Mike Flanagan's 'The Haunting of Hill House' (2018)
An incredible adaptation that I think Shirley Jackson would've loved
If you’re anything like me, you’re a firm believer that the book is often better than the film or tv show. I have held this belief for most of my life. But, Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House has changed this view for me.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Shirley Jackson’s novel. I love the original plot, the original characters, and the original horror. But Mike Flanagan is a genius. He has, somehow, significantly changed some of the key parts, but also, preserved so much of what I loved in the novel.
In this post, I’m going to talk about the things I loved in this adaptation and why.
Let’s begin!
**SPOILERS BELOW**
**TW: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE, ADDICTION, SEXUAL ABUSE, AND GRAPHIC VIOLENCE**
In Episode 1 (Steven Sees a Ghost), we are introduced to the main characters. Unlike Shirley Jackson’s novel, the television adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House follows the Crain family (Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, Steven, and Shirley [*cough cough* named after Shirley Jackson???] are all siblings). The Crain family live in Hill House, which differs the novel, where Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, and Dr Montague are strangers travelling to Hill House to figure out if it’s truly haunted or not.
The first five episodes of this ten episode series each follow one of the Crain siblings. Steven Sees a Ghost follows Steven, the eldest Crain sibling who works as a paranormal horror writer, and who is firm in his belief against the existence of ghosts. He has written a novel based on the childhoods of him and his siblings, aptly named The Haunting of Hill House. However, this caused some trouble with his siblings, who are unhappy that their brother is profiting off of their distressing childhood experiences.
The entire show is split into a dual timeline (sort of?), where we follow both the children’s experiences living in Hill House and also the events leading up to and following the death of Eleanor. As children, the Crain siblings moved into Hill House with their parents, Hugh and Liv, who bought the house as a “flip” project to later sell. Almost immediately, the children begin experiencing horrifying events and noticing unusual occurrences. Flanagan’s characterisation of Hill House, as well as the depiction of the horrors that occur within the house, were expertly done. While they differed from the events in Jackson’s novel, they still maintained the eerie and frightening mood of the original text.
While only briefly introduced in Steven Sees a Ghost, the viewers discover that Eleanor (Nell) is haunted by a ghost who she names The Bent Neck Lady, Luke has a friend, Abigail, who nobody else has seen but who he is convinced is real, and there is a room with a locked Red Door that no key will unlock.
The horrifying events of Hill House came to a climax on one terrible night, which we first see from the perspective of Steven. We see as he is carried from the house by his father and as all of the children climb into the car, and Hugh drives away, it becomes clear that they have left Liv behind. When Liv appears in the window and one of the children wonder why they are leaving her in Hill House, Hugh tells the children:
That’s not your mother.
In the present timeline, the siblings, now adults, become concerned when Nell reaches out after a long period of silence. She calls Steven, who doesn’t answer. She calls Shirley, who doesn’t answer. She calls Hugh, who does answer. She tells him that The Bent Neck Lady has come back. Hugh tells her to go visit her siblings, but instead she drives to Hill House.
She enters the Red Room, which causes her siblings to wake up from their sleep in a jarring display of interconnection. That same night, upon returning to Steven’s POV, we see Nell appear at Steven’s house. However, this is not the real Nell, but rather her ghost form. Seemingly, and similarly to her mother, Nell has taken her own life.
While incredibly different to the novel, this episode perfectly encapsulates Nell’s turmoil and the tragic nature of the story.
In Episode 2 (Open Casket), viewers are given Shirley’s perspective of events. Shirley, who works and lives at a funeral home, is clearly harbouring some trauma from her childhood.
In this episode, we are introduced to Luke’s struggles with addiction and shown how Shirley has taken up a ‘mother’-like figure for the rest of her siblings (seen through Shirley paying for Luke’s rehab bills and sending him away from Eleanor’s wedding when he arrives under the influence of drugs).
In Episode 3 (Touch), viewers are given Theodora’s perspective of events. We learn about why she wears gloves and is terrified of human connection. Theo’s hands are semi-magical, giving her the ability to read the emotions of whoever she touches. Obviously, this is immensely overwhelming and overstimulating. So, Theo wears gloves to avoid skin-to-skin contact with others, even at the detriment of her romantic experiences.
In present day, Theo works as a psychologist, often treating children with complex trauma. In this episode, we are shown how Theo’s powers have helped her save the lives of endangered children, with her realising that the young girl she is treating is being sexually abused by her step father by placing her hands on the couch in the family’s basement.
In Episode 4 (The Twin Thing), we are given Luke’s perspective of events. As a child, Luke’s family often disbelieved what he said. Whether about if his best friend, Abigail, was real or imaginary, or if he truly saw a monster, Luke’s views and sightings were never really trusted. As a young kid, being constantly mistrusted is obviously damaging, and we see the impacts of this, among Luke’s other trauma, on his present-day life.
