Author: Trafficblast

The Haunting of Bly Manor is based on Henry James’ Turn of the Screw–but if this show is anything like its predecessor, the Haunting of Hill House–which was based on Shirley Jackson’s book of the same name–we can expect some healthy deviation from the source material.

Still, this trailer is full of little moments and themes that will undoubtedly seem familiar to anyone familiar with James’ work, including this opening moment of a young girl–Flora–standing at the edge of a lake with what looks like some seriously ominous intent. In the original work, Flora is found by a lake, presumably speaking with a “ghost,” or so her new nanny believes.

There aren’t many things creepier than doll houses in horror movies. Flora owns one–and she’s holding what looks to be a truly horrific porcelain baby as she splits her time playing with it and staring at a closed door. Also worth noting that there are plenty of other, non-doll house sized dolls in her room, too. If we had to guess, we’d say this is probably going to take a turn for the worst at some point in the show.

The next shot is an unusual one. It seems to be in first person perspective, with someone–a child maybe? Certainly someone at Flora’s height, though it’s hard to tell if they’re just crouching down by the moment itself–watching Flora as she approaches. She puts what looks like a mask on their face as the voice over says “there you are, now let’s come up with a story.”

One element of Turn of the Screw that should be kept in mind here is the theme of narration–unreliable or otherwise. In the novel, the story is dictated by an unnamed narrator based on letters left behind. It’s possible that we’re seeing the show’s interpretation of that element, with Flora acting as a sort of storyteller for whatever events transpire in the house.

That, or she’s just being a creepy kid. Who can say?

If you hadn’t already put it together, it looks like Flora’s doll house is designed to be a replica of her actual house–the sprawling Bly Manor, which we see here from the outside.

Here’s a familiar face for Hill House fans. Nell Crane herself, Victoria Pedretti, is featured in this show in a new role. In the novel, she’s called a “governess,” but here, in the synopsis of the show, she’s called an “au pair,” which is basically just a fancy way to say live-in nanny.

Moments after the au pair says in voice-over that she “knows what loss is,” we get a disturbing shot of a bloody hand trembling on a bed. It’s impossible to see who it belongs to or what happened, but easy to assume it’s nothing good.

There are two children in Turn of the Screw–Flora, who we’ve met, and her older brother Miles, who we finally see here. Like everyone else in the trailer, he doesn’t seem to be having a great time. Notably, the voice-over here is the au pair saying “your parents loved you so, so much.” In Turn of the Screw, Miles and Flora were orphaned after their parents tragically died. We can assume that is something being brought over from the source material.

Flora seems to be the conduit for most of the creepy stuff in this trailer, including just casually hanging out in a graveyard. The au pair seems to be trying to comfort her about the death of her parents; “in a way they’ll always be here.” Sounds like a recipe for ghosts to us.

T’Nia Miller, a newcomer to the Hill House anthology universe, plays Mrs. Grose, another character from the novel. Mrs. Grose is the housekeeper of the manor–and judging by this introduction, where she seems to be looking at a strange crack in the wall, she’s not having a very great time of it either.

The lake is a featured part of the Turn of the Screw story, but it’s impossible to tell how it’s going to be used in the show. In this blink-and-you-miss-it moment, we can see a figure standing by it (or maybe in it?) in the dead of night. In the original story, the au pair believes she sees the ghost of the children’s last caretaker, a woman named Ms. Jessel, standing by the shore. Our best guess is that this figure is either Jessel herself, or Jessel’s ghost.

It’s difficult to make out what exactly is going on in these next brief clips but they’re certainly very ominous. Hill House fans are sure to recognize the face of Oliver Jackson-Cohen, however, who played the youngest Crane brother, Luke.

Here’s our introduction to yet another new face for the anthology. Rahul Kohli plays the manor’s chef, Owen. We don’t know much about him yet, but apparently he is someone who Mrs. Grose is able to confide in as she goes through whatever breakdown she seems to be experiencing.

If the doll house itself wasn’t creepy enough, it looks like Bly’s basement is full of dolls, too. And one of them moves. Great.

We have to give credit to whoever cut this trailer together–it does a fantastic job of not giving much away. These rapid-fire clips feature tiny moments like Miles flicking a lighter, someone walking toward that spooky lake, Flora getting a bath (while staring at something over the au pair’s shoulder), and the dollhouse opening by itself. We have no idea what any of this might mean for the show, but even stripped of context, it’s pretty chilling.

It’s difficult to make out exactly what’s happening here but we can see that the au pair is being dragged underwater by the neck by–well, something. If we had to guess, we’d say that the lake is home to someone or something that isn’t exactly friendly. This shot immediately jumps to the au pair staring into a full bathtub–so maybe it’s every body of water that represents some sort of ghostly threat in the house.

It’s very difficult to make out but it looks like there’s someone–or something–crawling around behind Flora. To her credit, she doesn’t seem phased by this at all–classic creepy kid in a horror story move right there.

That’s definitely not a normal person surfacing from the lake water. We can’t make out too much, but it seems to have skin where its eye sockets ought to be.

As Mrs. Grose says “the dead” in voice over, we get a series of even more nightmarish moments, including her having some sort of fit or migraine–she’s rubbing the back of her head as her neck snaps back, seconds before it cuts to a clip of a man apparently getting sucked back into the house. It’s hard to make any real guesses as to what this might mean, but another major theme in Turn of the Screw is the idea that the “supernatural” events of the story may actually exist within the characters’ heads. We could be seeing some representation of that here–maybe there’s something physically going on in Mrs. Grose’s brain.

This trailer just keeps raising the bar on creepy dolls. This one looks almost like a voodoo doll–very homemade–and it features a woman with no real face. Maybe it has something to do with the thing in the lake?

Oliver Jackson-Cohen’s character narrates that he’s “seen things,” and that its like he’s “in hell.” So whatever is going on, it’s likely not isolated to one character’s experiences or delusions–something might be physically wrong with Mrs. Grose, but this character is also being put through the ringer. This is said over some creepy clips of feet walking, doors glowing, people drowning, and kids fighting.

Another familiar face–or two of them–for Hill House fans. Henry Thomas played the young Hugh Crane in the show. Here he seems to have a very maniacal looking twin or doppleganger, tormenting him.

Be sure to take the time and notice some of these split-second spooks, like a child in a nightgown wearing some sort of porcelain or plastic mask and a man with glowing eyes looming over the au pair’s shoulder. Also in this montage: the au pair apparently bound and gagged, someone being dragged back to the manor at night, some polaroid photos being snapped that we can guess will develop into something horrifying later, Mrs. Grose screaming, and a crayon drawing that reads “come home.” All of this is played as Owen says “the people? They’re born here, they die here.”

These next few clips skew more toward the surreal than the spooky. We see what looks like Miles confronting someone who might be another child or maybe even a doppelganger–maybe it has something to do with the other double we saw tormenting Henry Thomas’s character; a woman watching what looks like water closing in from the ceiling of her bedroom (there’s that drowning motif again), and the au pair panicking in what looks like a child’s closet.

The poor au pair sees–and feels–a hand while washing the dishes in the kitchen. Notably she’s standing there in broad daylight, surrounded by people. Like Hill House before it, Bly Manor is very likely going to keep the scares coming, even when you least expect them.