This article will not spoil any major plot elements of The Haunting of Bly Manor.
It has been two years since we met the Crain family in The Haunting of Hill House and fell into their lives for a few hours, living with them through their heartbreaks as they relive the trauma of their brief time living in the haunted house that destroyed their family. Finally, the follow-up has arrived in the form of The Haunting of Bly Manor, with a new story and family: the Wingraves.
If you are expecting another Hill House, full of tense, heart-pounding scenes, don’t. There are similarities (and a few returning actors in new roles), but this is a very different story and standalone from its predecessor. It delivers the same emotional gut-punches, but the tension is in different places. I would even hesitate to call this a horror because, despite its horror elements, it has fewer jump scares and ghostly attacks than Hill House. This is because, like its predecessor, the show is not about ghosts. It’s about people and the things we do to each other.
This story focuses much less on a family of siblings and parents, but rather on the concept of found family and choosing who to keep in your life. It examines ideas of agency, of how some people confuse love with possession, and how to keep living when you lose the people most dear to you. It builds to a beautiful, climactic final few episodes, but viewers should beware that it is a slow burn to that climax. Don’t be put off by that, though, the wait is worth it.
I was absolutely immersed in the story, and this came mostly from its excellent casting. All of the returning cast-members from Hill House continued to impress, but the new additions stole the show. Particularly Rahul Kohli, T’Nia Miller and Amelia Eve, who play the cook, the housekeeper and the gardener of Bly Manor, respectively. Every character interaction was filled with chemistry and tension, especially between the protagonist, Dani (Victoria Pedretti), and Eve’s Jamie.
This would be an incomplete review without mentioning the costuming. Set in 1987, every single costume is a winner and could be worn today without anyone batting an eye (minus Dani’s very 80s hairstyle).
If you enjoyed its predecessor, The Haunting of Hill House, or other films that artfully use horror to explore grief, like The Babadook, this is the show for you.
Overall, I loved it. The rest is confetti.