PODCAST:
S4E10X – The Haunting of Hill House (series)*
SHOW NOTES:
Wherein we slink through the many rooms and scurry past the plethora of ghosts in this ten episode arc, which ambitiously devours and expands upon the underlying source material forever circling the shadow of the director’s authorial inspiration. Thrice, now, we charm a tale of haunted houses and the psychological toll they reap upon their entrants. This rare late return bonus episode is abided again by Amanda Andros (playwright: https://www.instagram.com/scribblergrll/) and Laura Valle (Major Horror community fansite: https://www.facebook.com/welovescary/).
Everyone ranked this series above the 1999 remake, but below the 1963 classic. Ryan appreciated the chances the director took and the way he was able to weave in clever easter eggs, nods, and callouts to the novel. For Amanda, the character development was superb and cleverly done. Laura agreed on this point and lauded the director for excelling in this trait, but also questioned if the spirit of the book was maintained. Many comparisons were made to Stephen King. The ending proved a more difficult pill to swallow and the change in tone was perplexing if not frustrating and we digressed long on that subject.
All in all, the show was enjoyed and the general consensus was that watching the characters develop over the series (especially the middle episodes) provided an enjoyable, though sometimes uneven, experience. Laura was quick to point out that despite her reservations on how things wrapped up, she would be curious to check out other efforts by this director whose previous work she enjoyed.
-Ryan
WRITTEN SERIES REVIEWS:
“The Haunting (1963)” by Robert Wise (Julie Harris) (movie)
Ryan: 4 Stars “…they were ambitious and I think for the most part they succeeded in doing something that, in general, kept with most of the spirit of the book and also…survived on its own and I like sometimes when director’s do take a chance and just do their own thing…and he didn’t completely ignore the source material…”
Amanda: 3.75 Stars “…the character development is amazing…especially the female characters…and the relationships between the children both in their adult lives and as small children and the parents as well…the ending killed it for me I was just like this is so corny I can’t even see straight…”
Laura: 3 Stars “….if I could rate each episode individually there are some that I would give…a five…so many like really truly creepy moments…I wanted to see more of that…I wish he’d been braver with making that ending actually a haunting disturbing ending…”
FUN FACTOIDS:
Ryan mentioned listening to two podcast interviews with the director in preparing for this episode: Post Mortem with Mick Garris – https://audioboom.com/posts/7194291-mike-flanagan and Blumhouse: Shock Waves – http://podcast.blumhouse.com/shock-waves-episode-4-the-horrors-of-mike-flanagan.
During one of the interviews Mike Flanagan recalled watching Jim Henson‘s Fraggle Rock and in particular the Terrible Tunnel. You can watch this snippet of the Fraggle Storyteller muppet singing the song of the tale of the Terrible Tunnel here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9iQMJTVsTs. To learn more about the Terrible Tunnel go to this muppet fandom wiki: https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_108:_The_Terrible_Tunnel.
Laura talked about two articles that reflected on the ending of this series. One article, “Let’s Talk About The Ending OF The Haunting of Hill House,” written by Alissa Fikse for Syfy Wire contains an interview with the director where he talks about how he decided to change the ending: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/lets-talk-about-the-ending-of-the-haunting-of-hill-house. The other article, “‘Haunting of Hill House’: Oliver Jackson-Cohen Points to Red Room Clue That Hints Crains Never Made It Out,” written by Jenifer Maas for The Wrap contains an interview with one of the actors who has an interesting take on some of the hidden or not so hidden symbology woven into the episodes: https://www.thewrap.com/haunting-of-hill-house-red-room-ending-luke-oliver-jackson-cohen/. For more fun hidden images check out this article, “The Haunting of Hill House: All the Hidden Ghosts You Missed,” written by Brian Tallerico for Vulture which talks about the hidden ghosts in the show : https://www.vulture.com/2018/10/the-haunting-of-hill-house-hidden-ghosts.html. Ryan brought up another podcast (Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy) that reviewed the series and mentioned actor Russ Tamblyn (who played “Luke” in the 1963 film) made a cameo appearance as the psychologist for Nell: https://geeksguideshow.com/2018/10/26/ggg333-the-haunting-of-hill-house-season-1/.
Lastly, the three of us all took a guess (when recorded this episode) on whether or not there would be a second season of this show due to its perceived success. We were only kinda right. Check out this article, “‘Haunting of Hill House’ Renewed as Anthology, Creators Ink Overall TV Deal at Netflix,” written by Joe Otterson for Variety that explains what’s next: https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/haunting-of-hill-house-renewed-netflix-1203144815/.
* DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the views and opinions of the hosts and guests of NDIOS are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the other hosts and guests or that of NDIOS.
No Deodorant In Outer Space - podcast 