Year: 2018
Synopsis: The Craine family deals with the psychological and supernatural consequences of living in Hill House.
Pros:
• Incredibly well acted and well written ghost story. The writers took all the well trodden supernatural horror tropes, and used them in a way to trap the viewer within the story.
• All the actors played their tortured characters with horrifying ease.
• Played on the primal anxieties surrounding family and loss.
• Discussed the true nature of ghosts and supernatural in realistic ways.
• The interwoven, non-linear narrative was perfectly disorienting, especially when individual moments were literally tied together.
Cons:
• The non-linear narrative can be difficult to follow at first for those expecting more straight forward chills.
• The darkly psychological and sentimental themes might be too much at times for some.
• Fans of the novel and original film might not be happy with the significant changes to the story.
Discussion:
“The maze itself is the sum of a man’s life, choices he makes, dreams he hangs on to …” Teddy, Westworld (2016-present)
What is a ghost? It might be a nightmare induced by loss, guilt, expectations, habits, sleep disorders. Perhaps it does not really matter, because to understand the inexplicable might mean we must become the inexplicable. Or worse, we are forced to understand the dark thing at the edge of the bed out of some deranged destiny. That is the dark heart of The Haunting. None of us may ever truly want to understand the most inexplicable moments of our lives, but understanding may still come anyway. We may move through this life along that linear arrow of time. However, looking back upon it is never truly a linear act. Life is but an intricate web of ever changing meaning. Perhaps all we ever do is haunt our past and future selves in a finite struggle in life to understand it all.
Rotten Tomatoes — 93%
Comments