a review of 鬼入侵

I consider Mike Flanagan to be one of the best names in modern horror. The primary reason for that being he has always delivered compelling drama and well-realized characters on top of unique, exciting premises. One area I've always found him to be a lacking in though has been actual terror. Simply put, I've never found any of his movies to be scary. This is part of the reason I believe this modernization of Shirley Jackson's classic to be Flanagan's best work to date: it scared the living crap out of me. I'm a slow burn kind of guy. I love a tone of unease that builds up to something truly horrifying (when it's done right that is). And when the big moment finally arrives I don't want some cheap jumpscare. Oh no, that won't get to me. What will is having a disturbing display of the unnatural take place right in front of me in full view. A lot of people say that what we can't see is deserving of the most fear, and they are far from wrong. However, one should never underestimate the terror that can come from seeing something you know you shouldn't and having it stare right back at you. These are the kind of moments The Haunting of Hill House has in spades. Thematically this has a lot in common with Stephen King's IT. It even plays out in a similar manner. It's an exploration of how past trauma, particularly from childhood, can effect a person in the future. Each character tries to cope in different ways to varying degrees of success. Haunted by more than just the ghosts of their childhood home, the Crain siblings deal with past regrets and familial strife. Broken family drama is a huge part of Hill House and is brought to life with superb writing. Longtime Flanagan devotees will get a kick out of seeing so many familiar faces from his movies return to do some of the best work of their careers ensuring that the Crains feel like real people. The mystery surrounding the house itself is so engaging that this became my first real binge watch. Each reveal is more unsettling than the last. Especially when the boundaries of time begin to blur linking the past, present, and future together in a way that makes the Crain's fate feel predetermined and inescapable. There's an ever-increasing sense of impending doom that kept me on the edge of my seat. This one of the most well-realized works of horror I have ever experienced and among the best of what Netflix's large (and still growing) catalog of exclusives has to offer. This feels like the culmination of all of Flanagan's work up to this point and will likely be remembered as his magnum opus. If you any love for the genre at all then this is not to be missed.