An eerie-looking house and a woman with tears rolling off her cheeks— “The Haunting of Hill House”. A thriller, horror and drama all in one, stemmed from the novel written by Shirley Jackson. When searching through Netflix’s newest releases, this series caught my eye and lured me in,  mainly from the complexing cover of the show’s house and a weeping woman. Instantly, I fell in love.

Within the first episode, Mike Flanagan sets the stage by introducing the family of seven that’s bought the centuries’ oldest mansion, Hill House. The viewer is taken back and forth from the time the Crain’s purchased the manor to the present time (around 15 years later).

With the help of the flashbacks, we understand how the parents and children were affected by the horrors affiliated with the presumed haunted Hill House. The children, Steven, Shirley, Theodora— commonly called ‘Theo’—, Luke and Nell, all encountered their own terror as adolescents. They weren’t doubtful in what they saw and made sure the family was aware of what was lingering among them. The parents, Hugh and Olivia Crain, simply convinced themselves that what children were seeing was merely a figure of their imagination in their dreams. They were completely persuaded with this thought until they had chilling things happen to them.

The factor in this show that puts itself apart from all other dramas is the focus on individual struggle from childhood to adulthood. Being a child and witnessing these terrifying experiences has a unique effect on these children, which is then expanded on as they mature into adulthood. As they grow older, the siblings have distinct lifestyles and occupations, stringing from a successful writer to a heroin addict, all of which you can trace back the traumas at the house. Although they seem to have put the house and scares that come along with it behind them, all of them still suffer from night terrors and abnormal occurrences.

Another unique thing is that the hauntings of each character are on the brand to each of them— this becomes clear once we see them age and mature. My personal favorite is Nell’s story—without giving too much away, they essentially spend an entire episode explaining how her childhood haunting connects to her adulthood and how it affects her negatively. When watching this episode, I was on the edge of my seat and in complete disbelief throughout the duration of the 75 minutes.

By the time I completed my three-day binge of “The Haunting of Hill House”,  I was left wanting more. I highly recommend watching this on Netflix, but be prepared ahead of time—once you start it, you’ll have to finish it.