Spoilers for season one of Haunting of Hill House
Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I was really annoyed by the ending of Haunting of Hill House. (I love talking on Twitter about shows!) Hecate and many other people agreed with me. I’m a horror fan and I also love cheesy Hallmark movies, but those two genres go together like oil and water. The last two episodes of the series had heavy-handed ridiculous dialogue and stupid plot twists, all with a syrupy score to emphasize just how far it went off the rails. This was so disappointing because the show was almost masterful in its use of atmospheric horror and flashbacks up until that point. I’ve read it described as a creepy version of This is Us and that sounds accurate. Regardless it almost ended with everyone dying, according to the series creator Mike Flanagan, who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter. He explained the original vision for the ending, and how he decided that showing them happy, having Clara die in the house, and including a ridiculous voiceover about love and fear being two sides of the same coin was the right ending. (My words.) Here’s what he told them:
Let’s talk about the very end of the season. While the family members still alive come together to celebrate Luke’s (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) sobriety, we get a monologue from Steven about how fear and love are the same types of emotion. They’re like siblings, both involving the relinquishment of logic and patterns. Why did you choose to end the Crain story this way?
A lot of it is a shared experience we all connected with in the room. It’s really hard to resolve horror; it’s hard to end stories like this. We had been through so much in the course of writing it. Each of us had dug so deep into our own families and stories to try to inform the show that we all craved a moment of peace at the end.
We toyed with the idea for a little while that over that monologue, over the image of the family together, we would put the Red Room window in the background. For a while, that was the plan. Maybe they never really got out of that room. The night before it came time to shoot it, I sat up in bed, and I felt guilty about it. I felt like it was cruel. That surprised me. I’d come to love the characters so much that I wanted them to be happy. I came in to work and said, “I don’t want to put the window up. I think it’s mean and unfair.” Once that gear had kicked in, I wanted to lean as far in that direction as possible. We’ve been on this journey for 10 hours; a few minutes of hope was important to me.
[From The Hollywood Reporter via BGR]
You know how you resolve horror without killing people? You show characters who are suffering from PTSD, but who still kicked ass and remained true to themselves. (See the Halloween reboot.) You don’t change the storylines so much that it seems inauthentic. Luke should have died of that overdose. Theodora should be living alone and sleeping around, that’s her thing. Steve should be dating his lame fans. Shirley should still be hiding her affair from her husband and holding a grudge against him. Also, what does Henry even do? We never saw much of his backstory after his wife killed herself. I really care about these characters and I was invested in them up until about the eighth episode. Flanagan didn’t kill them all because he felt bad, but he wrapped the story up in a moldy pink bow that I don’t want to open again.
Speaking of that, there’s talk of a second season because of course there is. Flanagan said that if that happens he’ll go in another direction with it and won’t continue to tell this family’s story because “the Crains have been through enough.” That sounds like a good plan.
Is anyone else really pissed off about the ending of #HauntingofHillHouse? I'm watching it now and rolling my eyes. The dialog is shitty the ending is maudlin and I'm mad. It lost the thread a couple of episodes before the end.
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) October 24, 2018
I know I spelled dialogue wrong!
One more and I'm done. This is the worst claptrap I'm so pissed off. "Fear is the relinquishment of logic. The willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. But so it seems, is love. Love is the relinquishment of logic." #HauntingofHillHouse ending sucks pic.twitter.com/ua1BmxOD2w
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) October 24, 2018
I agree wholeheartedly! The final episode sucked. I actually think my eyes glazed over and at some point I stopped listening to the interminable voice over. Honestly, I was tempted to fast forward. Disappointing end.
Wow, that was going to be my response almost exactly. You’re in my head!
The first episode was good up until the dad agrees to join his wife in the red room. Then the episode became a huuuuuuge disappointment and it almost ruined the whole series for me. How could the ending be so anti-climatic?!
Agree. It was a moldy suckfest and I was mad I wasted my time watching it. I want my news accurate and swift and then when I’m done crying over reality I need my escapist treats to take me allllll the way. It’s a silly problem I don’t mind having though lol
“Moldy suckfest” is the most fitting description of this waste of time. I was so, so angry, mostly because I felt that it completely negated the whole series. That will teach me NOT to start watching the series till the first season is over.
I said this you should be watching Ozark!!!!!!!! I am promoting Ozark to anyone who will listen. Amazing acting and Laura Linney is particularly good. Its a GREAT show.
I gave it a try, but don’t like it. True, the acting is good, but to me it’s like a budget version of “Breaking bad”.
Oh no really. Well, that would make sense because I haven’t seen Breaking Bad….