In present day, Luke has just achieved 90 days sober (Go Luke!!!) with the help of his best and only friend (and possibly more?), Joey. Following the aforementioned events of his childhood, Luke thinks that his family will never believe that he is truly sober.
Also, much like Nell’s Bent Neck Lady, Luke is haunted by a tall man in a top hat who floats across the ground (and, if I may add, is SO terrifying). As children, this bonded them, not only because they are twins, but because they always believed and supported one another. As twins, they also have the ability to know how the other is feeling through bodily sensations (hence the episode’s title). This close bond creates tension with the audience because we are afraid of how Luke will respond to the news of Nell’s death, especially after he feels a cold chill around the time of Nell’s death. Tension is always created perfectly in this show!
In Episode 5 (The Bent Neck Lady), we learn a whole lot more about Nell’s character and past. All we have gathered about her, so far in the show, is that she’s married. But we haven’t met her husband, soooooo that’s weird right? And actually very tragic.
Whenever Nell sees the Bent Neck Lady, usually at night while lying in bed, she becomes temporarily paralysed, unable to move and save herself from the horror of the ghost. So, she visits a sleep clinic to try and solve this. Here, she meets Arthur Vance, a handsome and kind sleep technician who is the first person in her adult life to truly listen to her. They fall in love and marry, and now she is Eleanor Vance (losing the Crain last name and transitioning to the name that her character had in the novel).
As viewers, we’re happy for Nell. She finally has someone that loves her, believes her, and listens to her. But, naturally, this doesn’t last. One night, the Bent Neck Lady returns to haunt Nell and when Arthur tries to comfort her, he has an aneurysm and dies. Nell, as well as us viewers, believe that the Bent Neck Lady orchestrated this. In this episode, we also meet Dr Montague (*cough cough* does that name sound familiar to you?). In another perfect example of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation skills, we see how Dr Montague pressures Nell to return to Hill House to “realise” that it’s a normal house and not haunted. JUST LIKE IN THE NOVEL, Dr Montague is portrayed as a root cause in Nell’s decision to travel to Hill House.
It is in this episode where, in one of the childhood flashback scenes, we see that Hill House has written on the walls “Nell, come home”. Just like in the novel, Nell is blamed for writing on the walls, when, in fact, it is the house calling to her directly.
Back in the present day (well, Nell’s present and final day), we see her death from her own perspective. We see that the Bent Neck Lady has driven her to the edge, we see as she tries to call her family to no avail, we see as she talks to her father, lying and telling him she’s okay. We see as she drives to Hill House and explores the grounds. She is reunited with her mother and “sees” all the members of her family. Even Arthur is there in a scene so perfectly crafted that it manages to both tug at your heartstrings and continue to build tension. Liv, Nell’s mother, invites her upstairs for a tea party with Abigail and Luke. Slowly, both the house and Liv try to convince Nell to stay at Hill House forever. But this can only be achieved in one way—death. Liv pushes her from a ledge with a rope wrapped tightly around her neck and she dies.
Nell begins to almost fall through her past, stopping at every sighting of the Bent Neck Lady. Here comes what I like to refer to as “one of the greatest reveals in tv history”: NELL IS THE BENT NECK LADY.
In Episode 6 (Two Storms), we return to the present day for Nell’s funeral. Now that we are equipped with a detailed understanding of each sibling and their backstory, seeing them all together is all the more gut wrenching. We see that, although Nell is gone, the haunting is as strong as ever with the funeral home being infiltrated by ghosts, strange knockings, and power outages. Creepy…
The flashbacks in this episode are shown from the perspective of Hugh, the father, as he tries to convince his children and his wife that Hill House is not haunted. In present day, however, we see that Hugh has realised that Hill House was haunted. In fact, Hugh has been haunted by Liv’s ghost (or has he?) ever since her death.
In Episode 7 (Eulogy), we learn more about the lead up to Liv’s death. The flashbacks, once again from Hugh’s perspective, show Hugh realising that Liv may not be coping with the terrors of the house.
This is also the episode where we get some backstory on the caretakers, Mr and Mrs Dudley (of the same name as in the novel). Essentially, the Dudleys used to work at Hill House during the day. But after Mrs Dudley fell pregnant, began having strange and horrifying nightmares, and had a miscarriage, she started staying away from Hill House at night. This made her feel immensely better and so the two of them began only working during the day, and eventually, had another child. This characterisation is starkly different from the novel, where the caretakers were rude, unwelcoming, and, Mrs Dudley in particular, intensely monotonous and repetitive. However, I really liked Flanagan’s decision to give the Dudleys more depth and an interesting backstory.
Meanwhile, Liv, descending into madness, tries to kill Hugh with a screwdriver in her sleep. This is the final straw and makes them both realise that she needs some time away from Hill House.
