Unless you've been in a coma the last couple of weeks, or been away from social media, you probably can't help but have noticed that there's a new show on Netflix that literally everyone is talking about.
Even Stephen King has come aboard to give it his full and unadulterated recommendation and though there was a time when you literally couldn't pick up a new horror book without Stephen King announcing it was the best thing since sliced bread boldly across its cover, nowadays the man himself is often a lot less vocal unless it comes to Donald Trump - upon whom his feelings have been made abundantly clear thanks to Twitter.
Hill House is a modern reimagining of the classic Shirkey Jackson novel and though I normally hate that term, here it certainly applies. The ten-part show is written and directed by Mike Flanaghan of Oculus and Hush fame and though Hush - which tells the story of a home invasion as experience by someone who has been deaf since birth and lives entirely in her own - left me cold, I was a big fan of Oculus, not least because of the presence of Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) but also because the film itself was nothing more than one great, big, God almighty head-fuck.
And something very similar could be said about Hill House.
The show opens with a family of five children fleeing the house in the dead of night at the behest of their father, leaving the mother behind, seemingly trapped inside Hill House. Years later, we catch up with the family in the present day and through a series of flash-backs, begin gaining an insight into their lives whilst witnessing for ourself first-hand the haunting they each individually experienced during the course of that summer spent back in that house.
Steven is now a writer whose greatest achievement was writing a book called The Haunting of Hill house in an attempt to offer some kind of explanation for the events that took place there. Luke is an off and on recovering drug addict, whilst his twin sister, Nell, is plagued by sleep paralysis and dreams about 'The bent-neck Lady' who has been haunting her ever since she was a little girl.
Theodore is now a lesbian, addicted to one night stands if only so that she can experience some sort of intimacy whilst still managing to keep everyone at a distance, whilst Shirley now runs her own funeral business and helps provide a roof over Theo's head by allowing her to sleep in her converted garage.
One singular tragic event brings all these siblings together, along with their father, and over the course of the next ten episodes we slowly learn just what happened all those years ago at Hill House as all the secrets of their shared past start to bleed back into their lives and we discover that although they thought they'd left that house behind, in fact all this time it has still been playing a very big part in each of their lives.
To explain any more would give away the element of surprise and although this show is a bit of a slow-burner to begin with, it is worth sticking with as it is a creepy little number with many twists and turns down a series of very dark and shocking turns. For me, I really enjoyed it - though I was a little disappointed with the way it ended as we are never fully given all the answers, but then I suppose that is so they can leave the show open for future possible seasons.
If you're looking for something dark and spooky to watch in the run-up to Halloween, I would recommend you giving it a go.
It's nothing we haven't seen done before - for in the end, after all, it's just another haunted house story just as Hush was just another home invasion movie - but it is done in a very original and unique way which earns it a lot of kudos in my book, and at times Flanaghan's version of Hill House is very reminiscent of Mark. Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, which as many of you might know is one of my favourite books of all time simply because I found it so disturbing. Indeed, this is probably as close to any kind of T.V show adaptation of House of Leaves as we are ever going to get, even though in fact it is a very different story, and it is because of this if nothing else that for each of the ten episodes, I could barely tear my eyes away.
Is it perfect? No.
Like I said, I wasn't sure I liked the ending.
Was it creepy? Yes.
Just don't believe all the hype about people fainting and passing out watching this, or being so scared they end up being sick, because all of that is just bullshit made-up to sell the show to gullible audiences.
Will this show stay with you long after you have finished it and turned it off? Very likely.
All I know is that if I wasn't such a big, scary horror writer myself, I'd probably be having nightmares after watching this and if you are prone to such things, just be warned - there is plenty here that might trigger you and leave you with sleepless nights for many nights to come...
***
If you have watched this show, and enjoyed it, and enjoy being scared, and are looking for something scary to read whilst you keep the light on now for the next few weeks, then why not check out some of these anthologies of short stories from J.Ellington Ashton Press, some of which I may have stories in myself.
Fatal Fetish is a recent collection of erotic terror and includes stories about unusual kinks and kinky fetishes, each with a little twist in their tale. One in particular called Send in the clowns by erotic author, Naomi Matthews, especially stands out, by there are very many other equally perverse stories in this anthology that I also rate very highly. One for adults only...
Or, if you're looking for something a bit more Tales From the Crypt, why not check out Jeapers Creepers - which features my story about a little boy terrified of the monster in his closet...
I really enjoyed writing for this one, and it was a real genuine pleasure to be included in it.
Or finally, how about Mystery Monster 13? Not your usual collection of Monster stories, this one features my story, The Grishnakka that I am thinking of expanding into a novella at some point in the very near future...and this is a perfect opportunity for you to check it out in its original form before I choose to revise it.
All available on Amazon now...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fatal-Fetish-Toneye-Eyenot-ebook/dp/B07BCYN11M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1540250989&sr=1-1&keywords=Fatal+fetish
https://www.amazon.co.uk/JEAPers-Creepers-John-Ledger-ebook/dp/B019G6DK4G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1540251072&sr=1-1&keywords=Jeapers+creepers
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