Book-To-Movie: Shirley Jackson's 'The Haunting of Hill House’

Credit: Penguin-Random House

It's the fourth weekend of the month and so time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. Well, finally we've returned to our fourth weekend of the month schedule for these reviews! For the last three months we've had to keep postponing them by a week. I'm going to do everything that I can this new year of 2023 to stick to the fourth weekend schedule (Saturday late night/early Sunday).

Today we have "The Haunting of Hill House", Shirley Jackson's 1959 gothic horror novel. While the Netflix TV series based on the book has been the big talk since its 2018 premiere, it seems to stray too far from the original story. Which is too bad, because Jackson’s novel leaves a lot of room for an on-going TV series since it is epic in many respects. However, this is a Book-To-Movie post and not a Book-To-TV one, so let’s look at some of the film adaptations that have been out. The 1999 movie adaptation seems to stick close to the original story while giving its own interpretation. However, I haven’t seen that one yet. It’s a remake of an earlier adaptation, the 1963 original directed by Robert Wise and, like the remake, the title was shortened to simply “The Haunting”. Although it cuts out some elements from the book, it’s still faithful to the plot and keeps at least most of the strength of the protagonist’s character. Also, the cinematography is very powerful. 

“The Haunting of Hill House” Novel

Jackson's novel, "The Haunting of Hill House", is about young Eleanor ("Nell") who accepts an invitation to participate in a study of a mansion believed to be haunted. She does so mostly to escape from her controlling sister’s household that she’s lived in for too long. She meets up with the rest of the group at the secluded mansion, known as Hill House: the loose, conceited Theodora; the jesting and deceitful Luke who is actually heir to the house; and Dr. John Montague who conducts the study. 

The initially timid Eleanor not only quickly becomes friends with the three people, but also becomes quickly attached to the house. Too attached to it. This is one of the gothic horror tropes that Jackson breaks and it works very good. Instead of fearing the house, the female character does not want to leave it. Yet, there's still the screaming victim trait in Eleanor when she encounters the strange events such as unexplainable pounding in the corridor outside her and Theodora's rooms, and the writing that mysteriously appears on walls and addresses her by her name. Slowly, Eleanor realises that she's having a kind of union with the spirit of Hill House and in doing so eventually becomes adverse to the rest of the group.

Eleanor's character is really well-developed, convincing and sympathetic. We’re convinced by her need to get away from her sister after having been shut-in to care for her ill mom most of her young adult life. Hence her reason for responding to the invitation to, what has been believed to be, a house of evil. Jackson seamlessly works this motivator into her protagonist. 

The house itself is a character and so is depicted as a living entity as with the houses in many gothic horror stories. However, instead of it being depicted as decayed and on the verge of collapse as is the case with Poe's "The House of Usher", it is described as mostly intact. Yet, the house is still presented as dark and menacing, especially in its odd angular architecture that makes it labyrinthine, surreal and deceiving. It's like the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California which I wouldn't be surprised that Jackson got the idea for Hill House from. After all, she was born and lived part of her life in nearby San Francisco. So, while she breaks the gothic trope of the decaying house, she enhances the one of oddly structured house. That's definitely a plus!

“The Haunting of Hill House” takes a while to get started as a horror tale and, even after it does, it mellows out in many parts. However, that may just be part of Jackson's mundane style of storytelling. It’s a style of realism that leads up to the horror and it would be a good thing if it didn't take as long as a near-equivalent of three quarters of the novel. Yet, Jackson does a good job timing the story's scare tactics making it worth having to read through the mellowed-out parts. 

The Movie: ‘The Haunting’, 1963

Robert Wise does a great job in his film, “The Haunting”, sticking to the novel’s original plot. While there are changes to the plot and characterisation, they are minor and so don't stray too far from the original novel. The ending is more definitive, limiting the open interpretation seen in the novel's ending and so weakening Eleanor's character as a woman which might not honour the author's original intentions.

Yet, the movie does a good job portraying Eleanor, even if not quite as good as the book. Eleanor is shown to be aggressive and assertive from the beginning, including in her sister's home, rather than being gradually worked up to this change in character. Still, she communicates both to others as well as to herself in her inner dialogue the timid shut-in life she's coming from. 

The depiction of Hill House is also done really good not just with its angular interiors but also with the clutter of the indoor decor. Statuary, including raises in the walls, mirrors and other items crowd the rooms, yet the corridors are portrayed long and somewhat high. So, we get the effect of both claustrophobia and labyrinthine vastness. 

The Hill House’s exterior is complex-looking, with its semi-medieval style and often in shadow. This takes the gothic atmosphere a step further than Jackson’s depiction. Jackson’s description of the house, although menacing, includes the surrounding countryside which is often described as sunny and tranquil, whereas the house in the movie is set in a countryside that has a darker appearance. Maybe that’s more so due to the black and-white of the movie which, if so, helps. 

The film’s cinematography is creative and clever. During the intense moments of the film, the shots are inverted and the camera often rotates and even spins. This enhances the psychological horror of the events as well as the surrealism of both the story and setting. 

Overall, the movie is very good and the characters are well-developed and likeable, even though we don't get to know them as much as we do in the novel. Maybe this is necessary in order to both move the movie along in its allotted hour-and-fifty-minute time frame and to focus more on Eleanor's character. 

Eleanor's character is stronger, even if only slightly, in Jackson's novel, "The Haunting of Hill House", than in Wise’s movie adaptation, "The Haunting". Yet, by comparison, the house is more menacing in the latter because of its overtly dark atmosphere. In Jackson's novel she tends to lighten the house with its surroundings a little too much. But she does a great job writing her own gothic horror story by avoiding age-old tropes and using a female for a strong, ambitious protagonist. A female character of this type was very rare in horror during Jackson’s time. Because of that, “The Haunting of Hill House” was a break-through novel for the genre.

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Be here Wednesday for the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop! Have you read Shirley Jackson's novel, "The Haunting of Hill House" or seen the 1963 or 1999 movie adaptations? If you've watched the Netflix series, what did you think of it?