A small boy convinces his sister to transport him upstairs using the dumbwaiter. But something goes wrong and the child is brought down to the dark basement instead, where a terrifying creature crawls out of the shadows and then charges at him.
That scene was the first of two clips of the streaming service’s upcoming series The Haunting of Hill House — based on the popular novel by Shirley Jackson — teased at Friday night’s Netflix and Chills event at New York Comic Con.
Following the clip, cast members Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Elizabeth Reaser, Henry Thomas, Victoria Pedretti, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen took to the stage to discuss the horror series and their roles.
The story, they explained, takes place in two time periods, one covering their childhood experiences with the titular haunted house, and the other, decades later as they continue to try and recover from the trauma.
“She’s one of the most amazing characters I’ve gotten to play,” says Gugino of Olivia, her character in the show.
According to the cast, the first five episodes take place over the same few days but through the point of view of several characters, and the whole season only occurs over the span of several days.
Carla Gugino Photo: Michael Rosch
“You feel like you’re part of this gothic circus when you work with Mike Flanagan,” Gugino says. “He is an auteur.” Series creator Mike Flanagan’s (Oculus, Hush, Before I Wake, Ouija: Origin of Evil.) approach is like a Merchant Ivory production, she says.
Segal teased the sixth episode, describing it as only having four shots and playing out with few cuts, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Rope. The episode is also described as being like a play.
After one more clip showing a young girl awakening to a terrifying creature standing over her bed, the audience discovered the cast had disappeared from the stage and were replaced with more ghoulish figures:
Photo: Michael Rosch
The Haunting of Hill House streams on Netflix Oct. 12th.
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