‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Meets ‘From’ in Apple TV’s Forgotten 4-Part Horror Series

Published Oct 11, 2026, 1:58 PM EDT

Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows. 

In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA.

Although there is a renaissance of horror right now in cinemas thanks to the abundance of independent productions with compelling concepts, the genre has been notoriously more difficult to crack on the small screen. Horror requires restraint and prolonged suspense, and it’s harder to sustain that level of tension within a streaming show that must continuously keep an audience engaged throughout a binge. Servant is a successful and underrated horror series on Apple TV that aired before the service became better known for its successful ventures into science fiction, fantasy, and other genre storytelling. Although Servant has the playful twists that M. Night Shyamalan’s productions are known for, it also deals with intimate family drama in the same way that The Haunting of Hill House did as one of Netflix’s best miniseries. In expanding the concept over several seasons’ time while still keeping itself confined to a remote location and fixed group of characters, Servant is also a perfect option for fans of MGM+’s From.

Servant is set within Shyamalan’s stomping grounds of Philadelphia, and focuses on the wealthy couple Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) and Sean Turner (Toby Kebbell) after the tragic death of their infant child, Jericho. In the midst of their grief, Dorothy acquires a life-like replica of Jericho and hires the nanny Leanne Grayson (Nell Tiger Free) to serve as a caretaker. The concept of Servant is inherently over-the-top, but it also revolves around a genuine response to familial tragedy that hits on the same notes that The Haunting of Hill House did with its exploration of sibling bonds. At the same time, Servant is a contemporary feat of folk horror that escalates in the way that From has, ensuring its scares don’t feel derivative.

‘Servant’ Is Horror Television Done Right

The most important decision that Servant makes is that the series treats its characters as real people and doesn't use them purely as audience surrogates. While a 90-minute slasher film could get away with using generic stock characters just so they can get tormented and maimed for the sake of horror, it is much harder to invest in a series if there is not something compelling about the leads. Much like The Haunting of Hill House, Servant depicts characters who are flawed, fallible people who have made unhealthy decisions as they respond to existential problems. Dorothy and Sean are both in high-profile professions in which they don’t have any true peers, and thus don’t have many people to open up to when talking about their grief; she is a news reporter on a local affiliate, and he is an in-demand chef. The family dynamic between them is further complicated by Dorothy’s brother, Julian Pearce (Rupert Grint), whose intentions to aid the situation spiral out of control as a result of his issues with alcoholism. Although Grint handles the addiction side of the role quite well, he also adds some necessary humor to the show, which is necessary when considering the dark material.

One of the most compelling aspects of From is that the series continues to spin out its mythology by recontextualizing the role that the town itself has played with the nocturnal terror, suggesting that the “coincidences” that occurred early on might not have been unanticipated. Servant succeeds in fleshing out the reasons why Leanne came to help the Turners in the first place through the addition of the Church of Lesser Saints cult, which allows the show to tap even deeper into its folk horror roots. Interesting guest stars have been a key to From’s success, and Servant has several compelling actors who appeared in brief seasonal roles; Boris McGiver brings a malevolent presence to the cult leader George, and Sunita Mani has strong chemistry in the third season as Veera, one of Julian’s more conspicuous love interests.

‘Servant’ Works Because of Its Constrained Storytelling

The freedoms of streaming television mean that shows can take any form that best suits the story that they are trying to tell, and Servant shows an understanding of its medium because the episodes are half-hour. Not only is it a rarity to see a half-hour drama series, but Servant is appropriately suited to shorter episodes because it focuses on the day-by-day reality of the Turners’ lives and examines the passage of time. The way that grief is processed for weeks, months, and years after tragedy is the guiding principle of the series, and it’s best observed by offering snapshots into different periods of their lives. That the show doesn’t feel the need to have any “filler” episodes also means that it has more incentive to constantly upend the status quo. It would be nearly impossible to predict where the show would end in its finale by what is set up in the pilot.

The biggest takeaway from shows like Servant, The Haunting of Hill House, and From is that horror television requires interesting vibes as much as it does visceral scares, as it is an unusual and intriguing tone that makes an audience buy into the supernatural. The Haunting of Hill House is a dour show that has nonetheless become a fall favorite among horror buffs, and From has successfully become a word-of-mouth hit that has racked up more viewers with each passing season. Servant was already a show that earned praise from its niche audience for the four seasons that it was on the air, but it’s also the type of hidden gem that is begging to be rediscovered.