The following article contains spoilers from the season finale of The Haunting of Hill House
I should’ve recited all my hail Marys before the last few episodes of The Haunting of Hill House. As a psychological horror-thriller, Director Mike Flanagan’s masterpiece does more than just crawl under your skin; it leaves you craving all the answers to the questions lingering since episode one.
The debut first season can be watched in its entirety, if you’ve got a Netflix membership. The 10 episode series follows the Crain family from beginning to end. While we experienced our fair share of jumpscares, I didn’t anticipate that I would need so many tissues.
When Nell’s ghost stuck her head out of the back seat in the midst of Shirley and Theodora’s argument, my heart leapt to my throat. A stunned Shirley curves off the road and Theo rushes out as she falls apart, pleading on her knees for her sister to understand her. I went from heart attack to flooding tears in a matter of a few seconds.
The beauty of the series comes from the vulnerability of much of the characters. There’s something about their humanity that makes us care for them deeply from the get-go. From beginning to end, I found myself attached to Theo.
Flanagan had us fooled, thinking that the fates of the beloved Crains were predetermined. It was anticipated that Nell’s life would be cut short, being the most paranoid and frazzled out of her other family members. Every sign lead to her death, but what about her twin, Luke?
It was hinted that Luke would die the way he describes his dream. In a twist in Olivia’s perception, she witnesses the fates of her twins, Nellie and Luke. Nell is laid out on her silver table, while Luke’s body is sprawled on the floor, dressed in rigor mortis and in a mess of vomit from the presumed overdose that took his life. It’s no wonder that Olivia lost her mind in that house.
The final episode is prompted with saving Luke from himself. Theo had already amped up our anxieties by informing us that when one twin commits suicide, the remaining twin is likely to follow suit. All the evidence lead the audience to believe he was going out to do heroin again, but really he was out to burn hill house down. Once he arrived there, his attention shifted to the biggest mystery of the house: the red room.
One sibling after another, they are lured to the red room while searching for Luke. They enter a trance that leaves them facing their demons alone. Shirley faces the guilt following her adultery committed five years ago, making conversation with the man of the affair. Steven faces his biggest fears and frustrations between him and his, now pregnant, wife. Theo, who isolates herself due to her ability to feel others emotions and live their experiences, faces her inability to connect with others. We see Luke face his tangle with addiction, as he is tempted with the opportunity of breaking his streak of sobriety.
Nell’s presence saves them from their nightmarish trances. They awaken to save Luke who is sprawled on the floor like in Olivia’s vision. “We have been here so many times and we didn’t know”, a ghostly Nell tells her siblings. She brings it to our attention that the red room had simply been an illusion of all the rooms we thought existed in the house, including the treehouse, Shirley’s family room, Steven’s gaming place, and Olivia’s reading space.
Hugh convinces Olivia to free her children, who should live their lives outside of that house. Originally hesitant, he convinces her to release them from the red room in exchange for his life.
Hugh encourages Stephen to witness the night of Olivia’s death, something that had haunted him since the day they escaped Hill House. Stephen was present in this flashback, watching the ghosts of his young parents interact.
Drenched in tears, I was breathless even at the sight of what I already knew. To see Steven Crain witness his father’s disbelief at the sight of his dead wife was too much to handle. You could feel the agony in his blood-curdling scream.
Similar distresses and frustrations can be felt in films like Mother. The surreal, dream-like quality of Hill House takes us in directions that keep us sleepless at night. While watching the series, it reminded me plenty of the first season of American Horror Story: Murder House. There is something unnerving about the havoc that ensues residing into a house that once seemed promising.
By the end of it, everything is wrapped up in its tidy bow; it feels as though everything was put in its designated place. Flanagan confirmed that this would be the closing of the Crain family, as they had already been put through so much.
There is contemplation on how to continue the series, particularly surrounding the Hill House, but there’s no doubt that Flanagan will continue to enthrall us with what is to come.
Alma Tovar
Features Editor