In Episode 8 (Witness Marks), we see the destruction of two of the Crain siblings’ marriages. Shirley and her husband, Kevin, have separated after Shirley found out that both Kevin and Theo took the money from Steven’s book deal, and also after catching Theo and Kevin in a closet together. Steven and his wife, Leigh, have separated after she found out that he lied about having a vasectomy in his 20s because of his fear of passing down what he thinks is the curse of “mental illness” in his family.
Also in this episode, Theo and Shirley’s relationship is mended after Theo comes clean about what happened with Kevin. After using her powers to try and learn more about Nell’s death, by touching Nell’s corpse, she felt empty. She felt nothing. Drunk with grief and from alcohol, Theo attempted to kiss Kevin to feel something. It worked, but also Kevin put a stop to it (good job Kevin 🫶🏼). Thus, through vulnerability and truth-telling, their relationship = mended.
We also see that, after stealing his siblings’ car and credit card, Luke has gone to Hill House in an attempt to destroy it. But, obviouslyyyyy, Hill House cannot be destroyed, and when Luke tries to set the house alight, well…um…nothing happens.
In Episode 9 (Screaming Meemies), we finally find out what happened to Liv through her own perspective.
Hill House, the vile and lonely creature that it is, shows Liv the future of the twins in an awfully tragic scene. She sees, as do we, Nell’s corpse on Shirley’s funeral home table and Luke dead from an overdose. As viewers, we already know Nell’s fate and we are worried about the fate of Luke as he had seemingly offered himself up to Hill House in the previous episode. This also plays strongly with the viewers’ emotions as nobody wants to see the tragic futures of their own children.
We also meet Liv’s recurrent ghost, Poppy Hill. In contrast to the Bent Neck Lady and the man with the top hat, Poppy tries to convince Liv that the only way to keep her twins safe is to keep them in Hill House forever—also known as…killing them both and trapping their ghosts.
So…the final night:
Liv, who was supposed to go and visit her sister and escape from the clutches of Hill House, stays at the house and takes Luke and Nell to a tea party with Abigail in the Red Room (because the door is open now!?!?). Oh, and also, Abigail is very real because, tragically, when she drinks the tea (which is actually poison), she dies.
Shirley wakes up Hugh, who stops the tea party just as Abigail is choking and dying on the floor. Poor, poor Abigail. And poor, poor Luke. First, nobody believes him and now, his best friend is dead. Great.
Hugh gets all the kids into the car to leave Hill House forever. Meanwhile, Poppy convinces Liv to jump from the top of the staircase, the very same staircase that Nell later falls from too.
In the final episode, Episode 10 (Silence Lay Steadily), the Crains return to Hill House to save Luke.
The episode opens in a flashback, with young Shirley and Nell trying to get into the Red Room. On the other side of the door is Theo, who is in her dance studio. These two scenes, which we have seen in earlier episodes, combine wonderfully in this moment. The terrifying movement of the door that frightened Theo was actually her two sisters trying to get into the room. The shadow that Nell and Shirley saw under the door of the Red Room was actually just Theo. Mike Flanagan, your mind!!!!!!
After the intro credits roll, we are thrown into a new scene. Steven and Leigh are together again, and she’s pregnant. He’s writing a sequel to his first novel about his siblings and how they tried to rescue Luke.
While reading a snippet of the novel to Leigh, we also see the scene play out. Steven and Hugh arrive at Hill House to save Luke. They see the ghost of Abigail and the man with the top hat. Finally, Steven realises that it is not mental illness that is causing these appearances. Hugh rushes up the staircase to try and save Luke but, alas, the Red Room door is closed. However, when Steven looks at the Red Room door, it is open and he sees Luke lying on the floor. Naturally, he enters the room and the door shuts behind him.
Then we return to the scene with Steven and Leigh, and this time Leigh accuses Steven of exploiting his entire family and then proceeds to explain that the child she is growing is a monster. Her stomach expands and she turns blue in a horrifying scene.
Then, Steven wakes up. He’s in the Red Room and it was all a vividly vicious nightmare. Also in the Red Room are Theo and Shirley, both asleep in their supposed nightmares. Steven tries to help Luke, who has begun frothing at the mouth. Then, we are thrown into Luke’s memory.
He enters Hill House, tries to set it alight, and then Poppy Hill appears and grabs his head. We see from Luke’s perspective that Poppy is the one that sent Steven into his nightmare-filled sleep.
Enter Shirley’s nightmare, which is based upon a memory of a man that she slept with and never told Kevin about. After enjoying drinks together, he drills into her about her hypocrisy, judging her siblings although she isn’t perfect herself.
Enter Theo’s nightmare, she’s with Trish, her current fling (and hot, potential girlfriend). Like after touching Nell’s corpse, she is unable to feel anything when she touches Trish.
