‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ review: Reads like a different ghost story

The Haunting of Bly Manor begins without any cold open introductions. It goes straight to the opening credits – portraits of the main characters are hung on the walls coupled with a haunting music box rendition of “O Willow Waly,” the lullaby that becomes a recurring theme throughout the series. As the credits go on, the main characters’ features fade into faceless beings, a symbol of a plot line that is to come. 

A wedding sets the story into course, as an unnamed guest joins an engagement party and interrupts another guest mid-toast. But by the looks of the surprise exchange of glances, these two may have had their lives entwined in the past. The party reverie soon dies down and the remaining guests gather by the fireplace. The unnamed guest, a lady, offers to tell a story – a ghost story – about a friend she once knew, two children, the house staff, and the ghosts that come along for the ride. 

Heavily inspired by Henry James’s gothic horror novella The Turn of the Screw, this second installment tells the experience of Dani, a former American schoolteacher who applies to be an au pair to two children who reside in the countryside town of Bly and its eponymously named manor, a classic type of residence that is ripe for the haunting. Dani is joined by Hannah Grose, the housekeeper, Owen, the chef, and Jaime, the gardener. The story also sees the return of the Hill House alums as completely different characters. 

Director Mike Flanagan helmed both stories with different treatments, its only common ground being family. Hill House was about a family of five whose haunting experiences were born out of trauma living in the eponymous house, and were brought together by a tragic event to conquer their fears once more. Bly Manor, on the other hand, rooted characters in the same place put forth by a force that blatantly refuses to let go of the past and to accept fate. 

So it is unfair to compare both anthologies, and basing it on scare tactics alone is too shallow a constituent for a horror show to be good.

Hill House used the horror plot devices to its advantage brilliantly, using the instinctive reaction of audiences and turning it on its head, eliciting much more terrifying results for both the audience and the characters. The show also centers on the house as the main antagonist, and puts more blame on the essence of the residence more than the characters. Steven Crain, the eldest of the Crain siblings and one of the house’s former residents, narrates at the beginning of the show that ‘no live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality […] Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

On the other hand, Bly Manor welcomes with a strong storytelling premise, coupled with the occasional narration of the unnamed party guest. It is a traditional approach, as she even starts from the beginning, whereas Hill House begins at the end. The narration done by the party guest is an art in itself, as she weaves the story laced with intentional rhythm and poetic effect (watch out for “Sleeping. Waking. Walking,” three words with a hypnotic beat that uneasily creeps in when repeated several times).

The scares are much less, and deliberately so, because director Mike Flanagan never intends to look at the surface of horror, which is to frighten. It’s much too short-term. His strength is obvious in terror that lingers, the terror that stays.  

As a horror-averse person myself, I am proud to say that I have survived two ‘Haunting’ anthologies – Hill House, released in 2018, and the recently dropped Bly Manor. Both left me feeling spooked but in different ways. One was obviously more terrifying than the other, no doubt, but it only goes to prove that Flanagan presents horror in unique treatments that are tied together by a single common denominator: purpose.

I have always admired his way of storytelling ever since that unbearable two weeks of leaving the light on before sleeping – an effect of catching Hill House, I’m afraid. He brings these spirited tales to life with purposeful storytelling, where each element has a reason why it belongs, and leaves not one plot device out. He is indeed a clever devil with his details, and the feelings, the experiences the characters go through carry on to the audience member, and even lays heavily for some. 

Bly Manor is character strong, utilizing the intricately weaved individual journeys to push the story further. Some stories fall flat when using this device, but Flanagan thrives in his choice. The harrowing personalities of the Bly Manor children Flora (Amelie Smith) and Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) are brilliantly executed and so well done, and their unsettling facades leave one at constant unease, especially with their muted actions, their ominous presence and the choices they make (or forced to make). 

Adding some melancholic adroitness are the adults who provide support to the strong young leads – Hannah Grose (T’Nia Miller), the housekeeper whose mind fleets as constantly as her presence and is one of my personal favorites throughout the series, Owen (Rahul Kohli), the chef whose puns add about a light air to the otherwise brooding environment and whose kind heart speaks only of wise words, and Jamie (Amelia Eve), the sharp-tongued gardener who provides solace to Dani (Victoria Pedretti), the au pair who carries a ghost and a “beast of the jungle” of her own. 

The episode editing is much more traditional horror, with expected shocks and the occasional jump scares (sinister single beats, anyone?), but it does away with most to tell the story, and a love story ends up in the mix. It is less snappy and much more rich in content, but whenever snappy editing is needed, it is done seamlessly with an intention to have the audience member visually “read between the lines.”

Hannah’s character episode is the best one out of the series for me, especially in the way it muddles the mind and yet ends on a very satisfying note. 

The series was enjoyable in itself, a watch that kept me intrigued the whole way through. Flanagan adapts unique storytelling devices to present each character study differently, and as the series builds up to the finale, it has never disappointed me at any level. It still left me having the lights on for bedtime and an uneasy sleep that may carry on for a while, but such a sacrifice is so much worth it for brilliantly told storytelling. I am just curious as to how the third anthology will come. And if that time does arrive, I will be leaving the light on, waiting for it.  – Rappler.com

The Haunting of Bly Manor is streaming on Netflix