I agree having just finished Breaking Bad. I couldn’t seem to find the energy to keep watching Ozark.
Ozark was impressive and am looking forward to a new season. Enjoyed watching Laura Linney’s character blossom.
I adored all of the show except for the last, nine minutes or so. I’m fine with Luke not dying of the overdose (he’s in a supernatural house and I liked child-Nell interceding to stop him), but what really threw me was Steve’s wife being there. Really? That was the saccrine that put it over the top. You could definitely end strong with the four siblings being there for each other, but having everything else work out too? Holy Hallmark mess. Also I agree I’m not sure I buy Theo being in any place for a long term relationship. It felt rushed. We would have needed another season to get there.
Also why would that girl keep going back to Theo after Theo treats her so dismissively. They barely know each other.
I feel the same. Theo, after being basically a walled off b*tch (but with good reason) for most of her life suddenly decides to play house with the woman she’s treated like crap for most of the season? And that woman is just totally into Theo because….why? If I had a one night stand with someone and they threw me out, ignored me when they saw me at the bar afterwards, only called me over for booty calls and was flat out rude to me when I showed up to their sister’s funeral I’d be so done. They never really showed any real non-sexual connection between Theo and her that would make her fall in love with Theo. That character was a total doormat, so much so I don’t even remember her name.
I somehow managed to watch the last episode as the first one. I don’t even know what the hell I pressed. Anyway, to see it as first was actually great. Hard to follow and connect everything but great. And I just have to say I absolutely love the way they planned the editing – like closing and opening the door leading to another period in characters life. Yes, the only story I had a problem with was Hugh. It’s like it’s never told and we don’t learn anything about him really. Which is a shame. Anyway, as far as horror shows go, I loved it.
They could have kept everything the same, even the cheesy monologue at the end, and if they would have put that Red Room window in, it would have been brilliant.
Imagine that monologue with the camera panning out and showing Hill House with only the Red Room window lit.
It would have been brilliant.
haha I was actually really happy with it, mainly because I had watched the whole season of AHS Cult leading up to bingeing this and just needed a sappy peaceful nonsensical ending..where the Cult ending just made WAY too much sense to me!
I needed the sappy ending too. I’m usually all for grim endings but after all the crap going on in the world and in the series as well, I really enjoyed the positivity of it. I don’t think I could have taken a twist or Luke actually dying.
I looove happy endings – in horror & in everything! So what!?
I liked i too! When it showed Clara holding her stillborn baby i got a little misty eyed lol. Great show, so creepy.
Michiel Huisman who plays Steven Crane is so hot and so underrated. Recently watched him in another Netflix original called Irreplaceable You and he was brilliant in it along with Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
He’s Daario in GOT!!
OMG THAT’s where I know him from!
Huisman has been my crush since Treme, Nashville and of course GoT – he is sexy in that non-aggressive but yet very masculine way. Yum! He is a very good actor and I hope the future holds many versatile roles for him.
I recommend you watch “Harley and the Davidsons” – he does a really good role there.
One theory I saw was that the house won in the end by convincing Hugh to sacrifice himself and by convincing the Crains not to destroy it; the overly happy ending becomes less overly happy when you realize the house claimed another Crain and still stands. It didn’t totally save the ending for me but it was an angle I hadn’t considered. (Also Celebitchy I don’t want to be rude but disappointing had one s and two p’s)
*Spoilers ahead* Yeah, I also think you could interpret the ending as another lie created by the house. We saw how it tricked Nell into seeing what she wanted to see. Perhaps ghostly Nell saving the day and all of that over-the-top “everyone is suddenly perfect!” ending was another lie. All of the Crains are actually dead in the house. And most of the dialogue that seemed out of place was lifted directly from the Shirley Jackson novel but used entirely out of context. As far as the last line though, they mangled the hell out of that with the “walking together” nonsense.
A comment further down the thread blew my mind – the ending was Hugh’s Red Room. The family never left the house. I can’t discount it at all, because when Hugh was describing what the Red Room was, and it flashed through everyone’s happy place inside it, there was no happy place for Hugh. So perhaps the flash-forward to everyone’s life 2 years later is Hugh’s Red Room. AH I am freaking out in the best way!
