10 Best TV Pilot Cliffhangers Ever
2. The Haunting Of Hill House - Nell’s Dead
If the horror genre was rock music, then Mike Flanagan’s particular brand of spookiness would be My Chemical Romance. Yes, it brings the scares, but it can also make you think, make you laugh and above all make you cry with emotion.
The hit Netflix spookfest got everyone’s adrenaline pumping when it debuted in 2018. Whilst we do get a hint at some supernatural goings-on from the opening episode, enough ambiguity is left that the events may not be paranormal in nature.
This sense of scepticism is reinforced when we follow the main character Steven as he charts a career debunking similar spooky events. It’s the youngest sibling, Nell, who is shown to be reaching out to her family in vain; seemingly concerned with some traumatic event of the past that has come back to haunt her.
The audience follows Nell as she returns to Hill House and begins waltzing creepily through the ruins. After this scene, we return to Steven as he finishes up another job debunking ghosts and heads for home.
The moment Steven arrives and we see Nell standing in the corner, we know something is off. Flanagan injects enough tension and credibility into this scene that we aren’t quite believing in ghosts just yet. After receiving a call from his estranged father confirming that Nell has killed herself at the house, the penny drops.
Nell gets right up in our face, features melting, and starts screaming. This tragic, hair-raising cliffhanger not only confirmed the sad news of Nell’s demise but hooked the audience in for the scary thrill-ride yet to come.