History Series / TheHauntingOfHillHouse2018

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Poppy's ghost tried to convince Olivia to kill her children. She didn't succeed but she ''did'' with the Dudleys' daughter]].

** One flashback shows Luke with an ''Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial'' lunch box. Henry Thomas, who plays the younger Hugh, starred in ''E.T.''

** Carla Gugino plays the mother of Kate Siegel. It had been the other way around in ''Film/GeraldsGame''.
** Elizabeth Reaser plays the older version of Lulu Wilson. She had played Lulu's mother in ''Film/OuijaOriginOfEvil''.

** Hugh Crain was himself a huge AbusiveParent who emotionally tortured his children.

** Theo is the maiden, as the highly sexual AllGaysArePromiscuous-classic lesbian who sleeps around on a nightly basis but refuses to form any longterm relationships;

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Shirley discovers Theo trying to kiss her husband in a closet, though she didn't witness her husband pushing her sister away. She remains angry at them for several episodes. Which makes the reveal that she herself cheated on her husband earlier, with a ''married man'' at that, quite hypocritical of her.]]

** The rooms that the various house members enjoy hanging out in all are roughly the same size and shape, even Luke's treehouse. [[spoiler:It's because they are all the same room, despite being decorated differently in each instance.]]

** A close look at the book Olivia is reading in her reading room shows that it's Literature/{{Coraline}}. [[spoiler:The main conflict in that story is between a young girl and the "Other Mother" who looks like her mom but wants to do horrible things to her in order to keep her with her in her other dimension. Also, when Nell's body is in the casket, Olivia's ghost puts buttons on her eyes: the Other Mother wanted to replace Coraline's eyes with buttons.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: The marble statues in the hallway. Their heads change direction between shots.

** A close look at the book Olivia is reading in her reading room shows that it's {{Coraline}}. [[spoiler:The main conflict in that story is between a young girl and the "Other Mother" who looks like her mom but wants to do horrible things to her in order to keep her with her in her other dimension. Also, when Nell's body is in the casket, Olivia's ghost puts buttons on her eyes: the Other Mother wanted to replace Coraline's eyes with buttons.]]

* TwoLinesDifferentTime: Each episode in the first season follows the Crane siblings in the present time, but the B-plot of almost all episodes are flashbacks of their time as children in the titular haunted house, and are slowly telling the events that led to their mother's mysterious death.

** [[spoiler: Most of the ghosts of Hill House seem to be this. While they are terrifying and creepy spirits, 80% of the time they seem more or less trying to scare the Crains into ''leaving'' the House, this is apparent with Hazel Hill, William Hill, the clock man and many others (Edward Hill as well despite attacking Luke). The most violent spirits seem to be Poppy Hill, who pushes Olivia into trying to murder her children and later on Olivia herself, although due to the manipulations of Poppy and the House]].

** Episode 9 focuses on Olivia, taking place completely in the past. It covers the events leading up to the fateful night where [[spoiler:she nearly kills her own children (and did kill the Dudley's daughter) before killing herself.]]

** Hill House. Make no mistake, this is a character-driven story. Defying horror convention, characters themselves are smart enough to leave the house after the events of their past. The adult characters, stay outside the house most of the episodes.

** Multiple times, one of the kids will find something in a room they like to spend time in. When they tell someone where they found it, i.e. the game room, family room, etc, someone will ask "Which room?" [[spoiler:The rooms they all were in were actually the Red Room changing to suit their needs, but the house made them not realize it.]]

* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: A downplayed example. [[spoiler:Nell's funeral]], and everything that happens after including the climax of the story, all happens on Halloween. It's easy to forget this however, as the only time it comes up is that Kevin takes the kids trick or treating, and shortly after Shirley has to deal with what she initially thinks are obnoxious trick or treaters.

** The book ends with [[spoiler:Eleanor's death and while everyone else escapes]], Eleanor's all pervading loneliness and misery before she dies is switched around with Nell [[spoiler:gracefully and heroically saying goodbye to her family.]]

