Netflix is bringing the Shirley Jackson horror classic The Haunting of Hill House to life on the small screen. Horror is quite the staple of American entertainment. Some of the most renowned horror stories have come from American writers, including H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, and Shirley Jackson. America's love of scary stories has been influencing film and TV in the U.S. for as long as those mediums have existed, with some of the earliest movies being horror films and scary TV shows that has sustained their popularity for decades.
Netflix itself has become a steady source for related horror content. One of the earlier original series on Netflix, Hemlock Grove, told the story of a town where the supernatural was a common occurrence, and Stranger Things was one of the breakout hits of 2016. Netflix has also become the new home of Black Mirror and several original horror movies and series. There is plenty more horror in the works for Netflix on the horror front too, including the adaptation of Jackson's 1959 The Haunting of Hill House novel.
According to Variety, The Haunting of Hill House is being adapted to a series for Netflix, with a ten episode order. It's the story of four people spending the summer is a supposedly haunted house, in order to prove that the supernatural is real. The series is being lead by Mike Flanagan, quite the name in horror himself after having written and directed Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil, among other titles.
The Haunting of Hill House has been adapted twice before. The 1963 film The Haunting and the 1999 remake of the same name are both based on The Haunting of Hill House. The original film was a loyal adaption, staying close to the source material whereas the '90s remake was more of an effects-driven, PG-13 thrill ride than atmospheric horror movie. Moreover, whereas the 1999 film makes it very clear that something not of this Earth is responsible for the death and mayhem, in the book and 1963 film adaptation, it's never entirely clear if the "evil forces" are real, or simply the imagination of a mentally-ill woman.
A full Haunting of Hill House series will allow for that concept to be examined in more depth, over the course of time. Producing the series along with Flanagan are Trevor Macy, Justin Falvey, and Darryl Frank. Flanagan and Macy have worked together before on several projects, including another adaption of a horror novel for Netflix - the upcoming movie Gerald's Game, based on the book by Stephen King.
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As the series is still in the early planning stages, there is not much known at this time. Keep checking in with Screen Rant for further information about the upcoming Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House.
Source: Variety