03-19-2019, 01:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2019, 02:31 PM by thecuddlyninja. Edited 1 time in total.)
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Retroactively, this is my favorite show of 2018. I went into it expecting some interesting horror elements (I've seen a couple of Mike Flanagan's movies) and that's about it. I was blown away by what this really is: a beautifully-edited masterpiece about trauma and family. The plot centers around a suicide, but we get all the reactions to death. One sibling is furious at the victim for her selfishness, another is unwilling to confront what actually ailed the victim, one is too numb to feel any of those things and one fights the urge to turn to destructive coping mechanisms. It felt so real, and unlike anything I have seen in quite some time. I never cared about getting to the bottom of what was going on with the house, you only want to know what happened because the emotional pathos drives the characters still. I spent most of the last two episodes crying. Oh, and for me this show is pretty much the textbook definition of editing in service of the story. There aren't too many "flashy" cuts, though there are some, but damn if every cut wasn't exactly where it needed to be. There are stretches of the show where I felt like I couldn't breathe, the editing and rhythms brought me up and down from the edge perfectly. The camera work is similar. The flashiest episode is the one with all the long shots but they are not there to delight in technical wizardry, they tell the story best. A microcosm for all the good decisions this show makes in my book.
"You guys go on without me."
"How could we?"
Retroactively, this is my favorite show of 2018. I went into it expecting some interesting horror elements (I've seen a couple of Mike Flanagan's movies) and that's about it. I was blown away by what this really is: a beautifully-edited masterpiece about trauma and family. The plot centers around a suicide, but we get all the reactions to death. One sibling is furious at the victim for her selfishness, another is unwilling to confront what actually ailed the victim, one is too numb to feel any of those things and one fights the urge to turn to destructive coping mechanisms. It felt so real, and unlike anything I have seen in quite some time. I never cared about getting to the bottom of what was going on with the house, you only want to know what happened because the emotional pathos drives the characters still. I spent most of the last two episodes crying. Oh, and for me this show is pretty much the textbook definition of editing in service of the story. There aren't too many "flashy" cuts, though there are some, but damn if every cut wasn't exactly where it needed to be. There are stretches of the show where I felt like I couldn't breathe, the editing and rhythms brought me up and down from the edge perfectly. The camera work is similar. The flashiest episode is the one with all the long shots but they are not there to delight in technical wizardry, they tell the story best. A microcosm for all the good decisions this show makes in my book.
"You guys go on without me."
"How could we?"
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