After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose.
Mike Flanagan is back at it again with a haunting story which is loosely based on the 1898 horror novella The Turn of the Screw. As it acts as season 2 of the Haunting anthology, Bly Manor's narrative is not connected with Hill House, but most of it's cast members are, similar to American Horror Story.
What is also shared is the narrative tactic of going back and forward with past and present story arcs, involving not only lovely memories, but also moments of grief and loss for pretty much all of the involved characters.
It's a slow burn for most of the ride, and up until Episode 5, the story is easily followed and understood, but then more of the strange and grim events start happening. Not only just the scares from the various presences keep happening, but characters are also starting to merge into the good and bad memories of others.
This is when things really started getting disorienting in regards to time, status and identity, but after a few more episodes, the narrative manages to explain most that is deemed unnatural or illogical. Dream hopping is also coined at one point, and the metaphor of having to use different keys to open different doors.
The possessions, the traumas and the thrills are also present. The Haunting of Bly Manor is both a love and a ghost story, with a scary climax awaiting. Perhaps not so memorable or as scary as Hill House, but Bly Manor makes up for that with a different kind of impressive story to be told. And yes, hidden background ghosts return, and I was unable to see or notice any of them!
All is Perfectly Splendid.
Rating: 7.5
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