Apparitions, black hares and time warps festoon the pages of Elizabeth Hand’s “A Haunting on the Hill,” set in the same moldering mansion as Shirley Jackson’s classic horror novel.

The stark, high-contrast black-and-white photography also plays a heavy role in establishing the film’s mood. Wise had worked in color before — most famously, two years prior, with West Side ...

There are small echoes of Jackson's novel here, but Elizabeth Hand's book is its own thing — even if it constantly pays homage to its celebrated predecessor, The Haunting of Hill House.

It isn’t surprising, then, that Elizabeth Hand’s novel, “A Haunting on the Hill,” the first authorized novel set in the world of Jackson’s Hill House, would be an exciting and risky venture.