25 book adaptations that surprisingly lived up to the books they’re based on

The Haunting of Hill House

Shirley Jackson’s classic horror novel, The Haunting of Hill House, is a short tale that chronicles four characters’ experiences while staying at the notorious Hill House. It explores the characters’ psyches and how they factor into the horrors they find at the house, but it doesn’t quite dive as deeply into the psychology behind Hill House as the Netflix series does.

Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, which was released last year, is inspired by Jackson’s novel. But though its overall premise comes from the horror classic, the series boasts a very different plot than that of the book. And although such massive changes often sink book-to-screen adaptations, in this case, the alterations made for a more complex and fascinating story.

In the Netflix series, viewers follow the Crain family, flashing back and forth between the past and present. The past sequences showcase the Crains’ childhood years when they lived at Hill House. The present-day scenes highlight all the ways in which Hill House is still haunting the Crain siblings.

And while there’s still plenty of emphasis on the psychological aspects of the Crains’ experiences at Hill House, there’s also plenty of room throughout the series to explore each individual character’s relationship to the house and to the other characters—something the book didn’t have the space to do. (Even if it had expanded upon the characters’ backgrounds, it would have been quite a different experience given that the book doesn’t revolve around a single family.)

The Netflix series also goes further in depth with its examination of Hill House itself, adding many details that only made the house more mysterious and fascinating. While Jackson’s novel will forever be a must-read, the Netflix series has become its own entity. And it’s certainly one for readers to keep on their radars.