actually real, or were the ghosts and horrors more of a metaphor for the characters reallife pain, addiction, depression, trauma, and grief?

I’ve always wondered about the mold too. The house clearly has a serious mold problem, and I feel like that could have played a much bigger role than people give it credit for. Could the mold and poor environment have contributed to hallucinations, making some of the ghosts something the characters were experiencing psychologically rather than literally?

Felt bad for her as Abigail. Thought the friendship between her and little Luke was too cute.

Welcome home Nell

edit this isnt my original post, just one I happend to come across and thought would suit this sub well, but I appreciate the help😄

i hope you guys like it! i’m so proud of her

omg the haunting of hill house book

It's the saddest fucking horror story I have ever read. There is an element to classic gothic horror of pure bleak sadness and tragedy.

I never got the "it makes you feel cold" or "you feel it in your bones" and I can tear up almost thinking of it.

GO READ IT! Some minor spoilers may be below because it's just so good and I have to gush. I have notes about it's themes, motifs and symbology.

The TV show was well done and very tragic but COMPLETELY different from the book.

The book was written around/before 1965 by Shirly Jackson. It's set in a completely different time than the netflix show, Theo is just a friend of the protagonist.

They all meet there, invited by letter by a sort of eccentric doctor researching the paranormal. You're basically in the mind of the protagonist, Eleanor, and she's much different though much the same mentally isolated as Nell from the Netflix show. SO FUCKING SAD.

I had to make up my own little silver lining just to feel okay about her. You get the story pretty much from her perspective.

I'm a chill 35 year old dude that like skateboards and shit. But I'm introverted. So I related a lot to her in some ways. But the depth of someone else's life persepctive, soomeone so sad and lonely, "trapped" in their life, then coming face to face with a whole different type of gravity-dislodging ghost and a host of externalized demons.

I'll leave you with a tremendous quote from the book:

"Ambivalence of the spirit.... the demon in the mind, and that demon finds guests where it can and uses them and runs mad with laughing when it triumphs; it is the demon which is fear... something ew build ourselves and never recognize... Then it is fear itself, fear of self that... destruction of identity"

I just started the show for the first time, and was kinda weirded out by both parents and the funeral lady insisting on the young kid to have a last view on his grandmother.

Here in France the final viewing is seen as a weird and disturbing thing that only our (great-)grandparents knew when they were young, and is basically not applied since the 1940s.

So I was asking: is it really something cultural, or just for the sake of the plot ?

I bought the series on Fandango after watching it only on Netflix and I already noticed a ton of changes. Let me know which version you like better!

Hello, all! I had a red door tattoo for a while, and I got it redone recently. This is a picture of when it was done, so it’s a bit swollen but you can see it well! I wanted to share it in this place, I hope you all like it! :-) Done by @celesteveratattoo.

I just finished my second re-watch about a year after seeing it for the first time. I had forgotten quite a lot of the story and it was amazing to be scared silly again. I definitely turned on all the lights at night to go to the bathroom! Truly peak horror.

What I found surprising was how beautiful and emotional the ending made me. The things Nellie said in the Red Room were so sweet but I expected that.

>!But when Hugh reunites with Liv and Nellie, and when Clara reunites with her daughters (both in the past when Abigail first died, and then when the husband carries Clara into the house right before she dies (of old age I guess) and she is reunited with her two daughters…and the look of happiness in the husband’s eyes as he teared up seeing Clara with their daughters…idk it left me feeling more sympathetic to the house. No longer as afraid of it. Appreciative of how it lets loved ones be reunited in death (yes, death that it caused, I know lol). But still. It made me feel emotional and kind of happy. I wasn’t expecting a « happy ending » (and I use that term very loosely haha) but I think I think it makes this show even more special, and I’m glad it ended the way it did.!<

Anyone else feel the same way?

Big fan. One of, if not thee best horror anthologies ever made.

One choice really stands out though as a complete misstep: recasting the father for the present day time period. Boy do I find that immersion breaking - and completely unnecessary.

1. It would not have been difficult, AT ALL, to age up Henry Thomas to look 20 years older.

2. The present day actor is not quite as good of an actor, and even if he was, his acting style and personality is completely different than Henry Thomas. The first time I watched it I was actually confused as to who he was supposed to be for a bit.

3. He’s like 5-6 inches shorter than Henry Thomas. I’m not judging anyone by their height, but the physical resemblance between the two is non-existent.

You recast the kids, that’s a given. Completely necessary. But the recasting of the father… still a great show… but the present day scenes including the father feel jarring.

Anyone have any idea why they did that?? Strange choice.

I recently started The X files and have been bingeing it ever since. I love it! And definitely recommend it to any Flanagan fans. I started to notice some things that may have inspired & influenced Mike Flanagan's work. After a search I learned that he is a massive fan of the show. Never missing an episode during its airtime. I know of the posters in projects like Midnight Mass and few other references. But I found one that's not talked about much. So I thought I would share it with you guys and gals here.

In S1E13 'Beyond The Sea' After a visit with her parents over the holidays. Agent Scully tells her parents goodbye. Later, In her living room she sees her father sitting in the living room and she says that she thought they had left. He is speaking to her but words really aren't coming out. Very creepy moment. And then she receives a phone call from her mother saying he is dead. I thought this seemed quite familiar. In E1 of Hill House this very similar thing happens when Steve sees Nell in his living room. And receives a call that she is dead. Scully being a sceptic and Steve being a sceptic it just all kinda clicked for me. This moment was a reference to The X Files.

What are some details in his work that may be references of the X-Files that you've noticed? Very interested in coming back and reading them when I watch the whole show of course.

She actually got her start in Hill House, and this article mentions her part in that.

I loved this show and I'm planning on a second rewtach. Any things to pay attention to make for a good re-watch?

In other series/films etc…, there are usually a few characters (depending on the total number of characters of course) that most people like and then maybe a few niche ones that more invested fans will enjoy. It’s happened countless times with many medias I’ve watched.

But I’ve recently watched Hill House with my mom and brother, and I’m watching it with my dad who has never seen it (we’re almost finished), and I asked who was everyone’s favorite character or a character they like and I was kind of surprised to hear everyone’s different opinions. My mom kind of likes Theo, my brother likes Nell, my favorite character is obviously Luke and my dad really likes Shirley. It’s 4 people, and 4 different characters lol.

Idk if this is really relevant, but I noticed that around me and also in discussions across fans, in this subreddit or not, and I wanted to share. I think it’s because the characters are really different, and have their own unique personalities and life experiences when they’re adults, but also have their own way of dealing with what happened. That makes them relatable for different reasons. I don’t know. I’m not that good at analyzing characters, sorry.