Graeme Rodaughan's Blog: Writing The Metaframe War Series - Posts Tagged "haunting"
[SPOILERS WITHIN] The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix) - Why it Sucked Big Time!
UNFORTUNATELY Spoiler tags are not working - Open Spoilers ahead.
First off - I haven't read The Haunting of Hill House so my experience of the Netflix production is untainted by expectations drawn from reading the book.
I'm referring to this production from Netflix (reported at IMDB) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6763664/
What I experienced can be summed up as follows.
I loved (past tense) the series, I thought it was really well done, spooky, scary, effective story telling - right up until the ending...
The ending was terrible - it absolutely sucked big time - stronger than the La Brea tar pits consuming a herd of Mammoths.
What a horrible disaster the ending was. It showed up like an infectious disease that swept through everything preceding the ending, and turned the whole lot into an appalling, stinking pile of garbage.
The ending was a complete failure of courage on the part of the writers/directors/producers - whatever - I'm still shaking my head at the visceral experience of watching something that could have been epic turned into vomit.
I will not forget the garbage that was served up at the end of this series for a long time, and I'm amazed at the ending's toxic power to destroy the value of what preceded it.
I'm struggling to think of anything that was this bad.
What was it, 10 episodes. 9 and 3/4 hours of good story telling utterly destroyed in 15 minutes.
The last 10-15 minutes were a major missed opportunity.
I'm flabbergasted and feel sick to my stomach.
I'm insulted by the producers of this appalling garbage.
Why I had that experience is hidden within the spoilers below - this will spoil the ending for you.
<spoiler>Well, for some reason spoiler tags not working...</spoiler>
Reasons
[1] Violation of Promises of Resolution: Early in the story, several things are established that define specific questions, and provide implicit promises to the viewer that demand resolution. (A question, with an implied promise of resolution.)
(a) The Hill House is haunted by one or more evil spirits - the implied question of the presence of evil is will it be confronted? The implied promise is that Hill House will be confronted, and the presence of evil will be resolved (one way or another.)
(b) The Crain family are good people who have been horribly traumatized by events within Hill House - the question is - Will the family reconcile and heal? There is an implied promise that this important question will be resolved (one way or another.)
Neither promise is properly honored, and while 'resolved,' the methods of resolution dissipate the energy of the conflict between Hill House and the Crain family, rather than transforming that energy into powerful emotional effect.
I don't know how anyone can imagine that an insipid ending is a good thing.
In the final episode; The surviving members of the Crain family converge on Hill House. A convergence that would normally precede an effective final resolution of the main questions. Will the evil in Hill House be confronted, and will the Crain family reconcile? - It appears that both will occur together....
The setup to the climax was excellent, everything was pointing in the right direction for a powerful climax and comprehensive, meaningful resolution - it's at the climax of the story and its immediate aftermath that it all turns into the proverbial... and gold is turned into lead.
[1.a] Anticlimax: By violating the implicit promises established early in the story, the producers have provided a stunning anti-climax that robbed the story of its meaning and spoiled the emotional payoff of an effective ending.
[1.b] Zero Resolution: The character of Poppy Hill (one of the Hill House ghosts) becomes the visible voice of Hill House. An attractive socialite she is the alluring vehicle for lies that trap the Crain family, and especially Olivia Crain (the mother) and Nell (the youngest daughter).
In the final episode, after vigorously defending the house - she just fades away... nothing happens to her, she's just taken off scene - Hill House remains UNCONFRONTED - First Question/Promise violated as the evil in Hill House is not confronted. Instead, the evil is accepted... (see below).
[1.c] Events without Context:
(a) Luke attempts to burn down Hill House, his attempt to light gallons of gasoline fails, then Poppy Hill attacks, and his POV is lost.
(b) Hugh Crain (Dad) appears to catch a rotting, mold disease from the Hill House wall, falls to the floor, and then later is better again.
[1.d] Deus Ex Machinas:
(a) Later Luke is discovered by his brothers and sisters. He has mainlined rat poison and is unconscious and frothing blood at the mouth... he dies, is rescued by his ghost sister Nell, is later transported to hospital and lives a happy healthy life.
(b) Hugh's recovery from the rot/mold attack just happens.
[2] Flipping the Meaning: The meaning of the story gets flipped including the essential nature of Hill House.
From being a confrontation between abject, supernatural evil, and a good family on the brink of destruction to valorisation of evil and the reveal that all you had to do to save the family was tell the truth... (as defined by Hill House - and we will get to that later...).
OMG: The character of Nell (the youngest daughter) as a ghost acting to 'save,' her family at the end, has this long monologue at the very end which provides the essential message of the story.
