The author Shirley Jackson was a unique pioneer of American fiction, manufacturing horror stories that weave supernatural elements with stories on sorrow, trauma and mental illness. During her life, she published six novels and more than 200 news, as well as two memories, but surprisingly, there were only five cinematographic and televised adaptations of her work. Many others have been inspired by Jackson, of course, but only four films and a television series seek to adapt his work in one way or another, to various degrees of success. (There is also “Shirley” by Josephine Decker, a fictitious version of the author’s life, where she played in a phenomenal tour of Elisabeth Moss.)
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There is something to appreciate in each of these works because the source material is so rich, but certain adaptations of Shirley Jackson are much better than others. So, let’s take a look at the worst to the best, starting with the first adaptation: the 1957 “Lizzie” Hugo Haas Black film.
5. Lizzie (1957)
The first of Jackson’s adaptations is also the weakest, if only because it is both a story of Jackson, and retained by the limits of the time. Based on the third novel by Jackson, “The Bird’s Nest”, Haas’s film follows a young woman named Elizabeth (Eleanor Parker) who has three distinct and distinct personalities: The Shy Elizabeth, The Volatile Lizzie and Beth, the well -adjusted mix of the two. Dr. Wright (Richard Boone) must try to help him become Beth permanently, because Elizabeth and Lizzie are self -destructive in their own way.
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Although it was released the same year as “The Three Faces of Eve”, which won an Oscars and also presented a woman with several personalities and three identities, “Lizzie” has mainly become a footnote in the history of cinema. Jackson herself had a mixed reaction to the film, reading the script at some point and finding it reductive, comparing it to a film “Abbott and Costello”, then seeing the film later and telling a friend that she “thought it was very good” and “well improved” on the first scenario she had read. It would be interesting to see a woman face “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” with a psychological touch adapted to the contemporary public, and although “Lizzie” has her great moments, “the bird’s nest” deserves another blow to the screen.
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4. The Haunting (1999)
The opinions on the film by Jan de Bont 1999 “The Haunting” are extremely divided, even between the criticisms here in / film. While some viewers believe that it is one of the worst horror remakes of all time (it is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name, which are both based on the 1959 Jackson novel “The Haunting of Hill House”), others have found a lot to love in this film Campy, but absolutely magnificent. Seriously, “The Haunting” is a visual delight with an absolutely phenomenal production design and really unique decorations. Even if the exaggerated performance of the 90s of stars Lili Taylor, Owen Wilson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Liam Neeson are not really your thing, the visuals of “The Haunting” are really something to do. The haunted house of the film is a sprawling mansion with really incredible pieces, including a kind of carousel with mirror walls and a rotation floor, a corridor with a passable fluid flow only passing from a diploma in the shape of a book to another, and a giant fireplace that hides a secret door.
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Although “The HAUNING” is very fun to look at and can be very pleasant if you are in a specific flavor of the camp of the late 90s, it is also the weakest of “hazardous Hill House” adaptations from afar.
3. We have always lived in the castle (2018)
The adaptation of the director Stacie Passon in 2018 of Jackson’s final novel, the 1962 Gothic mystery “We have always lived in the castle”, is one of the most precise representations of a novel never put on the screen. The scenario follows the novel almost Beat for Beat, according to the sisters Mary Katherine “Merricat” (Taissa Farmiga) and Constance Blackwood (Alexandra Daddario), which could not be more different but which are linked by a terrible secret that haunts their family. These are also parias of society, and when their charming cousin Charles (Sebastian Stan) suddenly appears, he threatens to divide the sisters and lead what remains of the family apart. The performances go from decent to large and the design of production is phenomenal. “We have always lived in the castle” is magnificent. Unfortunately, he is also quite detached and cold because he tries to imitate the narrative perspective of Merricat, which does not work quite.
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Like many films based on novels with a protagonist as a narrator, “we have always lived in the castle” has the impression that a vital element is missing by not representing the internal dialogue or the thoughts of Merricat. (Honestly, this is the biggest problem with the films “Hunger Games”, because “La Voix” by Katniss is an essential element of these books.) “We have always lived in the castle” is a good film and a good adaptation, but could probably have used adjustments to make it better for the screen.
2. The Haunting (1963)
The fifth novel by Jackson, “The Haunting of Hill House”, is an excellent supernatural and psychological thriller about a group of people with paranormal experiences that come to the haunted house as guests of the researcher, Dr. John Montague, to be mentally ill by one through a supernatural force. In the 1963 “The Haunting” film Robert Wise, Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) replaces Dr. Montague, but if not the film is quite precise in his source equipment. Of course, Theo (Claire Bloom) is a little sexual and the supernatural elements are made more ambiguous – with the idea that the character in perspective, Nell (Julie Harris), was mentally unstable and many things she saw were in fact only elements of her fragmented spirit – but he is still very precise.
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“The Hanting” is excellent, and there is a good reason why director Martin Scorsese ranked it like the most scary film of all time. It is full of great performance and was partially filmed in a really haunted hotel, bringing to life to the story of Jackson without deviating too far. Some effects are dated and it is difficult not to wonder what this magnificent Gothic manor in color looked like, but the 1963 version of “The Haunting” is a great story of ghosts, a great film on mental illness and a great adaptation of the novel. There is just one thing: Mike Flanagan’s Netflix Limited series is even better.
1. The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
“The Haunting of Hill House” by Flanagan is a fairly loose adaptation of its source material, taking names of characters and features and affecting them to a very haunted family. Nell (Victoria Pedretti) is the youngest of the brothers and sisters fear and still has psychic capacities, but for very different reasons in the series than in the novel or one of the other adaptations. The family feared haunts Hill House and is haunted by them, both literally and metaphorically, in a demonstration that examines infantile trauma, sorrow, and more in a supernatural setting. The Netflix series in the biggest themes of Jackson’s whole body beyond “Hill House” to create a heartbreaking and absolutely horrible Gothic horror story for ages.
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Sometimes adaptations can improve source material while remaining faithful to his heart, such as the interview with vampire television programs “and” Hannibal “, which have both changed chronologies and characters, but feel as the best possible adaptations.” The Haunting of Hill House “is one of those rare and beautiful shows that work better on repeated views because there are so many nuanced layers Narration.
