From the Archives: The Scariest TV Show I’ve Seen in Years is Also an Excellent Novel Adaptation

The perfect show for Halloween night

Paul Combs

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Image: Wikimedia Commons

After what has felt like the longest month in history (to me at least), we have finally reached the last day of October. Because I’ve been writing here for several years, some of my favorite Halloween stories were written a year or more ago, and thus have fallen into the great abyss that ultimately claims all internet stories. It’s a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.

I knew that I wanted to highlight one of those forgotten Halloween-appropriate stories today, but I wasn’t sure which one until I read an excellent piece by Sarah Paris, “Midnight Mass and Beyond: Mike Flanagan’s Storytelling Mastery.” In that story (which you should definitely read), she writes about my favorite horror director, Mike Flanagan, which reminded me that last year I wrote a story about his superb adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s classic horror novel, The Haunting of Hill House.

The story itself is a hybrid, combining a review of the novel with a review of the Netflix series. Unless you are a fast reader, you probably don’t have time to read the novel in its entirety tonight, but you just might be able to watch all ten episodes of the TV series before dawn breaks on November 1st. Whichever you…

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Paul Combs
Paul Combs

Written by Paul Combs

Writer, bookseller, would-be roadie for the E Street Band. My ultimate goal is to make books as popular in Texas as high school football...it may take a while.

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