Scorecard Weekly—'The Haunting of Hill House'

Cheers to the freakin weekend! So, we’re slightly depressed since college football has ended. Our Saturday’s won’t be the same until late August—it hurts so bad. However, we will keep trekking on and kicking ass throughout 2019, because that’s the only option! We know why you’re all here so let’s get down to business!

WELCOME TO SCORECARD WEEKLY! The place where you come to get honest, uncut, and uncensored reviews of the newest and oldest, TV series and movies. Before we begin today’s card, let’s recap on what we are grading shall we? Please turn your attention to the invisible, non-existent whiteboard codename JARVIS—

Using our state-of-the-art scorecard, we grade:

1. Setting/Characters
2. Obstacles/Conflict
3. Tone
4. Concept

The minimum score for a section and card is one. The maximum score is five. Finally, we decide if it’s a recommend or pass.

We’ve got a special announcement for you guys today, we got a request from one of our readers, one that we took to heart.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

Today is the first installment of our latest innovation in Scorecard Weekly called "Sunday Series." This series will focus solely on TV shows. Each Sunday, we look to bring you scores for the oldest and newest TV shows. This is your chance to get involved!

For your enjoyment today, we’re bringing you guys a NETFLIX Original Series, based on the 1959 novel of the same name, so please hold in your screams as we welcome THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE to the family.

1. Setting/Characters

This one might be a little complicated for some of you but try and stay with us, this show is around flashbacks. There are different timelines and you’ve got to pay attention to everything, or you’ll miss key scenes. It starts in 1992, then transitions to 26 years later (moving back and forth between the years). In the past, the show takes place inside of the mansion on Hill House. In the present, a lot of the story takes place in the city of Angels. Writing that makes it seem so simple BUT IT’S NOT! We have no idea what we’ve gotten ourselves into. So many different settings within the setting—does that even make sense? The complexity of that added with the one-dimensional characters creates quite the clash.

The first half of the season, we’re presented with these characters, five siblings who are completely different from one another and you’d think that would make for a great transition into adulthood, but it doesn’t. Let’s not get on their parents—I’ve seen some bad parents BUT these two take the cake. At times, these characters worked but often, it was just catastrophic and quite hard to watch. There’s no way to dive into every member of the family because each person could have an entire article created about them…

With the various settings and the varying personalities, the show at times takes advantage of this by creating complete chemistry that makes the show great but then it just slides off the hill turning into a shit show at times, but not enough to ruin anything.

Score- 4

2. Obstacles/Conflict

We don’t even know where to start. So much is happening that’s outside of the main storyline. We stated before that you must pay attention otherwise things can get a little wonky. Each sibling is faced with obstacles and traumas that shift into adulthood, creating the true horror of the show—their attempts to mask their ghosts. Time and time again, you wonder what now? What’s next? How can things possibly get worse? And sure enough! Shit hits the fan, time and time again. It’s never ending, and you feel sorry for them (Well, not all of them) Honestly, I can say that I HATED a few of the characters and maybe it’s because I lacked an understanding of them or maybe they’re just horrible people. It could be a mixture of both of those. The conflicts are more grounded within reality than supernatural, the supernatural aspect seems to be pushed to the back burner several times, but that shit worked! It almost SUCKS you in. We couldn’t turn away (neither will you).

Score- 5

3. Tone

Haunting. Eerie. The mood of this show MAKES the show. In our opinion, this is probably the best horror show we’ve watched in several years. It plays so well on the key elements of horror, at times I would just pace around because I couldn’t sit down. Not only did the show suck me in but the horror grips you by the throat and squeezes. IT DOESN’T LOOSEN ITS GRIP! Just thinking about the different moments throughout the season, it was quite frightening to the point to where it gives you chills—That is not an exaggeration. It was real. It was pure. It was everything that you could hope for. Setting the mood was one thing this series perfected! And we’ve got to give them their props…

Score- 5

4. Concept

It always starts with an idea. THE idea (Damn. I just realized that I’ve yelled quite a bit today) This series is based around the 1959 novel created by Shirley Jackson. I’ve never read the book, but I want to now. It’s a superb adaptation that takes horror to another level and this is exactly what we needed. A television show that creates these unforgettable scenes, implanting these images within your mind that will indeed haunt you after you’ve finished, and just truly remarkable. Everything about this concept was done right! They took this idea and turned it into what we believe might be the second-best original series on Netflix. EVER.

Score- 5

Overall Score- 4.5/5

Final Verdict- Recommend

Final Thoughts

Watch this show! If you haven’t, you NEED to! This is must watch TV. Binge worthy TV. Is the show perfect? No. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered but fuck those questions. We see on social media all the time, “Does anyone recommend any TV shows or movies?” And we sit there nodding thinking, “Yes we do. Sir. Ma’am. We’ve got the perfect fucking show.” This is the perfect show, if you’re looking for your next weekend binge. Cuddle on the couch. Turn off all the lights and get ready for an insane rollercoaster ride that you aren’t going to forget. We’re 100 percent positive that you will watch this and recommend it to every single person within your circle. We loved it. You’ll love it. This is it… Go watch the damn show!

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, until next time!

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