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THE BLUEPRINT FOR NETFLIX’S THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE…
1 AN ASCENDANT DIRECTOR
Mike Flanagan is one of the hottest horror helmers around, after making Oculus, Hush, Stephen King adap Gerald’s Game and superior prequel Ouija: Origin Of Evil. As you read this, he’s shooting Warner Bros’ adap of King’s sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep. That’s due in 2020; coming to Netflix this October is The Haunting Of Hill House, which sees him write and direct a show comprising 10 one-hour episodes, based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 ghost story.
2 A SCARY-ASS SOURCE
Seminal and terrifying, Jackson’s novel is about an investigator of the supernatural who invites a handful of guests to stay at the titular abode; things go bump in the night… or perhaps in the characters’ heads. Deftly exploring the dark recesses of mansion and minds alike, the book’s been adapted twice before for the big screen: with consummate skill by Robert Wise in 1963 and with confounding incompetence by Jan de Bont in 1999; both movies were titled The Haunting. “My first question to [production company] Amblin was, ‘How do you possibly take this novel and expand it into a 10-hour format?’” recalls Flanagan. “They said, ‘Do you have any ideas?’ I came up with something I was confident in.”
3 A SOLID STRUCTURE
The novel and films see a group of strangers gather at Hill House to try to prove the paranormal. Flanagan’s version flip-flops between a family being spooked in the house and, 30-odd years later, the adult versions of the kids, who now live all across America, having to regroup and return. “The Wise film is a perfect adaptation of the perfect novel,” says Flanagan. “So it felt more interesting to me to identify certain characters and moments… and instead of being faithful to the story, be faithful to the experience I had while reading it.” The structure mirrors King’s It. “One of my favourite books,” he grins.
4 AN ALARMING ABODE
The success of a haunted-house tale depends on three things: location, location, location. Happily, the one in Flanagan’s show is truly the stuff of nightmares. “The exterior is a real house in Georgia with no CG enhancement,” he reveals. “This man lives there alone and was kind enough to let us film. The house was so eclectic – a little schizophrenic. One corner of it is Victorian, another corner is medieval, with turrets. He had stones imported from Europe. And then we built an interior. We built it complete, a two-level set – we wanted the rooms connected so we could walk through the entire house in single shots.”
5 A BAN ON CHEAP SCARES
The advantage of having 10 hours to play with is you can go deep with your characters – with the help of an ace cast (Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser, Timothy Hutton). But how do you maintain suspense? “It’s incredibly difficult,” admits the director. “But we don’t have to contend with commercials – they would obliterate tension. A lot of people binge these shows so we could make sure that each episode escalates. And we avoid cheap scares. They deflate the balloon. Something Shirley Jackson understood very well is that if you want to create that feeling of dread, you don’t
puncture it, ever.” Jamie Graham
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE STARTS ON NETFLIX ON 12 OCTOBER.