Haunting of Hill House (Netflix)
Everything you have heard about this lyrical and loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s effortlessly eerie 1959 modern Gothic classic is true. Reinventing the story from a cadre of ghost investigators to the Crain family, director and co-writer Mike Flanagan has crafted a perfect 10-hour story of loss, obsession, addiction, family and, yes, an awful lot of spooks. Watch once for the story, twice to spot all the specters at the edges.
The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell (Netflix)
Expert cake sculptor Christine McConnell has opened her house to misfits (all provided by the Jim Henson Company) like Rankle the mummified cat, Rose the perpetually horny zombie raccoon, and Edgar, who may be a werewolf, but no one has seen him as a human. Part Fraggle Rock, part Addams Family, with a delicious dash of Martha Stewart and a surprisingly large amount of ball-gag jokes, the silly humor is as delicious as the astounding treats created. Peppermint bark horns, anyone?
Ghostwatch (Shudder)
Imagine if 60 Minutes announced it was holding a live ghost hunt from a haunted suburban house, and then Lesley Stahl got eaten by a demon live on TV. That’s what the BBC did in 1992, getting their evening news anchors to dupe the British viewing public with arguably the best 91 minutes of secret found-footage horror ever perpetrated.
Stan Against Evil (Hulu)
No one does chagrined quite like John C. McGinley, and as retired and widowed small-town sheriff Stan Miller, he’s never quite sure whether he’s most annoyed by his successor Evie (Janet Varney), his dopey daughter Denise (Deborah Baker Jr.), or the endless hordes of witches and demons that try to kill him. Especially since they seem to do their annoying … things when the game’s on.
– Richard Whittaker, Screens Editor
This article appears in October 26 • 2018.