The Haunting of Bly Manor

[Sarah]

Really enjoying this new series which features some of the cast from The Haunting of Hill House. The cast are superb and there are some quite chilling moments in it. Anyone else watching?

 

[thomaswak]

I am starting to watch it tonight.
I loved The Haunting Of Hill House. I love Flanagan's work.

 

[Crimson]

I watched the first two episodes of THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR and liked them; quietly atmospheric. It's not easy to do a slow build without being dull, but the season is developing nicely.

I was surprised to see Henry Thomas in the show because, apparently, I totally forgot he was in the first season. Which is a funny thing about Netflix shows: I enjoy them but rarely remember them. I don't recall a single specific thing about the first season other than knowing I enjoyed it.

 

[Sarah]

I watched the first two episodes of THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR and liked them; quietly atmospheric. It's not easy to do a slow build without being dull, but the season is developing nicely.

I was surprised to see Henry Thomas in the show because, apparently, I totally forgot he was in the first season. Which is a funny thing about Netflix shows: I enjoy them but rarely remember them. I don't recall a single specific thing about the first season other than knowing I enjoyed it.

Thank you! I have been calling him Elliott because I couldn't remember his real name Although he does seem to have modelled his English accent on Prince Charles...

 

[Alexis]

Initially I watched the first 4 episodes and threw in the towel because it was so slow. I watched the original THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, it was very chilling, scary and a bit like SIX FEET UNDER in hell. However with this new season I just found it achingly slow, and very, very un-scary. I found it dull...

Then a friend finished it and suggested I go back, as it wasn't meant to be like the first series was. It was a ghost story, yes, but it wasn't that same, jumpy classic horror kind of ghost story. Instead this version of the show is a love story, or a love story gone wrong. A sad tragic ghost story if you like. And that it was! I watched it all then, in one sitting I finished it. I am very glad I went back to it.
Just don't go into it expecting more of the same as HILL HOUSE. It's an anthology show, and this second season has a different flavor. It's still a ghost story, just a different kind. It did have me blubbing at the end, and not just any show can achieve that with me.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I've never been tempted to watch Hill House, and I'm steering clear of this blabla pseudo horrorbutreallylovestory rubbish.

 

[Sarah]

You're missing out our Willie! @Willie Oleson

 

[Crimson]

However with this new season I just found it achingly slow, and very, very un-scary. I found it dull...

I'm usually the most impatient person when it comes to shows that have slow pacing; by the second episode, I typically bail out. I'm not sure why sometimes my patience is more, well, patient. I'm six episodes in and, by my standards, not much as happened but there's a subtle feeling of foreboding and doomed romanticism that I'm enjoying. I'll admit that I wish it were scarier, or at least spookier, but I can enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Crimson]

Finished last night and enjoyed it, with a few minor reservations. The key here is to accept the title, in this case, refers more to the other definition of Haunting -- "poignant and evocative". As a romance, both mournful and reaffirming, it was quite effective; the day after, I find myself mentally sorting through not the plot details but the emotional resonance. I can't think of any other show that had that effect on me.

It doesn't all work, though. The time jumps ("dream hops") felt unnecessarily jumbled and the series as a whole seemed to go out of its way to avoid being frightening. One reviewer noted the season is too scared of being scary. Surely it could have been both evocative and eerie. I wonder how many viewers will being dissatisfied over the lack of genuine chills, even though the show, at the end, is unsubtle enough to have a character deliver the central thesis directly.

 

[Alexis]

It doesn't all work, though. The time jumps ("dream hops") felt unnecessarily jumbled and the series as a whole seemed to go out of its way to avoid being frightening. One reviewer noted the season is too scared of being scary. Surely it could have been both evocative and eerie.

I agree with this. If the previous season felt a bit SIX FEET UNDER at times, then this one felt like LOST at times with all the time jumps and weird ghostly therapy sessions that were a bit of a headf**k. The barely there music score which was just like random piano keys being struck in a minor key also made it feel very much like I was watching LOST flashbacks/flashforwards and flashsideways.

