Review: The Haunting of Bly Manor

In this review, Niamh considers whether Netflix’s latest horror/drama adaptation is a worthy follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House.

Warning: spoilers!  

What more could I have asked for this autumn than a spooky follow-up to Netflix’s spectacular adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House? Set in a different time period (thank god for 80s fashion) and revolving around a whole new set of characters, The Haunting of Bly Manor also adapts a different work of literature, channelling Henry James instead of Shirley Jackson. Despite these changes for Bly Manor, there remain some striking similarities between the two ghostly shows – a young woman haunted by the past ends up dying before her time, benevolent ghosts helping the living escape the malevolent ghosts, a seriously messed-up family living in the big, bad house – and not to mention how both managed to have me hooked for two-day long binge watches.

But what about the things that set Bly Manor apart from its predecessor? Whilst infused with the same sentimentality as Hill House, Bly Manor manages to step this up a notch by sacrificing jump-scares for a stronger concentration on the narrative plot, themes and character relationships. Hill House’s predominant theme (though not to diminish any of the incredible nuance about the show) is the echoing of the very haunted house, having the nightmare-inducing spirits following its characters around America, while Bly Manor makes it clear in the final episode that its purpose is not just to tell a ghost story – but to show that ghost stories and love stories are the same thing. Cue my tears.

And now, despite my disappointment at the lack of jump-scares, it would be wrong of me to claim that there was no horror factor at all in Bly Manor. Make no mistake, some spine-chilling moments from the show still occupy their own space in my head – and the one that continues to stand out to me is when Dani’s midnight walk around the manor is interrupted by the two children of Bly, Flora and Miles, claiming that Flora has had a nightmare. And then, as the camera focuses on Dani with her back to the house’s foyer, speaking to the two children, the Lake Lady, in the classic white night-gown, walks slowly across the background of the shot, in the true fashion of the ghosts from the background shots of Hill House. Every hair on the back of my neck must have stood up at that point.

Whether this is a credit or a criticism of the show, Bly Manor certainly required more brain activity on my half than Hill House. If I looked away for even half a second I was sure to lose a vital piece of plot information, and by the time “dream-hopping” and being “tucked away” started to be explained, my mind was ready to burst. Though it may have taken many episodes and confused questions from my friends for me to understand entirely what was happening at Bly, I definitely felt as proud as if I’d cracked a secret code when I did.

And despite my doubts about how the show would wrap up their final episode when it seemed to be finishing about fifteen minutes in, I must say the show did end beautifully, managing to squeeze as many tears out of me as the finale of Hill House did. Will Netflix ever let me and my emotions rest? It seems unlikely, but at least Dani and Jamie still lived many happy years together, and I got to enjoy many hours watching them.  

• horror
• Netflix
• spooky szn
• tv review