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The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Paramount Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc Released: 10/15/2019
All Ratings out of
Show:
1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Have you ever had a friend or co-worker gush about how funny or scary or
kick-ass a movie is only to finally see this well-loved movie and feel totally
let down? You watch that same movie
or show that was recommended, and you begin to question yourself as to what you
may be missing? Like, what movie/show did they see?
Are they pulling your leg because what you watched was nothing like what
they described? Should you be
worried that person has lost it because they are so wrong?
It has happened to all of us before, so I am going to try to be very
careful in this review because I don’t want to lavishly praise the Netflix
series The Haunting of Hill House only to let readers down when they
actually see it, but honestly, this series is beyond good.
The Haunting of Hill House
shares the story of the Crain family.
Mom Olivia (Carla Gugino) and dad Hugh (Henry Thomas and Timothy Hutton
as an older version) have bought a magnificent uncared-for mansion to flip.
They have five children, Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser- older Shirley and
Lulu Wilson-younger), Steven (Michiel Huiman and Paxton Singleton), Theo (Kate
Siegel- the director’s wife and McKenna Grace), and twins Luke (Oliver
Jackson-Cohenand Julian Hillard) and Nell (Victoria Pedretti and Violet McGraw).
However, despite how hopeful the family is to flip this house, they are
unexpectedly confronted with ghosts and scary events within the walls of the new
home. Events so unsettling that it
scars each member of the family into their present lives.
As the show progresses past the initial episode, each child gets their
own story from past to present explained through the first five episodes while
the overall story of what happened to all of them as a family, and if as a
family they can survive the haunting, also plays out.
And honestly, this conceit is not that unusual anymore.
Like Lost, you have an overall story arc, and then individual episodes
throughout for character development as well.
But unlike Lost, there are answers to the overall big questions, and the
individual stories are really touching.
Especially Nell’s story in episode 5- “The Bent-Neck Lady”.
This story is argueably the best written, acted, and directed of all of
the episodes. A lot of attention
has been directed toward the sixth episode- “Two Storms”, and rightly so as most
of the episode is composed of extremely long shots that go uncut and highlight
how talented the actors and director really are, but there is something so sad
and sweet about Nell’s story that it will resonate well after the episode ends.
Series creator and director Mike Flannagan has taken Shirley Jackson’s
well-loved book The Haunting of Hill House and turned it into a perfect
mix of a family drama and mystery in which the horror aspects are both literal
and figurative.
As someone who watches horror movies fairly regularly (they are my spouse’s
favorite genre), not much really scares me.
The Haunting of Hill House does not try to be in your face with
most of its’ scares. Instead, it is
the sense of dread and suspense, punctuated in each episode with background
ghosts that causes the viewer to always feel a slight discomfort and
apprehension as to what will happen next.
The family is so endearing, the characters so genuine and likeable flaws
and all, that I have seen the series all the way through three times, and each
time, not only do I pick up on subtle subtexts and plot points, but my heart
races as I look for who is lurking in the background of the family drama.
I always admire any form of entertainment that looks as if a lot of work
has gone into the production, and this series leaves much to be admired.
Care is given to every aspect, and that is what helps this series become
better upon each viewing of the series.
It is "scary" how good it is.
The Haunting of Hill House
has a scene which looks like it was lifted from Silent Hill on Blu-ray
Disc courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment.
The three-disc set contains all ten episodes of the series.
The show has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Discs contain an AVC
1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps.
The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from
the source materials. This is a
very dark show, but the action is always visible here and the black tones look
true. The colors look good, most
notably the many splashes of red we get here.
The depth works quit well and the level of detail is impressive.
This certainly rivals the HD stream from Netfilx, with the image losing
some of the overly dark moments experienced with the stream.
The Discs carry a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and
an average of 1.6 Mbps. The track
provides clear dialogue and sound effects.
Despite the relatively low bitrate, the track delivers solid subwoofer
effects during the “shock” sequences.
We also get impressive surround sound effects which help to illuminate
voices and sounds coming from around the house.
These fill the rear and front channels, providing a real sense of space.
The Haunting of Hill House
Blu-ray Disc release contains only a few extra features.
Viewers have the option of selecting “Extended Director’s Cuts” of the
episodes “Steven Sees a Ghost”, “The Bent-Neck Lady”, and “Silence Lay
Steadily”. All of these are
accompanied by AUDIO COMMENTARY from Michael Flanagan.
In addition, Flanagan also provides COMMENTARY for the episode “Two
Storms”, but it is not an extended cut.