The Haunting of Bly Manor - Review

“Perfectly splendid” – A review of The Haunting of Bly Manor. 

There’s nothing like a good Netflix series to lose yourself in during the spookiest month of the year, and The Haunting of Bly Manor is one of the best I’ve seen. Loosely based on the Henry James classic novella “The Turn of the Screw” and set in the English countryside in the 1980s, The Haunting of Bly Manor blends together several ghostly tales creating an atmospheric and poignant haunted drama. Considered the spiritual successor to the brilliant The Haunting of Hill House, this is another absolutely fantastic Netflix gothic horror series perfect for Halloween viewing.

The narrative focusses on Dani Clayton, an American Au Pair who has been hired to look after two orphaned children, Flora and Miles, at Bly Manor. As Dani becomes settled in her new environment, she begins to realise there is something very wrong about the manor and the land it sits on. Secretive, forbidden rooms, ghostly apparitions and erratic behaviour from the children begin to surface, and as the story blends together present events and flashbacks, the tragic backstory of Bly Manor is revealed.

This is genuinely one of the most atmospheric series I’ve ever watched. Special effects are subtle yet effective, the colour palette is muted which helps to create a sense of unease, and the cinematography takes full advantage of the misty lakes and dark, shadowy corridors of the manor. Don’t expect jump scares here; this is a series which has mastered tension, and the gradual pacing allows the sense of foreboding to build over time.

Much like The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor isn’t simply just a haunted house story. It deals with difficult subjects such as guilt and grief, as well as the ways in which both romantic and familial love can change everything. This is a truly emotional rollercoaster of a series, as it shows how trauma can haunt a person just as effectively as any spectral spirit.

This is a really character driven series, which I love. The child actors, Amelie Bea Smith and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, are particular stand outs to me; despite their young ages, they deliver powerful, complex and often deeply unsettling performances as the orphans. Using children in horror is something that’s been done countless times (the twins from The Shining come to mind), but this is a particularly powerful example of just how creepy children can be.

Other characters, such as the Jamie the gardener, help to bring humanity, warmth and sometimes comedic relief to what is generally a very dark show, and this helps to ground the supernatural and brings added believability. This is so important to me in gothic horror; yes, I want to see ghosts and I want to be scared, but if I can’t suspend my belief, I am not going to get freaked out.

I would say that Bly Manor isn’t as scary as Hill House was. It does blend the gothic with the dramatic, and I found it to be more tense than actually scary. With that said though, it more than makes up for it by approaching the genre in a more literary sense, and the emotional and heartfelt story line is incredibly easy to get invested in. Ultimately, this is a show which is less chilling but way more hopeful, and one that I greatly enjoyed and would highly recommend.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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