The Netflix Original show The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best series I can recall seeing in recent years, and it delivers so many well-executed scares. Let’s take a look at 11 spine-chilling moments.
1. The Clocksmith
As Steven and Hugh are driving to Hill House to save Luke from impending doom, they have a conversation in which Steven rationalizes his entire experience in the house as a kid. They talk about the moment when Steven walks past numerous workers in the house and goes up the stairs to find his mom in Nell and Luke’s bedroom talking to herself.
Although it seems like that was the eerie moment here, it was actually when Hugh reveals to Steven that the clocksmith in overalls working on the clock at the top of the stairs wasn’t one of his workers. Hugh explains, “No one ever touched that clock, and certainly no one in old overalls with a handlebar mustache.”
RELATED: 8 of the Best Horror Movies Featuring Haunted Houses
Although this is the most subtle scare on this list, it is still quite unsettling.
2. The Red Room
The Red Room is a mysteriously locked room with a red door that no one can seem to get into throughout most of the series. The master key won’t work, and it can’t be forced open. However, it is revealed that the family has been inside the Red Room all along without even realizing it.
Although the exact details of how the Red Room actually works are unknown, it transforms into whatever the characters need or their sanctuary. Luke’s treehouse, Olivia’s reading room, Theo’s dance studio, Steven’s game room, and Nell’s toy room. It is a way for the house to cater to the individual and further claim them.
On a second viewing of The Haunting of Hill House, knowing this fact makes those moments creepy as hell.
3. Olivia Disappears into Walls
While at the funeral home, Hugh has a Hill House flashback to a night they had a big storm and lost electricity. While looking for Nell, who disappeared somewhere in the house, Hugh finds Olivia’s flashlight in a hallway. As he picks it up and turns around, he sees Olivia on the opposite end of the hall as she walks away. He follows her, only to find that she disappeared into a dead-end hallway. He turns around and finds her once again at the opposite end of the hallway, staring at him before walking away and disappearing.
He follows and sees Olivia standing in front of a large window as the wind shatters it all around her. He covers his face and looks up to see the window in one piece and Olivia sitting in a dreamlike trance in the hallway.
4. Olivia Smashes Shirley’s Forever Home
At the funeral home, after burying Nell, Theo and Hugh notice dirt on the carpet leading into Shirley’s office. As they follow the trail, they find the model of the “forever home” Olivia designed smashed into pieces. As Theo is on the ground picking up the pieces, Hugh notices a shadow moving from behind the desk.
Related: ‘Ghostwatch:’ Celebrating 25 Years Of Sleepless Nights
When Theo sees the movement, we hear gasping and see a very dead and seemingly angry Olivia crawling quickly toward them before disappearing.
5. Someone Is at the Door
On Halloween night, Shirley is at the funeral home alone and upset and turns off the porch lights so as to not be bothered by trick-or-treaters. She’s at first annoyed and angry when the doorbell rings and loud knocks start. However, it gets more and more unnerving as she can’t find anyone outside responsible for the noise.
After Theo arrives, the intensity picks up, with banging coming from all sides of the walls and window. It finally stops, and we’re really never given an explanation.
6. Young Luke Sees the Floating Man
Young Luke is in bed one night when he hears thumping from the hallway. He looks out of his door and sees one of the most terrifying ghosts to call Hill House home- an extremely tall man wearing a long coat and a bowler hat with a cane. Oh, and he’s floating in the air.
The ghost, who is later revealed to be William Hill, makes his way to Luke’s room as Luke hurries under his bed. We see only William’s feet and cane as he floats over to the bed. When he bends down to look under it, this is the moment we all scream with poor Luke.
7. William Hill Haunts Luke
The terror of Luke being haunted by William Hill didn’t stop there, however. Why? Because, as a child, Luke took William’s bowler hat without realizing what it was. He leaves the rehab facility he’s been living in to help one of his friends who ran away. He starts to see William on the street, always off in the distance with his back turned towards Luke.
RELATED: ‘How to Sell a Haunted House’ Book Review: A Grim and Ghostly Good Time
However, when Luke is walking down a street, William appears again, this time floating about 6-8 feet behind him. As he stops in fear, the ghost floats directly behind him, making for an intense and terrifying moment.
8. Young Luke Discovers the Basement
Fascinated by a dumbwaiter (“a perfect kid-sized elevator”) in the Hill House kitchen, Luke convinces Theo to send him up in it like a ride. After hesitating, she agrees and sends him on his way. Although she pushes the ‘up’ button, the dumbwaiter instead goes down into a basement they didn’t know existed.
We watch as Luke sits in the dark, armed only with a flashlight, as a terrifying rotting corpse comes out from behind a wine barrel and crawls quickly toward him.
9. Young Nell Sees the Bent-Neck Lady
As Luke is haunted by William Hill, his twin, Nell, is haunted by the Bent-Neck Lady. The first time we see the ghost is in the first episode, as Nell sleeps on a couch after being scared in her room. Olivia sleeps on the floor next to her for comfort but goes back up to her bed in the middle of the night.
After she’s alone, Nell awakens, looks up, and starts breathing hard. As the camera zooms out, we see that Nell is staring the Bent-Neck Lady right in the face. It is later revealed that this ghost is actually, in fact, Nell, who hangs herself as an adult in the house, breaking her neck.
10. Nell in the Car
This is how to execute an effective jump-scare. I respect Mike Flanagan for managing to pull this off so well. As Shirley and Theo drive to Hill House to meet Steven and Hugh to save Luke, they are having an argument, which is abruptly interrupted by Nell.
RELATED: Leslie Jones Reflects on ‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot Backlash
Her ghost unexpectedly pops up from the backseat in between Theo and Shirley, screaming, causing Shirley to crash in a field. It was definitely a pants-changing moment.
11. Nell Shows Up in Steven’s Apartment
In the first episode, before the family knows Nell is dead, Steven walks into his apartment and finds Nell standing quietly in the corner. He talks to her, but she doesn’t say a word back. As Steven’s phone rings, he turns to answer and is told by Hugh that Nell is indeed dead. It is very unsettling to see Nell still standing behind him as he’s told.
As if this revelation isn’t freaky enough, Steven turns to Nell, who is suddenly directly in front of him. As she tries to get a word out, she turns dead and grey and screams. I was left both terrified and excited to start episode two.
Did your favorite spine-chilling moment from The Haunting of Hill House make our list? Be sure to let us know!
