Netflix’s Terrifying, Moving The Haunting of Hill House is Essential Viewing | TV/Streaming
The very structure of “The Haunting of Hill House” is a thing of beauty, cutting back and forth between two eras of the Crain family. The present-day material introduces us to an array of troubled souls, all of whom are somewhat involved in trying to psychologically atone for the events that took place at Hill House decades ago. Not unlike “LOST,” each episode centers on a Crain family member, filling in both their present predicaments and highlighting their perspective on the days the family spent in one of the most famous haunted houses in the world.
Back then, Hugh Crain (Henry Thomas) and his wife Olivia (Carla Gugino) were remodeling Hill House in order to flip it. They moved in with their five kids—oldest Steven (Paxton Singleton), second Shirley (Lulu Wilson), third Theodora (Mckenna Grace) and twins Luke (Julian Hilliard) & Nell (Violet McGraw). One of many small wonders in the great overall picture that is this show is the strength of the young cast. Five kids in any show, much less a horror one, can often be a kiss of death but these kids are fantastic, especially McGraw and, most of all, Grace, who was excellent in “Gifted” and even better here.
Of course, all of the Crains quickly realize things aren’t right. Nell sees someone/something called the “bent-neck woman,” which is even more terrifying than it sounds, and the Crains hear bumps in the night and dogs on the property when there should be none. The Crain time in Hill House is filled in as we learn more about where they are now. Steven (Michiel Huisman) became a famous horror writer, even though he never really saw most of what went down at Hill House. It’s almost as if he’s trying to catch up with his siblings’ first-hand experience. Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser) owns a funeral home, trying to explain the journey to the great beyond in a way that makes sense of her own dealings with death. Theo (Kate Siegel) lives in her sister’s guest house and helps foster children in a way that broaches the supernatural—again, she’s a damaged person trying to save damaged children herself. Luke (Olivier Jackson-Cohen) struggles with addiction; Nell (Victoria Pedretti) battles the horror of sleep paralysis. All of these people are troubled and lost to a certain degree, emotions amplified by the nightmares in their past.