Nell's speech is the essence of the meaning of the story. In it she explains that time is fragmentary, we are all just atomized nothings, without any power to affect anything, immersed in a sea of 'confetti,' events without justification or meaning. We have one thing to hold onto - and that's love.
This is "The Art of Psychopathic Attack 101." When a psychopath attacks the mind of a victim, a key outcome is the disempowerment of the victim, destroy their confidence that they can have any impact on the world, make them dependent on the psychopath's definitions of the world. For the psychopath - shape your victims perception of reality and establish control.
The meaning of love is shifted from a life affirming power to a crutch you can lean on as you limp through your own disempowered existence in a meaningless life.
Pure Unadulterated Garbage.
[Side Note] Having a character make an exposition statement to explain everything is poor writing - and the reason the producers needed Nell's speech in the first place is because they destroyed the natural power of the available endings (see below) and substituted their toxic garbage in place of good story telling.
[3] Valorising Evil: (The worst aspect of this mess): The modus operandi of the House is to use lies to seduce people into murder and suicide. The House delights in murder, and the especially the murder of the innocent (children). The House is about as evil as anything can be. There is a brief image of the front of the House where the word "Hill," has been overwritten by "Hell." The meaning is clear, Hill House is an extension of Hell into the mortal world.
Nell's speech reveals all...
The essential meaning and subtext of this story is that you are a disempowered nothing surrounded my meaningless, disconnected events over which you have no control. Your best response is to focus on the crutch of 'love,' to allow you to limp through your disempowered life while others (Hill House) shape your perception of reality.
Furthermore, the resolution of the conflict between Hill House and the Crain family is resolved by acceptance of Evil. I.e. Evil is just misunderstood. Hill House is simply a rest home for lost souls to be re-united with loved ones. This is exemplified in the last ten minutes when an aged Mr. Dudley (the caretakers) brings his near death wife into the house where she expires, and is immediately re-united with her dead children.
Hill House is a kinda Hotel California, - once you visit, you can never leave. The illusion is only present inside the house. The house consumes souls like a spiritual denizen of the oceanic depths that lures its prey with a phosphorescent light dangling a foot in front of its gaping jaws.
("Love is the crutch - and don't you forget it." - whispers this story, as it dangles the lure/love in front of you)
Hell is really Heaven - don't cha know?
That sucks! That's an evil message, and it's a horrible lie designed to rob you of authentic participation as an active agent shaping your own life.
Believe Nell's message at your own risk.
I could go on and on about how bad this is - but let's have a look at other viable endings that would have been AUTHENTIC with the implied promises. (Lack of authenticity is a big tell about how bad this story is...)
[4] Powerful, memorable endings were available - and not used:
The Crain family unites in a convergence confronting the evil of Hill House. This satisfies all the promises. Once the family is united in a confrontation with the evil of Hill House, the energy of that intrinsic conflict could have been dialed up to 11 and then transformed into a powerful, and memorable ending.
Instead the energy of the conflict is dissipated by flipping the evil of Hill House to the 'good,' of Hill House. Let's all forget the lies inducing suicide and child murder, that's right, fade Poppy Hill off scene as she needs to be forgotten, and replaced by the sympathetic ghost Nell who comes to the fore to explain the 'true,' meaning of Hill House.
It could have ended in one of three ways.
[+ve] After a desperate confrontation against the evil of Hill House, the Crain family burn it to the ground. (kinda nuke it from orbit scenario - as it's the only way to be sure). The energy of the conflict is released as a triumphant validation of good and family over evil.
[balanced/pyrric] After a desperate confrontation against the evil of Hill House, the surviving member of the Crain family burns it to the ground. Then laments the short lived unity of the family as everyone else has died confronting a terrifying evil. The energy of the conflict is released as a poignant tragedy amidst the validation of familial love.
This would be my favorite possible ending.
A pyrric victory would include the self-sacrifice of family members to save the lone survivor, so they could complete the destruction of Hill House. Self sacrifice provides a potent validation of the healing of the family at the climax of the story, with that healing then providing the specific context for the resolution of the confrontation of good vs evil (to the +ve), but flavored with the heroic loss of loved ones.
[-ve] The Crain family bravely goes into the mouth of hell (aka Hill House) and none emerge. The house remains, the porch light flickering on and off, a red glow leaking from the many windows. The energy of the conflict is released as shivers of unremitting horror. Family love is not necessarily strong enough to overcome abject evil - beware.
As you can see, powerful endings were available to the writers, directors and producers, and instead of honoring the implied promises made in the first 9 hours and 45 minutes of story-telling they turn around and valorise lying to induce suicide and child murder as a misunderstood good, and then attempt to sell you the idea that you are a disempowered nothing surrounded by events over which you have no control, and that really - you deserve to be lied to and have your perception of reality shaped by others.
