By
Dhruv Sharma
Published 8 minutes ago
Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
Before Screen Rant, he was a Senior Writer for The Cinemaholic, covering everything from anime to television, from reality TV to movies.
After high school, he was on his way to become a Civil Engineer. However, he soon realized that writing was his true calling. As a result, he took a leap and never looked back.
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The greatest opening paragraph in horror literature is from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House:
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Even though Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House first hit the bookshelves nearly 60 years ago, it is often remembered as one of the most influential works in horror. The King of Horror, Stephen King, himself has sung praises of Jackson's work on several occasions. One of his most iconic works, The Shining, also directly refers to The Haunting of Hill House's opening paragraph.
What makes The Haunting of Hill House a masterpiece is Jackson's ability to transcend the limitations of language. The opening paragraph itself instills a feeling of melancholy, while leaving the reader curious for more. Translating words that are both ambiguous and layered with shifting meanings to the screen is no easy feat. However, Flanagan achieves the impossible with his Netflix adaptation.
A Timeless, Formless Fear Is Embedded In The Haunting Of Hill House’s Opening Paragraph
There is a Lovecraftian edge to The Haunting of Hill House's opening words since it establishes the titular house as a sentient, indifferent force. Jackson's prose instills a fear of the unknown. At the same time, though, the paragraph rises above the constraints of cosmic horror as, unlike Lovecraftian stories, it somehow describes what cannot be explained. The opening line defines living organisms by associating them with their ability to dream.
It draws a brilliant dichotomy between the living and the supernatural by highlighting how even the smallest of creatures, like larks and katydids, have the constant need to break free from "absolute reality" to remain sane. Dreams, here, seemingly symbolize everything from the stories we tell ourselves to the lies we believe to be true only to be able to deal with the terrors of our "absolute reality."
In the next line, Jackson ingeniously gives sentience to Hill House before immediately stripping it away. She calls it "not sane" to personify it. However, if live organisms must dream to stay sane, something "not sane" like Hill House not only exists in the terrifying "absolute reality" but also has a chilling inhuman quality to it. The lines that follow hint at the house's malevolence and permanence by highlighting how it stands alone for eternity and holds darkness within.
Before closing the paragraph, the author conjures up another paradox by using phrases, like "walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut," which would describe any ordinary house. However, in the closing sentence, Jackson again takes this away by warning how something walks in the house, and it walks all alone, undefined by the conditions that keep the living sane.
Mike Flanagan’s Netflix Adaptation Makes Haunting Of Hill House’s Opening Paragraph Hit Even Harder
Nell sitting next to a bloodied and shocked Hugh in The Haunting of Hill House
In Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House, Michiel Huisman's Steven recites the opening lines from Shirley Jackson's book in episode 1 as the visuals walk through the lifeless exteriors and interiors of the titular house. This is followed up with a sequence from the past timeline in which young Mel sees the Bent-Neck Lady and sobs in her bed. Her father gently comforts her by reminding her that dreams often spill into our reality.
The scene perfectly captures how living organisms, even the younger ones like Mel, often find themselves outside the bounds of "absolute reality" in their dreams. Just like Shirley Jackson initially comforts the reader by normalizing the supernatural, the show does this by highlighting the "spilling" nature of dreams. However, soon, like Jackson's novel, Mike Flanagan's Netflix show, too, takes this away by hinting that something, "not sane," walks inside Hill House.
Did You Know: Stephen King called Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House "close to a work of genius" and even acknowledged how Shirley Jackson would have approved the series.
Throughout its runtime, The Haunting of Hill House draws on this interplay between the living and the supernatural by portraying ghosts not only as autonomous entities beyond comprehension but also as extensions of human grief, trauma, addiction, and guilt.
Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House is more of a modern retelling of Shirley Jackson's horror novel. However, his genius interpretation of the source material's opening paragraph explains why it comes off as the perfectly haunting spillover of Shirley Jackson's ominous, dreamlike storytelling.
The Haunting of Hill House
TV-MA
Mystery
Drama
Horror
10/10
56
9.5/10
Release Date
2018 - 2018
Network
Netflix
Cast
Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Kate Siegel, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Victoria Pedretti, Timothy Hutton, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Polly Craig, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Christine Horn, Samantha Sloyan, J.P. Valenti, Katie Parker, Katie Carpenter, Mimi Gould, Fedor Steer, Paxton Singleton, Justin James Boykin, Jordane Christie, Tiffany Denise Hobbs, Wes Jetton, Lulu Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Julian Hilliard
Showrunner
Mike Flanagan
Directors
Mike Flanagan
Writers
Rebecca Klingel
Main Genre
Horror
Genres
Mystery, Drama, Horror
Creator(s)
Mike Flanagan
Executive Producer(s)
Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Meredith Averill, Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy
Producers
Dan Kaplow
Seasons
1
Streaming Service(s)
Netflix
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