This is how I saw it as one interpretation too. On the deeper, more cynical interpretation is that the house ‘won’ – the ending was totally Hugh’s red room. Or if you are wanting a more happy ending, there is what they have shown and you can chose the happy ending etc. I really enjoy the entire cast and want season 2 but have conflicting feelings if the same cast returns despite my love for them. Don’t want to turn this into AHS type of using the same cast over and over again – results are hit/miss and more often a miss.
yep, that was my take too. His red room is where he finally fixed it. Where he no longer failed so to speak: everyone was happy he saved them, he finally got Steve to understand, and the rest of the kids escaped. And… he was where he wanted to be all along, with his wife and the daughter who he couldn’t save . After all, the Red Room ‘got’ to digest all of them except him, he knew what it was and had the means to prevent it ever getting another life. He never had a specific room and couldn’t ever open the door, until he died. Either the house delayed him from taking the pill through those illusions or convinced him as it did Nellie to overdose and die under influence of the mum. HE was also the meal the house never finished.
Lukes overdose was him with a needle next to the rat poison. How do you survive rat poison? Assuming the rat poison was just placed randomly next to him(but it would be so perfect if it was rat poison since thats what his mother tried to make him drink in that room) he still should have died- some cpr doesnt remove an overdose from your system? Made zero sense.
And did Theo just lose her powers? Her leaving the gloves behind was too vague.
No, but she’s not afraid of it anymore. She’s the one who had major walls around her, and that act symbolizes her willingness to take those walls down.
I also didn’t understand Theo taking her gloves off for good. I get that it shows she’s more emotionally open but…
When she feels stuff it’s very emotionally jarring for her which is a good reason to wear the gloves. But now she’s just going to accept that any time she touches someone or something she could get this incredibly emotional response and it’s ok? Imagine that in public, like on a train…she touches someone and just starts freaking out and crying. It doesn’t make any sense to me for her to live her life that way.
I was pretty happy with the entire season, especially some episodes in the middle. I didn’t mind the ending, but I think I had pretty low expectations, and that helped. I WAS sort of watching it as a horror version of a Hallmark movie! And it works! 🙂
The last episode wasn’t the best but despite all the critics on this thread, it doesn’t take away from what a great piece of horror/drama this was! I understand the complaints about how too perfect the ending was but like the writer says, you get invested in the characters and you want them to have a chance to be “happy”. As someone else mentioned here, it wasn’t exactly a hallmark ending as the mother, father and Nell got absorbed by the house and no doubt more will fall victim to it but despite that the Crains are able to finally move on and be a family again. I’m more in the mind frame that after tragedy you can pick up the pieces and still have joy…yes in real life it wouldn’t be this easy but it was a 10episode drama and they had to end it rather briefly. So not perfect but I prefer my haunted family smiling and together than stuck in the horror House reliving the past and the hurt.
I loved the ending of the series so much they really did deserve a little peace in the end they all loss so much already. To have them suffered anymore would have been cruel in the end the house did win a little it got three of them in the end but the rest were able to let go of the past and move forward. I think some people focused too much on the horror aspects of the series the haunting was apart of the story it was just one layer of the story.
The ending went against the horror grain on every level. Absolutely zero enticement for a second season. The red window was a necessary ‘evil.’
I don’t mind sappy endings for scary movies. Besides which, the theme of this movie was more about overcoming dysfunction than the actual scare factor of the house. They barely touched on the ghosts and the haunting driving the mother insane. After all these posts and comments I feel like I just need to read the book.
Now…being a 90s girl, who’s watching The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina?
Totally NOT Sabrina the Teenage Witch….
Just finished lol! That was an ending which inspired another season.
GIRL – that was the dads red room. They never left the house.
OMG. You are blowing my mind. Holy crap. The revelation of the Red Room killed me – I loved it, but emotionally it murdered me. And you know what? You may be completely right, because I did notice there was no Red Room for the father. 🙁
Loved it. Thought it brought everything full-circle, particularly for Steven. The voice over mirrors what Steven told the woman in the first episode. I watched it as much more than a haunted house series; it was about a broken family with their own ghosts. I can’t watch “This is Us” because I find THAT far too maudlin and melodramatic. I think Mike Flanagan knocked this one out of the park, and I cannot wait to see what Season 2 is like. I believe he’s taking it in an American Horror Story anthology direction. Yay!
The thing that disappointed me more than the sappy ending was how SPOILERS Abigail was actually a real girl and actually died at the tea party of doom and people barely reacted! Even her own parents were oddly calm about the whole thing. But they suffered the REAL tragedy that Olivia was so afraid of, the one that eventually drove her mad!
A twist I didn’t see coming, and that’s rare for me because most twists are so painfully obvious like the Bent Neck Lady being a premonition or them “dreaming” about their nightmares…yet, Abigail got me 🙂
Yes! Maybe they all just had too much PTSD by that point to care. Or they were like “well we ASSUMED she was dead so… now that she’s actually dead that just makes sense.” #justiceforabigail
Yes, terrible ending and it is a shame as the show had so much potential!!
Shirley Jackson at least would be horrified.
I loved the series. #shrug