** The series is thick with it, and it shows through the slow decline of each family member's mental well-being. Note that it isn't a family mental illness (unlike what Steve tries to convince himself), so much as a slow trauma and terror-induced breakdown. Though, of course, the House is invoking this in them on purpose.

** Another subtle way of invoking it, is in the episode lengths. Instead of them all being a standard length, they range from 42 to 71 minutes, which is a great way of helping the viewers lose their sense of time.

* TheOphelia: Both Olivia and Nell are like this. Like mother, like daughter, they're both pale willowy women with flowing long hair, haunted eyes, and "crazy" behavior. Both of them are even more susceptible to the supernatural things happening in the House, [[spoiler: and both of them die in white sleeping gowns]].

-->'''Shirley:''' You're worse than a guy, you're like a frat guy! When I said you could live here in I wasn't expecting the pussy parade.

* ReusableLighterToss: In episode 8 a lighter is tossed to start a fire[[spoiler: at the Hill house, but despite a pool of gas, it doesn't ignite.]]

** [[spoiler: The House itself feeds by taking in the recently deceased and making them into spirits that walk its grounds, Hugh himself realized this when the Dudleys see their deceased daughter Abigail (and later on Hugh seeing Olivia's ghost) walk the halls of the House.]]

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Steve's book [[spoiler:heavily suggested that his mother was clinically insane and that everyone of her children may have inherited some part of that insanity. While he was right in pointing out that towards the end Olivia was driven to insanity, however it wasn't due to any medical issues but because of the house itself and the ghosts. Not only that but the "mental illness" they inherited was actually Olivia's sensitivity to the spirits.]]

* ScrewDestiny: [[spoiler:Despite dying in the first episode, Nell tries everything in her power to ensure that her siblings won't share her fate. Both her and Olivia have visions of Luke dying, and he does appear to die in the Red Room for a moment, but Nell's love for him and her sheer determination manage to bring him back from the freaking dead - which is one of the few victories that the Crains score.]]
* {{Shapeshifting}}: [[spoiler: The embodiment of the house appears in many forms throughout the Crain sibling's dreams in order to get them to let their guards down and mess with their minds in the Red Room. It appears as: Joey to Luke, The cheating lover with Shirly, and Trish to Theo. Showing that on some level the house is ultimately sentient and outright cruel when it wants to feed.]]

* TheShrink: Theo is a therapist specializing in children, and apparently very good (her powers certainly help). Dr. Montague is Nell's psychologist -- he falls into the "Well-Meaning, But Dopey and Ineffectual" category."

* TimeMaster: [[spoiler:The house really screws around with time in order to get what it wants. The ghost of Nell being plunged into the past is what brings Nell's death in the first place. It also shows Olivia scenes of the future with her dead children but without context ultimately resulting Olivia going insane.]]

%%* WhamShot: Several. (Expalin how is that a trope.)

** It's unclear if this is in fact what the dead themselves experience, or if [[spoiler:it's some glitchy interaction with Theo's ability, or if it's something else entirely, but Nell on her part seems pretty warm and cheery saying her farewells to her siblings.]]
** This is also heavily subverted by the mere presence of ghosts.

[[caption-width-right:350:Present and past collide in Hill House.]]

With its renewal for a second season, the show was {{retool}}ed into an {{Anthology}} series, with each season of ''The Haunting'' focusing on a different haunted house. The second season, ''Series/TheHauntingOfBlyManor'', will be an adaptation of the novel ''Literature/TheTurnOfTheScrew''.

* WhamShot: Several.

** Shirley has a model of the "forever home" her mother drafted, which was to be built after they had flipped and sold Hill House, in her office. At the end of her CharacterFocus episode, its porch light flickers twice-- [[spoiler:the signal Olivia used to call the children back home before dark]].

** Shirley has a model of her old home (Hill House), where she and her siblings grew up, in her actual house, as a reminder of her trauma there.

With its renewal for a second season, the show was {{retool}}ed into an {{Anthology}} series, with each season focusing on a different haunted house. The second season, ''Series/TheHauntingOfBlyManor'', will be an adaptation of the novel ''Literature/TheTurnOfTheScrew''.