Review: The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

 Series Review: The Haunting of Bly Manor

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 9

Description: 

Dead doesn't mean gone. An au pair plunges into an abyss of chilling secrets in this gothic romance from the creator of "The Haunting of Hill House."

Many horror fans had been waiting for The Haunting of Bly Manor after the great succes of The Haunting of Hill House. The latest series has many similarities to the first one, the same writers and producers and some of the cast. Yet, they are two totally different series.

Both series aren't chronological and use flashbacks to tell their stories. I am a huge fan of both the first and second series because of the good story, quality and acting. Horror fans know, the genre has only few really good movies and shows. Most of what you find in the horror category has either bad acting, low budget or a predictable, unoriginal story. Bly Manor has all the good stuff, great actors and an original story.

An au pair gets tasked with the care of two orphaned children and experiences abnormalities during her stay at Bly Manor. This might sound like your average horror story but as the plot twists and unfolds, the viewer realizes, nothing is as it seems.

I was pleased to see actors from the first series returning, I was surprised and impressed by the English accent Oliver Jackson-Cohen presented, as I hadn't heard it in Hill House. Although the second series is set in an earlier time than the first, the writers managed to include lesbianism again and portrayed the relationship between the two women as very wholesome and loving.

I was not too enthusiastic about one episode, which reveals the history of the house. The fact that they deidicated a whole episode to it, in the midst of the tension of the main story, was annoying as I just wanted to know what was going to happen in the main story. I understand, that it was necessary but in my opinion, that part could have been a bit shorter.

The plot is very complicated, the first few episodes are somewhat easy to understand and suspicions rise. Further on, it gets a lot more complicated with flashbacks and memories, making it difficult to determine what is real and the present. At the end, everything gets untangled beautifully, answering all of the questions that came to mind.

In conclusion, a very well-made series. Apart from that one less interesting episode, it kept my attention quite well but I have heard from others, that they lost the will to watch when all they got was more questions instead of answers. My advice is to not give up and keep watching! All the questions will be answered, and if some questions remain don't hesitate to ask me.

I recommend this series to anyone who likes the horror genre and to those, who like a challenge of the mind. Fans of plottwists. like one of the most well-known plottwists in Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, won't be disappointed!

Rating

The Haunting of Bly Manor gets the rating Dungeon Material!

Exciting, thrilling and intense, like a proper dungeon session ;)

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