While in the novel, it's possible to read some of the events as being the main character's delusions, in the 1999 film, the house is literally brought to life and is actively killing its inhabitants. The Haunting (1999) removes the psychological horror elements in the original movie (and the novel), and instead uses gore and big-budget CGI effects to thrill audiences. The 1999 remake The Haunting is not a terrible movie - Catherine Zeta Jones's vampy take on Theo is fun, if not believable, and the set design is genuinely stunning - but it is certainly the weakest adaptation of The Haunting of Hill Houseto date.

However, there are certainly aspects that do and don't work in these ghost stories, and not all three versions were created equal. All three The Haunting of Hill House adaptations offer something different and unique to horror fans, and none are highly-faithful to the book - which allows them to each stand on their own. When Netflix created its own version in 2018, it used the original full title, but altered many of the plot points, keeping only the skeletal aspects of Jackson's novel, such as character names and the basic setting.

The movie was remade in 1999 - with the same title - but the story was altered to be more in line with '90s sensibilities.

The horror classic is widely considered one of the best horror films of the period, with Martin Scorsese once bestowing on it the honor of being the scariest movie of all time. The first screen adaptation of Jackson's book was simply titled The Haunting and debuted in 1963. Related: The Biggest Unanswered Questions After The Haunting of Bly Manor Both spooky shows are adaptations of famous ghost stories: while Bly Manor is an adaptation of the novella The Turn of the Screw, written by Henry James, the first series, The Haunting of Hill House, is an adaptation of the Shirley Jackson book by the same name. Netflix's 2020 hit The Haunting of Bly Manor is the follow-up to their successful horror miniseries The Haunting of Hill House (in a way, making The Haunting an anthology series).

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