The Haunting of Hill House: The Unrivaled Horror Masterpiece That Redefined TV

More than seven years on from the moment that Mike Flanagan’s debut TV seriesThe Haunting of Hill Housedropped on Netflix, its shadow still looms large over the whole of horror television. An effortless blend of timeless genre traditions and cutting edge production, this masterpiece laid the blueprint for scaring audiences in the streaming age.

Yet, as much as it's also served as a catalyst for various other horror series of exceptional quality to follow in its wake,The Haunting of Hill House continues to be regarded as thebest horror TV show of the 21st century. In fact, the miniseries is an undisputed all-time great, which propelled its creator to the forefront of the genre.

There are now severalMike Flanagan TV shows and movies on Netflix, but his serial release through the streaming giant remains a cut above the rest. WithThe Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan wasn’t trying to reinvent the horror genre completely. He was simply aiming to do it better than anybody else ever had on the small screen, and he succeeded.

The Haunting Of Hill House Is Still TV’s Best Horror Series

Ahorror show bingeable in just 10 hours is still an awful lot longer than a feature-length movie. ButThe Haunting of Hill House never drags or overwhelms us. Its supreme storytelling is perfectly paced, turning a tense psychological thriller into all-out horror with the single bend of a neck.

Based on the landmark novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson, the show takes a very different approach to haunting the inhabitants of its titular house from the source material that inspired it. While Jackson makes ghostly occurrences in the house a symptom of Eleanor Crain’s descent into madness, the TV series makes sure we know they’re real.

Featuring some of the best jump scares and most gruesome imagery in the horror genre’s entire screen history,The Haunting of Hill House is a true work of art. Not even the original TV version ofIt,Tales from the Crypt,Hammer House of Horror, orPenny Dreadful can compare with this masterpiece.

Mike Flanagan’s First Netflix Show Changed Television

The Haunting of Hill House isn’t just a singular work of greatness, though. It’s inspired a new wave of horror television, including four more Mike Flanagan miniseries on Netflix featuring near-identical casts. Across Netflix, HBO and Prime Video, the genre is now thriving on the small screen like never before.

Thanks to the likes ofIt – Welcome to Derry,From,Stranger Things, andFlanagan’s own favorite horror show,Interview with the Vampire, TV has arguably usurped cinematic horror.The Haunting of Hill House is more responsible for this paradigm shift than any other series.

Flanagan’s Upcoming Prime Video Project Could Be Even Better

As unassailable asThe Haunting of Hill House has been as a work of TV horror since its release, Mike Flanagan’s move to Prime Video in pursuit of his dream Stephen King adaptations might just have marked another sea-change in the genre.

Flanagan’s version ofCarrie is a risky project, but if it comes off, it may well surpass his first-ever TV show. Truly great horror series are few and far between, yet if anyone is capable of making two in the space of a decade, then it’s Mike Flanagan.

He already has Stephen King’s seal of approval after all. King famously calledThe Haunting of Hill House “close to a work of genius”, and he was only wrong about the first two words.