The Haunting of Hill House sees Netflix bringing the spooks to the small screen.
The Haunting of Hill House sees Netflix bringing the spooks to the small screen.
Wondering what to do this long weekend? Here's our handy cut-out-and-keep guide for bingers.
If you only watch one thing, make it this ...
Netflix's new show, The Haunting of Hill House, knows that the biggest scares are to be found in what you don't see, rather than what you do.
Like this year's best horror film Hereditary, the chilling new Netflix series does an excellent job of wringing as much handwringing spooky boo-boo out of everyday events as it possibly can.
Thanks to the show's quick-fire editing, there are jump scares all over the place: when someone flicks on a wardrobe light, another when two cars have a near-miss at an intersection, or as a camera moves slowly across a statue's motionless face.
Across the first couple of episodes of the 10-part series, which is based on a 1959 novel by Shirley Jackson, you'll feel tense and confused as you meet the Crain family - a mum, dad and five kids - that the show is based on.
They're living in two separate time zones: the past, when terrifying hauntings occurred in a spooky house as children, and the present, which sees each of them dealing with the trauma in different ways.
Yes, you'll be led down plenty of dead ends, like lingering camera shots that cut away early, and plot details that aren't fully explained. Horror cliches abound: children with spooky eyes who draw creepy things on paper during the day and wake without reason at night, or shadowy figures moving behind closed doors.
To sustain tension across a 90-minute horror movie is a difficult job, but to do it over a 10-part series is an entirely different proposition.
Judging by its near-perfect reviews, The Haunting of Hill House, does that exceedingly well. You have been warned.
Leftfield TV binges
TV shows don't get more weird and wonderfully wacky than Maniac, Netflix's big-budget, retro-futuristic, sci-fi drama starring Emma Stone, Jonah Hill and Justin Theroux that asks major questions about happiness, mental health and the state of the world as we know it.
If that's too much like real life for you, Lightbox is streaming the entire first season of Castle Rock, the show that builds a shared universe out of Stephen King's novels. "Smart, fun scares [and] deeply felt, well-founded characters," wrote Indiewire. You should also know that Melanie Lynskey plays a psychic real estate agent.
Forever comes recommended, the Amazon Prime Video comedy series that has Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen as the world's most boring married couple, forced to adapt to a few changes to their living conditions. Best to avoid spoilers on this one, but if you like The Good Place or Parks and Recreation, you'll fall for its simple charms.
Not so simple is Claws, which is two seasons deep into the colourful world of five Florida manicurists fronting a criminal underworld. How colourful? The New Yorker described it as "a sweet mojito with extra pulp". You can see it all via TVNZ OnDemand.
Two seasons of Claws are available for bingeing via TVNZ OnDemand.
If you want something to keep the kids busy, try TVNZ's dedicated app for kids, Heihei, where you can find Custard's World, the new puppet show made by Henderson's Whoa! Studios that follows supervillain Dr Gloom as he tries - and fails - to steal everyone's smiles.
What to see on the big screen
This weekend's major new release is Bradley Cooper's four-year passion project, A Star Is Born and the fourth attempt at telling the big-screen story of a grizzled rocker mentoring a rising star. That musician is played by Lady Gaga. Heart emoticons abound. Expect your emotions to be toyed with.
If that's not your jam, and let's face it, for many it won't be, Halloween might be more up your alley. Two things you need to know: Jamie Lee Curtis is back, and it's ultra-violent. "Fierce, lean and mean" wrote the Globe and Mail. It's definitely not for the squeamish.
Your best bet is First Man, a space opera starring Ryan Gosling as the first man to dance on the moon. Okay, there's no dancing. But it is Gosling's follow-up to La La Land, and he's portraying Neil Armstrong's first moon landing. Bizarrely, it's the first time his story's been made into a movie, and this has Oscar potential all over it.
What to listen to
It's the long weekend, so you need adaptable tunes, ones that can overlap between afternoons and evenings as you clean out the spare room, plant your summer vege garden, or sip beer while manning the barbecue.
Kurt Vile's new record, Bottle It In, could easily soundtrack all of those. The Lansdowne slacker oozes stoner cool, and his new album bottles it up like lemonade, dishing out meandering masterpieces like One Trick Ponies and Bassackwards.
Local favourites to throw into the mix include The Beths' fantastically summery Future Me Hates Me, Princess Chelsea's wonderfully twee The Loneliest Girl, and Tom Scott's introspective masterpiece, Avantdale Bowling Club.
If you're after something a little more demanding, Heavyweight is the podcast for you. Jonathan Goldstein is into his third season of his hilariously wry attempt to right ageing wrongs. He's a master storyteller thanks to 11 seasons of his previous effort Wiretap, but Heavyweight will surely be named in the history books among the best podcasts ever made.
If you're up to date with that, Criminal just aired its 100th episode with a bit of a cliffhanger, the story of a plane hijacker that could have easily stretched into a much longer investigation, while Dr Death will make you wish you never have to see a surgeon's scalpel again - especially if it's for a back problem.
