The Haunting of Hill House

[frelling_tralk]

Late response, but what an absolutely wonderful show that was, definitely one of my favourite shows to come out of Netflix this year. Admittedly sometimes it was a bit too scary for me as I’m a total wuss who hates jump scares, I often found myself watching through my fingers because the tension and buildup were becoming too much, but what I really

Comments

[frelling_tralk]

I absolutely was as well, it’s a show that I think I would really benefit from rewatching at some point as there were certain scenes where I was too tense to fully take everything in. I was surprised to read some people saying that they didn’t find it scary at all o_0 I was always absolutely terrified of the idea of ghosts and hauntings when I was young though, so I was probably predisposed to find it really scary *g*

And I saw everyone discussing them afterwards yes, I managed to miss every single one of the hidden ghosts though of course lol, and I’m not sure if I’d even notice them on a second viewing actually quite honestly as you have to be scrutinising the background so closely! They are a fun type of Easter Egg to see if you can try and spot though, such a cool attention to detail from the producers. I know it’s unlikely with a Netflix production, but I would love if there’s a DVD/Blu-Ray release in the future with lots of commentaries and going behind the scenes of things like that. I do miss when special features were more of a thing, the very brief promotional featurettes that Netflix occasionally add on YouTube aren’t really the same...

[frelling_tralk]

You're right about a downside of Netflix being a lack of special features and stuff that you normally find on DVDs. They did a nice special on Stranger Things, so maybe if Hill House continues to be this popular they may come up with something similar.

I’ve heard that some of their originals still have special features on the DVD release, I just remember being really bummed at their being zero extras for their Daredevil releases, even though you’d think there was so much they could get into with the fight choreography just for starters. Netflix obviously prefer people to choose streaming on Netflix over physical releases though

And I’ve seen the first four episodes of The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, but I didn’t love it tbh and I ended up dropping it. It didn’t really scare me either though (well maybe the spiders lol). I don’t generally find myself getting that scared with tv, Buffy and The X-Files never scared me much, but I was always so terrified of ghosts when I was younger that The Haunting Of Hill House was pretty much tailor-made to make me uneasy! I was kind of a horror buff as a kid as well, I’d read these supposedly true books on ghosts and supernatural phenomenon, only to end up just terrifying myself and afraid to leave my room at night :P Honestly I’m still like that a bit today even when I start reading too much true crime on the internet

[infinitewhale]

I think Sabrina really picks up around the 5th episode. If you didn't like 1 or 2, don't know if you'd like the rest, though. They laid the groundwork for what could be a very good S2. Hopefully they focus more on the witch stuff and less on Harvey because BORING.

[frelling_tralk]

I might try and give it another go as I really did want to like it, the trailers made it all look so fun (plus the critics kept hyping it as the new Buffy!), so I was disappointed not to get into it. Weirdly enough I did enjoy the first episode, but then I found the next three episodes really slow and hard to get into after that, especially all the stuff with her school friends in episode 4 meh. I enjoyed the scenes with her aunts more, oh and I loved Ambrose, he was my favourite by far

[infinitewhale]

I think it's unevenness could stem from it being developed for CW. Ep 1 definitely has the feel of a network pilot. Then it really slows down with the courtroom stuff. Those eps really don't fit very well.

It is very Buffy. 5-10 pick up a quite a bit. There was one weaker ep in there, but the overall arc, I enjoyed. There's a lot more Aunts and Ambrose as it goes on.

[frelling_tralk]

I think it's unevenness could stem from it being developed for CW. Ep 1 definitely has the feel of a network pilot. Then it really slows down with the courtroom stuff

That makes sense, some Netflix shows work for me at an hour, but the hour long format feels really slow with Sabrina for some reason, the courtroom stuff was definitely dragging for me