Morpheus Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I was underwhelmed. There were moments where they created a nice atmosphere, but in general, sappy and sentimental are apt descriptors. I think the time skipping hurt it in the end, they were never able to set a suitably creepy tone. I do not think having people stand in the backround or windows really adds much of a scare factor. I liked Nellie being haunted by her own ghost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I liked it a lot, and did not find it overly sappy, sentimental OR scary. It was just a well-produced family drama with a lot of creepy overtones and some good characters that I ended up caring a lot about. I do not tear up easily, yet I teared up at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 3 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said: I liked the family and characters just about enough to watch another 10 episode season of them though so I can’t have disliked it as much as it sounds like I do lol. I think it was very hard not to like the twins with their soap opera levels of shit that went wrong for them. I read one review that compared the family to the one from six feet under and I can see the parallels. The show runner claims he's done with the crain family but I suspect Netflix may convince him otherwise. Kind of feels like they have to stick to the house because of the title and unless it's a prequel it's hard to see how the crain family can't be involved. I wish we'd seen some more of aunt Janet. I got the impression she was Olivia's sister which should mean she has a very good chance of being "sensitive" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 2 hours ago, Isis said: I thought this was a nice twist. That she was both dead and alive - like Leonard Cohen (a joke for Young Ones fans). As I said in the watching thread, I did find it a bit saccharine at the conclusion. But I still think that overall it was one of the best things I've watched this year. Shrodinger girl! Yeah it was a bit different from the "she's obviously a ghost" premise. Her parents definitely had a strict work separate from family policy for no one to get the chance to realise imaginary friend was girl down the road. I enjoyed it. It's not my favourite show if the year but it's one of the more unique. Although I still keep coming back to American horror story season 1. If that's anything to go by they should not make unconnected sequel seasons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I enjoyed it but it feels like it's missing something. The terror element is never quite ramped up as much as it should be and I agree with those who felt it was too saccharine at the end. It could have been tighter, with more peril. There are a number of excellent ideas and sequences and it does have a great atmosphere. I enjoyed the playfulness with things in the house, like in the long unbroken sequence one of the statues is looking a different way when the shot comes back out of a room. I had to rewind that to check I wasn't going crazy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 I saw something (an article) which described the kids as representing, respectively, the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, which they kind of are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 36 minutes ago, Isis said: I saw something (an article) which described the kids as representing, respectively, the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, which they kind of are. That does seem to fit although I'm not sure I can match them confidently if I were to do it. denial - Steven anger - Shirley (maybe Theo?) bargaining - this ones tricky for me could be Theo (using her powers for good), Luke (if if take/stop drugs) depression - Luke if we assume the drugs is just an escape from depression/grief. Nell could also be this. Acceptance - Nell seems the best candidate but it's a bit of a screwed up message if the final stage of grief is accepting the house was haunted and that death is the solution. I think it's maybe a better idea than it is an actual thing. It's a fun idea though and definitely catchy at first until I stopped to think who really embodies each aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 Theo is anger. Got to be. That means Shirley has to be bargaining. She's logical and reasoning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tears of Lys Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 On 11/5/2018 at 2:57 PM, red snow said: I enjoyed it. It's not my favourite show if the year but it's one of the more unique. Although I still keep coming back to American horror story season 1. If that's anything to go by they should not make unconnected sequel seasons! I too loved AHS Season 1. It's been careening downhill since then. I take it this Hill House has nothing to do with Shirley Jackson's novel, except maybe the one character? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underfoot Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 9 hours ago, Tears of Lys said: I take it this Hill House has nothing to do with Shirley Jackson's novel, except maybe the one character? That's a kind of tough question to answer. There are a lot of characters in the show who exist in the book (names and characteristics) as well some similar themes and little easter eggs that tie back to the novel, but it's a fundamentally different storyline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 I can’t get over how bad the last few minutes were as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted November 10, 2018 Author Share Posted November 10, 2018 2 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said: I can’t get over how bad the last few minutes were as well It wasn't great. Seemed all too "happy ghost families" when all I could think is why Nell wasn't pissed at mum, why ghost girl wasn't pissed at mum. Why they all weren't pissed at the crazy ghost woman who manipulated the mum. The living family members just seemed too passive about it all. I think the final 2-3 episodes could have been stronger if the surviving family had decided as a whole to confront the house and tackle it but that would have required them all to realise the house was the problem. Hopefully if a second series follows the characters that's something they will do. 15 hours ago, Tears of Lys said: I too loved AHS Season 1. It's been careening downhill since then. It too had a slightly underwhelming finale but far less saccharin. Maybe it's the curse of haunted house TV to not quite ace the landing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello World Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 On 11/5/2018 at 2:40 PM, Theda Baratheon said: overall I enjoyed it but maybe not for the reasons I was supposed to. Personally - I don’t think it’s scary at all. The only scares are cheap jump scares and they end quite abruptly. Overall it’s incredibly sentimental and on the nose & about as subtle as a sledgehammer. There are moments of genuinely clever unsettling horror but overall it’s a sappy family drama I'm at episode 4 and this is exactly how I feel. I think this show is liked way more for the sob story than for the horror, which is just a couple of jump scares in each episode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 12 hours ago, Hello World said: I'm at episode 4 and this is exactly how I feel. I think this show is liked way more for the sob story than for the horror, which is just a couple of jump scares in each episode. I think apart from the first episode, where I imagined a lot of the scares, nothing in the show was really all that frightening. There is something about CGI which is innately boring and non-creepy, and the show went overboard with it at times. HoHh is really a family tragedy, and its more of a soap than a horror. That irritated me a lot if I'm honest as I personally didn't like many of the main characters and found the format of the show quite a drag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nictarion Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Really late to the party on this but I just finished binging it and it pretty much blew me away. Loved everything about it. Thought the cast was great (Kate Siegel ) and was honestly more creeped out by some of the stuff in this series than by any horror movie not named Hereditary in the last few years. I guess I can kind of see why some people didn’t like the ending but I was fine with it. I really dig Mike Flanagan’s work. He’s definitely a talent. I’ll be very interested to see his Danny Torrance movie later this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Did the scare in episode 8 get you? I was watching it with headphones on and volume up too high, and damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nictarion Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 43 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said: Did the scare in episode 8 get you? I was watching it with headphones on and volume up too high, and damn. Fuck yes it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 7 hours ago, Nictarion said: Fuck yes it did. If anybody says it didn't get them, they either weren't paying attention or they're a dirty liar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 On 5/8/2019 at 7:53 PM, RedEyedGhost said: If anybody says it didn't get them, they either weren't paying attention or they're a dirty liar. Or a serial killer. I thought it was a cheap jump scare in the sense it came absolutely out of nowhere but I don't recall being scared quite so shitless in a while. That said the creepiness of the show was more scary overall. Have they said whether the second unrelated series will use the same cast? Hopefully it won't have anything else in common with American horror story (eg becoming worse each season). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 I found episode one to be the creepiest and was the one time the show really got to me. I think it was fear of the unknown and I didn’t know what to expect from the show. The ideas it hinted at during the first episode creeped me out. As the show wore on I realised it was using a lot of poor quality CGI and there was nothing especially scary in the idea of the ghosts themselves and so it lost its power. I liked the funeral episode and it was well done and the revelation of the headless lady thing, but its weird how your opinion of what’s scary changes as you learn more about what a show is. Its almost like being able to see behind the scenes at how it was all made, seeing behind the curtain can spoil a horror. That’s why I’m so against computer effects in horror movies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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