“The Haunting of Bly Manor” Netflix Series Review by Brooke Daugherty
October 31, 2020 11:06 am |
Mike Flannagan’s second entry into Netflix’s The Haunting anthology, The Haunting of Bly Manor, is more gothic romance than straight gothic horror. This time, The Haunting of Hill House creator/writer/director Flannagan adapts Henry James’ novel, The Turn of the Screw into a modern ghost story. By “modern” I actually mean the story is moved 89 years in the future to 1987.
This time around, Flannagan only directed and wrote the first episode in the series. The remaining episodes were all written by new writers to the series, including Flannagan’s brother James, who has previously collaborated with Mike as an actor. No more than two episodes were helmed by the same director: Ciarán Foy, Liam Gavin, plus Yolanda Ramke & Ben Howling directing six of nine.
Flannagan did not disappoint when it came bringing back actors he previously worked with. Victoria Pedretti from The Haunting of Hill House plays American governess Danielle “Dani” Clayton, who leaves her troubles in the states to work in England. Pedretti gives a different performance than the one in Hill House, more due to the characters’ personalities and state of mind than one being better. Also returning is Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Peter Quint, a smooth talking Scot working for the children’s uncle Henry Wingrave. He too plays a much different character and in my opinion, gives a better performance in Bly. His employer, Henry Wingrave, is played by returning actor, Henry Thomas. Here the American actor embodies Mark Gatiss’ version of Mycroft Holmes for the English aristocrat Wingrave. Carla Gugino shows up as The Storyteller, narrating the tale while brandishing a generic British accent that wafts in and out of Irish. Finally, we have Kate Siegel and Catherine Parker returning as a pair of sisters in a flashback.
Amelia Eve enchants as Bly Manor’s gardener Jamie, so much so, that I want to see what else she has done. Equally as enthralling is housekeeper Hannah Grose played by T’Nia Miller. The subtlety of her performance is lovely and makes her intense scenes more powerful. Rahul Kohli is absolutely charming as Owen Sharma, Bly Manor cook. He has a role in Flannagan’s next series for Netflix and I am excited to see what he brings. The Wingrave children, Flora and Miles, are played by Amelie Bea Smith and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth respectively. Both children do well with the heavy subject matter and demanding performances. Rounding out the Flannagan newbies, is Tahirah Sharif as Rebecca Jessel, the previous governess we meet in flashbacks.
If you are looking for The Haunting of Hill House Part Two, you might not be satisfied with this series. Both are tales of haunted homes and families, but Bly is more a story of relationships with a backdrop of ghosts than the ghost story affecting the relationships in a family. For the most part, the episodes of Bly are on par with Hill House, but the momentum of the show is stunted in episode 8, with a black and white backstory. Although the episode is well done and has some great scenes, it is unnecessary with the rest of the story. That could be because it is based on a Henry James short story, “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” which also lends its name to the episode. It would have been better to have been bonus material. Like being able to watch the Ring video or the Blair Witch fake documentary that aired before its release.
There were so many things to like in this series. The cast is more diverse than Hill House in both actors and characterizations. Being set in the 80s, we do get some gender roll bullshit, but for the most part, that does not take away from the story. Unfortunately, an overarching theme and the very end did not hit for me. Since there were parts of the overall story I think could have been better, I cannot give it a Tupperware. I do recommend watching if you enjoyed Hill House or similar films/series. Maybe skip episode 8 the first time around and go back to it later.
Review by Brooke Daugherty
PCL Rating: High Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
Tags: Mike Flanagan, Netflix TV, pop culture leftovers, supernatural, Television Review, The Haunting of Bly Manor 2020 Netflix, thriller, TV Review
Categorised in: Television Reviews
This post was written by Leftover Brian
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