The Haunting of Hill House: A bone-chilling season premiere for Netflix

Horror fans no longer have to wait, The Haunting of Hill House is now streaming on Netflix. Does the premiere deliver quality scares? That would be an affirmative!

At midnight, the horror series The Haunting of Hill House crept its way to the Netflix streaming service and boy is it thrilling. The first episode kicked off with filmmaker Mike Flanagan at the helm as writer and director. Just like his previous efforts, Flanagan has a unique talent for executing scares through character development and emotion. With The Haunting of Hill House, his skills are sharper than they have ever been.

With the first episode titled “Steven Sees a Ghost,” he sets up all the players and the emotional roots for the impending horror. By the time the episode wraps, the conclusion had me riveted with my jaw on the floor. It’s been a while since a horror story felt so tragic and heartbreaking.

Here’s the breakdown of all the insane events of The Haunting of Hill House season 1 premiere!

Steven the skeptic

While most of the episode intertwines narratives around the Crain family, the show’s opener is a haunting journey for Steven Crain himself. When we first meet him, he’s interviewing a woman who is describing an extremely disturbing account of being visited by her late husband’s ghost. It’s here where you can automatically catch the sensational work towards this teleplay. As she describes the encounter, the scene never switches to a visual representation of what her dead husband looked like, but instead, the dialogue itself is so articulate and vivid, the visual sears images in the viewers head of what she witnessed.

Flanagan puts Steven in the role as sort of an uppity successful outcast among his siblings. He’s a person who investigates hauntings and then writes about them with permission from those that have the encounters. We also learn that one of the books he is famous for writing is based on the Hill House, where he lived as a child. That said, with all his spiritual writings and investigations, he claims to never have seen a ghost. This will change.

Nell and the woman with a bent neck

The secondary focus in this episode is Nell– one of Steven’s many sisters–who when they were younger was tormented by a ghost described as a “woman with a bent neck.” The episode opens with this backstory, and her waking everyone up crying because she would see her. In the episode, it hints these night terrors are somewhere towards the beginning of their stay at the Hill House with her father not showing any concern (This will also change.)

As the flashbacks proceed throughout the episode we see this entity only grow fiercer in scaring Nell. At one point the ghost is seen waking her up on a couch hovering above her and Nell frozen while breathing heavily (Shudders). Again, nothing violent happens here but the presentation is very psychological–which is my favorite type of horror.

In the present day, Nell is also seen to the viewer as an outcast much like Steven. No one talks with her and no one answers her calls until it’s almost too late. She is clearly rattled by something but we never figure out why she is so scared until close to the very end. That is until her dad (Timothy Hutton) finally answers her call. What does Nell tell him?

The lady with the bent neck is back.

The dysfunctional Crain family

More from Netflix

• Bridgerton season 3: All the details to know about Penelope and Colin’s love story
• It’s a slow week on Netflix with only three new releases (Nov. 20)
• Exploding Kittens: From card game to Netflix animated series starring Tom Ellis
• The Crown and more Netflix shows and movies to stream this week (November 13)
• Escaping Twin Flames and more harrowing love-centered documentaries to watch on Netflix

While not all of the family are considered outcasts, they all possess a complicated struggle within their grown-up counterparts. The rest of the siblings are Theo Crain, Luke Crain, and Shirley Crain.

So far, from episode one, the only known children affected by ghosts from Hill House are Nell and Luke. As Nell was seeing the woman with a bent neck, Luke was drawing some unfriendly pictures of imaginary friends. Now, much like Nell, he did not grow up with a level head– but he is also a drug addict.

Theo, on the other hand, has her head on straight but is rather shallow towards those around her and will not get close to anyone new. We find out she is a lesbian when she picks up a random stranger from a bar– and at first, she seems very endearing and genuine to this person. But after the one night stand, she rushes the woman out of her place without even flinching about how she feels.

Shirley Cain lives right next to Theo and she runs a funeral home with her husband Kevin (Anthony Ruivivar). The one thing about this family that is abundantly clear, for whatever reason, despite the tragic upbringing they have a weird fascination with death.

Not much is implied about their father Hugh Craine except for his backstory from Hill House. What’s known is something went terribly wrong at Hill House and his wife Olivia (Carla Gugino) might have committed suicide. The older Hugh seems lonely and has fallen far from where he started. In the past, he appears wealthy and somewhat famous. In the present, among the aftermath of his past, he seems like a nobody but perfectly content with the isolation.

Which brings us full circle back to Steven Crain who everyone seems to have a disdain for in the family. Steven remembers bad things happening in the home but does not acknowledge that the catalyst for the events were supernatural. He remembers his dad being scared. He remembers something chasing him and his father. But to him, it was his mother who lost her mind in the house, nothing more. He also rewrites their tragedy from the haunting and profits from everyone’s tragic past. For this, he is not thought highly of in his own family. From the appearance of things, he does not think highly of himself either.

Steven sees a ghost

This leads us to the ultimate emotional finale that is not only heartbreaking but downright terrifying. As previously stated towards the beginning of this recap Nell is calling her whole family because she is seeing the deformed woman again. Shortly after she tells her dad what she is experiencing, they all have the same nightmare of Nell dancing in the Hill House. All of them wake up choking but it’s the father who realizes what the dream meant and drives as quick as he can back to that terrifying home.

As all this is happening, Steven is driving back home after investigating the house for the widow. Upon entering the apartment building, he finds his brother Luke at the staircase, holding Steven’s camera and computer. Thinking it’s about drugs, he settles for letting him take the laptop if he can keep his camera–with the additional offer of $200 bucks to even things out. Luke agrees but is adamant that it’s not at all what he thinks–part of me believes him.

As he enters his apartment, he notices the broken door lock where Luke forced his way in. He walks into the main room of the apartment and switches the light on– and to his surprise there stands Nell appearing normal but frightened as usual. He asks if she’s okay and says that everyone has been trying to get a hold of her but she’s so frightened she can’t say a word. As he puts his things away, his father calls him. When he picks up his dad is flustered but the reception is muffled. He then gets a clear word from the earpiece… “Nell is dead.”

Confused, Steven turns around firmly aware Nell is still standing in his living room. When he does, she is now directly behind him. She lets out a loud blood-curdling scream at him and her mouth forms the same shape that appeared in Luke’s drawings of his “imaginary friends.” He falls to the ground and by the time he recoups himself, she’s vanished. And with that, I hope everyone has a pleasant night sleep.

Final Thoughts

This is a magnificent kick-off to the show with well-crafted character drama and a horrifying gut-punch ending. Mike Flanagan has delivered one of the best season premieres for a horror show in recent memory. I know some might compare this with Stranger Things but I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is way more impactful than that show.

This is one of the rare examples of someone using horror elements to further the dramatic elements within the story. The season premiere works as a movie all by itself and for that, it’s worth checking out. Just don’t watch it alone.

The Haunting of Hill House is now streaming on Netflix.