If you are a huge fan of anything spooky you have probably heard of or seen the Netflix Original Series, Haunting of Hill House. The show not only was a hit among scary movie lovers but also drew in new audiences with its compelling plot and cliff-hanging episodes. After two long years of waiting to see what the series will do next, the 2nd season, “The Haunting of Bly Manor” has finally come out when we all needed it the most. While the actors and filming styles are similar to the original season, the second season gives us a whole new reason to keep one eye open at night. Let’s see how they compare.
Characters
Both the Haunting of Hill House and the Haunting of Bly Manor both revolve around a young family growing up in a haunted house. In the Hill House, the series focused on when the family is grown up with flashbacks to their time as kids in the house while Bly Manor primarily takes place when the kids are young. While the kids in Hill House are sweet and cute they grow up to be deeply flawed characters. All of the adult characters in the original series are deeply complicated making the audience love and hate them at the same time. On the other hand, the characters in Bly Manor are far more lovable with some major exceptions. The main workers of the home like Hannah Grose, Jamie, Owen, and of the main character of the series, Dani are all characters you can’t help but root for throughout the series.
Spook
Bly Manor follows in Hill House’s eerie footsteps by always having ghosts and figures lurking around in the corners of the screen. They really know how to put dead space to work. However, overall I don’t think the spook levels measured up to the original. Maybe as a huge fan of the original series, I have become familiar with how the show tries to scare the audience but for some reason, the ghosts in the new season didn’t leave me sleeping with a night light. While the glowing glasses man and the lady of the lake definitely startled me in their first couple appearances, I don’t think anything can compare to the creepiness of the Bent-Neck Lady in the original series.
Plot
The plots of the two seasons are hard to compare because they’re both brilliant. Like the original, Bly Manor leaves you wanting more after every episode, effectively helping you binge-watch the season before the end of the spooky season. Both of the seasons have several episodes that are a collection of subplots that all contribute to a larger plot. I love this structure of show because it always leaves you going “Ooohh now I see!” once you finally put the pieces together. The series is making itself known for suspenseful build-ups to the climax and endings that will leave you with a bittersweet feeling.