A young lady is hired by a man to look after his niece and nephew at the family country house with a haunted past and things go bump in the night.
Mary Poppins-like accents aside, Haunting of Bly Manor is as well filmed and for the most part as gothic as its predecessor, that said it's also a splendid muddle.
Following the theme of Henry James’ (who did not write literary stereotypical ghosts) 1898 horror novella 'Turn of the Screw', Quints story update ironically maybe the weakest part of this adaptation. Incidentally, recently it has also been adapted as the 2020 movie The Turning.
It's main issue is that it's derivative of the recent American Horror Story: Hotel with characters who die become stuck in that location. Also Quint’s motivation echoes the story of the Sally McKenn character. It borrows from the Tower of Terror, In a Dark Place, The Others, Haunted to name a few, injecting countless film tropes. Which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for is its painful pace without the character development to arguably justify its running time and clumsy story twists. Nevertheless, the sets and locations are fascinating, perfectly filmed adding a immersive eerie atmosphere to the proceedings.
In addition, the LGBT character are given odd background stories instead of just being their sexuality (similar to the recent Batwoman series), as if characters need some traumatic event to change them. That said, accents aside the acting at times is sterling especially from T'Nia Miller, Amelia Eve, Rahul Kohli the subtle housekeeper, chef and friendly gardener respectively. Victoria Pedretti is consistent but is for the most part in a state of shock or panic, Henry Thomas dose his best, even if a little too young for the role. Thomas' shoehorned scenes with his doppelgänger are memorable. Aged male-up Carla Gugino is on her usual fine form. Tahirah Sharif is particularly notable but the story dictates her minimum screen-time.
The flashback sequence in "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes", episode 8, directed by Axelle Carolyn (Halloween Tree director, wife of Neil Marshall director of Dog Soldiers and Game of Thrones) is by far the most intriguing, actors Catherine Parker and especially Kate Siegel are both outstanding here.
Overall, it's a hit but mainly miss affair and while the old ghost story is welcomed, it's simply disjointed in its execution and pacing especially when compared to The Haunting of Hill House.
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