Look, I wasn’t planning to spend my entire Wednesday afternoon glued to Netflix’s “True Haunting,” but the first case had me genuinely hooked—and then the second one almost put me to sleep. When a paranormal docuseries produced by James Wan can’t even keep its momentum through five episodes, we need to talk about what went wrong.
Here’s the thing about “True Haunting”: it’s a tale of two completely different shows crammed into one season. One story had me sitting on the edge of my couch thinking about Ed and Lorraine Warren refusing to shake someone’s hand (seriously, imagine that nightmare). The other had me wondering if I should just call it quits and take the dog out for that walk I’d been putting off.
What “True Haunting” Actually Is
For those who haven’t checked it out yet, “True Haunting” is structured as a hybrid documentary—part talking-head interviews with the actual people who experienced these hauntings, part high-production dramatizations that honestly look like they could’ve been pulled from a legit horror film. James Wan’s Atomic Monster production company is behind it, and you can definitely feel his signature style throughout, even though he didn’t direct any episodes himself.
The series covers two separate cases across its five episodes: “Eerie Hall” (episodes 1-3) and “This House Murdered Me” (episodes 4-5). Each story is self-contained, so you could theoretically watch them as standalone documentary features if you wanted.
“Eerie Hall” – The One That Actually Worked
The first three episodes focus on Chris DiCesare, a college student at SUNY Geneseo back in 1984 who becomes convinced something supernatural is stalking him in his dorm. What immediately grabbed me was how this case tied into the legendary Ed and Lorraine Warren—yes, THE Warrens from The Conjuring franchise.
The setup is genuinely creepy: the Warrens come to campus for a lecture on the paranormal, and when Chris approaches Lorraine afterward, she straight-up refuses to shake his hand. Can you imagine? That alone would send me running for the hills. The dramatized scenes are well-crafted, and each episode ends on a cliffhanger that kept me clicking “next episode” even though I knew I should probably get some sleep.
What I appreciated most about “Eerie Hall” was how it built tension across nearly two hours. The pacing felt deliberate, the interviews with Chris and others who were there added credibility, and the production quality made it feel cinematic rather than like your typical paranormal TV show. Director Neil Rawles did solid work here, blending the documentary elements with dramatizations seamlessly enough that you get pulled into Chris’s increasingly terrifying experience.
That said, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. After all that buildup—the Warren connection, the escalating paranormal activity, the genuine fear you see in Chris’s eyes as he recounts these events—the resolution just sort of… fizzled. I won’t spoil it, but I expected something more definitive or at least more dramatic after investing three episodes in this guy’s nightmare. It’s like watching a thriller where the final act doesn’t quite deliver the payoff the first two acts promised.
“This House Murdered Me” – Where It Lost Me
Then we get to episodes 4 and 5, focusing on April Miller and Matt Wilson, a couple who bought their dream home in Salt Lake City only to have it turn into a living nightmare. This storyline only gets two episodes (about 80 minutes total), which already tells you something about the pacing issues.
I’m going to be honest: this one felt boring. Maybe it’s haunted house fatigue—we’ve all seen countless stories of families moving into homes with dark pasts—or maybe the storytelling just didn’t work as well. The interviews with April and Matt didn’t draw me in the way Chris’s did in “Eerie Hall.” The dramatizations reminded me of elements from The Conjuring, but without that same spark of originality.
Director Luke Watson tried to make it work, and there were a few genuinely unsettling moments, but overall it felt like we were retreading familiar territory without bringing anything fresh to the table. The case itself might have been compelling in real life, but the way it was presented here just didn’t land for me. By the second episode, I found myself checking my phone more than I’d like to admit.
The conclusion to their story follows the predictable pattern: family traumatized, forced to move multiple times, lasting psychological impact. It’s the same ending you’ve seen in every paranormal documentary, and while I’m glad their family made it through intact, it didn’t leave much of an impression.
The James Wan Factor
Let’s talk about James Wan’s involvement. He’s not directing here—he’s producing through Atomic Monster—but his influence is definitely felt. The cinematography has that moody, shadow-heavy aesthetic Wan perfected in films like The Conjuring and Insidious. The dramatizations use his signature moves: slow tracking shots, sudden jolts, that sense of dread building in ordinary spaces.
It’s clear the directors either received hands-on guidance from Wan or studied his work extensively. For horror fans, that attention to visual storytelling is probably the series’ strongest asset. These aren’t cheap reenactments with terrible actors in bad lighting. The production values are genuinely impressive, making “True Haunting” feel more premium than your typical paranormal docuseries.
How It Compares to Other Paranormal Docs
If you’ve watched Netflix’s “Haunted” series, “True Haunting” is definitely a step up in production quality. “Haunted” had some compelling stories but often felt uneven in execution. Here, even when the stories don’t fully work (looking at you, “This House Murdered Me”), the technical execution is solid.
The format itself—combining talking-head interviews with high-quality dramatizations—isn’t revolutionary. Shows like “Paranormal Witness” pioneered this approach years ago. But what “True Haunting” does well is making those dramatized segments feel less like cheap TV reenactments and more like excerpts from actual horror films. That Wan touch makes a difference.
The Verdict
Would I recommend “True Haunting”? It depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re a paranormal documentary completist or a James Wan fan curious to see his style applied to real-life horror stories, then yeah, give it a shot. The “Eerie Hall” episodes alone make it worth checking out, especially if the Ed and Lorraine Warren connection intrigues you.
But go in with measured expectations. This isn’t going to revolutionize the paranormal documentary genre, despite what some of the hype suggests. It’s a well-made series with one compelling case and one forgettable one. The five-episode structure means you’re not committing to a massive time investment—you can knock it out in an evening.
My biggest takeaway? “True Haunting” works best when it focuses on building atmosphere and letting the witnesses tell their stories without over-explanation. When it leans too hard into familiar haunted house tropes (as in “This House Murdered Me”), it loses what makes these real-life accounts interesting: the messy, unexplainable terror that doesn’t fit neatly into horror movie logic.
Final Rating: 3/5 stars
Watch “Eerie Hall,” maybe skip “This House Murdered Me” unless you’re really invested, and remember that sometimes real-life hauntings are scarier in the living room than on screen.
True Haunting is currently streaming on Netflix.
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