This scary Netflix horror show is the only one you need to watch this Halloween

Halloween is hands down one of the best holidays of the year. It’s the one time when you can embrace your love for all things spooky without judgment. What's even better is all the movies, shows, and creepy content that suddenly become completely acceptable to binge.

Of course, no Halloween is complete without a good scare. Every year, streaming services, cable channels, and movie theaters flood us with a variety of horror content. We're talking from classic slasher flicks to supernatural thrillers, and everything in between. However, it can be overwhelming to figure out what to watch.

While there are countless options to choose from, not all of them are worth your time. Some are more fluff than fright, some rely on cheap jump scares, and some are so slow or confusing that you end up more frustrated than terrified. That’s why this Halloween, we've got you covered! If you’re going to commit to watching only one horror show this spooky season, there’s one that stands head and shoulders above the rest on Netflix. Can you guess which one it is?

If you don't recognize where the picture above is from, then you've truly been missing out on one of the most thrilling, spine-chilling experiences Netflix has to offer. It's time that you finally give it a watch. It's none other than Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House, aka the show that proves horror can be just as emotionally devastating as it is frightening.

Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House is a masterclass in modern horror

Loosely based on Shirley Jackson's novel of the same name, The Haunting of Hill House is unlike any other horror series I’ve ever watched. I was already familiar with Flanagan's previous work, so I knew that he had a knack for crafting some incredible horror stories. But The Haunting of Hill House surpassed even my highest expectations.

The series takes place in two timelines. One timeline is set in the summer of 1992, following the Crain family as they move into Hill House, unaware of the full horrors that await them. Every hallway, shadow, and creaking floorboard seems alive, hiding secrets and threatening to unravel the family at every turn.

The children experience strange occurrences in the house that escalate from unsettling to downright terrifying. On the other hand, the other timeline is set 26 years later and follows the Crain siblings as adults. After their childhood in Hill House, each of them struggles to cope with the lingering trauma and grief that the house left behind. When tragedy strikes in their adult lives, the siblings reunite with their estranged father and find themselves having to confront the memories and fears they’ve spent decades trying to bury.

The cast is made up of some incredible actors such as Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti, Lulu Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Paxton Singleton, Julian Hilliard, Violet McGraw, and Timothy Hutton.

What's so great about The Haunting of Hill House is how it might seem like your typical haunted house story at first, but it quickly proves to be so much more. Sure, there are tons of moments that will make you jump out of your seat and/or cover your eyes, but the brilliance of this series lies in how it pairs those scares with deep, emotional storytelling. Flanagan doesn’t just want to frighten you. He wants you to care about the characters, to feel their pain, and to experience the lingering weight of their fears and regrets.

Not one moment while watching this series will you feel like turning it off. You'll be hooked once you start the first episode, and you'll definitely want to continue on to see how everything wraps up. That's not always the case with horror shows, so the fact that The Haunting of Hill House keeps you invested from start to finish says a lot.

You can stream The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix right now.