Jump to content
IGNORED

The Haunting of Bly Manor

JohnC

By JohnC
in Film, TV & Radio

 Share

Recommended Posts

JohnC

JohnC

Posted
Posted

The follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House

 

The Haunting of Bly Manor is set in 80s England. Some actors returning in different roles. Coming on 9 October.


 

Quote

 

The next chapter of The Haunting anthology series from The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy, The Haunting of Bly Manor is set in 1980s England. After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor.


They are joined there by the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve), and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
James Lyon

James Lyon

Posted
Posted
On 31/08/2020 at 14:37, wev said:

I really liked Hill House, though it wasn't half as scary as it was made out to be. I read the book shortly afterwards and that went to some weird places.

 

It was scary enough, I thought. It at least had one of the best jump scares around.

 

I hope this new show has some new ideas. Those tricks they pulled in the first to evoke that creepy, unsettling atmosphere will be a bit more obvious a second time around if they do it again. 

1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Uncle Mike

Uncle Mike

Posted
Posted

I've just watched episode 5 of this. It's the one so far, that's most tried to recapture some of the craft I enjoyed in the Hill House series, but it's still a little ways off.

 

Overall, I'm really enjoying this. I haven't read the source material, but if Hill House was anything to go by, it's presumably more of a starting point than an adaptation.

 

So far, it hasn't reached the same highs of fear or in craft. But I'm certainly spellbound enough.

2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SweatyTravolta

SweatyTravolta

Posted
Posted

I've found it really hard to get into. Just nothing about any of the characters is grabbing my interest. I'm only up to episode three, which was infinitely more interesting than the last two, as the characters in the past have a bit more intrigue about them. I've got faith in them pulling it off but at the moment it's as scary as an episode of Downton Abbey.

2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Stig

Stig

Posted
Posted

On episode 4 so far and its a little dull compared to Hill House. There's very little horror so far. I have my theories about stuff though

 

Spoiler

Hannah's a ghost, Owen and Jamie possibly too, but Hannah definitely.

 

Quint is cleary dead and haunting the house and possessing Miles

 

Flora can see and hear Rebecca (hense the looks over Dani's shoulder)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Uncle Mike

Uncle Mike

Posted
Posted

Finished it tonight. These will be spoilers that I won't be able to differentiate for those halfway through.

 

tldr; I still really enjoyed it, but I don't think it reaches the same level as Hill House.

 

Spoiler

Gugino's slow journey towards that northern accent just didn't work, and rather revealed the framing earlier than it could have.

 

Hannah, Owen and Jamie were all great characters, really strongly acted. Siegel continues to be great in everything I watch her in, and I thought Peter Quint was a great villain throughout. The Uncle and his ghost were compelling viewing.

 

The kids, the girl especially, mostly did a great job.

 

I felt like it lost a bit of pace cleaning everything up in the historical episode.

 

Flanagan's desire to leave everything feeling nice and comfy and uplifting perhaps takes away from things a little? I don't leave them unsettled, I leave them feeling emotional.

 

 I really bought into Dani and Jamie's love story, and Owen/Hannah. So I was a little bit in bits at the ends.

 

There wasn't anything in the new series that, for me, scaled the same height as the funeral episode from Hill House. Or some of the other pinnacle moments.

 

For the most part, I like his repeat cast team. All except Nell/Dani, who either doesn't get enough to do, or can't sell them to me.

3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
DeciderVT

DeciderVT

Posted
Posted

Carla Gugino's accent is bewildering. Started off almost Irish, occasionally nails a sentence or two in something bordering upper class English and then she slips into sounding like she's from Yorkshire. All within two episodes. Couldn't they have hired someone from the UK to do the voiceover instead?

3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Monkeyspill

Monkeyspill

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Charliemouse said:

It really annoys me you can tell it wasn’t filmed in England as well, as the look of the show just looks wrong to me.

They do that thing where, whenever there’s a short scene on a London street - just to make sure you know it’s London - they make sure there’s a red phone box in the background (far too shiny and immaculate to be the real piss-stinking thing) and a red Routemaster bus goes past.

1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Popo

Popo

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Uncle Mike said:

Quint's accent, astonishingly, was more or less the most convincing of the lot! (Although I do say this from England.) Gugino and Thomas really needed more coaching.


As a Glaswegian I found it to be generally fine, but I could tell he wasn’t a True Highlander (Scotch Person).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SweatyTravolta

SweatyTravolta

Posted
Posted

Watched episode 4 and like others have mentioned around the same point, it feels like it's improving, if not as good as the previous series. One observation though, Camp Cretaceous, the teen based animated series based around the events of Jurassic World, has so far been more suspenseful than this adult horror show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
revol

revol

Posted
Posted

Finished this last night. It's...interesting. And to avoid anything too spoilery...
 

Spoiler

 

I felt sad at the end. Disheartened. Not by the show, just, a sad story. Made me think of the past, the missing, and the mistakes. It's a love story but I think hits a few deeper levels. Just, yeah. Sad.

 

It was a bit of a 6 or 7/10 for me, mainly due to the fact I didn't connect to the characters as much as I would have liked and the acting wasn't always 'perfectly splendid'. Aside from old punny chef, he rocked.

 

Going in to this thinking of it as a sequel to Hill House is unavoidable, and also it's downfall. It's a nice story and probably would feel refreshing without Hill House casting the shadow over it. Episode 8 was an episode or two late for me, and the finale just felt accelerated to the conclusion. Which in itself was tragic and satisfying in equal proportions despite the rush.

 

If I side-by sided it to Hill House, it's no where near as gripping. On it's own though, I was keen to watch the next one and it did keep me interested.

 

The waffle above probably says it all. It's a mixed bag and I can't really fall on the good or bad side in terms of a review. It's a decent watch, it's got it's moments, but yeah, still on my mind and probably worth a re-watch. 

 

 

2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jamin

Jamin

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Stigweard said:

Episode 6 is boring me to tears and that monologue by Jamie...fuuuuck me that was draining. Who speaks like that?

We watched this episode tonight. I genuinely phased out for about 5 minutes and still it was going on. 

 

Jamie is bloody annoying. I hope she's dead. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept