The Haunting of Hill House Mini-Series Review

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

Mini-series - 10 episodes (2018)
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Created by: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti, Mckenna Grace, Timothy Hutton, Annabeth Gish
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

Verdict
The show creates such a great mood. It's definitely dark, but this jumps between time periods and characters perfectly. Each episode reveals just a little bit more about the house and the siblings, augmenting what we know until it brings everything together towards the end. Tensions and stress within the family increase with each episode, as do the hauntings and scares. The way this builds the narrative is masterful. We've seen pieces of the whole from the beginning without knowing it. Each episode provides just a bit more context that continues to build the story. The culmination is well executed. It's such a well developed story.
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Review
This jumps back and forth from when the Crain kids were young, living in the Hill house as their father attempted to repair and flip it, and when they're adults dealing with the trauma of having lived there. Growing up in that house affected all the children. Initially we wonder if the house is haunted, but with each scene the house is revealed to be menacing and definitely possessed.

Oldest son Steven (Michiel Huisman) became famous for his book about the house, but it alienated him from the family who objected. They didn't like he capitalized on their childhood. Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser) became a funeral director. Theo (Kate Siegel) has trouble connecting with people but is an adept child psychologist. Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) struggles with substance abuse. Nell (Victoria Pedretti) still suffers from the memories of that house. The kids and the father grew estranged after they left the house, fleeing in the middle of the night with few answers.

While the first episode sets the plot about a haunted house, it also generates a lot of questions. What happened in that house? Through the season we learn piece by piece what happened as this deliberately builds the narrative. Each scene is edited to tie together via movements, actions, and subject. it helps to tie past and present together almost seamlessly.

E3: Elizabeth Reaser, Kate Siegel play Shirley, Theo Crain

Episodes overlap as we see events from each sibling's point of view. In episode one we thought Luke was robbing Steven, but in episode four we see that he was trying to help a friend in rehab. While it appeared he was suffering from withdrawal, there was a reason for his demeanor.

Each of the kids had strange experiences in this house, and their father's efforts to repair the place only end in more work. One repair leads to multiple problems. Episode five focuses on Nell. Even as an adult, she never overcame her experiences. She was plagued by the "bent neck lady" throughout her life. For whatever reason Nell returns to the house. It seems like an effort to confront the ghosts that have haunted her. She's in an abandoned house, but we see the fantasy playing out in her mind.

E4: Carla Gugino, Victoria Pedretti, Michiel Huisman, Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel play 
Olivia, Nell, Steven, Leigh, Theo Crain

In episode six, the siblings and their father gather in one place and tensions overflow. There's the question of what happened that night when they were forced to flee. What happened to their mother Olivia (Carla Gugino)? Could she have been saved?

One room in the house  has a red door, and throughout the season we've seen the kids try to get into that space to no avail. With each episode we see more ghosts, both in the past and present. We realize their father is covering up. Is he afraid to admit he encountered ghosts or is there something deeper, something he is protecting?

E4: Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Victoria Pedertti play Luke, Nell Crain

In episode eight, Luke decides to burn the house down, but we're told the house will defend itself. All of the Crains are lured to the house in the present. In the past, the house targeted Olivia, baiting her into a trap. In episode nine Olivia finally enters the room with a red door. We don't know what's inside, but that makes it all the more disturbing.

The final episode is full of reveals. The room with a red door wasn't always exactly locked. The reveal of that is executed expertly. Lured back to the house as adults, each of the children is mentally tortured in specific ways. It's Nell that helps them wake up from the nightmares as their father Hugh makes a pact to end the hauntings once and for all.

SPOILERS

The house has a hold on everyone in the Crain family. Nell is the first one drawn back, and the house kills her. When her siblings are lured in, she's the one that wakes them and in turn saves them. Their father Hugh agrees to stay with the ghost of his wife Olivia to save his kids. This house is so big we never quite knew how many rooms existed. The door with the red room wasnt' always locked. We've seen all the kids using the room. We, nor they, knew they were using it. That was the house luring them in. The house wanted, and eventually got, all of them. After the sacrifices of Nell and Hugh, the rest of the family reconciles, finally able to move on.