|
www.kevacho.com
©2002-2024
Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Go Back To Reviews
Title: THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
Director: Mike Flanagan
Year: 2018
Reviewed: September 03, 2019
| Rating: |
|
 | |
 | |
| |
| |
Rice Cake-Lowest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
|
|
|
So... the response to "The Haunting of Hill House" seems to be unanimously positive. It's got an 8.7 on imdb, and an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Most of the reviews are glowing: calling it "Best Horror I've seen in a long time", and "Amazing!", and even... "Perfect".
As one might surmise after seeing my rating, I did not like "The Haunting of Hill House". This might be because I recently read the book, for the first time. It also might be because I've seen the, far superior, 1963 film based on the same book entitled, "The Haunting", what have you. Suffice it to say, the netflix series is a mess, leaning more on "jump-scares" than any real creeping dread that builds and builds and builds to a dark and exciting conclusion. And the few, but poignant, negative reviews are correct: "The Haunting of Hill House" is a convoluted, non-linear clutter of monologues and melodrama. I mean, I struggled, really struggled, to continue watching, and the family melodrama was so forced and contrived it felt like I was being beaten over the head by it. Not to put to fine a point on the aforementioned monologues, which went on and on, droll and dragging, and superfluous. And then there's one thing all the reviews don't mention- the missing main character- THE HOUSE. In the book Hill House is most definitely the main character. And the series, unlike the 1963 movie, never even attempted to give it a personality. Sure... there were creepy sets and shadowed corners and dimly lit halls, but you never got the unsettled feeling of Hill House NOT being right or ordered or even real as you did from the book and the movie.
At best, the netflix attempt at "The Haunting of Hill House" is a dark soap opera that doesn't even attempt to capture or replicate the dark booming dread of the book.
Oh! And let's not forget the "Beetle Juice" ending! What a drag! What a cop-out! Everyone dies and lives happily ever after in the Hill House. Lame!
Netflix's "The Haunting of Hill House" gets my worst review, the dreaded RICE CAKE review.
|
|
