When Netflix released The Haunting Of Hill House back in 2018, it was an instant success with horror fans and even earned our top honor as that year’s Show Of The Year. Creator Mike Flanagan didn’t so much adapt Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name as completely reimagine it, borrowing themes and concepts from the book and remixing them into something new and unfamiliar. It made for a show that wasn’t just scary, but packed a sincere emotional wallop. Add to that the technical marvel–Episode 6 was filmed almost entirely in one shot using tricks you’d find in a stage play–and the dozens and dozens of hidden ghosts that fans began noticing in the background of even the most innocuous moments, and Hill House’s immediate popularity is anything but mysterious.
Now, Flannagan has returned for a Hill House follow-up series on Netflix called The Haunting Of Bly Manor–but there’s a catch. The show is an anthology series, so while some of the Hill House actors make a return in new roles, it is a completely standalone story–a risky move, given Hill House’s lightning-in-a-bottle success.
Luckily, though Bly Manor is a new story populated by new faces, it manages to retain enough of the Hill House pathos to feel immediately familiar.
Like Hill House, Bly Manor takes inspiration from literature–this time Henry James’ bibliography of gothic horror and romance novellas and short stories, chiefly the iconic The Turn Of The Screw. It follows the arrival of a young “au pair” (a live-in nanny) named Dani (Victoria Pedretti, who played Nell Crain in Hill House) as she takes on the job of caring for two recently orphaned children on their sprawling–and probably haunted–estate called Bly. There’s Flora (Amelie Smith), an eccentric young girl with a strange affinity for hand-crafted dolls, and Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), her elder brother who seems disquietingly mature for his age. In addition to Dani, Bly is tended by a housekeeper, Hannah (T’Nia Miller); a gardener, Jamie (Amelia Eve); and a cook, Owen (Rahul Kohli). They’ve had terrible luck with finding someone to tend the children since their parents were both tragically killed, and have recently lost two of the staff, the former au pair, Rebecca (Tahirah Sharif), and the former driver, Peter (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Luke Crain in Hill House.) Meanwhile, the children’s semi-estranged uncle, Henry (Henry Thomas, Hugh Crain in Hill House) is trying to keep himself as far away from Bly as possible.
It’s the making of a familiar, traditional haunted house story–the children are creepy, the house is massive, decadent and full of maze-like hallways and hiding spots for ghosts, and the set-up is laced through with tragedy. But like Hill House, Bly Manor is far more interested in subverting those expectations than leaning into them. You won’t find many jump-scares, there’s virtually no gore or even overt violence, and the structure of the storytelling prioritizes the individual character arcs over hurling them bodily into situations that can scare them senseless. It’s as much a slow burn drama as it is a horror show.
The drama is very good, if hard to stomach at times. Bly Manor doesn’t flinch away in its layer-by-layer examination of grief and tragedy. It’s not, necessarily, any more laced through with devastation than Hill House was, but it’s not trying to hit the same notes of addiction, mental illness, and childhood trauma, so expect that these episodes and characters will strike some different chords and for your mileage to vary depending on how hard they resonate with you.
Another charming way Bly manages to set itself apart from its predecessor is by making good use of its period piece setting. While there are still the flashbacks and time-jumps you’d expect, the main story is set in the 1980s, and it never makes any attempt to turn that fact into a nostalgia-based gag or series of cute winks. There are a couple of needle drops and some distinctive fashion choices, but otherwise, it’s played entirely straight, which helps add to both the tone and some of the more emotional beats in character arcs. The lack of things like the internet and cell phones feels like an organic way to serve the story rather than a grab at a trendy retro-fad.
And of course, Bly similarly rewards anyone who pays close attention to detail and wants to take the time to rewatch. Hill House may have set the bar in terms of hiding horrifying ghosts in the background of scenes in broad daylight, but Bly may actually raise it. There’s a very good chance you’ll go the entire show without noticing them at all only to go back around and feel your stomach drop to your feet when you see something standing hidden in a corner, or over a character’s shoulder.
That said, if there’s going to be any major complaints leveled at Bly Manor, they’re likely going to come from fans who were expecting something completely new. The show is never interested in totally reinventing the wheel or deviating too much from Hill House’s set formula with a non-linear story structure and individually focused episodes that slowly uncover the bigger picture. The new faces in the cast do help bring some fresh air to the mix–Miller and Kohli, in particular, are even able to bring a splash of levity when appropriate with their fantastic chemistry playing off both each other and the kids–but they’re all very much Hill House-flavored archetypes.
Of course, this can also be fantastic news for anyone who was hoping to sit down with Bly and relive the feeling of watching Hill House for the first time in 2018, which is certainly not an unworthy goal. But if you gave Hill House a try and found it wasn’t for you, Bly likely won’t be either.