[Defending Psychopathy?]
I shake my head - the people who devised this ending are either consciously valorising psychopathy or they are clueless.
First off - I haven't read The Haunting of Hill House so my experience of the Netflix production is untainted by expectations drawn from reading the book.
I'm referring to this production from Netflix (reported at IMDB) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6763664/
What I experienced can be summed up as follows.
I loved (past tense) the series, I thought it was really well done, spooky, scary, effective story telling - right up until the ending...
The ending was terrible - it absolutely sucked big time - stronger than the La Brea tar pits consuming a herd of Mammoths.
What a horrible disaster the ending was. It showed up like an infectious disease that swept through everything preceding the ending, and turned the whole lot into an appalling, stinking pile of garbage.
The ending was a complete failure of courage on the part of the writers/directors/producers - whatever - I'm still shaking my head at the visceral experience of watching something that could have been epic turned into vomit.
I will not forget the garbage that was served up at the end of this series for a long time, and I'm amazed at the ending's toxic power to destroy the value of what preceded it.
I'm struggling to think of anything that was this bad.
What was it, 10 episodes. 9 and 3/4 hours of good story telling utterly destroyed in 15 minutes.
The last 10-15 minutes were a major missed opportunity.
I'm flabbergasted and feel sick to my stomach.
I'm insulted by the producers of this appalling garbage.
Why I had that experience is hidden within the spoilers below - this will spoil the ending for you.
<spoiler>Well, for some reason spoiler tags not working...</spoiler>
Reasons
[1] Violation of Promises of Resolution: Early in the story, several things are established that define specific questions, and provide implicit promises to the viewer that demand resolution. (A question, with an implied promise of resolution.)
(a) The Hill House is haunted by one or more evil spirits - the implied question of the presence of evil is will it be confronted? The implied promise is that Hill House will be confronted, and the presence of evil will be resolved (one way or another.)
(b) The Crain family are good people who have been horribly traumatized by events within Hill House - the question is - Will the family reconcile and heal? There is an implied promise that this important question will be resolved (one way or another.)
Neither promise is properly honored, and while 'resolved,' the methods of resolution dissipate the energy of the conflict between Hill House and the Crain family, rather than transforming that energy into powerful emotional effect.
I don't know how anyone can imagine that an insipid ending is a good thing.
In the final episode; The surviving members of the Crain family converge on Hill House. A convergence that would normally precede an effective final resolution of the main questions. Will the evil in Hill House be confronted, and will the Crain family reconcile? - It appears that both will occur together....
The setup to the climax was excellent, everything was pointing in the right direction for a powerful climax and comprehensive, meaningful resolution - it's at the climax of the story and its immediate aftermath that it all turns into the proverbial... and gold is turned into lead.
[1.a] Anticlimax: By violating the implicit promises established early in the story, the producers have provided a stunning anti-climax that robbed the story of its meaning and spoiled the emotional payoff of an effective ending.
[1.b] Zero Resolution: The character of Poppy Hill (one of the Hill House ghosts) becomes the visible voice of Hill House. An attractive socialite she is the alluring vehicle for lies that trap the Crain family, and especially Olivia Crain (the mother) and Nell (the youngest daughter).
In the final episode, after vigorously defending the house - she just fades away... nothing happens to her, she's just taken off scene - Hill House remains UNCONFRONTED - First Question/Promise violated as the evil in Hill House is not confronted. Instead, the evil is accepted... (see below).
[1.c] Events without Context:
(a) Luke attempts to burn down Hill House, his attempt to light gallons of gasoline fails, then Poppy Hill attacks, and his POV is lost.
(b) Hugh Crain (Dad) appears to catch a rotting, mold disease from the Hill House wall, falls to the floor, and then later is better again.
[1.d] Deus Ex Machinas:
(a) Later Luke is discovered by his brothers and sisters. He has mainlined rat poison and is unconscious and frothing blood at the mouth... he dies, is rescued by his ghost sister Nell, is later transported to hospital and lives a happy healthy life.
(b) Hugh's recovery from the rot/mold attack just happens.
[2] Flipping the Meaning: The meaning of the story gets flipped including the essential nature of Hill House.
From being a confrontation between abject, supernatural evil, and a good family on the brink of destruction to valorisation of evil and the reveal that all you had to do to save the family was tell the truth... (as defined by Hill House - and we will get to that later...).
OMG: The character of Nell (the youngest daughter) as a ghost acting to 'save,' her family at the end, has this long monologue at the very end which provides the essential message of the story.
Nell's speech is the essence of the meaning of the story. In it she explains that time is fragmentary, we are all just atomized nothings, without any power to affect anything, immersed in a sea of 'confetti,' events without justification or meaning. We have one thing to hold onto - and that's love.
