The Haunting of Bly Manor

The Haunting of Bly Manor is the second Mike Flanagan project we watched after absolutely loving the Haunting of Hill House. This series is slightly shorter than Hill House at 9 episodes all an hour long. Bly Manor took what we loved from Hill House and put it on steroids from the lighting to the camera work. Flanagan's directorial style makes the horror genre something incredible.

The story follows an ensemble cast of characters all haunted in their own way. What really takes this story to the next level is these creepy little kids. Miles and Flora lost their parents and their au pair and now are being possessed by ghosts of people that they once trusted. Their new au pair, Dani is also being haunted by the ghost of her ex fiance, though that was done away with pretty early and it kind of seems like a last minute addition to the story. I don’t really mind that because it did give understanding to her character and that's really the most important part of storytelling. Then we have the kids' uncle…or at least that's how they know him. He is actually Flora’s father because he had an affair with his brother's wife for actual years. He now neglects the children because he’s being haunted by the worst version of himself. And of course we have the house staff. Hannah, Owen and Jamie. Jamie becomes Dani’s love interest, Hannah is the live-in housekeeper and also a ghost tied to the property, she died the day that Dani arrived. Owen is the cook that loves the kids and clearly has romantic interest in Hannah…too bad she’s dead. And last but not least we have Peter and Rebecca, the most toxic and disturbing couple I’ve ever seen that are the ghosts that are possessing the kids.

The best part of this show is the way that Flanagan uses subtle movements and camerawork. This show is 10X creepier than Hill House was because of how he uses subtle movements. There are several scenes in just the first couple of episodes where we are looking at a character leave a room and then as soon as that character does leave there is a subtle movement from a seemingly inanimate object. It's extremely creepy and does a great job of filling your body with dread. Flanagan and his cinematographers (Maxime Alexandre, and James Kniest) do an incredible job of using the camera work to make the audience feel uneasy. They use lots of long shots, which I love because lots of cuts are lazy and tell me that you don’t trust your actors to do their jobs. And they use a lot of subtle zooms to make you feel like something is about to happen, even if there’s not. It gives the audience a very unsettled feeling which is exactly what you should feel when watching a horror show.

Overall I think the story is very personal which will always make a story better. The story is creepy and brutal and that was executed so well. The casting is absolutely fantastic, Mike Flanagan is great at finding people that are good at portraying what it's like to be completely unhinged. He, like most directors, found actors that he likes and sticks with them. You will recognize a lot of faces in this cast from The Haunting of Hill House. The quiet kind of creepiness that these shows bring seems to be Flanagan’s specialty and it is very impressive. From someone that watches and has watched a lot of horror movies, The Haunting of Bly Manner is an insane and incredible addition to some of the best horror that exists.