The Best Netflix Show Ever Made is This “Mortifying” Horror Series, According to Entertainment Weekly
It’s been more than ten years since Netflix debuted their first ever original series. That show was Lilyhammer, a crime drama I’m almost certain few people (if anyone) can remember. Such has been the case with the streamer now for years. As much credit as Netflix deserves for spotlighting new voices and delivering some of the best television of the century, they have just as regularly buried some shows, canceled others, and even outright removed some that were once available.
Their model conceptualizes the state of streaming more broadly, and to commemorate it, Entertainment Weekly has recently tasked themselves with ranking the 20 best Netflix Original Series of all time. The number one pick? Not House of Cards. Nope, it’s none other than Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House.
Here’s what EW had to say about the spectacular spookshow:
Mike Flanagan’s magnum opus follows five siblings as they navigate the intersections of past traumas and present terrors. Loosely based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel of the same name — and translated to our modern age — each character is burdened with mortifying childhood memories that manifest as literal ghosts.
Wesley Stenzel – Entertainment Weekly
Each episode of The Haunting of Hill House is filled with moving monologues, eerie atmosphere, layered performances, and impeccable visuals — and if you look closely, more ghosts lurk in the shadows than you’ll notice at first glance.
Per Netflix: The Crains, a fractured family, confront haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.
Not that The Haunting of Hil House needs any introduction. At the time of its release in 2018, it was a cultural phenomenon. It’s easy to forget just how much Flanagan’s loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name was adored at the time, attracting both horror fans and more casual audiences with its (now trademark) brand of earnest pathos, heartbreaking reveals, and jump-out-of-your-seat scares.
Long before my arrival at Dread Central, I even ranked The Haunting of Hil House as my favorite horror title of 2018. Flanagan’s output has remained nearly as strong in the years since, with The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and most recently, The Fall of the House of Usher demonstrating Flanagan’s first series was no fluke. It’s my personal favorite Netflix series, too, and I’m thrilled to see it recognized years later.
What do you think? What’s your favorite Netflix Original Series? Where does The Haunting of Hil House rank for you among Flanagan’s series? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins!
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