This is "The Art of Psychopathic Attack 101." When a psychopath attacks the mind of a victim, a key outcome is the disempowerment of the victim, destroy their confidence that they can have any impact on the world, make them dependent on the psychopath's definitions of the world. For the psychopath - shape your victims perception of reality and establish control.
The meaning of love is shifted from a life affirming power to a crutch you can lean on as you limp through your own disempowered existence in a meaningless life.
Pure Unadulterated Garbage.
[Side Note] Having a character make an exposition statement to explain everything is poor writing - and the reason the producers needed Nell's speech in the first place is because they destroyed the natural power of the available endings (see below) and substituted their toxic garbage in place of good story telling.
[3] Valorising Evil: (The worst aspect of this mess): The modus operandi of the House is to use lies to seduce people into murder and suicide. The House delights in murder, and the especially the murder of the innocent (children). The House is about as evil as anything can be. There is a brief image of the front of the House where the word "Hill," has been overwritten by "Hell." The meaning is clear, Hill House is an extension of Hell into the mortal world.
Nell's speech reveals all...
The essential meaning and subtext of this story is that you are a disempowered nothing surrounded my meaningless, disconnected events over which you have no control. Your best response is to focus on the crutch of 'love,' to allow you to limp through your disempowered life while others (Hill House) shape your perception of reality.
Furthermore, the resolution of the conflict between Hill House and the Crain family is resolved by acceptance of Evil. I.e. Evil is just misunderstood. Hill House is simply a rest home for lost souls to be re-united with loved ones. This is exemplified in the last ten minutes when an aged Mr. Dudley (the caretakers) brings his near death wife into the house where she expires, and is immediately re-united with her dead children.
Hill House is a kinda Hotel California, - once you visit, you can never leave. The illusion is only present inside the house. The house consumes souls like a spiritual denizen of the oceanic depths that lures its prey with a phosphorescent light dangling a foot in front of its gaping jaws.
("Love is the crutch - and don't you forget it." - whispers this story, as it dangles the lure/love in front of you)
Hell is really Heaven - don't cha know?
That sucks! That's an evil message, and it's a horrible lie designed to rob you of authentic participation as an active agent shaping your own life.
Believe Nell's message at your own risk.
I could go on and on about how bad this is - but let's have a look at other viable endings that would have been AUTHENTIC with the implied promises. (Lack of authenticity is a big tell about how bad this story is...)
[4] Powerful, memorable endings were available - and not used:
The Crain family unites in a convergence confronting the evil of Hill House. This satisfies all the promises. Once the family is united in a confrontation with the evil of Hill House, the energy of that intrinsic conflict could have been dialed up to 11 and then transformed into a powerful, and memorable ending.
Instead the energy of the conflict is dissipated by flipping the evil of Hill House to the 'good,' of Hill House. Let's all forget the lies inducing suicide and child murder, that's right, fade Poppy Hill off scene as she needs to be forgotten, and replaced by the sympathetic ghost Nell who comes to the fore to explain the 'true,' meaning of Hill House.
It could have ended in one of three ways.
[+ve] After a desperate confrontation against the evil of Hill House, the Crain family burn it to the ground. (kinda nuke it from orbit scenario - as it's the only way to be sure). The energy of the conflict is released as a triumphant validation of good and family over evil.
[balanced/pyrric] After a desperate confrontation against the evil of Hill House, the surviving member of the Crain family burns it to the ground. Then laments the short lived unity of the family as everyone else has died confronting a terrifying evil. The energy of the conflict is released as a poignant tragedy amidst the validation of familial love.
This would be my favorite possible ending.
A pyrric victory would include the self-sacrifice of family members to save the lone survivor, so they could complete the destruction of Hill House. Self sacrifice provides a potent validation of the healing of the family at the climax of the story, with that healing then providing the specific context for the resolution of the confrontation of good vs evil (to the +ve), but flavored with the heroic loss of loved ones.
[-ve] The Crain family bravely goes into the mouth of hell (aka Hill House) and none emerge. The house remains, the porch light flickering on and off, a red glow leaking from the many windows. The energy of the conflict is released as shivers of unremitting horror. Family love is not necessarily strong enough to overcome abject evil - beware.
As you can see, powerful endings were available to the writers, directors and producers, and instead of honoring the implied promises made in the first 9 hours and 45 minutes of story-telling they turn around and valorise lying to induce suicide and child murder as a misunderstood good, and then attempt to sell you the idea that you are a disempowered nothing surrounded by events over which you have no control, and that really - you deserve to be lied to and have your perception of reality shaped by others.
[Defending Psychopathy?]
I shake my head - the people who devised this ending are either consciously valorising psychopathy or they are clueless.
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