Series Review: "The Haunting of Bly Manor" (2020).

"From the creator of The Haunting of Hill House" comes The Haunting of Bly Manor. This Gothic romance drama series, created by Mike Flanagan and loosely based on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. It is the follow-up series to The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and the second entry in The Haunting anthology series. Dead doesn't mean gone. An au pair plunges into an abyss of chilling secrets in this gothic romance.

In late February 2019, Netflix announced a follow-up series to Hill House entitled The Haunting of Bly Manor, loosely based on James' 1898 horror classic. Though it would serve as a follow-up series to Hill House, it is a standalone story, indicating that there would be "no dramatic link between The Haunting of Bly Manor and its predecessor." Although the prominent source for the adaptation is The Turn of the Screw, the season also adapts (some more loosely) multiple James works, some of which had never been adapted previously, including The Romance of Certain Old Clothes and The Jolly Corner. By late September 2019, Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Greg Sestero, Lynda Boyd, and Alex Essoe were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late February 2020. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The series stars Pedretti, Jackson-Cohen, Thomas, Siegel, Gugino, Kohli, Sestero, Boyd, and Essoe. The cast brilliantly showcased relatable characters trying their best to conquer demonstrable villainy inside the house and inside themselves.

A cinematic masterpiece of the small screen. One of the best Netflix original shows out there, and my favorite horror experience in recent years. It's atmospheric, with a nearly consistent undertone of dread, peppered with just the right amount of jump scares to spice things. Yet, at its heart, the series is much more than a ghost story. Another achievement of Flanagan's vision is that the series never really feels overbearing or long - each episode is crafted to keep the audience engaged and on their toes with existential dream looming around every corner. The series rewards those who aren't afraid to confront their own ghosts, those bumps in the past that still linger, and head back to where it all began. It's absolutely worth booking a room. Classical, but innovative, precious in the visual but without more squeamishness than necessary, Flanagan distances himself from the cinematic trends with a series full of interesting details. The show's exploration of collective and individual grief, while often moving, can also feel a little trite and glib. Still, this is an unusually earnest attempt to look at emotional trauma within a horror setting. A really cool concept win which no one ever really talks about what happens to people after the haunted houses, the anxiety and the trauma. It is so cool to watch, and I love the way it bounces back and forth. Flanagan puts together a project that pulses with an eerie but naturalistic vibe, further concurring that horror can not only be great, but it can be fantastic.

Simon says The Haunting of Bly Manor receives:

Also, see my review for The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep.