Haunting The Haunting:

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I'm still thinking about Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Over the past year, I've read the book twice, moved on to read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, watched Netflix's adaptations of both and a further adaptation called The Haunting. As it turns out, I'm not alone. Stephen King has called the Netflix adaptation "close to a work of genius" and Quentin Tarantino says that he keeps returning to the Netflix adaptation as well.

Stephen King's interest in Hill House made sense, but Tarantino's interest fascinated me. It's not something I would have expected. Then I remembered how much a fan of non-linear storytelling Tarantino is. Whether it's Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, or The Hateful Eight, Tarantino likes the slow reveal and opportunities for slow reveal and character focus that telling a story out of chronological sequence opens up. Beneath all the homages and obvious shock-schlock is a reverence for the art of Story. It's the same reverence for character and story that set Jackson and Flanagan's work apart from so much else in the horror genre.

So I guess it does make sense.

P.S.- Incidentally, does anyone else think Nell's speech about snow is a reference to Horace's Odes?

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