 

[thomaswak]

I finished it and LOVED it so much. And I feel haunted now, more than ever... By the ghosts of regrets, by the ghosts of the loved ones who are gone now. Love story? Ghost story? It 's the story of our lives...
Good thing is my friends told me it was really different than Hill House. So my mind was opened, and God I loved it from start to end. Episodes 5 & 8 are everything.

 

[Sarah]

I did really enjoy it but am glad I didn’t know it was a love story prior to watching. I like scary ghost stuff!!!!

I thought it was great and very clever. Loved the relationship between Jamie and Dani.

My one criticism is that Uncle Henry clearly modelled his accent on Prince Charles (it was too exaggerated) and as much as I think Carla G is a great actress, the casting of her as an older Jamie didn’t work for me. She looks nothing like her and her ‘odd word in a Yorkshire accent but otherwise not an English accent’ was terrible.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I've never been tempted to watch Hill House, and I'm steering clear of this blabla pseudo horrorbutreallylovestory rubbish.

But since I enjoyed Mike Flanagan's MIDNIGHT MASS so very much I figured it wouldn't hurt to check out the HAUNTING series - and I'm about to cancel my netflix subscription again therefore I got nothing to lose.
I've only watched the first two episodes, and as with Midnight Mass it appears that a lot of care and dedication went into the project.
The grounds are more atmospheric than the mansion and I remember thinking the same when I watched THE INNOCENTS.

The pace is steady (and that already starts with the woman who's going to tell the story) but that is to be expected from a movie padded out to 5 (6?) times its original running time.
Unless they'd do it like AMERICAN HORROR STORY with lots of sub-plots and wacky twists that stray too far from its original premise.
This is more like reading a book on television and I'm perfectly fine with that.
The intro is gorgeous and I have a soft spot for Victoria Pedretti and her "European actress" look. She's very good, actually, and the scene in which she's locked in the cupboard is genuinely terrifying. Good horror is often more about showing fear than the horrific whatever itself. ROSEMARY'S BABY was a great example of that.

So far so good, however, I'm confused about the language. Flora always sounds like a Lewis Caroll character even when she isn't putting on an act, and overall I get the impression that we're not supposed to forget that the story takes place in England. But does it really have to be so over the top? I mean, what could possibly justify the idea that British people talked like that back in 1987? It sounds more like THE FORSYTE SAGA from 1967.
Maybe the idea was to give it a more literary feel in order to complement the tone and setting of the movie, but to me it sounds as if a non-native British screenwriter has tried a little bit too hard to convey that.
It's to the credit of the cast that I'm willing to put with it, although at this point I'm not sure I'm going to finish watching the whole series.
I did like the part when the staircase is described as "not forgiving" and "brutal on the knees".

Oh yeah, and then there's Rebecca. I don't think of myself as someone who sees a "woke conspiracy" in everything, but considering the story and setting as a whole I found the choice for a black actress to be very...eh...noticeable. I don't think it's going to be a problem but it's yet another aspect of this series that expects me to go with the flow.
And for the record, I don't feel that way about the black Mrs. Grose at all. If anything, she was the first character that piqued my curiosity.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The theatrical dialogue seems to be toned down from episode 3 onwards, or maybe I got used to it or maybe it's because episodes 3 to 5 focus on the adults in the story.
There are many beautifully scripted scenes in it and it almost makes me forget that I'm watching a mystery thriller (of sorts). Actually I don't care how spooky or not it's going to be, I just want it to be good and I hope they keep it up in the next 5 episodes.
It's eerie enough for a ghost story and I don't need a scary creature jump scare every 5 minutes, I can find that in thousands of other horror movies.

 

[Willie Oleson]

and I hope they keep it up in the next 5 episodes

Somehow I thought it was going to be 10 episodes but it's only 9.

Ha! Turns out that Bly was haunted by one of the BITCH sisters. I absolutely loved that black & white episode.
The dream hops/memory tucks were delightfully disorientating and I think it captured both the despair and ruthlessness of ghosts trapped between two realities.

Everybody on the internet say that HILL HOUSE is better therefore I'm glad I've watched BLY first.
I don't think it was too slow or too long because I honestly don't know what part I'd like to see removed - and if they did (for a DVD release, for example) people would complain about the "horrible editing!".
I found it very addictive and binge-able and I hope Mr. Flanagan continues to make them.