It’s time for a good scare

“The Haunting of Hill House”
Netflix

Tomorrow is Halloween, and since I haven’t read any good scary comics to talk about recently, I thought I’d take a small departure and talk up a great Netflix original series my wife and I recently enjoyed.

We both like scary movies and television shows, especially at Halloween time. We recently had a weekend to ourselves while our 7-year-old daughter stayed with her grandparents. We’d watched all of “Black Mirror,” a creepy techno-based anthology series, and the first season of “Creeped Out,” another creepy anthology, but this time aimed at and focusing on child protagonists.

We’d also just watched “Castle Rock” on Hulu and loved it right up until the disappointing cop-out ending. And we’d also just watched “Light as a Feather,” another new series this October on Hulu. Like “Castle Rock,” we enjoyed “Light as a Feather” until it came to a disappointing ending.

Let me clarify that I understand the impulse of so many shows to leave things open ended at the close of a season. Writers, actors, producers all hope their show will be a hit and run a long time. But leaving the season finale open-ended leaves viewers, even fans of the show, feeling like they were cheated. There’s no payoff at the end of watching the show. The conclusions of both “Castle Rock” and “Light as a Feather” had other issues, too, but the endings of both lacked a sensible resolution that didn’t feel like a cheat at the end, at least in my opinion.

“The Haunting of Hill House” does not share that problem, and I heartily recommend the Netflix series to anyone who is looking for something spooky and satisfying. If you haven’t watched this series but are a scare fan, you need to watch it soon.

The series centers on the Crain family — Hugh and Olivia and their five children, Steve, Shirley, Theodora and twins Luke and Nellie. The family purchases Hill House and stays there over a summer so the parents can renovate and flip the property, but the house has a history of hauntings. Part of the story takes place several years later as the now adult Crain children cope with what happened to their family over that summer and how those experiences continue to haunt them and shape their lives.

Hill House or some of the Crain family character names may sound familiar. That’s because the 1959 book, “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson, has spawned two other film adaptations. The first was a 1963 British film starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn; the second was in 1999 and starred Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson and Lili Taylor. I haven’t seen either film, but several of the character names recur, although the various players are not family members in the film versions. In fact, according to Wikipedia entries on each film, the family name Crain belongs to Hill House’s builders in both films. Making all of these various people family members adds several new dimensions to the hauntings and the impact, in my opinion.

What sets this show apart from some of the others that disappointed us is the solid ending to the series. Is there room for a season two if all involved are given the chance to do another 10 episodes? Absolutely. More stories could be told in this continuity and based around this house. But these 10 first-season episodes tell a complete story, giving viewers a satisfying and at times frightening slice of entertainment.