At the end of each of the siblings’ nightmares, it is Nell who pulls them back to reality.
Meanwhile, Luke chokes and stops breathing, waking up at a tea party with the ghost of his mother, Abigail, and young Nell. Liv tries to force him to sit at the tea party table, but young Nell insists that he shouldn’t as this would mean crossing over and accepting his fated death. Once again, Nell saves her siblings.
Luke awakens and all the siblings get a chance to see the ghost of Nell and speak with her. Nell speaks in jumbled fragments, which at first don’t make any sense, but as the scene progresses, we realise that Nell’s fragmented speech is actually responses to what her siblings are saying. She tells the siblings that they have all been in the Red Room before:
This room is like the heart of the house. No, not a heart, a stomach. It was your dance studio, Theo. It was my toy room. It was a reading room for Mom. A game room for Steve. A family room for Shirley. A treehouse. But it was always the Red Room.
She tells them she loves them all and they need to live. However, they will remained trapped in the Red Room until Liv’s ghost lets them out. Hugh must convince Liv that she is harming their children, not saving them by condemning them to death. Liv tells Hugh that by taking their children away, he made them suffer. His response is powerful:
They did [suffer]. They all do. And even if they’re broken or addicted or joyless or, yes, even if they die, we have to watch it all because we’re parents. And that’s the deal we make. Whatever that life is, we bear witness.
The only way for Hugh to truly convince Liv to release their children is by swapping their lives for his own, taking his own life to save them. He tells Liv, in what I think is the perfect way to incorporate this important quote from the novel into the show:
Journeys end in lovers’ meeting.
Sobbing.
She releases the siblings and they take Luke to the hospital. Only Steven is aware of what his father has done in exchange for their lives. While heartbreaking, this may have been the only way for Steven to understand what his father had sacrificed to save them when they were children.
In the final flashback scene, we see as Hugh discovers his wife’s dead body at the foot of the staircase. The Dudleys come to investigate his scream, saying that their daughter escaped from their home earlier in the night. And thus, the final major plot twist is that Abigail has been the Dudleys’ daughter all along. And now, they must face that Liv has murdered her. Longing to be permanently reunited with Abigail’s ghost, the Dudleys’ plead with Hugh to not destroy the house so that they can visit their daughter. They vow to continue on as caretakers, ensuring that nobody else is taken by Hill House’s hunger.
In present day, Steven promises his father that he will not sell Hill House. Then, Hugh, now in his youthful form as a ghost, joins Liv and Nell in the Red Room and the door closes. A closing on the chapter of Hill House and its horrors. As Steven leaves the house, all the ghosts gather behind him in a strangely comforting farewell.
The show ends with the four siblings returning home and reconciling with their loved ones. Steven writes a new book, acknowledges the existence of ghosts, rekindles his romance with Leigh by apologising, and Leigh falls pregnant.
Shirley tells Kevin about her one-night-stand from years ago, consequently saving their marriage through sharing the truth.
Theo moves in with Trish (a win for all sapphics tbh) and throws her gloves in the bin!
Luke celebrates two years of sobriety.
While Steven monologues a part of his novel, we see the Dudleys, in their old age, living their final moments in Hill House so as to be with their daughter for eternity.
Hill House, not sane, stands against its hills, holding darkness within. It has stood so for a hundred years and it might stand a hundred more. Within, walls continue upright, bricks continue neatly, floors are firm, and doors are sensibly shut. Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House. And those who walk there, walk together.
A happy ending!!!!! In comparison to the depressing nature of the source text, this was a pleasant surprise.
Although this post was supposed to be a kind of review of the show, it ended up being more a discussion of the important plot points. But it was very necessary for me to get my thoughts out about this incredible show and Mike Flanagan’s amazing adaptation and directorial decisions.
If you haven’t watched this yet, you absolutely should. If you love the novel, you will appreciate this all the more.
The Haunting of Hill House is ultimately an utterly remarkable feat of a television series.
Thank you so much for reading!
I’m very sorry that this took me so long to write, but, hopefully, now that uni is over, I should be able to write a lot more. Thank you for sticking with me <3
Also, and I’m not exactly sure how this works yet, I have set up a Ko-fi! I wanted to set up a Stripe account but whyyyy was it asking such invasive questions and wanting me to provide my phone number so that paying subscribers can contact me directly????? Ummmm, so I made a Ko-fi instead!
I will never lock my content or make it paid-only, but if you would like to support my writing, here is the link to my Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/casstalksmedia
Do not feel obligated at all to donate, I have a Substack simply because I enjoy writing <3
lots of love,
cass 💌
loved this!! I can see the amount of time you put into this. I love the haunting of hill house, it’s an amazing show and I really want to read the book eventually. I might just have to rewatch this 🫣 the twist that Nell was the bent neck lady had me reeling when I first watched lol